Truman State students staying in Kirksville over midterm break may want to consider adding geocaching to their list of activities.
Geocaching is an international treasure hunt made possible by GPS technology. Participants can find small hidden caches through GPS coordinates and clues shared by the person who originally hid the cache. Although the geocaching community originally consisted of outdoor hiking and camping enthusiasts, it has grown to include people from every background. Participants generally use smartphones to follow the clues and locate the caches.
Kirksville has been a part of the global phenomenon of geocaching since 2004. There are currently thirteen geocaches located around Kirksville, some located on the Truman campus.
Sophomore Brittany Schenk recently went geocaching for the first time and says she visited three different locations. She says it was fun to look for hidden items in the caches and to see what other people had left behind. Part of the allure of geocaching is that you don’t know what you will find, she says.
Sophomore Katie Easley had a similar experience her first time geocaching.
“I enjoyed it pretty well,” Easley says. “It was kind of funny just walking around in circles just trying to figure out where [the geocache] was.”
Geocaching isn’t just about solving a mystery. Geocaching allows people to see their everyday surrounds in a new way, Easley says.
“If you’re walking to somewhere where you’ve walked before, you don’t really pay that much of attention,” she says.
Participants can get connected to geocachers through geocaching.com. Those interested in hiding caches can do so in any public place or register through the Missouri Department of Conservation to acquire a Special Use Permit to hide caches in conservation areas.