Geocaching club growing in popularity
With the addition of the Oakland University Geocaching Club, a new student organization present on campus, students can participate in treasure-hunt style competition.
Geocaching is the process of using a GPS to search for and locate caches, which are containers that contain a logbook and other items. The logbook is to be signed by anyone that finds a cache.
The purpose of the club is to bring experienced geocachers together for group searches and to share their experiences while also opening up the door for newcomers to get involved.
“There’s a lot of people on campus who actually go geocaching, so we decided it would be a good idea to make a club so we could actually do a more group type of thing with it,” said club Vice President Josh Super.
Super has been involved with geocaching since last October, he has been all over Michigan to find caches and has found some in Florida, too. He said one of his most memorable involved taking a kayak three miles out into the lake at Port Austin to find a cache in a lighthouse.
Adam Suddon, an OU student and newcomer to geocaching, is one club’s first members.
“I actually started getting into geocaching because of a Facebook post from the President of the Geocaching Club over summer break,” he said. “She mentioned geocaching and that her and some friends were using iPhones to hunt. Realizing that I might be able to use my smartphone to do the same thing, I called up some friends and asked them if they wanted to go treasure hunting.
After finding my first cache less than a mile from my house, I was instantly hooked.”
Shortly after, he became aware of the new organization forming on campus and got involved.
“So far, I’m mostly excited about the organization because it will be a chance to meet new people to cache with and show anyone who is interested what it’s all about,” he said.
Both Suddon and Super have described seeing a person find their first cache as an exciting experience, mostly because of newcomers skepticism that they will even find anything. To be the first to find a new cache is equally exciting.
“Most of the time, people hide prizes inside for the first people to find (caches), and usually it’s anywhere from $1 to $20,” Super said. This is why it can get so competitive to be the first to find caches.”
Currently, there are 19 caches located on campus, three of which Super hid himself. He’s also found all of the ones on campus except for one, which was placed by another club member two years ago.
“I would tell anyone that’s interested in geocaching … to find a friend and just start hunting,” he said. “I think that’s probably the best way to go about it. There are rules and common courtesies that should be followed, though, so I would suggest going (online) learn what to do.”
More information on the OU Geocaching Club can be found at
