BENEZETTE — Digging in the mud when one is a child is a reward in itself; but at this year’s Geocaching Competition from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Elk Country Visitors Center, patrons of all ages will be digging for actual rewards.

Registration for the event will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 10 a.m. During the allotted registration time, “Mandy Marconi, a knowledgeable geocacher, will be offering short lessons for any new comers or patrons who wish to have a refresher course on the sport of geocaching,” said Courtney Colley, an organizer for the event and employee at the Elk Country Visitors Center.

For those with curious minds, geocaching “is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location,” according to www.geocaching.com.

Colley stated that all participants will be given a list of coordinates, including coordinates to 15 geocache stashes located in Sinnemahoning State Park, Parker Dam, Elk Country Visitors Center and the state game lands in the Winslow Hills area.

Participants will spend the day traveling the areas, but must return to the visitors center before 3 p.m. to be eligible for prizes.

“Inside each of our geocaches is a trivia question and points. Participants must answer the trivia questions, and then, at the end of the day the contestants’ with the most points and the most correct trivia answers will win prizes — ranging from geocaching gear to bluebird [houses] boxes,” stated Colley.

Awards will be handed out once all participants cache’s have been verified by group

organizers of the Elk Country Visitors Center.

New and experienced geocachers are welcome to attend. The event is hosted by the Keystone Elk Country Alliance in partnership with the state Game Commission and the State Parks.

For more information, call the Elk Country Visitors Center at (814) 787-5167.