Every year, outdoor gear and apparel brand Cotopaxi hosts a series of curious sounding events called Questivals. Their photos looked amazing, and the mission seemed on point with ours. Megan (our fearless product specialist) and I had to check one out.

Questi-what?

Housed in a former airplane hangar, the kick off event was boisterous, entertaining, quirky and wholesome – just like the Cotopaxi brand. Part adventure race and part “random acts of goodness” challenge, the Questival focus is on getting out in your town, spreading kindness, and having good, clean fun. We loved it.

24 Hours of Goodness

At the heart of Questival is a massive task list that amounts to a scavenger hunt for goodness big and small. Assigned different point values based on the challenge level, the tasks range from a 10 minute beach clean up to greeting a stranger with a warm smile. Teams of 2-6 people (often in costume) complete as many tasks as possible in 24 hours. They upload photos featuring themselves, perhaps a local landmark, and a little Cotopaxi “Do Good” flag into a user-friendly app. It makes for a pretty fun evening.

Megan and I did a “lite” Questival this time around. Our children’s busy weekend schedules (and possibly the 20 years we had on most of the participants) called us to bed far earlier than the die-hard 24 hour race teams. But we got a great taste for the experience nonetheless. We had a blast checking off good stuff of many flavors for points in the Questival app and visiting some favorite haunts around our hometown. Brainstorming clever ways to spread kindness and rack up points became rather addictive!

Questival Highlights

• Sending a message to the oldest living member of my family to tell him how much I appreciate him (shouldn’t we all do that much more often?).
• Trying to station myself just so on the very windy deck of a Washington state ferry so that Megan could capture a pic of me with the Seahawks stadium in the background.
• The surprisingly exhilarating process of selecting my one-of-a kind Luzon 18L Del Dia pack (included in the event registration price). SO many beautiful options, but the line moves fast and you must choose quickly.

Cheers to Cotopaxi for hosting these unique experiences around the country and raising the profile for their fun, colorful, generous brand. Look for a bigger GG presence at a Questival or two in 2020! – LB

Read more about Questival and find a race near you.

See Cotopaxi products featured on Generous Goods.