Volunteers

Have Fun Volunteering

The South Shore Quest Committee is looking for volunteers to help.

Be a Box Monitor

For every quest trail we need a volunteer to be the trail “box monitor”. You would be perfect for the job if you like the outdoors, enjoy fresh air, appreciate the beauty of nature, and like a reason to do a quest again!

A box monitor sets up his/her trail just before the season starts and walks the trail regularly (1-2x/month) during the season to make sure the clues are in the proper place, the trail has not changed unexpectedly, and the quest box is intact. If necessary, repair clues or notify the web site manager of any updates that need to be reported on the web site. At the end of the season, the box monitor removes the clues and quest box for the winter.

Make a Quest

The below instructions for making a quest were published by Valley Quests of White River Junction, Vermont.

1. Pick a spot that is a special place for you. Perhaps a unique natural or cultural feature of your town.
2. Find out who owns or manages this property and request permission to make a Quest there.
3. Make a few trips to the site to uncover its details, and to begin to think about the best approaches to making a Quest on your site.
4. Find people in your community who can teach you more about your site-community elders, members of your towns historical society or conservation commission. Invite them to take a trip out on the land with you.
5. Take good notes!
6. Decide on your Quest strategy: a detailed map Quest; a mapless Quest; a jumble Quest (collecting words); a pict-o-Quest (no words-only following pictures!). Or any combination. Use your imagination and creativity-it’s up to you!
7. Draw rough maps of your site. Also sketch or note the unique features that would make good clues.
8. Make a rough draft of your Quest Map and riddles or accompanying text.
9. Test your Quest with as many different people as you can get to try it out-and make appropriate changes.
10. Create a written description of what makes the site special. This should come from your research and should only be a few paragraphs long–small enough to be laminated and glued inside the cover of the Quest Box. You can focus on whatever you think visitors to the site will be most interested in. Depending on the site, possible things to write about include: the historical significance of the site to the town; a true story about something that once happened at the site; the natural history of the site–trees to look for, special rocks, plantings, etc.; why people in your town love this site so much; fun or interesting things to do; amazing-but-true trivia facts about the site (height of steeple, age of building, number of orchid species, number of granite blocks and where they came from, etc.)
11. Draw final Quest Map

You can also create a “boxless” quest. Think “out of the box” on how folks can show they’ve completed the quest. We’ve listed suggestions for a boxless quest. Use one of these or get creative. Let us know what you come up with.

• The completed clue phrase is proof of completion
• Draw a picture of the clue phrase
• Have the clue phrase direct them to look at something and draw what they see
• Take a selfie doing an action suggested by the clue phrase
• You get the idea use your imagination.

Creating the Box

1. Design a logo for the stamp for the site and carve it into a plastic eraser or make a stamp out of rubber and wood.
2. Get a waterproof box to use as a Quest Box. Waterproof the introduction to the site and attach it securely to the inside cover of the box. Place in the box: a log book; pencil/pen; stamp; ink pad; pencil sharpener.
3. Hide the box.
4. Make sure you have someone adopt the box for long-term monitoring.
   

If you would like your Quest made available for publication by South Shore Quests, send your Quest details to the email below.