I hadn’t been out geocaching recently for a variety of factors. However, I finally pushed myself and went out to work on the Towns of New England. On December 26th, I attacked the challenge and managed to cross off 9 more towns in the Northeast section of Massachusetts.

I’d been to Salem before, but there was a new virtual geocache there that wasn’t there when I first visited, so that was one of my stops. The idea was to walk out on the jetty to the lighthouse. It was high tide, and there was a considerable amount of water on the jetty. There were information boards along the walk showing where the normal tide lines will be in the future as sea levels rise. It seemed to me like some of it was happening now, and I had to wonder if this will be mostly underwater in the next 10 years. The area is part of the National Park Service and they are restoring the ship in the first photo.

Nearby was Marblehead. There was a geocache here at Chandler Hovey Park which had a great view as an added bonus.

Also in Marblehead was Castle Rock. It’s an interesting rock formation that dates back to when there were volcanoes. It’s now been pushed up so the layers are visible. It’s what’s called an earthcache where you learn a little science while figuring out the answers, which get sent to the geocache owner for credit. While I was there, a man came down with his art supplies and scrambled up on top of the rock formations to sketch or paint. It was a bit chilly to be out there for that. Although the wind was fairly calm, it was 25°F with a slight breeze, so not exactly the kind of weather where you’d want to be on top of a rock formation on the ocean for any length of time. My walk out to the lighthouse had been fine on the way out, but on the way back I had the wind in my face and it was chilly.

Another interesting town was Swampscott. The first geocache I looked for had either been washed away in the weekend storm or was under ice still on the cement walk down to the beach area. Instead I found another virtual geocache, dedicated to the uncle of the geocache owner. You can read the details of his life at the link to the geocache, but he had a very impressive military career and came from this town, hence the memorial here. These are the interesting things that I love about geocaching; these facts that I learn about people and places along the way.

In Lynn, I had to take a bit of a walk to the only geocache in that town that was practical to find. It was about 1/4 mile from the parking coordinates to the geocache location. I met a couple of dogs along the way which is always fun. The path went right behind some homes, but I guess they are pretty used to people walking here. On the other side of the path was Breeds Pond. It was pretty empty, which was startling. I looked it up and it’s actually supposed to be a reservoir. I wish I’d taken some pictures of that, but I was racing against time at this point so I just hustled it back to the car after finding the geocache.

My last geocache of the day was in a little free library in Revere. I also grabbed a Boston Roast Beef sandwich from a place nearby. It wasn’t too late, but with it getting dark early and not wanting to drive in the dark if I can avoid it, that meant the day was cut short. I’ll get one more chance to cross off towns before we turn over to 2023, so I’ll post my annual round-up after that.