High-tech trackers

The popularity of Global Positioning System satellite technology has spawned a backcountry activity for the wireless world: geocaching. It brings bushwhacking and technophiles together to track the new-fashioned way, not by scent, but by satellite signal.

Hand-held GPS devices guide geocachers to the precise location of an ammo box or film canister containing a secreted item.

Finding the cache is not always a cinch. Users augment their GPS advantage with regular map reading and compass skills and take care to avoid making an impact on the environment.

The prize for successful gadgeteering? It’s not exactly buried treasure. Caches can contain a coin, sometimes a trinket, or maybe just a logbook to prove you were there. As Mike Dyer points out, though, the thrill of the hunt is as important as the bounty.

The book explains various kinds of geocaching games and offers tips on every aspect of the process. From start to finish, the book serves the needs of the interested novice.

Whether it will sway any old-school hikers is another question.

Dyer’s response is that a GPS treasure hunt in an XBox age “may be the only way to coax the kids into taking a hike.”

-- Emmett Berg