Sunday, December 22, 2019

Geocaching: Fall 2019

This fall, I found 17 caches, the same number as I did in summer. Most (13) of those were on a trip to the Monterey, California area, which makes this my busiest December ever.

In October, I found 1 cache on a camping trip to Culpeper County (County 99).

Asilomar Whistle Stop
In November, I found three caches, including my first March 2011 one (Month 192).

My first day in the Monterey area, I found four caches. The first was convenient to my conference and right near an old railroad whistle stop. The next three were in downtown Monterey, including two virtuals and a traditional from October 2019 (Month 193).
Monterey Virtual

On my free afternoon, I found seven caches. First I found two challenge caches. One was for finding caches in two states in one day (I once did three), and the other was for finding caches in a total of seven states, five countries, and three continents. (I'm at 19, 12 and 4.)

Then I drove to a nice spot on the beach where there was a December 2019 cache (Month 194) and another nearby. Continuing north, I found a highly-favorited one and a virtual at a Giant Artichoke.
Giant Artichoke Virtual

Finally, I drove up to Santa Cruz County and found a cache there to give me my 100th county!

My last day at the conference, I found a January 2015 (Month 195) near the conference by a nice coastal view, and then a September 2018 one near my hotel (Month 196).

That drops me to 40 unfound months. I think that's a new low. I now have all of the months consecutively from June 2013 to September 2018, which is a nice streak of 64. I have 7 months missing May 2013 or later, so there are maybe 33 "hard" months. (They're not really that hard; 31 of the 40 are available in Fairfax County alone.)
Months Found

Counties I've found geocaches in