AAR: Smokey Bear GeoTour - Delaware (SBGT DE)

The Smokey Bear 75th Anniversary GeoTour (SBGT) launched in July 2019.

In honor of Smokey Bear’s 75 years protecting America’s forests and wildlands, the Mid-Atlantic Forest Fire Protection Compact has established a Geocaching GeoTour. There are 75 caches located across the seven states that comprise the Mid-Atlantic Compact: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The GeoTour launched with only 73 geocaches, and one has since been archived. The four prizes that were available at launch, for finding the geocache and recording the codeword, were:

• 75 First-to-find tokens
• Smokey 75th Trackable Coins for finding 6 caches in any one state
• Limited Edition Diamond Geocoins for finding 25 caches along the GeoTour
• A special gift from Smokey Bear for finding all 75 GeoTour geocaches

Tom and I went to Delaware today with the express purpose of finding the last five geocaches that we needed to earn the Smokey 75th Trackable Coin. Before beginning our journey today, we had one SBGT cache in Maryland, and one in Delaware. After a little research, it looked like finding five caches in Delaware would provide the easiest path to our goal - even though four of them were multiple caches. Each location was easy to access, the required information was easy to get and the final caches were easy to find. We also learned interesting information along the way. My favorite cache from today was SBGT DE Blackbird Headquarters Tract. At the final location, there was a grove, almost like an orchard, with different species of trees being grown in rows. Each row was labeled with information about the tree and its end uses. Tom turned it into a game, trying to guess what the tree was by looking at the leaves and bark.

SBGT DE Blackbird Headquarters Tract

I also liked SBGT DE Fallen Firefighter's Memorial. This cache took us to a nearby library, and the cache was located near the genealogy section where Tom found a book that listed his family name in passenger arrivals at the Port of Baltimore from 1820 - 1834. We don't know if the person listed was a relation, but you never know what you'll find, or learn, while geocaching!

SBGT DE Fallen Firefighter's Memorial

I will submit my passport this week, and will update this post if, and when, I receive the Smokey 75th Trackable Coin.