Long time no talk! But I promise it's for good reason. I have so much new stuff to share. Let's get right into it...

Countdown Treasure Fall 2025 charity update

So, first things first, I want to start this last wrapup post by showing you exactly where the $21,000 we raised with Countdown Treasure Fall 2025 went.

Appalachia Service Project

A few weeks ago on Halloween, 10/31/25, I started the morning at Johnson City, TN where I met the amazing team (thanks Belle, Carson, Melissa, et al!) at the Appalachia Service Project, and handed them a big (literally) $10,000 check – made possible by all of you – that will directly help fund ASP's continued Disaster Recovery efforts. These funds will go towards active recovery efforts in TN and NC, in an efficient and effective way to support Hurricane Helene survivors.

ASP had actually just handed over keys to a homeowner the Wednesday before, completing their 3rd rebuild post-Helene, and they have 20 more homes in active construction or final pre-construction. Tennessee has even more completed and dozens underway. The team was amazing and gave me a tour of their campus where 10,000 volunteers come through every summer to help rebuild homes all around the entire Appalachia area.

Bee Log CRC

From Johnson City I drove down to Burnsville, NC, where I saw first hand the continued recovery efforts from destroyed homes and roads. The drive is still full of detours and temporary roads and bridges as the area continues the long process of rebuilding. And then I arrived and met the equally amazing team behind Bee Log CRC (thanks Chrissy and co!) and gave them a (again, literally big) check for $10,000 – thanks, again, to all of you!

They have taken over Bee Log Elementary and are making it into a permanent resource for the entire community where they can go to get food, clothing, supplies, and prepare for another winter while they continue to rebuild. Our donation is going to help them refurbish the school's kitchen for meal prep and add on an apartment for families that are displaced.

Bailey Mountain Preserve

And then, finally, I finished by driving back to the scene of the crime, Bailey Mountain Preserve in Mars Hill, NC, to meet the small but mighty team (thanks Ryan and Laura!) behind the Bailey Mountain Preserve fund and donate $1,000 to help them buy some available land around the preserve to continue expanding their amazing public trails (and to quickly hike and retrieve the trail cam!)

And from there I drove on to Chapel Hill, NC to meet up with my family and do some last minute trick or treating.

It was a busy day! But I wanted to make sure, with this last Countdown Treasure Fall 2025 wrapup post, that you saw exactly where our donations went and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we all helped make a difference here. Thank you to everyone who participated, upgraded to premium, bought merch, and especially to the winners Corey and Zoe for their incredible donation of the entire sidepot. $21,000 is huge! Let's double it next year ;)

Legend coin update

FYI, for all my Legends waiting on their commemorative coin, I had to restock on coin blanks and bring on some extra help to get through all the coins, but am now working as fast as possible to get your commemorative coin to you ASAP. I'm going in order of when you signed up, so keep an eye out for an email when your coin ships. I promise I'll get every last one out before Christmas, thanks so much for your patience!

(And if you don't remember filling out the survey telling me the name you wanted on the coin and your address, please hurry and fill out the survey here it will close at the end of this week)

Oh, and speaking of next year, you might have noticed things look a little different around here. I told you I'd been busy!

Introducing Countdown Treasure 2.0

You can go here to read more about Countdown Treasure 2.0 but, in short, the entire site has been rebuilt from the ground up to make it so that anyone 1) can create their own treasure hunt of any kind, shape, or size. One day hunts, weekend hunts, big hunts, and more and 2) can easily join hunts, both online and in person, from amazing treasure hunt creators all over the country.

Countdown Treasure will handle all the signups, payments, clues, updates, emails, etc – so that you can focus on creating an amazing hunt.

If you or your city or organization are interested in becoming one of the first creators on the new platform, please apply here.

Spring 2026 Blue Ridge Mountains hunt is coming

That's right! We're running it back next year with the Countdown Treasure Blue Ridge Mountains Spring 2026 Hunt and you can signup here to be notified of all the updates and details as we get closer. I learned so much with the Fall hunt, and the Spring 2026 hunt is going to be bigger and better in every way. I absolutely cannot wait.

The Community is back

And, lastly as we wrapup the wrapup, as promised the Community is back! Going forward every premium hunter gets access to both their hunt's community for the duration of the hunt, but also a general Countdown Treasure community where we can share our favorite hikes, our favorite hunts, and whatever else is on our mind. As always, it will be a good vibes only kind of community, and it will close every night from midnight to 6am so we can all take a much needed break from our screens.

And… whew… that's all I've got! Thanks so much for reading, have a great Thanksgiving, and come say "hey" in the community when you get a chance. Happy hunting! - Adam