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Follow me.

(upbeat music) For centuries, Arizona has been a magnet for treasure hunters.

From the early prospectors chasing the glint of gold to today's geocachers navigating with satellites and smartphones, people have scoured the land hoping to uncover something hidden.

No matter what you're searching for, though, hiking Arizona's trails is a treasure all its own.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer 1] "Trail Mix'd" is made possible in part through support from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

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(bird chirping) (upbeat music) - For more than a century, the legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine has haunted the Superstition Mountains.

Prospectors, historians, and hopeful wanderers have all been drawn to its enduring promise, a rich vein of gold said to be hidden somewhere within the jagged peaks.

Countless maps, clues, and whispered stories have fueled the search, and more than a few have risked everything chasing its glittering promises.

In these mountains, where facts and fiction blur together like a desert mirage, the Lost Dutchman Mine remains one of the American West's most irresistible mysteries.

We are headed out on Peralta Trail.

And, you know, every time you head into the Superstition Wilderness, there's just this sense of excitement because you never know if maybe you'll be the lucky one to find the treasure.

Let's go see if it is in fact our lucky day.

(upbeat music) The Peralta Canyon Trail is a 4.6 out-and-back trail with an elevation gain of 1,341 feet.

It's one of the most popular trails in the Superstition Mountains and it includes an incredible view of Weavers Needle.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music) This trail is rocky, but not like fine, loose rocks, big, boulder-type rocks, so it makes it a little interesting.

And the trail is so lush and green right now.

I like to say the desert has its dress clothes on for us.

And you know what?

Not only is it green, I hear water.

(lighthearted music) (river lapping) Wow, look at this.

Wow, look at all this water.

Such a beautiful sight.

You know, out here in the desert, this water alone is treasure.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) Clearly you're the sheriff now, but you spend quite a lot of time doing search and rescue.

Can you tell us about your time doing that and why you're so passionate about it still?

- It was two different stints.

I started in search and rescue as a deputy in 2008.

Stupidly, I decided to promote in 2014 and lost my dream job.

But God had other callings.

And then I had just been made the lieutenant over aviation and search and rescue when Mark Lamb asked me to run for sheriff.

- There have been a number of times when these are not rescues, they're recovery efforts.

And one of those instances was in 2010, when a group of friends came out, and it probably was a fun, exciting adventure for them, but it ended in tragedy.

Can you tell us about that?

- It's a sad story because they were three friends from Utah.

One of the friends was, spent a lot of time on the computer, and he was absolutely convinced that he had found the Lost Dutchman Mine.

And he talked his two friends to come out.

They drove down from Utah.

They literally poured out milk from milk jugs and filled 'em up with water and thought that was enough water to take them to where they went.

And I will tell you, that was in the middle of summer.

And I've led ground teams on that search.

It was over a week-long search and we couldn't consume water fast enough.

We had CamelBaks on and still you were sweating so profusely there.

So you can't honestly carry enough water in August to go out into the desert for any length of time.

- Do you, Sheriff Teeple, think that there is treasure to be found in the Superstition Wilderness?

Is it out there?

- Well, it may or may not be out there, but the view is definitely a treasure.

If you've ever gone to Weavers Needle or Flat Iron, the view is the treasure.

But I think there's more myth and lore to the situation than ever truth to it.

- Here's a hiker safety tip I wanna share with you.

Anytime I'm heading into the wilderness, I take a photo of myself and I send a text of that photo to a loved one, along with details about exactly what I'm wearing, what trail I'm hiking, who I'm going with, or if I'm going solo.

I also let them know when they can expect to hear from me again.

So if they didn't hear from me, they would know something has gone wrong and they have a picture of exactly what I look like on the trail to share with authorities and other hikers.

(lighthearted music) (lighthearted music) (lighthearted music) We're about two miles in right now.

And this is why it's important to stop along the trail and take in the view, because look at how gorgeous this is.

(lighthearted music) We've got all sorts of beautiful rock formations.

The saguaros are popping right now.

And look at all the layers of mountains behind us.

I know we have a lot more to see, but this is gorgeous.

(lighthearted music continues) Wow, as we come around this corner, I'm noticing there are these really cool rock spires.

Look at these.

There are so many amazing formations out here on this one hike.

(lighthearted music continues) (water lapping) (lighthearted music) (sighs) The last part of this trail, it gets you.

The whole thing's pretty easy, but that final ascent, it's a little tough.

The good news is I know we're getting close to Weavers Needle.

In fact, I think that it's right around this curve.

(rhythmic music) There it is.

Oh, it's so beautiful.

No matter how many times I see it, Weavers Needle still gets me so excited.

It's just so cool to see the needle shooting out of the desert like this.

(upbeat music) Isn't it crazy to think that while we're out here hiking for fun, there have been people who came out here and made it their mission to find that gold?

Unfortunately for us, we didn't find any gold today.

But now we're gonna go try to find a different type of treasure.

And I think we'll have better luck.

For generations, treasure hunting has meant risk, rugged terrain, harsh weather, and legends that have lured people into real danger.

