A introductory seminar on geocaching and we're hooked - (c) Neala Schwartzberg

Picking my way through cacti, circumventing large boulders, my eyes are fastened on the screen of the tiny GPS unit in my hand. Ed and I are on one of our expeditions in the increasingly popular outdoor fun of geocaching. We’ve dubbed the highly sophisticated high-tech unit The Toy but with the ability to latch on to and track a dozen satellites, it’s clearly a modern marvel.

When I first heard of geocaching I was intrigued. Here was something that blended being outdoors, the fun of a treasure hunt, and a predilection for anything high-tech. And it didn’t even require me to seek hand and footholds or hang upside down on a mountain. Ed was instantly intrigued and launched into an extensive investigation of GPS units, culminating in the purchase of this system, about the size of a cellphone.

GPS (Global Positioning System) units pinpoint your location anywhere in the world using the services of satellites in orbit around the planet. Yes, we’ve taken the highly sophisticated technology used in communication satellites to create an adventure game for adults. A very popular adventure game – the website geocaching.com estimates that there are currently 745,790 active geocaches around the world.

Our first introduction was through a free seminar held last year in Elena Gallegos and offered by Open Space and REI. We were hooked.

The location of a cache is called a waypoint, and is coded as latitude and longitude. These coordinates are plugged into the GPS and the fun begins. The Toy’s job became guiding us from where we were to the hidden cache. Although these stashes are concealed throughout the city, our favorite places are the foothills of the Sandias so we’re often within Albuquerque’s Open Space area. The rules there require that all caches must be within two feet of an official trail.

These leaves two possible ways to locate the hidden container. We can either follow one of the trails, keeping our eyes on the unit’s arrow that patiently keeps pointing in the direction of the stash, or head off across the open areas doggedly following the arrow. We’ve done both, and our choice generally depends on how adventurous we feel. It’s often easier to follow a trail– although some of the caches are hidden off quite challenging trails.

But whichever way we choose, the other part of the fun is in actually locating the container. These can be as small as a 35mm film cannister to a lunch-size plastic container. Of course, the satellite fix isn’t perfect – the error factor can be 6 or more feet. Once we’re in the area, and The Toy has beeped, the hunt is on. While caches can’t be buried so that you need a shovel, they are often cleverly hidden. We’ve found them hanging from nails, tucked under rocks, and sometimes we haven’t found them at all. Actually, Ed usually finds them. It’s not that I’m keeping score, but if I was, Ed would clearly be in the lead.

While the rules for hiding a cache can get a bit complicated but they can't be too far from a path and they can't be on private property. Tthe rules for finding them are straight forward –  if you take a trinket from the cache you must replace it, do not move or remove the cache, and enter the information requested in the tiny logsheet within the cache.

Not all waypoints are for things to find, some are for things to see. Sometimes these are called waypoint markings, other times virtual caches. We’ve investigated them as well. Like a treasure hunt for something quirky to see, these can get problematic. The Toy is set up for geocaching not navigation. Although we’ve been successful in finding some, other times we’ve abandoned a search concluding it would have been far easier to get directions from Google.

We’re now in the process of waypointing some of the locations within the Open Space and the Cibola National Wilderness. There are no roadmaps for these areas, yet some exceptional places to find. Perfect for The Toy, and geocaching fun.

Here’s one to get you started. It's not a geocach, but an art installation in Elena Gallegos. N35 09.814 W106 28.154.