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.
“Mystery” Caches, also known as “Puzzle” or “Unknown” Caches include a wide variety of cache types. They often involve puzzles that you first need to solve to determine the cache's coordinates. On-site puzzles, night caches, and challenge caches are all often considered to be mystery caches. This category is also used for new and unique geocaches that do not fit in another category.
Some people are afraid of mystery caches because think they are “not good at puzzles”. One bit of advice that I would give to these people is that the hiders of puzzle caches want their caches to be found, just like all other hiders. So if you are not sure where to begin, contact the cache owner. Or if they are not easy to reach, try a previous finder that you know. In most cases, they will be happy to give you one or more hints to help you solve the puzzle. So give puzzle caches a try, and experience the double pleasure of solving a puzzle and finding a cache while making a single find.
To claim this cache, you need to find or to have found 25 of 50 active or 20 archived Mystery Caches that were hidden in the greater Austin area before June 19, 2006. (The complete list of qualifying current and archived caches can be found in the Old Austin Area Mystery Caches bookmark list.)
Here is a list of the active caches that meet this criteria:
- Change Exchange Cash Cache | by Eoghan | GCF08 | 07/04/2001
- Riata's Pet Heaven | by PrincessButtercup | GC5648 | 05/09/2002
- It's Thataway! | by unclerojelio | GC667F | 06/20/2002
- You Can't Get There From Here| by unclerojelio | GC8AA9 | 09/06/2002
- Jogmuir's Quest | by The Outlaw | GCE62A | 03/16/2003
- From the Top | by JNJWalla | GCH8RP |12/01/2003
- Sugar Bowl | by Texas-Gal | GCH988 | 12/20/2003
- Leatherman2. A Second Chance | by TxBigfoot | GCJ2J5 | 04/01/2004
- Cited Honorees | by Essiar | GCJ3VQ | 04/05/2004
- Dewey or Don't We? | by Team GeoDillo | GCHPHH | 04/21/2004
- Word Multiplier - West | by JNJWalla | GCJ2W4 | 04/30/2004
- Plane old micro | by Team GeoDillo | GCJFXP | 05/19/2004
- Wanted: The Outlaw -- BONUS Cache | by TreyB | GCJQG8 | 06/18/2004
- Wanted: The Outlaw (Smackdaddy) | by Grrlfrog & CacheChow | GCJJ5Y | 06/19/2004
- Lost Wages | by Team Rocket (adopted by Stratman) | GCJX53 | 07/15/2004
- Clone Rocks | by Team GeoDillo | GCKHPY | 10/10/2004
- Puzzle Doctor #1 -- Sudoku | by dirich92 | GCPN8A | 07/10/2005
- Puzzle Doctor #3 -- Quote Puzzle | by dirich92 | GCPY7R | 07/29/2005
- Latitude Smatitude | by Hyde&Sikh | GCPZ1K | 07/31/2005
- Coffee Time!| by Stratman & the Hoot | GCQ1M4 | 08/06/2005
- No Latitude | by Hyde&Sikh | GCQ7J3 | 08/20/2005
- Lotsa Latitude | by Hyde&Sikh | GCQ7J5 | 08/20/2005
- Freshman Orienteering Orientation | by filler & bcat | GCQHWC | 09/13/2005
- Word Up! AKA Concordanates| by Stratman & the Hoot | GCR3JF | 10/25/2005
- Soccer moms drive everywhere | by HiDude_98 | GCR3YM | 10/26/2005
- Steelers vs Chargers on Monday Night | by HiDude_98 | GCRK0R | 12/08/2005
- It's made of what? | by HiDude_98 | GCRKBW | 12/09/2005
- Brushy Creek Puzzle Series #1: "Sudoku" | by HiDude_98 | GCRMH1 | 12/13/2005
- A Little Less Paul and a Lot More Stratman! | by Stratman & the Hoot | GCRMV3 | 12/15/2005
- Fingerings during SAX | by GeoMire | GCRNGR | 12/18/2005
- Northwest Puzzle Series #1: Herbology | by HiDude_98 | GCRNHW | 12/18/2005
- FLOP #3: A Puzzle for Squares | by Stratman & the Hoot | GCRNQ0 | 2/19/2005
- FLOP #5: Oh Deer! | by Stratman & the Hoot | GCRNX4 | 12/19/2005
- Trailhead The Hole Way | by SoaringEagle | GCRR8P | 12/27/2005
- Hugo the Magnificent! | by Textrekkers | GCT349 | 01/19/2006
- FLOP #7: Ghost Writers in the Sky | by Stratman and the Hoot | GCT56P | 01/23/2006
- Research Blvd Puzzle Series #1: Mathematics | by HiDude_98 | GCT7P3 | 01/28/2006
- Old Stones of 969: Bonus Cache | by Blind Yak | GCTD04 | 02/10/2006
- Shifty Characters | by Textrekkers | GCTG6E | 02/17/2006
- Latitude = edutignoL| by Hyde&Sikh | GCTYNB | 03/18/2006
- Research Blvd Puzzle Series #2: Signs and Lines | by HiDude_98 | GCV1AH | 03/23/2006
- Yet Another Puzzle | by QueenZelda & Cub Boy | GCV899 | 04/05/2006
- FLOP #8: Not Enough Information!!! | by Stratman & the Hoot | GCVJQJ | 04/21/2006
- Abner's Li'l Puzzle Cache | by Cyberclops and Uncle Fluffy | GCW3JC | 05/18/2006
- Event Dream | by SEMIK | GCW42A | 05/19/2006
- Do Puzzles give you a Complex? | by The Tush Brothers | GCV1XQ | 05/23/2006
- F.L.O.P. #10: Spaced Out! | by Stratman & the Hoot | GCWAYG | 05/30/2006
- Parmer Puzzle Series #1: Great Caches | by HiDude_98 | GCWCPM | 06/02/2006
- One Degree of Separation: Lignumaqua #1 | by Lignumaqua | GCWMY3 | 06/18/2006
- Father's Day Series #6 - Father's Day Quiz | by HiDude_98, his two wonderful girls and Mrs. HiDude | GCWP7F | 06/18/2006
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.
