Geocaching June 2022

The month of June started off with a very easy find called If You Missed the Monday Coffee..., which refers to a group of geocachers who meet at a nearby cafe for coffee Monday mornings from 5:45 to 6:30. That might be too early for me, but maybe someday I will wake up too early and go.

Clearly not the cafe

The next day I found Camo Man, a geocache hidden in a very busy parking lot. I had to pretend to tie my shoe for a long time before I made the find.

A picture from the less busy side of the parking lot

"When You Need One" is the first of a series that I have not started. They have a lot of caches in downtown Laurel. I may be picking them off one by one to fill the calendar.

Over there

Kendal Ridge Stash was just off a trail and starting to get overgrown. The toughest part was the first ten feet from the paved trail. The rest was a walk in the woods.

Doesn't look like it is anywhere near civilization

On a trip to the Maryland City library, I found In the Laurel Oxbow, an EarthCache. EarthCaches are locations that have interesting and unusual geologic features. I had to answer some questions about the formation of the oxbow and observe the effects of nature on the area. I will probably drag the kids off to this location later in the summer. Read more about my visit at this previous blog post, if you haven't already seen it.

At the oxbow

I went to confession at Saint Anthony's Shrine and found Canticle of the Creatures, named after a famous prayer composed by Saint Francis. The spot had some creatures gathered nearby!

View from the cache

Another view from the cache

Cows in shade

I had a quick cache-and-dash at a nearby supermarket's parking lot. Purple Butterflies is a reference to how the cache container (a pill bottle) is decorated. It was in an obvious spot, if you are an experienced cacher.

Only an amateur would think it was in my sideview mirror

Ceonsillicaphobia #5 is a mystery cache that gave me a little trouble. I figured out the way to find the numbers but was off on a couple since there were multiple possibilities. The cache owner let me know which ones were off and I was able to come up with the right combination. The name refers to the fear of having an empty glass, so I had a hunch where the hide was. Too bad I made the find before noon, so I could not partake of the glass-filling goodness.

Need a customer? Take me!

I went back to the Navidad series by finding Clemons Crossing Navidad #3 - Shopping! at, you guessed it, a shopping center in Columbia, Maryland. The find was easy and I was able to buy groceries and check stuff out at the board game shop.

Quiet on a Tuesday morning

A nearby challenge cache is MD - 20 Souvenirs Challenge, where the finder cannot (or is supposed to not) log the find until they've been awarded at least 20 Souvenirs on their geocaching account. Souvenirs are issued for each state and country that you cache in, for special accomplishments or events, etc. It's basically an additional way to gamify the system. I have been awarded 57 souvenirs, so I logged my find.

View from the cache

I went back to Saint Anthony's Shrine to do some First Communion shopping and found another of their caches, F or C. The reference is to trails in the woods. One is called Saint Francis, one is called Saint Clare. The cache is near where the trails meet.

On the trail

A cool sign on the trail

Give Me A Call... is a cache and dash that would have been super-fast if it hadn't been for a muggle parked nearby. I waited a bit and made the find.

View from the cache

Another quick find was Laurel Walking About and it was just barely off the route to the grocery store.

View from the cache--don't come during the school year?

The next day I found Stones in the Gardner, a cache located in the Gardner-Anderson-Duvall cemetery in the middle of an industrial area. Judging by the tombstones, it began in 1882 and the last person was interred in 1930. The burial ground is far enough off the road to be invisible and hardly audible.

Another hidden cemetery in my area!

June is down to two calendar days without caching, so one goal was met this month. July looks very promising.