Area residents are planing a new-age treasure hunt for local and I-40 travelers to enjoy.

A GPS and free time is all that's necessary for Saturday's 11 a.m. geocaching event at Wailes Park.

Zac Fourman is organizing and setting up the event for area and traveling cachers.

“I went to an event in Albuquerque two months ago," Fourman said, "and figured, 'Why not start one in Tucumcar?'"

Fourman said there are around 17 containers, known in the event as "caches," hidden around Tucumcari. He said he is planning to hide seven new caches before Saturday’s Event.

“I have already picked out coordinates for three of the locations,” Fourman said. “I am going to drive around and look from additional locations.”

There will also be a bingo style competition where over 70 stickers will be hidden all over Tucumcari. Cachers will be given a sheet of 25 random coordinates and the bingo winners will receive prizes.

Fournamn said some of the local cachers have RSVP’d for Saturday’s hunt and 20 geocachers are from out of town.

“Many cachers are people traveling along I-40,” Fourman said, “As they travel they will look up an area to see if there are any caches they may want to stop and find.”

Fourman said he has been caching since June of 2009. He said in that time he has logged 120 caches many of them in the southern United States.

“One of my most memorable hunts was a puzzle cache in New Orleans,” Fourman said.

Forman said the puzzle lead him to a 30 story building where he was able to see the entire city.

Local geocacher Barbara Cherry said the fun, is in the hunt of these hidden treasures.

Cherry said she has located 171 caches — some as far away as Sherman, Texas.

“I have placed four caches in Tucumcari myself,” Cherry said. “The first one was placed on March 20 and the other three shortly followed.”

Cherry said she hunts caches with her daughter Robin Cherry and granddaughter Kayla Cherry.

Cherry said she is looking forward to Saturday’s event for the opportunity to find new caches and meet fellow cachers.

“Sometimes while we are out hunting for caches we have been beaten to them by a couple of fellow cachers,” Cherry said with a laugh. “It will be nice to get a chance to put a face to the person that has been a few steps ahead of you.”