Stepper Position Sensing and Control

permnoob:
the lazy way is to just grab it and point it to north or some parked position at startup, and enjoy from there. otherwise you need some reference location and a sensor/switch of some type

The compass will be in an enclosure so unfortunately that's not an option. So I am looking for ideas on an initial position sensor or a maybe more ideal a way to take advantage of the position encoders that some steppers have.