Another in my fungus of Lancaster County Central Park series. There are multiple fungi refered to by the common general name of Wood Ears or Tree Ears. At a nearby tree, there were multiple examples of these fungi, and the Seek app by iNaturalist wanted to identify some of them as the Eurpoean fungi Auricularia auricula and others as Auricularia cornea. But I think they are all the native Auricularia angiospermarum or Wood Ears. I think I first encountered them called Tree Ears in hot-and-sour soup. They might be edible, but I don't eat wild mushrooms because there are too many possibilities for mistakes.
More information about Wood Ears from Messiah College.
The European fungus especially likes to grow on elders. The cache container is hidden between two larger multi-trunked trees. One of them is a box elder maple. The other seems to be dead but sturdy. This article describes why Box Elder trees are great. There was an easy approach to the back side of the trees when this cache was placed in late-July. Purple camo'ed container.
Congratulations to Cache Riprock on the First-to-Find.