For purposes of this series, the greater Austin area is defined as being within 40 miles of the Texas State Capitol (N 30° 16.479 W 097° 43.118). This distance was selected because the oldest cache in Central Texas, CenTex Prime, hidden 12/17/2000, falls within this radius. I decided to hide this series because I have found that the oldest caches tend to be among the most interesting and often offer nice hikes to scenic locations. They also tend to have larger than micro containers and contain large log books with comments by many cachers who have found these caches over the years.
The series is made up of five caches. The first four caches in this series are Challenge Caches dedicated to the most common cache types: Traditional, Virtual, Mystery, and Multi-Cache. To be able to log one of these four caches, you must have found approximately half of the existing caches of that type hidden before a particular year that are still active at the time of your find.
The fifth cache in this series is a Bonus Cache that requires that you find, although not necessarily qualify for, the other four caches in the series. You will need to gather some information that is contained in each of the four Challenge Cache containers to solve a simple puzzle to find the bonus cache.
CHALLENGE RULES
- All previous finds count.
- To count a previous find of one of the older caches, you must have physically visited the site, found the cache, signed the log (except for virtuals), and logged your find on geocaching.com.
- For this cache, you may sign the log before having qualified for the find and log it as a note, but you cannot claim the cache as a find until you have met this cache's requirements.
- Any caches that you own cannot be used by you for this challenge.
- You can document your qualifications for this cache in any way that shows that you have met the requirements of the cache. Options include: 1) Create a Bookmark List, 2) include a list of qualifying finds in your log, or 3) capture a screen shot of a ) a Pocket Query or b) a GSAK sort that shows your finds, and post it as a picture with your log.
- Your qualifying information should include the cache name, GC code, and date you found each cache.
A “Traditional Cache” is the original geocache type consisting of, at minimum, a container and a log book or logsheet. Containers can range from larger containers that generally include items for trade to “nano” or “micro” caches that only hold a logsheet. The coordinates listed on the traditional cache page provide the geocache’s exact location.
Traditional caches may seem pretty simple, but they allow for a wide range of containers, terrain, and hide difficulty that make them as varied as any other cache type.
To claim this cache, you need to find or to have found 30 of 60 active or 8 archived Traditional Caches that were hidden in the greater Austin area before April 1, 2004. (The complete list of qualifying current and archived caches can be found in the Old Austin Area Traditional Caches bookmark list.)
Here is a list of the active caches that meet this criteria:
- CenTex Prime | by Roger Ritter | GCEF | 12/17/2000
- Hill Country Bounty | by CenTex Preservation (originally John Nagle) | GC204 | 02/04/2001
- Enchanted Forest | by evinity | GC215 | 02/04/2001
- Demise of a Dot Com | by CenTex Preservation (originally Pumpkin Princess) | GC525 | 03/22/2001
- Barton Creek Waterfalls | by CenTex Preservation (originally Eoghan & PP) | GC6FA| 04/14/2001
- Barton Creek Greenbelt | by Bryan & Geoffrey | GC708 | 04/16/2001
- Cache on Prayer Mountain | by Steve McGinnis adopted by Moosiegirl | GC929 | 05/12/2001
- Charlie's Greenbelt Cache! | by Charlie, Team GeoDillo, adopted by adaman797 | GCB49 | 06/03/2001
- TPW | by Luv2hyke adopted from Pezman | GCC9A | 06/16/2001
- Lockhart Loot | by TWTaylor, adopted by Moosiegirl | GCD56 | 06/23/2001
- Bull Creek Overlook | by PI Joe and GoHrnz | GCFE9 | 07/10/2001
