There is a sport around Mt. Pleasant that not too many students are familiar with.  It doesn't involve a football or plastic cup and ping-pong ball; it involves a GPS and a sense of adventure. 

The sport is called Geocaching.

Geocaching, sometimes described as a treasure hunt in the woods, is a game where you locate containers called geocaches, which are hidden in all different types of areas.  Some are put in local parks where you only have to walk a hundred or so feet, while others are hidden miles into a wooded hiking trail.

The people who participate in this sport are known as geocachers, or, simply, cachers.  Chris Randolph, a Mt. Pleasant resident and Mid Michigan Community College student, has been an avid cacher for seven years.  Randolph started geocaching in 2002 and has since placed 75 caches and found around 1,500.

If you ask the average geocacher why they love caching, one of the many responses is that it takes you to places you would have never discovered without it. 

Mike Lytle of Mt. Pleasant has been caching with his wife Liz since March.  "We've lived in Michigan our whole lives and have been driving by the nice parks and trail systems we never knew were there," said Mike.

Randolph agrees.  "It's all about location.  You never know what your background is until you've explored it and this is the ultimate way of doing so because it gives you a goal to achieve," he said.

There are various goals in geocaching, and one cacher’s goal may not be another’s. For instance, some are interested in their rank. Your rank in the geocaching system depends on how many caches you find. Doing park and short distance caches can improve your rank because they allow you to cache more in one day than if you pick caches located miles into a hiking trail.

"It's an in-exact science," said Randolph.  "It doesn't matter if you have 1,500 finds or 10,000, you could have the same experience."

Randolph does more short than long distance caches but enjoys both.  Lytle and his wife, like Randolph, like to find both types. 

"Sometimes we like to make a day of hiking long distances, or there are other days when we try to get as many finds as we can in a day."

You may be wondering how you get involved in such a sport.  Before you put on your hiking boots, you might want to first check out the geocaching website, which gives tips to aspiring geocachers in their "Getting Started" section.  After you are certain you want to start caching, you need to purchase a GPS. 

"Buy a cheap GPS," advises Randolph.  " If you're a college student, and you want to get into this because it's becoming like Frisbee golf, kind of like this hip thing people are starting to do, buy a cheap unit because you don't know how long you're going to be in it."

Lytle offers similar advice. "It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on a handheld GPS unit. We purchased a low-end unit, approximately $100, because we weren't sure we would be doing this very much. We are caching a lot more than we thought we would, but we don't see a need to upgrade to a better unit."

"Also, don't get frustrated by not finding a cache," said Randolph. "That's part of the whole experience. I didn't find my first cache, and I thought this was kind of stupid."  But instead of quitting, Randolph continued finding caches and is an avid member of the geocaching community.

In March of 2009 Randolph taught his first Geocaching 101 class.  "Geocaching 101 classes have been going on ever since the hobby was created in 2000," said Randolph.  "I had never participated in one before my first class, but I knew well of it and was ready to teach it."

What would you expect to learn in a Geocaching 101 class?  Everything from learning how to use a GPS to the do's and don'ts of geocaching. 

"You can't learn geocaching until you've tried it yourself," said Randolph. In addition to teaching his students about the art of geocaching, he also takes them to a cache, so they can learn firsthand.

Some refer to geocaching as a sport, while to others it is a game. To Randolph, it is his hobby, a thing he sincerely enjoys doing and takes pride with each cache he finds.

 "It doesn't matter if you can find a cache in a day or a hundred in a day because it's all about what you want to do." said Randolph. "As long as you're happy doing what you want to do, what you want to find and when you want to find it, that's all that matters. You can do it on a Saturday, you can do it on a Monday, and very few caches have posted times.  It's a hobby of convenience."

Geocaching is a great option if you want something new and exciting to do.  As both Randolph and Lytle said, you don't have to buy an expensive GPS.  Wal-Mart sells a Garmin, which is preferred by many geocachers, for $75.00.  The GPS is the most expensive part of geocaching.  After you purchase that, the only thing you have to worry about is marking your car, so you don't get lost in the woods.

GCM photo by Aliscia Leo

By Hillary Vandenberg

Major: Journalism: News Editorial

Minor: English

Hometown: Commerce Twp.

Year of Graduation: 2011