2026 Be a Trailblazer

Event information

Event details

Join our Be a Trailblazer digital scavenger hunt that will have you adventuring to and through the Will County preserves at your own pace and on your own schedule throughout 2026. 

This year's Be a Trailblazer experience will be divided into four seasonal experiences, with the dates as follows:

• Winter: Jan. 1 to March 14
• Spring: March 25 to May 30
• Summer: June 10 to Sept. 12
• Fall: Sept. 23 to Dec. 12

Get started by downloading the Goosechase app to your smartphone and joining our 2026 Be a Trailblazer experience. Once you’re in, visit the preserves to complete the dozens of challenges that will have you snapping pics in nature and checking in at various spots in the preserves.

Missions will drop on the first day of each seasonal experience, with a secondary drop around the midpoint of each season.

New this year, participants can earn collectible pins based on points accumulated by completing missions. Four achievement levels will be offered: Trailblazer Rookie, Trailblazer Explorer, Trailblazer Adventurer and Trailblazer Master. Pins will be mailed to participants once each level is reached. Additional details will be released when the experience begins.

The Be a Trailblazer experience is sponsored by The Nature Foundation of Will County and throughout the year, more than $15,000 in prizes will be up for grabs. 

Prizes funded by the Nature Foundation include outdoor equipment such as kayaks, camping gear and snowshoes; Fitbits; Yeti coolers; fishing equipment; Solo stoves; binoculars; hiking poles and Trailblazer swag, including T-shirts and hats.

And these generous local businesses also have provided items for the 2026 campaign:

3 Corners Tap and Grill, New Lenox, Arrowhead Ales, New Lenox; Aurelio's Pizza, Joliet; Big Apple Café, Joliet; Channahon Lanes, Channahon; Country Charm, New Lenox; Craft’d, Plainfield; Dan's Homemade Candies, Joliet; Delta Sonic, Joliet; DNA Plainfield, Plainfield; Fritz's Pour House, Crest Hill; Goat & Vine Winery and Restaurant, Bolingbrook; Gost Coffee Roasters, New Lenox; Hamburgerseria, Joliet; Home Cut Donuts, Joliet; Jitters, Joliet; Joliet Area Historical Museum, Joliet; Ken Woody Sports & More, Joliet; and KidsWork Children’s Museum, New Lenox.

Also, Lallos Bar and Grill, Channahon; Mr. Submarine, Joliet; Old Fashioned Pancake House, Joliet; Prairie Bluff Golf Club, Crest Hill; Ruby’s Burritos, Romeoville; Social Butterfly Coffee, Joliet; Tacos Maui, Joliet; The Forge: Lemont Quarries, Lemont; Waffles Kafé, New Lenox; West 52 BBQ, Shorewood; Wild Birds Unlimited, Joliet; and X-Golf, Shorewood.

Event requirements

To get started, download the Goosechase app to your phone and then search for Be a Trailblazer or enter the search code JYBKK4. 

CHECK OUT THE BE A TRAILBLAZER RULES