With Global Positioning Systems, or GPS, in hand, groups of East Lansing residents searched the Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden at MSU on Saturday for coordinates to win an annual summer geocaching competition.
The summer Garden Geocache Event, hosted by the Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden, sent teams of cache enthusiasts to race to several locations around the garden, with prizes hidden at each place.
Created in 2000, geocaching is a way of navigating to various areas with predetermined points using a GPS. MSU has more than 30 caches at popular destinations across campus, 15 of which were placed by organizer Midge Marrow in the garden for the event. The environment on campus is convenient for geocaching because there are small walking distances between coordinates, Marrow said.
“We limit ourselves just to (the garden) because we can control it, people don’t have to go too far,” she said. “(Geocachists) come here for lots of different reasons, but they love coming to campus. It’s a great place to walk.”
With the increasing popularity of geocaches across the country, caches have been bringing a new variety of people to campus to emphasize the attractions MSU has to offer, Marrow said.
“Michigan State actually has not placed any of these caches,” she said. “(Caches) have all been placed by people who are in the area … that love the university, and that want to take people to their favorite spots on campus.”
Alumni often come back to visit campus while geocaching and discover areas of campus they have never seen, Marrow said.
Walking through obstructions on campus, including construction and hundreds of students, geocaching at MSU creates challenges for the mind and body, former MSU psychology student Laura Clemons said at the competition. Geocaching on campus is an adventure and is conveniently located near her home in Lansing, Clemons said.
“I actually got started in geocaching for exercise,” she said. “I needed a reason to get off of my couch. I needed a purpose. For me, the greatest benefit of geocaching is all the exercise.”
Ken Black, a geocachist with the Michigan Geocaching Organization, said geocaching is a great activity that he does while traveling the world. From London to Texas to MSU, cache maps are located all over the world, he said.
“When we travel, we’ll look up geocaches in the area,” Black said. “Instead of hanging around the hotel room, I’ll go out and find them. We’ve been in London, we’ve found caches there, (we’ve) been all over the place.”
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