Nearly 60 Gazette readers celebrated Thanksgiving and the days after by heading out into our parks and open spaces for the Second Annual Gazette Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt.

Armed with copies of the Gazette or their mobile devices, they followed sometimes murky clues, braved sub-zero temperatures and snow that obscured some of the landmarks, as they answered questions about Colorado Springs and the parks we all love. Nearly twice as many people took part this year as did in 2012.

Click here to see the scavenger hunt clues.

Seven lucky contestants won prizes in a drawing. Scott and Teresa Abell and Martha Andrews won $25 gift cards for outdoors gear shop Mountain Chalet. Winning a pair of lift tickets to ski area Monarch Mountain were Glenn Hoit; Sara and Zach Koeppel; Tom, Michael, Peter and Ruthie Ghigleri; Lindsay and Jordan Foss; and Michael and Judy McBride.

Though it may be cliche, it seemed like everyone was a winner. For Kathleen Czop, it was a chance to reconnect with her “favorite almost-8-year-old,” Hailey Troxell.

Mitzi C. Amelon-Pawloski is stationed at Peterson Air Force Base and wasn’t able to make it home for the holiday, so it gave her something to do and introduced her to the beautiful places our city has to offer.

Preston Luebbers met so many other shunters that “it made us want to run and make it into a race. The natural competitor in us kicked in.”

For Jacob and Jenna Henry, it was a great way to explore parts of the city they would have otherwise never seen. “Although next year please try to schedule the cold snap a week later if possible,” he asked.

Yeah, we’re sorry about the cold.

Here is the list of everyone else who took part in the hunt.

Rick Ansorge

Thea Getreuer

Martha Andrews

Amy McMahon

Deb Hood

Barb Bender

Jonathon and Andrew Bel

John, Helen, Caden and Erin Stergius

Stacy Sloan and Sandra Hernandez

Becki Freund

Marshall and Claudia Quick

Peter and Jenna Griggs, Doug and Brooke Groninger

Chris Stengle

Andy McMahon

Donna Freund

Bill Lagergren

Renee Freund

Janet McMahon

Justin and Natalie Alexander, w/ dog Lacey

Stefan Eiles

Lindsay and Jordan Foss

Joe and Jacque Fabey

Lorrie Marzulla

Linda and Dave Frank

Al, Becky, Sydney and Spencer Wegner w/ dogs Zeb and Camie

John Mills and Jean Peterson

Denise Trent

Tim, Charity, Asa and Isaac Behrens

Ray and Margaret Cornell

Amanda Beihl

Olivia and RoseMary Richardson

Debby Fowler

Shawn and AJ Eccles

Sylvia and Christina Eccles

Jesse Stewart

Lynn Unruh

Susan and Dan Staver, Tammy Stahly

Brady Richardson

Terry Hoit

Heather Wallsten

Asa Fisher

Richard and Beth Schuh

Marton and Don Hoercher

Pat Dwyer and Jean Chaffee

Mike McMahon

Jacob and Jenna Henry

Carol and Kent Freudenberg

Kathy McKillip, Jeff Andrade, Steph Hammar, Bill Gray

Abby J. Carroll, Isabella and Mark Witczak

Donna Becker

Marcus and Kipp Beyerle w/ dog Rascal

Melissa Getz

Justin and Natalie Alexander with their dog Lacey

 

Kathy McKillip and Jeff Andrade

Denise Trent