Geo-whatting?

People who get a kick out of scavenger hunts may also enjoy geocaching — if they haven't already tried it. Phil and I (pictured above) tried it for the first time recently. Geocaching is a hide-n-seek sort of a game. There are a couple of different ways to start: by creating a cache of goodies to hide, or by going on a hunt to find goodies someone else has hidden. The world — literally — is your playing field.


Phil and I decided to hunt for some caches others had hidden around town. We started by doing some research at the (magnificent) library in downtown Salt Lake City, pictured above. We visited geocaching.com, typed in a SLC zip code, and wrote down the info we found: geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude), hints ("don't bark up the wrong tree"), and parking tips. Then, we used the bright yellow hand-held GPS device Phil acquired to enter those coordinates.


The GPS pointed us toward the east and south of the library. We hoofed if for a few blocks, all the while following the directions on the GPS. This was the first time either of us had used the device to find anything, let alone a geocache. We chatted excitedly about what might be in the cache and where exactly it might be located. We were walking past houses, office buildings, and tree-lined sidewalks.

We took a wrong turn or two before we came to an office building (closed on this weekend afternoon) with a raised garden in front of it. We snooped around the flowers and peeked under the shrubs that lined the perimeter of the building. I snapped pictures while Phil scrunched down on his knees to look in the myriad crooks and crannies surrounding us. Finally, I heard him give an exclamation. I turned to see what he had found.


It was an Army-green container hidden beneath a loose stone in the corner of the raised garden. I hurried over to see what was inside. We pulled out the contents carefully: stickers, temporary tattoos, a roll of dimes (for the parking meter), pencil erasers and other family-friendly knick-knacks. Also inside was the geocache's journal. In it, finders are expected to write a line or two about what they took out of the cache — and what they put in. I put in a frequent-diner card for a local Mexican restaurant.


Geocaching is popular the world over. Some cachers are so hard-core, they request that items they put inside the caches they create travel from state to state. Phil and I have not yet created — and hidden — a cache, but it's in our plans. Any ideas for items to stow away inside it?