Quest best enjoyed with friends

Outdoors

Adventure should be shared.

What would Lewis be without Clark? Mason minus Dixon? Hillary sans Norgay?

Even that adventure stud Indiana Jones didn't go solo, although Harrison Ford once played Han Solo. But I digress.

So when it came time to compete in the Maryland Park Service's new Park Quest contest, I expected to be at the helm of Team Spartacus, with three trusty friends by my side.

Wishful thinking. Commitments - prior, last-minute and fabricated - reduced the hearty team to me. With apologies to Kirk Douglas, I was Spartacus.

But not to worry. When your friends abandon you, rent some.

That's why on a Chamber of Commerce kind of day last week, with blue skies, fluffy clouds and a fresh breeze out of the north, five kids, two adults and I scampered around Tuckahoe and Martinak state parks in search of clues.

Park Quest follows the blueprint of Connecticut's "The Great Park Pursuit," a part scavenger hunt, part trivia contest. Six Eastern Shore parks - Wye Island, Tuckahoe, Martinak, Janes Island, Pocomoke River and Assateague - are the game board.

Register online, go to a park, get a clue sheet and find the answers, which could be on a map, part of a sign, under your feet or over your head. The whole shebang is free.

(I signed an official "don't ask, don't tell" waiver, so I'm not at liberty to spill any Park Quest beans under pain of losing my Department of Natural Resources decoder ring.)

For last week's outing, my rented friends consisted of Team Wandering Wootens and Team Fearless Foxes, both of Ocean Pines. With two of six Park Quest challenges behind them, they were ringers.

Improving my chances, Papa Fox was Lt. Gary Adelhardt, a 22-year park service veteran, manager of Pocomoke River State Park and, with Tuckahoe park manager John Ohler, the driving force behind Quest.

Now, before you get your knickers in a twist, please note that Adelhardt and his three daughters are not eligible for prizes. The family just likes adventures and took pity on me.

More than 100 families signed up for the contest that began Memorial Day weekend and ends July 20. Contestants who finish all six quests are invited to Pocomoke River State Park on Aug. 2 for the finale to compete in the drawing for four theme packages: biking, camping, fishing and paddling.

At Tuckahoe, our first stop, Ranger Jessica Conley handed out the Quest packages, which contain the question sheet, a map and a compass.