Naperville residents Rob and Cathy Janek can often be found exploring the various forest preserves of Will County, seeing what they can spot in nature.
But they’re searching with a purpose, as part of the Will County Forest Preserve District’s “Be a Trailblazer” experience, where participants are assigned nature-themed challenges to complete at the different forest preserves, like at Whalon Lake in Naperville.
Rob and Cathy have been participating in the challenges since they started in 2024.
“In the beginning, it was kind of like a competition. We do a lot of escape rooms as a family, and this kind of combines that with being outside,” said Cathy.
Interactive challenges get residents outdoors
The experience, funded by the Nature Foundation of Will County, along with more than 30 area businesses, encourages people to get active and explore the great outdoors.
“One of the things that we know is that a lot of people will use the preserves that are close to their house. They kind of form habits to use the preserves they know and they are familiar with. The idea with this is that we’re going to encourage people to get out to various places throughout the county,” said Chad Merda, director of digital marketing strategy and engagement for the Forest Preserve District of Will County.
On the first day of each of the four seasons, missions are dropped into the Goosechase app for participants. There are also smaller missions loaded further into the season for those who move through the first few quickly.
They may be as simple as checking in at a forest preserve or as hard as photographing a coyote sighting. Participants log on to the app, select the Trailblazer experience, and complete the tasks at their own pace for the chance to win prizes ranging from t-shirts to binoculars to a kayak.
“They earn points. They are randomly selected for prizes. Essentially, the more missions you complete, the more opportunities you have to win some really cool prizes… Maybe you win snowshoes, maybe you win walking poles, or a fishing starter pack. Those are the things that are going to further enhance that connection you have with the outdoors,” said Merda.
Also up for grabs this year are collectible pins that participants can get by reaching certain completion milestones.
‘Be a Trailblazer’ missions encourage exploration
Last year, after completing dozens of missions, Rob won a Fitbit, but as excited as he was, he and Cathy say it’s not about the prizes.
“It gets you out to have fun, see different forest preserves, and look for different things in the woods, or on the trails. So it’s not like a big commitment. You have an hour free, it’s like, ‘Let’s go to a park and do some missions,’” said Rob.
There are currently around 1,000 people taking part in this season’s trailblazer challenges, which started on Jan. 1 and will go till March 14. Based on last year’s numbers — about 2,000 people overall — Merda expects participation to increase.
“We’ve had families with small kids do it, and we’ve had elderly people do it as well,” said Merda. “There’s a wide variety of missions that you can do. Do as much as you want or as little as you want. But the important thing is to find the time to get outside and become a trailblazer.”
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