Have you heard of the New Shawnee Challenge?

I created the challenge in collaboration with Southernmost Illinois Tourism, the US Forest Service, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Shawnee Mountain Bike Association, and Friends of the Shawnee National Forest.

When we first launched the Shawnee Challenge, it was just one particular area for the challenge, and completing it was too challenging.

Southernmost Illinois Tourism has significantly aided in giving the challenge and significant upgrade.

New Shawnee Challenge Passport

The New Shawnee Challenge Passport is the new way to record your challenge participation.

There is no app required. Instead, you download the passport and save it to your phone’s home screen, where it keeps the password and makes access to it with one touch.

The cool thing about this new upgrade is that you earn points for completing the challenge at the various approved spots.

It isn’t just Lake Glendale and Dixon Springs State Park anymore. Now you can go to other places and do different activities: hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and horseback riding.

It was a goal to expand the New Shawnee Challenge to all user groups eventually, and with Southernmost Illinois Tourism’s help, we’ve made that happen.

New Shawnee Challenge Points

As I said, you can earn points with the new Shawnee Challenge passport. However, you can only earn points one time for each place you visit. So even if you’ve visited the site before, you can go back to it to earn points. These unique Shawnee National Forest spots are fun to see again and again.

Once you accumulate so many points, you can cash them in for an entry in a quarterly drawing for some awesome Shawnee National Forest apparel prize packs.

How to Get Started with the New Shawnee Challenge

First of all, remember to Leave No Trace and pack out what you pack in. Your goal should be to leave our Shawnee better than you found it. We need you to help us keep our public lands clean and safe for everyone.

Sign up for the Passport now to participate in the new Shawnee Challenge. It’s completely free but requires a smartphone to access and use.

After that, follow the instructions you gave during signup, and then start visiting the spots listed on the new Shawnee Challenge to earn points.

I hope you enjoy this new Shawnee Challenge, and I look forward to seeing everyone take advantage of it. I want to thank  Southernmost Illinois Tourism for being such an advocate of the challenge and taking the further step of promoting Shawnee Forest Country. For more Shawnee Challenge tips and information, subscribe to my free monthly newsletter.

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Thanks again for checking out another one of my articles and until next time, I’ll see you on the trail!