I just had my first geocaching experience.

This relatively new hobby is a kind of high-tech hide-an-go-seek game. It�s a cross between map-and-compass orienteering and X-marks-the-spot treasure hunting. It�s a little more strenuous than plain old hiking and a lot less intense than conquering the Adirondack High Peaks.

Geocaching is also a great reason for people who like electronic gadgets to buy and use something called a GPS receiver.

I first heard about geocaching last fall. When checked the Internet for more information I found the only website you need for this activity: www.geocaching.com. It currently lists over 19,000 caches hidden in 124 countries.

Here�s how it works: Someone hides a cache�a waterproof plastic or metal container, filled with a handful of trinkets�and posts the location coordinates on the Internet. Anyone with a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, and some sleuthing skills, can then track down the cache. Once you do, you sign the logbook, take an item, leave something of your own in its place, and re-hide the cache where you found it.

Through the winter I did more research. I borrowed a receiver from one friend and an informational video from another. I surfed the Internet and narrowed down the easiest caches in our area.

It was all theoretical, though, until I got my very own little GPS receiver a couple weeks ago. Finally, it was time to give geocaching a try.

My husband, my daughter and one of my husband�s co-workers set off last Saturday for nature preserve in a town near Schenectady. Before we even got there we�d had a nice adventure, meandering around various county routes, with beautiful views of rolling hills and quaint farms, through rural towns I didn�t know existed.

Finally, we found the parking lot for the preserve and prepared to find our first cache.

In addition to longitude/latitude coordinates, the cache descriptions on geocaching.com often have encoded hints to help guide you to the right landmarks. Here�s why: although military GPS receivers are accurate up to 1 meter (3.3 feet), the ones currently available to civilians can be off by 20, 40 or even 50 feet.

It�s that gap that makes the geocaching a challenge. Your powers of observation take over where technology leaves off.

Some caches are one-shot deals. Start in one location, find your way to the other, and you�re done. This one was a "multi-cache" or an "off-set cache"�one set of coordinates leading to another.

Our first hint had us looking for a "tree with many large trunks." This took some off-trail tromping. I found it a challenge to watch the screen and watch my step. I stumbled and sputtered, calling out updates to my companions. "We need to go a little more to the North. OK. Now it says we�re within 80 feet. 60 feet. Oops. Now it says 64 feet." It was like playing a big game of hot and cold.

We soon zeroed in on the right spot and found the correct tree. Tucked amid the multiple trunks we were rewarded with a pill bottle containing the next set of coordinates. I checked my printout from the website and found the next clue referred to a "very large uprooted tree."

There are many uprooted trees in the forest, and most of them can be described as large or very large. The first one we came along was very large. We thought we were close but the coordinates weren�t quite right.

About five minutes later we came across uprooted tree, but since it wasn�t as large as the first one I didn�t think much of it. I decided to keep looking. When we eventually circled back to it, I announced that I needed a break from leading and handed the GPS to my husband.

While he familiarized himself with the controls, our daughter climbed up on the downed trunk for a rest. She peeked down inside the twisted tangle of roots and gave a cry of discovery: a second pill bottle with the final set of coordinates.

We eventually found the cache, spied first by our other companion and retrieved by my daughter. It was a clear plastic container with a blue lid tucked in a very devious hidey hole. Among the goodies hidden inside were a squirt gun, a half dozen or so small containers of Play-doh, several packs of gum, a roll of film. I chose the film and left behind a smiley face pencil and a U.S. flag sticker.

I signed the logbook and reviewed the entries written since it was hidden less than two months earlier. I thought it was interesting that each person took a different route, but we all got to the same place in the end.