BOISE — With names like Idtimberwolf, Seamonsters in the Mist or Idaho Taters, a group of modern-day treasure hunters is building a sport growing in popularity in the Treasure Valley. They call themselves geocachers.

"In the last year, it has really taken off," said Rob Lytle of Meridian, Idaho, aka Idtimberwolf. He's one of the founding members of the Treasure Valley Geocachers Anonymous, a loose association of local "cachers."

With hand-held GPS units, sturdy walking shoes and a veiled desire for remaining anonymous, they quietly promote their sport — mostly by word of mouth.

"It started out with three or four of us who would go out and find some caches and then going to have a beer," Lytle said. "After a while we thought it would be fun to invite some others."

That was in 2004. The cachers now gather monthly at local pizza restaurants, hamburger joints or other family friendly locales to share their caching tales and to put faces to the bizarre names that turn up on tiny log books hidden in trees and under rocks all across the Treasure Valley.

Another cacher, Jason Siebenthall, aka Seven Valleys, found a calling with his caching hobby while out wandering the sage brush near Initial Point south of Kuna.

The mini-mountain of lava has several geocaches hidden among its lowlands. Unfortunately they are becoming harder to find among the debris finding its way into the area, thanks to litterbugs too cheap to haul their trash to a landfill.

"I was out in the area and couldn't believe how much junk is out there: tires, old appliances," he said. So he called the BLM and organized a "Cache In, Trash Out" event — something for which cachers are beginning to become known.

"It's just part of caching," Siebenthall said. "You're out there enjoying nature and you want to make it better."

And you never know what you'll find. Sometimes it's a McDonald's toy, sometimes it's a rare coin. And sometimes it's a wife.

Lytle said when he heard about a group of cachers headed to Portland to visit the original geocache, he signed on.

"That was the trip I met my wife," he said. "That was kick."

Now the two enjoy their hobby together with their 5-month-old daughter.

Literally hundreds of treasure chests — many containing rare coins from around the world — are hidden throughout the Boise area, but unless you know how to find them, you wouldn't even know they are there.

Some of these caches are disguised as everyday objects on urban street corners, others are buried under rocks or logs along the Greenbelt or in city parks. And all contain a prize for those who enjoy the sport of geocaching.