- What Lies Beneath | by PI Joe and GoHrnz | GC102D | 07/12/2001
- Veloway #1 | by threelanes | GC112E | 07/16/2001
- Greenbelt and Beyond | by threelanes | GC12E2 | 07/27/2001
- Slaughter Creek Cache | by threelanes | GC1BD5 | 09/08/2001
- Cactus Tree Cache | by Sandra & RoyD | GC2113 | 10/07/2001
- Vista Pond | by Loonerboy and Wonderboy | GC2157 | 10/07/2001
- Pioneer Cache | by Pezman (Adopted by the Outlaw) | GC2648 | 11/03/2001
- Bushwhacker’s Delight | by Butterscotch Basset & RoyD | GC2AAE | 11/30/2001
- Packrat Stash | by Weezie & HB, adopted by Semper Questio | GC2D5C | 12/20/2001
- The Captain's Treasure | by Pumpkin Princess & Amber - Adopted by BandA | GC301A | 12/27/2001
- High & Dry in the Greenbelt | by Rastamon, Team GeoDillo, adopted by adaman797 | GC2F12 | 12/30/2001
- PP01 One Year | by Pumpkin Princess & Eoghan | GC2FDD | 12/30/2001
- "Thorn Hollow" - Creekside Park | by SD4 (Scooby Doo 4) | GC3048 | 01/04/2002
- West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt | by Jan, Bryan & Geoffrey | GC31E3 | 01/12/2002
- Lost in Lakeway #2 | by bluecrane | GC324A | 01/13/2002
- Sams' Backdoor Cache | by 2Muskadeers | GC3B9A | 02/19/2002
- Coppertone's Curse | by Coppertone and Austin Explorer | GC5570 | 05/05/2002
- UncleRojelio's Recycled Cache | by unclerojelio | GC5EB9 | 05/31/2002
- Coyotee Watch | by bloodbrothers | GC6A97 | 06/30/2002
- Schoolhouse Rock | by lowracer (adopted by BlazerMan) | GC7723 | 07/28/2002
- KAMM O' Can | by Team KAMM | GC7DC0 | 08/11/2002
- Skyline No. 1 | by NoseCone | GC7F12 | 08/13/2002
- Low Water Rock-n-Roll Party | by lowracer (adopted by BlazerMan) | GC97EF | 10/06/2002
- Lion's Head Spring | by Moore9KSUCats | GC9D4E | 10/18/2002
- Cliffhanger | by Travelling Jack | GCA7F9 | 11/12/2002
- Dam Cache | by Superdot5 | GCBBF3 | 12/31/2002
- It's Balcones Fault... Too | by Blizzard | GCBC90 | 01/01/2003
- How do you "Measure Up"? | by Moore9KSUCats | GCBE4E | 01/04/2003
- Carnaval Cache | by HasBrough, adopted by Moore9KSUcats | GCD5A4 | 02/16/2003
- Mattke Family Picnic Cache | by The Mattke Family | GCE683 | 03/16/2003
- High and Dry | by PI Joe | GCFF61 | 04/21/2003
- My First Dam Cache Ever | by Tanya+kids | GCFFBD | 04/22/2003
- Millennium Surprise | by UltraDude & MsDK | GCG9T9 | 06/15/2003
- Dimmitt Hide | by Centex Trekker | GCGCH4 | 06/30/2003
- A Fortune In Cache | by Team GeoDillo | GCGECT | 07/10/2003
- The Trail Less Traveled | by UltraDude & MsDK | GCGF5V | 07/14/2003
- YAPIDKA Series #5 | by The Outlaw | GCGJQE | 08/02/2003
- Sun City Series - The Worship Place | by Soulcachers | GC1FZD3 | 09/03/2003
- California Copycat | by TX Hokie & SnowWhite Adopted by BANDA | GCGX3A | 09/14/2003
- St. Edward's Christmas Cache | by malawische & kittykat91 (adopted by buckandi) | GCH2AB | 10/13/2003
- Tree-Umph | by UT Class #2 | GCH3GY | 10/18/2003
- What's Mayan Is Yours | by Team GeoDillo | GCH3CZ | 10/19/2003
- Terra's Treasure | by Happiest_Girl, Mrs. Captain Picard & Peter Pepper | GCHAHK | 12/06/2003
- Virtual Reality | by The Outlaw | GCHC66 | 12/21/2003
- Bookmark Cache | by Catcachers | GCHMAF | 02/02/2004
- Caching Away Again in Margaritaville #3 | by Tropical Diva, adopted by BANDA | GCHW8CGCHW8C | 03/08/2004
- Shameless Dedication #2 WhatEVER | by The Outlaw | GCHYEM | 03/17/2004
- Traditional Geocache Dr. Harry 2 | by benny7 and gonzo | GCJ1EY | 03/28/2004
Like many Challenge Caches, the difficulty and terrain ratings for this cache do not reflect the difficulty of finding this cache itself, but rather the time and effort that you would have to invest to qualify to claim the find. The hides for this series are not your usual Challenge Cache basic hides. I tried to make them interesting, but not too difficult.
Be sure to record the two sets of information in the form "letter = number" attached to the cache log. You will need this to determine coordinates for the Bonus Cache that is part of this series.