But today, there's a way to chase that same sense of discovery without the peril.

Geocaching turns the entire landscape into a playful treasure map, inviting anyone with a phone to hunt for hidden containers tucked in parks, trails, and desert corners.

This is so exciting.

We get to try geocaching today.

And this is something that's new to me, so we brought in a true expert who's done more than 3,000 geocaches around the world.

This is Jake.

Jake, thank you so much for helping us out with this.

- Yeah, most definitely.

I'm excited about it.

- What I'm thrilled about with working with you on this is that you not only know how to geocache, but you know how to keep the land top of mind when we're out here having fun with this.

And I'm really excited that you paired those two things together.

So should we go check it out?

- Let's do it, I wanna find that treasure.

- All right.

(lighthearted music) - Today we're hiking the Roadrunner Trail.

It's an easy 1.6 mile hike with just 95 feet of elevation.

And the path rewards you with leisurely lakeside views.

(lighthearted music) So what is geocaching?

So about 25 years ago, access to satellites was opened up, for GPS, for anybody.

And within a couple days, someone wanted to try hiding just a small container in the middle of nowhere and using the GPS satellites to figure out how to find it.

So they went ahead and did that.

And then it kind of slowly built from there into the geocaching company that it is today, where you hide different variations of these hides all across the world and you use GPS way points to find 'em.

- I love that someone took this serious technology and decided, "We're gonna have fun with this."

- Most definitely.

And it was only within a couple of days that they actually started doing it and then it blew up into a ton of different styles of hides and styles of caches.

- And now we get to keep enjoying it.

- Most definitely.

(lighthearted music) - Okay, so since I qualify for this by simply owning a phone, can you show me how to actually do geocaching?

- Yeah, of course.

So back in the day, I used to have an entire GPS unit, and you would have to coordinate where you were going before you even left.

But now, they have a pretty rad, easy app.

And you open it up and it shows where all the geocaches are.

But it only gets you within about 10 feet, and then you have to try to figure out where it is there.

And sometimes there's a hint or a puzzle.

Sometimes it's just the first stop and you have to go to another location to get to the actual geocache, which is just typically a box with a log book in it that you sign.

- [Kristen] Okay, so we're here?

- Yeah.

So we have about 0.3 miles that way.

- Okay, we're getting close.

- Alright.

(lighthearted music) - Why do people geocache?

- Yeah, there's a lot of reasons that people geocache.

One is kind of gamifying the outdoors.

So it's getting people to just go outside almost like a video game, except for exploring nature.

But there's also a lot of different kinds of geocaches.

Some, you have to solve mentally before you can even figure out where they are.

Some of them are really small and hidden in very specific ways.

So it can kind of catch that puzzle-solving aspect to your brain.

But the reason that I really like it is a lot of people highlight very special places to them.

And it might not necessarily be like a really popular place, but it's special to one person somewhere.

And then you go, and you place a log in there, and you write your name, and then you report it online.

And when you report it, you kind of share your story, and other people share their stories, and it kind of operates as good memory for me, and I get to look at other people's stories.

- Yeah, it seems like there's a really strong sense of community with geocaching.

- Yeah, for sure.

(lighthearted music) - This has been a fairly easy and pretty trail.

We have the greenery popping up alongside, the Palo Verde trees, beautiful, bright blue waters.

What does this say?

Site of Two Room Prehistoric Hohokam Indian Hilltop Lookout.

- And that makes sense because the name of the cache is Travel to Room with a View.

- Okay, so it has its own name.

They all have their own name?

- Yeah, most definitely.

And this is kind of what I was talking about with picking out special locations.

This is an indigenous heritage site.

And that's also a reason for us to be really respectful to the area and to make sure we're being sustainable in how we go about it.

- Absolutely.

So it's right up here then?

- Yeah, right up here.

- Cool.

- [Jake] All right, so we're about 114 feet away.

- [Kristen] It tells you how close we are right down to the amount of feet?

- Yeah, usually around three or four feet, it gets you to within.

So it has a clue here.

- [Kristen] A clue?

- [Jake] Yeah, a hint.

- [Kristen] Is it arbor day?

Okay, so there's trees right there.

- Yeah, but you can also see that this is kind of the end of the trail right here.

And I don't wanna damage anything or create a new trail.

So what I'm gonna try to do is stick to the area where it looks like someone's already been and I'm gonna try to stay on rocks.

- [Kristen] Good advice.

- So we're about 50 feet.

- [Kristen] Ooh, some of these rocks are loose.

- A little bit.

Always an adventure.

- We are getting quite close to the water, but it's not underwater or it would tell us that, right?

- Yeah.

And there is a couple that are underwater.

There's all kinds of different ones that have different difficulties and require different skills.

And there's all kinds of different sizes too.

So this one is gonna be a little bit smaller.

- So what kind of container would you think we're looking for?

- Yeah, back in the day, it was Altoids cans 'cause you could fit a log book in it.

Now it's a lot of, like, pill containers, or prescription bottles, or things that have like a nice tying mechanism on them, but that you can hide and sneak in.

