The Iowa Geocachers Organization (IGO) is bringing its annual Hike-N-Seek event to Creston this weekend.
Geocaching is a game in which participants use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to locate hidden caches and log that those caches have been found.
Hike-N-Seek runs Friday through Sunday with various events taking place throughout the weekend.
In conjunction with Hike-N-Seek, local geocachers have placed about 250 new caches in the area.
Roger Lanning, who has been placing caches, said the Hike N Seek event will cover a large area.
“It really starts at about Lake Icaria to the west and then all around Creston and Green Valley Lake, Three Mile Lake, Twelve Mile Lake,” he said. “It looks like there’s (caches) going on the Mormon Trail going about as far east as Osceola.”
According to Lanning, last week there were about 125 people signed up on the IGO website to attend the event. But, he estimates with the forecast looking good for the weekend, more people will come out for the event.
No pre-registration is required to attend and participate in the event. Anyone interested can simply be at the Creston restored Depot at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Lanning said beginners are welcome, as well. He encourages anyone interested to bring either a GPS unit or to download the geocaching app.
Hike-N-Seek starts Friday with a lunch club meeting. Geocaching begins 8 a.m. Saturday with geocachers meeting at the restored Depot and continues all day. Saturday night, the IGO will hold its board meeting in Creston.
Sunday begins with a pancake breakfast at the restored Depot, followed by more geocaching. Then, a Cache In Trash Out (CITO) event will be held at Cedar Park at 11 a.m.
“A big thing with geocaching is we want to leave an area better than we found it,” Lanning said.
Following the CITO event, there is another get together at Pizza Ranch scheduled for between 12:30 and 1 p.m.
“Obviously there are a lot of new caches to look for – a lot of different kinds and levels of difficulty,” Lanning said. “It’s also a chance to meet some other cachers and talk about caches you’ve found. A lot of times, you go to to caches and see familiar usernames and never really know who they are. This is a chance to meet them.”
IGO Board Member Marcia Richwine said geocaching is a growing game.
“We have in Iowa 27,000 geocaches. In the world, we’re getting close to 3 million,” Richwine said. “They’re on every country, every continent and there’s even one on the space station. There are three in Antarctica.”
According to Richwine, geocaching offers something for everyone.
“There are (caches) out there for people in wheelchairs and for people who really like long and difficult hikes,” she said. “You pick and choose which ones you want to go to. As you get older, you’re still going to want to geocache. There’s easy ones out there you can do. It’s something you can do how you want to.”