We were introduced to Letterboxing’s Cousin this year – in the form of the Oregon Coast Quest! (Some Quests have been altered to fit as a geocache.)

Quests are fun, place-based  adventures that use clues and hints to encourage you to explore the natural, cultural and historical treasures of Oregon’s central coast. Suitable for groups of all ages, Quests allow you to search at your own pace through parks and other public spaces throughout coastal Lincoln County.http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/oregon-coast-quests

Family Quest History – Feel free to Skip down while I ramble and my coffee perks –

Delighted at a new treasure hunt, we picked up the quest book last October / November at our local Parks and Rec Building – which, by the way, is amazing! Especially for this size town, if you are ever rained in on the coast – this is the place to hang out – for the whole family! (Gym, Waking Track, Work Out areas, Pool, Common areas with tables, wifi etc) Sorry, Typing pre-coffee Rambles . . . .

We picked up our book – and I sat to read the instructions for the Quests, unfamiliar with the town’s out door parks.  These Quests are aimed at taking people out of doors for over 45 minutes through all areas of town, while solving rhyming riddles and finding clues.  Can we have confession time?  Back in October that wasn’t my “thing”. I was get it done girl, fit it in girl, move on girl – Get Goin’ to the Next thing.  Everything we did was to get to the next thing. I read and re-read these 2-3 page clues and information – over load, and the book has been tabled. I didn’t know what the answers were, how long it would take – how much mud or effort – and the thought of walking aimlessly in the woods or parks for an hour wasn’t my thing. I ‘d like to drive to the river, put out my chair and sit.  Drive to the beach, pull out my chair, and sit.  Look from afar.  Now we are a look up close family – Time, and the motivation to observe. Free Time.  Not always needing to be somewhere else. Our beach time is no longer a 1 hour sit down watch the waves but a 3 hour walk see what is new. 🙂 So Glad for New Habits!

This week – we are going to skip the Apple Tree Study, as my two sons have had the most beautiful apple tree in their window for 2 years, and while looking for the outdoor observation activity for the week – I spotted the Quest. 🙂

Back to the Actual Oregon Coast Quest –

I picked out the easiest one in the book – designated to the preschool crowd, and yet the clues were two pages of riddles – sort of dragged the boys out on a cold rainy afternoon sun break – and headed to a Forest Management Area in the middle of town, near a Head Start – feeling confident as the the trails were designed for small children.

The boys immediately loved the clues, when they were read in context to where we were walking and what we were seeing – racing along ahead on the trail – and then needing to stop for more clues.  We should have checked on line to see that the Owl was missing  . . .a clue in both Quests today – but we found the Quest Box with a bit of sleuthing, then had fun sitting on a bench and filling out the guestbook letterboxing style.

The boys immediately asked if we could do another one, and there was a bit of a longer one set in the same forest trails, so off we went.  The clues to the walk might lead you to the next clue – or they might lead you to  something to observe along the trail, a bit of history – and then another clue.

We learned that the forest had been thinned by a man and horse team, to let light reach the floor, to keep the forest healthy without wildfire, and to clean up the debris from prior non management.

One really interesting thing – (although we tried our hardest not to study a tree this week) was the Red Alder growing in the middle of the forest area – once it was exposed to light, the trunk started to grow branches and leaves in a bizarre way – one of the clues was to find this tree – just to observe it – without having any part of the “end prize”.

Again with the Owl Missing, it took us a while to find the Quest box, but luckily we did the Head Start Quest first, and it made mention to where the Owl should be, so we guessed our steps five or six times, and, treasure seeking, and found the Quest Box.

Now we are hooked. The boys wanted to do another one, there are 23 in our county, now, looking on line, the Owl has been the only update . . . figures. . . .So as the tourists come to town and fill the beaches, we might head to the hills! 🙂

If you are headed to the Oregon Coast this summer – I recommend you pick up a Quest Book. I  have seen them at the Hatfield Marine Science Center (their Sea Grant is what created the program) and at the Swimming Pool Lobby in Lincoln City. The website above has many more areas to pick them up, Quests are from Waldport to Salmon River. 🙂

Fern Gully

There are sections devoted to learning about these stumps, we might do an observed nature study on them, today, introduction was the game  . .

Clues are slightly out of place – or the riddles tell you what object these clue is placed on.  Most of these letters looked looked like the picture to the left. You go through the forest, picking up letter clues – the final clue tells you where to look for the Quest Box.  However, we found both boxes without help from the word clues, even if you don’t find the actual letter – in these two cases – we found the end of the path so to speak – of where there box should be. 🙂 Back to our letterboxing skills coming in hand.  Also – I think it looks more fun on the boys faces to “find” the box, than to have the neon sign say IT IS HERE!!!!. 😉

The roots were one clue on the Head Start Quest – sadly none of us looked up – until the riddle asked why the roots were there and why the tree had not fallen to the ground. The boys thought the V was very cool – and I had yet one more lesson on observation – that we have so much more to learn with our skills!

The forests are amazing. The trees bending, rubbing, cracking, Both boys commented that it was very erry, scary, spooky, in a thrilling, this adds adrenaline excitement sort of a way.

One of the older trees, growing around an old growth tree, in a newer reforested Forest Management area.  That’s Cool.