I love the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, and I love living in my part of the Adirondack Park. Until recently, these two things had nothing in common. In the last few weeks, however, a local geocaching team, Flowery, Loggo, Violet and Tweety, has placed a pair of Harry Potter-themed geocaches which use a geocacher's knowledge of the books to navigate through the streets and parks and woods in and around Saranac Lake, NY. Both caches are easy to do for non-HP people, but will be especially fun for fans of the series.

I completed the "Diagon Alley" cache the other day and had a great time wending my way through a dreamscape combination of Saranac Lake and the mythical Diagon Alley, where witches and wizards go for all of their wizarding needs. The starting coordinates take you to a pretty spot in the middle of Saranac Lake, and from there you are led through the village "visiting" businesses in the wizarding world while answering questions about the places you are led to by the clues given in the cache listing. One of the things I particularly liked about the cache is I only needed my GPSr to get to the initial stage, and then to find the cache container at the end of my adventure; this allowed me to enjoy the clues and the hunt for the intermediary stages without worrying about muggles (c'mon ... chuckle ... it's a little funny) spotting me as a geocacher or staring at the GPSr. I visited The Leaky Cauldron, The Daily Prophet, Madame Malkin's, Ollivander's, Flourish and Blotts, Quality Quiddich Supplies, Gringotts, wandered through a pretty little village on a nice day, re-lived some treasured reading, and eventually found a cache in a beautiful spot I had never before seen even though I've spent most of my life in the area.

I've recently completed the companion cache, "All aboard the Hogwarts Express", and loved it as much as the first installment. It's similar to the "Diagon Alley" cache in that the initial coordinates take you to a location that exists both in Saranac Lake and the wizarding world. You start out at Platform 9&3/4, and using clues from the listing find your way eventually to the Forbidden Forest. It's an excellent cache as people attempting it will learn a little more about Saranac Lake, enjoy reminiscing about the HP books, wander along a pretty trail into some lovely woods, and will find a cache at the end of it all.

I've enjoyed the themed caches I've done to date, especially the ones that are rich in details and imagery like "Diagon Alley" and "All aboard the Hogwarts Express". The "Diagon Alley" cache was innovative and imaginative and challenging, while it could still be enjoyed by young children; and the same is true of "All aboard the Hogwarts Express", although it is a bit more physically demanding. I love traditional caches with coordinates that can be plugged into my GPSr to help me find a cache, but a more involved caching experience with some background and storyline to it is a welcome change, and these two caches offer just that. I hope more caches of this caliber come along in my area soon.