Alpha Geocaching Fall 2022

A geocacher with the mysterious name "gvt1985" has placed a series of caches in the Howard County, Maryland, area. The theme is the alphabet, with sets of caches. Three or four caches are regular finds that contain a number. The fourth or fifth cache of the set is a mystery cache, requiring the numbers from the previous caches in order to calculate the location of the mystery cache. The groups are typically in the same park, making it possible to find that particular set in one outing. I've been slowly working on the entire set for a while now.

I did the S-T-U-V set of caches a bit out of order, though in my defense they are laid out with U in between S and T. They are all located on trails in the River Hill part of Columbia, Maryland. The paths wind their way behind houses with the occasional playground tossed in for fun. My first find was Alphabet S - Sticks, which was indeed hidden off a pathway under some sticks. The find was not too hard. The container looked like some animal had tried to bite into it several times with no luck. The container was too small to have food inside, so who knows what motivated the critter.

Big sticks and little sticks!

My second find was Alphabet U - Under. This cache was hidden further off the path and the late September vegetation was still pretty thick. I needed the hint for this one. That put me in the right location.

More sticks, but the hide is under something

The final clue for the series was at Alphabet T - Turtle. This cache is very far off the path. This particular part of the woods had no trails at all going in, making the find a long bushwhack. By the time I made it to Ground Zero, I was determined to find the container. After fifteen minutes of searching around, I finally located the cache. The container is camouflaged with a turtle shell, as in the picture below.

Can you find the turtle? It's an albino.

I bushwhacked my way back out again and found a spot to sit down (one of the aforementioned playgrounds). Then I calculated the location of the final cache, Alphabet V - Very, which was on the way back to my vehicle. That made me happy. What made me even happier was the non-bushwhack to the final location which was just barely off the paved pathway. I made the find in short order. The container had popped its lid, so I bent it back into shape and logged my final find.

The final spot

This set was a bit of a challenge with the vegetation and lack of trails for two of the caches. I enjoyed it but the whole set took way more than an hour to finish.

I started on the A-B-C-D set with the obvious opener, Alphabet-A (Above). The name would lead a seeker to look high, but that's not where the find was. I found a feature that seemed out of place in the area and that turned out to be the key to the hide.

In there somewhere

Then I switched to another set. The caches N-O-P-Q-R are in Gorman Park on two sides of an access road. On a Saturday, I found O and N. Alphabet O - Old was closer to the road so I found it first, though it took a bit of bushwhacking. The area has a lot of trees down. Since I visited in October, the undergrowth was not as bad as summer's peak. The container had water in it and the log was barely signable due to damp.

View from O

I bushwhacked even further into the park to find Alphabet N - New(Replacement) which had to be re-hid due to housing being built nearby. I went straight to the spot that looked like a likely ground zero but there was a lot of moisture and creepy crawlies. I decided to let the phone GPS lead me around for a while. Then I checked the hint and some earlier logs. I went back to my first spot. Most of the crawlies had crawled off, so I looked under a wet wood log and sure enough, there was the container. Happily, the log in the container was dry and signable. 

The run-off creek had no water in it

The next day I came back and started on Alphabet P - Placed. After a pleasant hike through the woods the find was not too hard. I managed to spot a color not normally found in nature (at least on the ground) and made a quick discovery.

Somewhere in there

Further on the trail, I was amazed to see a fire hydrant!

What's that doing there?

The second cache, Alphabet Q - Quick, was a little different. The hike in wasn't too bad except for the massive thorn-growth surrounding ground zero. The area reminded me of Sleeping Beauty's castle. I had to put down the thorns with a trusty branch that I found on the ground. The find was easy once I was inside the circle of pain.

Okay, maybe not the black thorn wall from the castle

Doing some quick field math, I found the coordinates for Alphabet R - Root. At ground zero, there was a spot much like the hiding place for Alphabet V - Very, which was a huge misdirection. Fortunately, a prior cacher left a note on their find that they ran into the same problem. A little more walking around and the right spot was spotted.

The trail is in this picture, believe it or not!

Hiking back to the car, I saw a cool, dead tree.

Maybe it's a signpost?

I went back to the park where the A-B-C-D caches are hidden and found Alphabet-B (Between) Redux. The cacher made the initial set of 26 alphabet caches then decided twelve years later to make another set, the Redux caches. Schooley Mill Park is home to the A-B-C-D caches and their Redux versions. It's a big park. Bushwhacking to B-Redux was not too bad though the cache container was soaked and the log was unsignable. Still, I got the B-Redux number which was in the lid of the container.

Not actually between there

The next cache along that trail is Alphabet-B (Between). This particular cache is hidden across a stream through a section of the forest that has a lot of thorny bushes. I chose to cross the stream using stones in the water. One stone betrayed me and I wound up with a soaked right foot! I did make the find. The container and log were both dry so I was able to sign it.

Ground Zero

With the wet foot, I decided to go home rather than trudge through to the C caches.

The next day, I found Alphabet-A (Alongside) Redux which was by the entrance of the park. The find was easy but the trail was a bit muddy and had plenty of hoof-prints.

The park was on the other side of that creek

Looks more like hoof prints in real life

The weather was colder than I dressed for (30 degree drop in one day!), so I decided to go home rather than freeze while finding the C caches.

About a week later I went back to the park. Again the temperatures were in the 30s but I had a warm hat and proper jacket. Alphabet-C (Covered) - Redux was first along the trail to the non-redux cache, so I found it with relative ease right by a convenient spot to relax.

Nothing fancy but highly functional

With this easy cache, I happily headed off to Alphabet-C (Covered) which was deeper in the park. The trails were well marked until I was 300 feet away from the cache. At that point, there was a wall of thorny shrubs and a small creek blocking my way. The write-up on the cache page recommended a trail further down that switches back, crosses the creek at a shallow point, and gets very close to the cache. I followed those direction and got about 100 feet from the cache with dry feet and a field of tangly thorn bushes to get through. Fortunately, I did make it to the cache and get back out unscratched. It was quite an adventure. With the new numbers from C and C-Redux, I headed home to math out the locations of D and D-Redux.

An easy fording spot

View from the cache

About a month later, I finally finished off the D caches. Alphabet-D (Dig) - Redux was first as it was closer to the parking area. I found it relatively quickly with almost no bushwhacking. Yay for an easy find! Nearby was a trap for spotted lanternflies. I did not see any inside and I did not mess with the trap.

View from the cache

The trap

The walk to Alphabet-D (Dig) was not too far. The bushwhack off the trail was farther but not too bad thanks to the cold December weather. The area is almost outside the park, I could see houses in the distance through the trees.

Almost the end of the park

Alpha sets completed this fall:

A-B-C-D (and the Redux)

N-O-P-Q-R

S-T-U-V

Previously completed:

J-K-L-M (and the Redux)--see this post

Maybe I can finish the rest in the Winter of 2023?