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.
Here are the four Challenge Caches:
- Greater Austin Oldest Traditional Cache Challenge | GC4NNH2
- Greater Austin Oldest Mystery Cache Challenge | GC4QB5G
- Greater Austin Oldest Virtual Cache Challenge | GC4QCW0
- Greater Austin Oldest Traditional Multi-Cache Challenge | GC4QCRT
This is the fifth cache in this series, and is a Bonus Cache. It 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 other four cache containers to help find this cache.
The listed coordinates, although not the actual final or starting point for this cache, will take you close to both. While in the area, be sure to visit the interesting cache, Rogers Homestead, 1861-1865 | GC20J7K, if you haven't already.
This Bonus Cache includes two redirectors, and has elements of Puzzle, Virtual, and Multi-Caches. To find the coordinates of the first redirector, solve the following simple puzzle:
The starting coordinates of the first stage are in the form, N30° 2A.BCD W097° 4E.FGH
The following refer to the numerical digits in the GC codes (following the letter “GC”) in some of the oldest Greater Austin geocaches in each of the four categories included in this challenge series.
- A = Third digit (counting from the left) of 4th oldest Virtual Cache
- B= Last digit of oldest Mystery Cache
- C= Second digit (counting from the left) of oldest Multi-Cache
- D= Last digit of 2nd oldest Mystery Cache
- E= Second digit (counting from the left) of 4th oldest Multi-Cache
- F= Third digit (counting from the left) of 3rd oldest Mystery Cache
- G= Second digit (counting from the left) of oldest Virtual Cache
- H= First digit (counting from the left) of 2nd oldest Traditional Cache
Check your solution for Stage 1
At the location of the first redirector, you will need to locate an object, and gather information from that object to help find the cache. This has elements of a Virtual Cache, but can also be considered to be an offset Multi-Cache.
At Stage 1, you will find a small piece of wood attached to the outside of the structure. On the piece of wood are two rows of letters. The top row consists of 4 letters, and the second row includes a 7 letter last name (along with other illegible letters that you can ignore).
The coordinates of the second stage redirector are in the form, N30° 2X.XXX W097° 4Y.YYY.
To determine XXXX, substitute the numbers that you found in the 4 caches in the series that match the 4 letters on the top row, in the order they are found on the piece of wood.
To determine YYYY, substitute the the numbers that you found in the 4 caches in the series that match the 4 letters on the bottom row in the order they are found, ignoring any letters that you used previously for XXXX.
Check your solution for Stage 2
The second redirector is a typical Multi-Cache stage. At the location of the second redirector, you will find a micro container that contains the coordinates of the final location of this Bonus Cache.
Good Luck!