Geocaching December 2022

The geocaching month started out with a find called Azlon I. The name refers to a sculpture nearby the cache location. Azlon is "the largest kinetic sculpture in Maryland" according to the write up. The hide is just across the street in a typical location.

Azlon I as viewed from the cache (with some zooming)

The view in the other direction

Happy 2021... is a geocache that's two years old and still an easy find at the Burtonsville Park and Ride.

The bus kiosks are kinda far from the cache

I had to perform some major bushwhacking to get to Scott's Cove, a geocache hidden in the middle of some well over-grown woods near a boat launch into the Rocky Gorge Reservoir. The container was quite large and I was able to off-load some happy meal toys the kids didn't want. Less junk at home!

The initial trail was easy

A stone ring near GZ

Tough bushwhacking

Pricky and Pokey is an even tougher cache to find--it's hidden up a tree! I went on a cold day so the pine sap was frozen and didn't stick to me. I did have a long way to go up and was nervous that the nest above might have some occupants. And there's the whole signing of the log while up a tree. I hope my signature was legible.

Can you spot the cache?

A more zoomed photo (cache is in lower right)

On a rainy day I looked for a quick cache, in this case HDCC One for the Road. It's at the T. Howard Duckett Community Center in Laurel, Maryland (hence the initials), at the main building. The Center is part of a much larger park that has a lot of other geocaches in it, so I will be back in nicer weather.

The community center

Not far from the Community Center is the mystery cache Andrea is loved. It's named after a tree carving of a heart with Andrea's and someone else's name inside. Putting that other name into certitude gives the final coordinates and a hint about the hide. The hike into the woods was nice, with the added bonus of seeing the Rocky Gorge Reservoir from the other shore.

A different tree full of graffiti

Some of the reservoir

On a trip to Annapolis, I found a geocache hidden in a Little Free Library. The hide, Outside the Box, was easy to find, making for a quick cache and dash! The library was impressive with its content and its construction.

Something for everyone!

HDCC Serena is back near the Howard Duckett Community Center, behind the tennis courts. The container was quite big. It needed to be to accommodate the "log!"

You can read "Dancing Gophers," right?

On the way back from Silver Spring, Maryland, I stopped at Pull a Tooth... which is next to an office building where I assume there is a dentist. The sign outside didn't list any.

At least finding the cache wasn't like pulling teeth!

Back at Howard Duckett, I found my first Letterbox cache. Letterboxing is similar to geocaching. With a letterbox, the seeker goes to a location and then has to follow a set of instructions (e.g., go twenty paces due north, turn west and continue another twenty paces, etc.) to get to the container. A letterbox container will have a stamp and ink pad so the finder can get a unique stamp in their own book. This cache, HDCC Horse Trail--Watch Your Step, leads the finders to a trailhead and says to walk 25-35 paces down the trail and find a concrete pile where the cache is hidden. I went about thirty paces and found a big concrete pile with no cache. After ten minutes of searching, I decided to give up. On the way out, I spotted a small pile of concrete about ten paces from the trailhead. Sure enough, the cache was there!

Wrong pile of concrete

The mystery cache umop-ap!sdn-03-u certain has a cryptic name. Solving the puzzle to get the coordinates is not too hard once you realize the trick being employed. I found the cache on a rainy day, leading me to a very big puddle right by the cache.

I managed to keep my feet dry!

Back at Howard Duckett, I found HDCC Cheap Rent, hidden at a location that looked obvious to my caching eyes.

The goal is in this picture

The multi-cache HDCC Let's Have Some Fun is also in Howard Duckett Park, off in another part of the woods. Cache finders have to calculate the final location based on playground equipment nearby. The find was slightly stressful due to walking right past a "Do Not Trespass" sign. This cool tree trunk was on the ground near the cache's hiding spot.

Near, not at, Ground Zero

Just outside of the park is Might be quick, might not . Enjoy the view. It was a quick find for me on a peaceful Sunday morning.

Another view of the reservoir

I went to Schooley Mill Park to find the mystery cache Schooley Balance Scale II. The puzzle is the old "weighing twelve balls" problem that you may have run into before. My experience with it was a long time ago and I need some help from the internet to remember the solution. The actual find at the park was easy.

Not very far into the woods

The month ends with only two days missing still. The year ends with 195 caches found during the year. Maybe next year I will break 200? 

The chart shows interesting information. Obviously I started the project in March and you can see the week in August where I had Covid and didn't go out. Clearly, I won't be able to fill every hole until 2024!