Penn Soil RC&D Council
RC&D : "The Catalyst for Community Improvement"

Allegheny GeoTrail Project Became a Reality on October 1, 2007

Penn Soil RC&D is partnering with the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry, and Tourism to develop and implement The Allegheny GeoTrail, an innovative new concept to increase tourism benefits in a ten county area of north western and north central Pennsylvania.  The project utilizes the growing interest in a relatively new outdoor sport for people of all ages called Geocaching to provide increased tourism benefits to ten counties which comprise the Allegheny National Forest and its gateway communities.   The project is funded by a $234,200 grant from the U.S. Forest Service.

Within the north western and north central part of Pennsylvania, you will find more than two million acres of public lands set aside for natural resource management and the public’s enjoyment.  The ten county project area (Cameron, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Venango, and Warren counties) includes the Allegheny National Forest, a portion of the PA Wilds Region, and encompasses several State Heritage Areas, and the Oil Region National Heritage Area.  Teeming with wildlife, beautiful scenic views, and historical attractions, the area offers unlimited recreational and educational opportunities.

Geocaching is an entertaining outdoor adventure game for Global positioning System (GPS) users in which the participants seek out hidden geocaches by navigating to certain GPS coordinates provided by the person who hid the cache.  The coordinates are obtained from a website on the internet and downloaded into a GPS unit.  Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the features and capabilities of a GPS unit, but it is also a great way for someone to navigate their way to find noteworthy attractions and hidden areas that might not be readily found by those casually passing by.

Geocaching combines the love of the outdoors, hiking, sightseeing, wildlife watching, and nature study with the innovative electronic gadgetry of a GPS to result in a high tech treasure hunt enjoyed by young and old alike.  More and more people are spending their free time, weekends, and vacations geocaching.  The Allegheny GeoTrail is actually a network of roads that will carry visitors across the ten county region in pursuit of special hidden geocaches which contain a special self-inking stamp that participants will use to validate their Allegheny Trail Passports.  Project volunteers in each county have placed between 10-20 Allegheny GeoTrail geocaches for participants to seek which will bring visitors into close proximity of tourism destinations and special attractions of each county.  Participants must find a minimum of six of the GeoTrail caches to get their passports validated and are rewarded with a specially minted Allegheny GeoTrail commemorative coin specific to each county.  These coins tend to be highly sought after collector items by geocachers.

The project is expected to generate an estimated $400,000 in annual tourism benefits to the regional economy.

For more detailed information about the project, visit The Allegheny GeoTrail website hosted by our partner, The Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry, and Tourism.

Project Update: One hundred eighty-seven people attended the Allegheny GeoTrail Kickoff Geomeet on September 30, 2007 at Oil Creek State Park in Venango County to be among the first geocachers to pick up their Allegheny GeoTrail Passports and begin their quest for the commemorative geocoins.  As of the end of April, 2008 the project had already generated over 15,000 recorded individual cache site visits from individuals seeking the caches in the first seven months that the project was active.