Geocaching July 2024

The month started a little late due to illness. On the third, I found three caches by the Mall in Columbia. What's in a Name? is a mystery cache that took me to one part of the parking lot. I avenged an early Did Not Find in a different parking lot. Stairway to Heaven has probably the best camouflage I have ever seen for a cache, no wonder I didn't find it without some hints from the cache owner. My final find was by the same CO but not as difficult to discover. Useless Vanity was easy to find on a quiet Wednesday morning before the mall opened.

An empty mall parking lot

On the Fourth, we went on a hike by Liberty Reservoir. The park has a lot of trails with a lot of caches. One set is called Ravens Trail, with caches for each letter--R, A, V, E, N, and S. Each cache has a number which is used to find the final mystery cache. Unfortunately, my family was tapped out by the time we found S, so I'll have to go back and make the final find later on.

View of the Reservoir

Unenthusiastic cachers

The day after, I went to Catonsville and found I Choo Choo Choose You, a mystery cache based on a Simpsons episode. Also in the area, I discovered Bring A Book, Grab A Cache, If It Quacks Like A Duck....., and Shortcut. The bring a book was a Little Free Library with a nice hide.

End of the line

Little free library!

During another visit to Virginia, I found CCT - Negative Attributes, one of a challenge trail that requires finders to get a set of negative attributes. Also, nearby is the Liberty Cemetery at the Pines, a cache hidden in the back of a park that has a cemetery from the early 1900s. The area had a strong African American community that was disbursed in the 1960s when the county took over the land to build a school (that never got built). I also found Changes in Longitude Challenge 100 Degrees for which I easily qualified (with 180 degrees of longitudinal distance between my most distant caches). 

Not much to see in the cemetery

Back in Maryland, I found SideTracked - Savage, part of a series near railroads or stations. It was a quick find and near to the Monday morning coffee group.

After making a haul at the Baltimore Book Thing, I found Korok Seed Series #2 which was not far away. The log was too wet to sign, so I took a photo of the lid.

Pic of a seed on the lid

On another trip to Virginia, I found NoVAGO Moviepallooza: Snakes on a Plane, which has a puzzle and not a snake inside the final find (whew!). I may look for the rest of the series. Also, I picked up a lamppost cache with a twist at Get in the Zone, which had a cemetery cache hidden away behind the shopping center, Sworn Allegiance.

Cemetery

To fill another mystery day, I snatched Old National Pike Mile Marker 11 Revisited, part of a series on the old National Road in Maryland. 

Creek by the Old National Pike

By another waterway is A Tribute to Slow Turtle which was an easy find, though I did not get a picture. Also lacking pictures are Shalakanar Eats #2, Beltway Plaza, and Stand for the Right. On this excursion, I went to IKEA to buy a mattress and there was a cache there called I Kollect European Accessories. I traded a doubloon for a book lover pin, which I think was a great trade.

Traded items

My son had a camp at Towson University, so I found some caches on campus. The most anticipated one for me was Tiger Tracks, a web cam cache. Such caches have been discontinued, so only the few that are still around are still findable. The picture came out not as well as I'd have liked to...it was a dismal day and the construction may have added dust and grim to the window through which the camera was looking.

Time to wash up!

Also on campus I found Glen's pits, Rising Up To The Top, and TUgis2014, which had a special visitor.

Looking at it right!

Not a student

I drove down to Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, just south of campus which had two caches nearby. I dropped the fish lure travel bug Holiday Bell Travel Bug In the Ivy, a ammo-can cache right by the church. Not much further away is Northern Parkway Treasures, which had a precipitous drop down a path to the cache. Still, it was a fun find.

The next day we visited the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore. The multicache there (conveniently named Enoch Pratt Library) involves a micro-container outside the library that directs the cacher inside the library to one of the information desks. A lot of previous finders skipped the first stage (even the cache owner admits in the hint that if Stage 1 is gone, just go in and ask about the geocache), so I followed suit. After asking two or three librarians, I made my way to the right desk where the delighted librarian gave me the box from behind her desk. I love a library cache!

Old time bookmobile

Back in Towson, I discovered Wally's Watching which is by a former Walmart (now it is just an empty storefront). I also found Holey Moly and Fox Sighting in the area. Then I searched out four related caches: Dumbledore or Gandalf #1, #2, #3, and #4. Each cache write-up has a bunch of quotes that are from one or the other wizard. Getting the answers right give the actual locations of the caches. Each cache has a code word for the final mystery cache, which I found the next day.

The next day was my biggest day of caching yet--I found 20 caches. In addition to the Dumbledore or Gandalf - Bonus, I found the earthcache Sedimentation and Armor of Long Quarter Branch, the mystery cache I Make a Call to Order, and the regular caches Private Parking, Here's Your Sign, College Haze, Wong Cache, Looking for Lincoln #3, Hotel GR, Beaver Dam Road GR, 110, An Irish Pub, About Time, Raise the Flag, Really Entertaining Idea II, Don't Hit Me!, Green Box @ Timonium Crossings SC, One for the Master, Tippy Top, and The New Top of the World. 

At the earthcache

Not so impressive Dumbledore/Gandalf finale

These flags need some wind!

View from the tippy top

After that epic day, the next day I only found one cache--A Halloween Mission.

The day after, we flew to California, which will have its own geocaching post...