Recently we had our first experience with that ultimate nerd sport, geocaching. If you haven't heard of geocaching, this popular t-shirt slogan sums it up: "I use billion dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods. What's your hobby?" Geocaching is in essence modern treasure hunting: enthusiasts put items into plastic containers coated with camouflage tape, place said containers in hollowed-out trees and other hiding spots in forests and parks, post detailed instructions on how to find each "cache" at geocaching.com, and wait to see who is able to track down their "treasures" using a combination of the instructions, a portable GPS, and wits. Those who find each cache are usually allowed to take items from the cache, as long as they replace each item taken with something of equal value (most of the treasures are worthless, with some exceptions). Typically visitors sign a log found inside the cache so the cache's creator can keep track of findings -- the average cache is discovered dozens or even hundreds of times.

We learned about geocaching through a neighborhood friend, who was introduced to the sport while vacationing in England. She came home super stoked about geocaching, so much so that she promptly went on ebay and ordered a portable GPS. Not a day after her GPS arrived my friend found some local caches at geocaching.com and we went out to find a couple.

What I quickly discovered about geocaching is how it offers purposeful hiking: looking for caches gives a nature lover a reason to visit all kinds of places off the beaten path. At my very first cache I found a lovely secret meadow and pond not two miles from my house that I hope to visit again sometime soon.

At our last find at Lakewood Forest Preserve (which we did *without* a GPS, by the way) we found a geocoin that included a request: the finder should plant the coin in a cache in or near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Now we're thinking we just might actually create a weekend getaway based on this task. Pretty nerdy, eh? Well, maybe not: one of our favorite bands, I learned today, just so happens to be playing in Kalamazoo in the near future. Now we have two reasons to visit the home of Western Michigan University.

To find worldwide geocaching opportunities and learn more about the sport, go to www.geocaching.com.