So it said arbor day.

We're within a couple of feet.

Do you see something?

- [Kristen] I see it!

- All right.

- It's funny, you said prescription bottle.

I was like, "Is that a prescription bottle?"

It kind of has, like, a circular top on it.

- All right, and you can see that they camoed it up so that you can't see it from afar.

- Looks pretty beat up, pretty old.

- Yeah, we can check how old it is.

- Should we see what's in it?

- Yeah, for sure, open it up.

- What's in here?

Oh, okay.

Sticker, shark sticker.

We like that.

Okay, is this the log then?

- Yeah.

So there's a lot of tradables that people put in.

So the typical rule is if you take one, you put one in.

- Okay.

- You have anything to put in it?

- I do have something to put in it.

Believe it or not, they didn't just leave us a shark sticker.

- Oh, yeah?

- There's so much treasure.

He's a little ducky.

I think he's made out of glass.

- And a lot of geocachers have their own, like, signature for things they leave.

So one person might be, like, the duck person and one person might be the eraser person- - Oh my gosh, this is- - So you can pick and choose.

- A necklace with a T on it.

- That's pretty cool.

- My son's name is Teddy.

- There you go.

- I feel like this was meant for me.

- And you literally found it on a treasure hunt, which is a pretty cool story.

- That is so amazing.

Would you like anything?

Do you want a duck?

- I would love a duck.

- A keepsake duck for your troubles.

- Yeah, do you have something that you're gonna leave in place of those?

- I do.

- All right.

- Alright, so I have a sticker and this cute little "Trail Mix'd" flashlight key chain.

I actually don't think that the sticker- - You can get it folded in half.

- Let's see.

Okay, we got it.

Yay.

- And then I just need to toss the log book in.

- Okay.

- There we go.

- We did it, my first geocache.

- Congratulations.

- This is so exciting.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- All right, so now we gotta put it back.

And the rule is putting it back a little bit better than you found it.

- So exactly like you found it though as far as coverage?

I know you say better, but do you wanna hide it more, do you wanna hide it less, anything like that?

- It's kind of how you came up on it and how it's described in the post.

So if it's easy in the post, you leave it easy.

If it's supposed to be a little bit more complicated, you follow their lead.

- Thank you for making sure that we had an easy one for my very first experience geocaching.

And I gotta tell you, Jake, this truly felt like I came upon treasure.

I mean a gold piece of jewelry, are you kidding me?

- It's pretty cool.

- I can see how people get really addicted to geocaching.

And what I am the most thrilled about with finding this new hobby is it's just another reason to get outdoors and have fun in nature.

- And find unique little spots that can provide some memories and a better understanding of place.

- And what a great expert we had.

Jake, thank you so much for helping us out.

- Thanks, I try.

- And you know how Jake mentioned that some of the geocaches were underwater?

Well, we found one pretty close to here, where we're gonna have to cross water to get to it.

Let's go.

(lighthearted music) Now that I have successfully completed one geocache, I'm feeling pretty confident, so we're gonna try one that's a bit more complex.

And I'm gonna paddleboard out to this island.

It looks on the app like it's just a straight shot across, so let's give it a try.

(lighthearted music) All right, we're here.

That was a relaxing little paddle.

And let's look at the app.

Looks like we don't have very far to go at all.

So I'm just gonna pull on the paddleboard and we'll get on our way.

Make sure I don't slip.

Pretty slimy.

(lighthearted music continues) Okay.

Let's see what treasure we can find on this island.

(lighthearted music continues) Yep.

It's gonna be right here.

Let's see.

Okay.

I think it's right here in this tree.

All right, we're 11 feet away, 10 feet.

Well, we're getting close.

Okay.

Five feet.

It's jumping around a little, but now it says two feet.

So it's gotta be right here.

I think it's gonna be under the tree, like the last one.

Let's see.

Where is it?

Okay, these are some prickly, this is a prickly tree.

Okay, is it under here?

Oh, I see it.

Okay, another bottle.

Okay, here it is, another bottle.

Okay, I'm, like, stuck under this tree, so let me reconfigure here so I can show everyone what's in here.

All right, there's the log.

Congratulations.

You found an official geocache.

And this is called Cow Cove Island.

All right, it jingles.

What could it be?

Oh, a couple of keys.

These are, like, old school skeleton keys.

You see how cool that is?

So two of these.

That's a neat little treasure to find.

Now I'm gonna take one of these and I'll put in a sticker from "Trail Mix'd," after I fill out the log, of course.

(lighthearted music) (upbeat music) Here are the stickers that we are going to put in.

So if you come out here to Cow Cove Island to find this geocache, you know this was from us.

Very cool.

My second geocache and the first I've done on my own.

And I think it's official.

I'm addicted to this new hobby.

(lighthearted music) What a fun adventure we have had.

And don't forget that whether you're looking for gold or the trinkets of a geocache, the real treasure, that's the trails.

Thank you for joining us on this episode.

We'll see you when our paths cross again on "Trail Mix'd."

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(lighthearted music)