Geocaching October 2024

The month started off with an odd discovery. I went to find Summer Souvenir Saver (Sudoku Series #2) which had the hint "out on a limb." I assumed it would be on a tree branch. I spotted a pair of old sneakers slung over a tree branch and thought that was a creative spot to hide a cache. But it was just some old sneakers. The actual cache was on another branch on the next tree. I also found TYGR402: And Chloe 2 in a nearby parking lot.

This is not the cache you are looking for

I did another CITO (Cache In Trash Out), getting double value since my scouts got a service hour. Then there was a Monday morning coffee meetup. The day after that I went up to Sykesville for some caching but only found two. CAM 2017: Welcome to Sykesville was part of the Caching Across Maryland series in 2017. It's a Wherigo cache, which uses an app to identify various places and ask questions at each one. That took more time than I thought so I wound up finding only one other cache, Geo-Ipod, which was about the size of an iPod. 

Cute final geocache container

The next day I cached around Meadowbrook Park. First were CCE - PINEing Bison and CCE - Hanging Bison, both bison tubes hung in trees, so not too hard. Meadowbrook Park Waterways was a multi-cache that had me wandering around the little lakes at the back of the park. It was very scenic. Columbia Ultra Micro #2 was also in the vicinity so I made that find as well. PARALLAX was a mystery cache much further away that was also found on that day.

The next day I found the cryptic Gur dhvpx ntrag whzcf bire gur 12 ynml zhttyrf, part of a series with similarly encoded titles. The find was very easy at a parking lot that only gets used in afternoons and evenings. The view is pretty nice too.

View from a cache

FoFD #6: Run Amok aka Roadtrip! #2 was a multi not far from errands and is dedicated to a Friend of Fuzzy Dave called Run Amok. I didn't have to leave the Royal Farms parking lot, so I was happy. Also on the way was Yum!, a cache I hadn't found the first time. The second search was under a minute, so I must have been really off last time.

The next day I found my 1500th cache. 1499 was Neighborhood Walk, an easy traditional in a quiet neighborhood. Not far away was RWLS: Zarabeth, Chambourcin, Titus, a Random Word Letterbox Series cache with a short walk to a fun fifteen hundred find.

Over in that mess

Since October had an earthcache weekend, I went to Ellicott City to find Ellicott City - The Great Flood, which required answers and no picture. I did a second search on A Silly Game, and again found the cache almost instantly after having spent fifteen minutes a couple of months ago with no find.

A few days later I found The Golden Girls, a cache about an American Olympic soccer team. The next days I found two icon challenges. An icon challenge requires finding a variety of caches in a county. I qualified for and found Montgomery County Icon Challenge and Howard County Icon Challenge. The Montgomery cache was more photogenic than the other one...

When is a bird house not a bird house?

I made a bunch of traditional finds while out running errands near Arundel Mills Mall. Bucks! promised the possibility of deer sightings but I did not see any. What Would Wally Do? and TB HOTEL MD were right by the mall and easy to find.

No deer here

Worst picture of the mall ever!

On another excursion, I found A Wad of Fun, a gum-based cache. Another Friends of Fuzzy Dave was nearby--#5 MSmit002. It was a nice mystery to solve at home followed by an easy find in the field. Also in the area were No Idling Zone, Hidden Pigskin, and Stagnant Water Full of Life (which is by a drainage pond behind a shopping center).

Gum cache

We went on a bike ride in Annapolis on a Saturday and found Random Wiki Puzzle: PFC CSKA Sophia Sports Complex. It was another solve-at-home-find-in-field that filled a day on the mystery calendar. I found it so quickly, I didn't take a picture!

Over in Virginia, I found Changes in Longitude Challenge: 150 Degrees. Thanks to finds in Edinborough and New Zealand, we qualify.

A typical foresty find

In Baltimore I found a bunch near Edgar Allan Poe's grave. The closest is The Purloined Cache right at the cemetery. Nearby is Baltimore Theatre Scene: Everyman Theatre and Woodstock Granite, an earthcache about a building that had Woodstock Granite and some additions that do a good job matching the original stone.

The building is behind me

Swift Kick in the Pantaloons has nothing historical about it other than researching the history of Charlie Brown. Puzzles, Puzzles, and more Puzzles was a fun multi-cache that required multiple visits to finish. TWR Started Here is a tribute to a previous geocacher. The Hobbit is the start of a four-part cache set nearby. LoZ Series: Pieces of Heart #2 is from one of the Legend of Zelda series, though I didn't find #3 and #1 is much further away. The Hobbit series has a better chance of getting finished.

GET OFF THE ROAD, IT'S...oh wait never mind.

Frank Lake Cache is indeed by Lake Frank in Maryland. There's a lot more caches in that area but I had the family with me and we were all about the hike, not about the caching. In Bowie, I found Bowie 50 Souvenir Challenge. Since I have over 100 souvenirs on my geocaching account, I easily qualified.

To keep filling in my mystery calendar, I found No Taco Tuesday and <--Easier Than the Cache to the West. Since I was in the neighborhood and needed a traditional for that day, I found three other caches: Freestate Grab and Go, Hanukkah Night 1, and Night 2. 

Bog by mystery caches

More bog

The next day I finished cache two for The Hobbit series, namely The Fellowship. The puzzle in that cache was more challenging, so I did not go for Two Towers yet.

This should have been "Two Trunks"

The month ended with two finds at Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area. Planetary Geology on Earth: Hiking the Mantle describes how the rocks here are from the Earth's mantle, making the soil much like the surface of Mars. Soldiers Delight is at the sight of a chromium mine that was active in the early to mid-1800s. The mine open is fenced off so no one wanders in.

Mine!

The month ends with 53 finds and 1536 overall finds. I only have two traditional calendar days left to fill, so November will see the completion of a goal, hopefully.