Geocaching November 2022

My first cache, on the first of the month, was DIAL 369... which was not at the spot one might think. The location is out back of a gas station/Wendys and the lunch traffic had already died away, so that was good. I did not see a phone booth around anywhere, which is what I was expecting.

Not my car

The next blank day I found Bamboo, Ginger, and an Ape (MW#2), the final cache in a "Morning Walk" series. The hiding spot was a bit more challenging than the usual. It was located at the crossroads of two walking paths, though the paths have almost no cover between them and the neighborhood houses. As I was searching for the cache, some people walked by. We did the suburban thing--politely ignoring each other.

The area

The container

By one of the many village centers in Columbia, Maryland, I found Penance! 528+ft away. I don't quite understand the story behind the name--something about claiming one cache as a "Did Not Find" but then finding it, thus having to place a cache nearby. I can't follow that logic, maybe you can. The only tricky thing about this cache is all the muggles walking by at lunchtime.

The way to the cache

Another daytime find was The Midnight Cache, part of a Little Friendly Library in a nearby neighborhood. The boys were with me but only one was not shy about being in the picture.

Turn down the sunshine!

After another run taking my daughter halfway across the county to her Algebra II class, I found By the road, a cache hidden just off a cul-de-sac. A small strip of woods separates the houses from a highway, making it a good location to hide a cache. I was confused by the tree that had an inner tube around it.

View from the cache

Not the cache

Home Sweet Home... must be near somebody's home. I just know if I lived near here this hill would make some excellent sledding dreams come true.

It doesn't look that steep in this picture

I've been making swings through a local rest area on I-95 because there's a cache in a picnic area. Every time I go, someone is actually picnicking! Well, every time except for 1:30 p.m. on a 44 degree Thursday! The cache is called 100 Favorite Points Challenge, where the finder has to qualify by having found between three and ninety-nine Maryland geocaches that have "favorite points" that add up to 100. Premium Geocaching members can give "favorite points" to geocaches that they really like. I was able to pull up an appropriate list and my top four finds had over 100 points collectively. The information below is the cache name, the cache code, how many favorites it has, and when I found the cache (in case the cache owner wants to check that I did it). I imagine that the numbers will only go higher as time goes on.

Grace  GC3V12M Fav=36  2/19/2017

Hat!  GC5GB23 Fav=31  7/2/2020

A Boy’s Bridge Cache GC1PZ40 Fav=19  3/26/2016

A View from the Point  GC6DAF Fav=19  4/2/2016

Favorite points = 105!

Picnic pavilion

I went for a hike in Broad Creek Park, Annapolis (or really a suburb of Annapolis) where I found Hamilton! and Truman Parkway Rain Garden. See my write-up of the hike here.

Toby's Trail is a cache at the end of a trail leading into Scott's Cove, a park on the Rocky Gorge Reservoir part of the Patuxent River. The hike was easy, down a trail used by fishermen. Someone built a shelter nearby!

Shelter!

The cove

After Thanksgiving, that is, on Black Friday, we avoided the malls and sales. Instead, we went to the National Cryptologic Museum and found the virtual cache Angvbany Pelcgbybtvp Zhfrhz. We had to find the answers to a bunch of cryptological questions and send in a picture next to the DARPA SSITH Automotive Demonstrator. The museum was packed with others also avoiding shopping crowds!

At the Cryptologic Museum!

My 700th geocache was Feed the 5000, a mystery cache that starts at a church. I was expecting some sort of sign at the church to be part of the solution but there was no sign. I solved the mystery on my own and quickly found the cache nearby.

Plain Protestant Parish

Right by the GZ for the Christian cache was the starting point for the multi-cache The Labyrinth at Woods. The location has one of those walking labyrinths though the clues are on signs and other objects near the labyrinth. I made the calculations to find the final stage of the cache, which was on my way back to the car! 

View from the final stage

My final cache of the month was The BWPBY Cache... in Burtonsville, Maryland. The location is a former strip mall. All the stores moved across the street for some reason (probably to get to the other side). It was empty and wet when I visited it on the 30th.

I bet the rent is cheap now!

The month ends with my cache count at 703 and only two days of non-caching on the calendar. December will be tough with eighteen blank days, all at the beginning! Wish me luck (and good weather).