MiGO's 20th Anniversary Cache
Background:
Twenty years ago, a small group of geocachers gathered in this park and created the Michigan Geocaching Organization. This virtual cache was "hidden" on the anniversary of that gathering and published at the 20th Anniversary Picnic, May 7th, 2022, near the same location as the original event. The banner on this page is a re-creation of the top of the sign that graced the original event.
The following is a slightly edited account of the first event. It was posted on the original MiGO website. We hope you find it interesting. It might contain some information you need to claim a find.
It all started with a thread on the geocaching.com discussion forums. Rusty thought a Michigan geocaching event would be a good idea and created an event cache to be held at the Lansing mall on April 27, 2002 @ 10:30am
The response to the event was much greater than expected and it was decided to move the event to Grand Woods Park and its pavilion played host to somewhere between fifteen and twenty geocachers.
Rusty hosted the event and had supplied coffee and some goodies to snack on. The day started out with people filtering in, introducing one another. Finally - faces for all those names we see so often in log books! Everyone donned their name tags (provided by Scook) and after a while Rusty presented us all with the challenge for the day.
He had come early and marked a known spot in the park. On this spot, he placed his GPS and allowed it to average the coordinates for twenty minutes. When it was done averaging, he marked down the coordinates and now he presented them to us. The challenge was to see if our GPSes would be consistent in finding the point Rusty had 'marked'. So... off we went, coordinates and GPSrs in hand, to find the spot. Each person had a small flag with their name written on it which they placed in the ground at the point they thought the secret coordinates were
It was interesting to see the spread. Generally, everyone was relatively consistent and we were sure that someone had hit the mark pretty dead on. After a while, Rusty revealed to us how he determined his secret spot and where it was. He was able to identify a known point by running a string between a water fountain and a the corner post of a horseshoe pit. A string with a bolt hung in the middle of the string, marking the exact spot he has let his GPS average that morning.
The results of this experiment are difficult to quantify. The majority of participate were grouped together within 6-8 feet. However... Rusty's point was approximately 35 feet west of the primary grouping. Upon re-averaging the point, Rusty determined that his GPS was now giving a different reading at that point and the actual coordinates seemed to be near the grouping, with TTracker being the person 'closest to the pin'. The moral of the story as the group saw it seemed to be that our GPS units were all relatively consistent. We gained a new level of confidence in the consistency of our prized caching devices. Amused with the exercise and now armed with the knowledge that we should search 35 feet to the west for any of Rusty's caches ;) we declared TTracker the winner and retired to the pavilion for the telling of war stories and more coffee and goodies.
Once back to the shelter, a Rubbermaid container was set out on a picnic table and before we knew it - a new cache had been created. It was decided that we would place this cache in the park and convert the event cache into a real cache to preserve it in posterity. Many attendees disappeared and shortly returned announcing the successful placement of Michigan's newest (at the time) cache.
Some folks stayed and grilled up some food and eventually everyone had said their good byes, cleaned up, and set off for home. Many of us were quickly re-united as we took the opportunity to do some caches in the Lansing area. The event was a smashing success. We'd like to thank all who attended, Rusty for the motivation and the goodies, all the folks that left prizes for the new cache, and all Michigan cachers who helped promote the event. If you were unable to get to this one, there will be several more chances throughout the summer to attend a gathering.
After the inaugural event, the GC code of the event was transferred to the traditional cache hidden during the event. That historic cache is still available to be found. If you look back at the first logs, you will see the "will attend" and "attended" logs prior to the cache being found. In the old days, such a transfer was allowed, but that is no longer the case.
Taking Credit for this Cache:
To claim a find on this cache, you need to take a short walk around this part of Grand Woods Park to gather the four answers required. You will need to do a bit of reading for the answer to question 2. There are waypoints listed for questions 3 and 4 if you need them.
Question 1: The posted coordinates take you to a sign. On that sign, find the Legend section. What is the very last word in the Legend section?
Question 2: According to the report provided above, who was the organizer of the inaugural event?
Question 3: Walk west of the pavilion so the point if the concrete patio is in front of you twenty feet or so. How many window sills can you see on the southwest and northwest facing walls? Spell it out.
Question 4: Now walk around to the northeast side of the pavilion. There are some utility boxes, meters, etc. On the large green box, a few feet away from the building, are stickers with information on them. One sticker has a word with a blue background. What is that word?
Please log your find, then send your answers using the "Message this owner" link at the top of the cache page, or via "Send Answers" on phone apps. Every finder needs to send their own answers. We will check your answers, but don't wait for a response. You will likely only hear from us if you are incorrect.
Join us and support us at www.mi-geocaching.org
MiGO would like to recognize and thank our Lake Superior member, FarkleTime, for graciously donating her Virtual Reward Cache, and allowing the organization to adopt it.
MiGO would also like to thank the early members who created this fine organization and all of the members who have supported the organization over the first twenty years. With your help, we look forward to serving the Michigan geocaching community for many years to come.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023 This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.