Super Quests

Get on a Roll with a Super Quest

The Super Quest is a fun challenge that Vital Communities organizes every year. To complete the challenge, participants have from May 1 to November 1 to register and collect stamp impressions from a select number of featured Quests. Every year, completed submissions receive a special patch and are entered into a grand prize drawing!

No need to restrict yourself to the current season’s Super Quest; scroll down to check out some past ones and all the great topics they explore!

FIND A QUEST

Find a Quest, then search the Vital Communities Guide for nearby fresh local food and locally owned businesses!

Find a Quest

Super Quest 2021: Climate Connections

Hot or cold, rain or sun step out into our region and have some fun! Explore the Upper Valley through a lens on climate with these 12 adventures: beautiful places, local lore, and discovery await! Complete any 5 to receive this cool patch and be entered in a drawing for additional prizes!

Our climate is changing.

Various features in our landscape and communities exhibit the effects, and many things are being done to adapt to or mitigate the damage from climate change. This year’s Climate Connections Super Quest examines the ways climate change is affecting the Upper Valley—from plants, insects, and other animals moving here from the south due to warming temperatures; to more frequent and more powerful storms; to people moving here from other places experiencing even greater climate-induced changes. The Super Quest also looks at ways we’re preventing or adapting to climate change, including flood control through land preservation; green energy technologies; and regenerative agricultural practices.

READY TO GET STARTED?

Follow these steps. And remember: All Super Quest submissions are awarded a commemorative Super Quest patch and are entered into a grand prize drawing!

Download Booklet

Download the Climate Connections Super Quest booklet, with a list of all the Quests, instructions, and sheet for recording your Quests!

2. Register your team online!

3. Go forth! Collect stamp impressions from five of the 12 Quests listed below. You can print them right on your handout. You have from May 1-November 1.

Record Online

4. Record your team’s completed Quests, either online or on the record sheet in the booklet.

5. Submit your sheet of stamps from the Quests you completed! You can:

“Like” Vital Communities on Facebook or follow us on Instagram, then post a picture of your completed stamp sheet on either and tag @vitalcommunities OR
Mail your completed stamp sheet to our office: 195 N. Main Street, White River Junction, VT 05001
Drop it off in person in a marked box by the front door!

Complete any 5 of these Quests!

Cedar Circle Farm Quest
Thetford, VT
Focus on regenerative agriculture while touring a certified organic farm and nonprofit education center.

Chaffee Sanctuary Quest
Lyme, NH
Get to know an “alder swamp”—a common Upper Valley wetland that provides great habitat for animals and natural flood protection for humans.

Cook Quest
New London, NH
Learn about how plants and soil sequester carbon while observing the forest, streams, and wetlands of the Mt. Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region.

Donella Meadows Quest
Hartland, VT
Hear about a pioneering system thinker, author, and climate change activist while visiting the Cobb Hill cohousing community she founded 20 years ago.

Flowing to the River Quest
Norwich, VT
Hike along this Connecticut River tributary while learning how plants along the stream help keep its water clean.

Lebanon Energy Quest
Lebanon, NH
Starting at the former Mascoma Flannel Company (now the Rivermill Complex), a look at generations of power, from water to propane to green sources.

Loon Quest
Enfield, NH
A water quest on Lake Mascoma in search of a fabulous bird who needs clean waters. Begin and end at a the new Mascoma Lakeside Park, for launching non-motorized boats!

Lower Slade Brook
Hanover, NH
Hike along the brook crossing this 36-acre conserved parcel, observing waterfalls while reflecting on the role forests play in cleaning the air.

Sally’s Salamander Meander
Hartford, VT
Discover a vernal pool and learn about its critical role for salamanders and their wet, wiggley rites of spring.

Sunapee Harbor Quest
Sunapee, NH
This gentle stroll highlights the lake’s natural and historic features and the stewardship and educational work of the Lake Sunapee Protective Association.

Sustainability Quest
Woodstock, VT
For Elementary Students: Learn about what goes on above the mansion area at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, including tree management, a solar kiln, and gardens!!

For High Schoolers: Observe the sustainability program and climate-aware forest management of this park—which is named after an Upper Valley native considered to be America’s first environmentalist.