DEN Geocaching Day in Maryland

Today was the Discovery Education Geocaching Day across the US.  After a bumpy start, I headed to Maryland to meet Riptide AKA Fred Delventhal at Clearwater Nature Center in Clinton, MD.  We began our day by checking out the Nature Center itself.  One of the “critters” there was a little owl who had lost one of his eyes after flying into a car.  It reminded me how often wildlife is injured because of the spread of humans into areas that once was theirs.

Then it was time for our first cache.  I found the Clearwater Nature Center cache and dropped my first trackable, the DEN 2011 Geocoin.  It was Riptide’s first time doing a trackable also so we learned how to do it together.  Before heading to look for the next cache, we checked out the birds, a couple of red-tailed hawks, a couple of owls, and a bald eagle.  My opinion…bald eagles are really awesome.  Rip also gave me some tips on using the iPhone, better than going to the Apple Store.

Wendy, a fellow teacher from Bennett ES, met us in the parking lot and we headed off to the second cache.  I love geocaching with Wendy because as a former National Park Ranger, she continually teaches me about nature.  Wendy found the Clearwater cache first.  Great hide I must say. 

The third cache took us for a walk beside the lake, where there must have been a turtle convention today, and wandering into the woods.  The Cosca Cache was an easy find but the terrain gave me a bit of a work out.

We then headed back to the parking area and jumped into our separate cars to caravan to the Surrat House cache.  Learning more about history is one of my favorite reasons I love caching in this area.  The cache itself was really easy to find.  I dropped another DEN coin trackable into the cache.  This find surprised Riptide as apparently it had been moved from the last time he had found it.

After lunch at Chipolte,Thanks DEN, it was time for us all to head home.  It was a fun day filled with beautiful weather, exercise, and good friends.  Hopefully DEN will continue to offer this event.

The adventure continues……