WICHITA, Kansas, Nov. 12, 2007 - The same GPS technology that helps you navigate your car is now taking people on a high-tech treasure hunt.  It's called geocaching:  following coordinates and clues to a hidden surprise.

The name is pronounced 'geo-cash' and it could take players to all kinds of 'geo'graphical locations in search of a 'cache.'

Local geocacher Trish Flock says she's geocached as far away as Mexico and Jamaica.

But her adventure starts at the computer. Trish goes to a geocaching website and enters in her zip code and how far she wants to travel.  She picks a geocache to search for, based on intriguing clues and downloads the longitude and latitude coordinates into her handheld GPS.

Trish follows its compass and map by car as far as she can, then takes off on foot.

When she arrives at the location, she finds a puzzle.  Trish needs to solve the puzzle in order to get her next GPS coordinates.

The new coordinates taker her to a remote location that requires a little hiking to finally find her prize, a metal ammunition box hidden among some branches.  There are trinkets and toys inside the box.  Trish can trade one of her own for a souvenir.  Then, before the stash is put back for the next geocacher, Trish documents her visit on a notebook inside and on-line, letting the hider know if she enjoyed it.

"It gets you out of the house, gets you doing something without over-exerting yourself necessarily, and it's based where kids can be involved," Trish said.

The prize is not really what's inside the cache, but the fun of discovering it.  With almost 425 caches to her credit, Trish has uncovered the explorer within.

If you'd like to give geocaching a try, a handheld GPS costs anywhere from $100 to $1000.