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 “Virtual Cache” is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary—you may be required to answer a question about the location, make an observation, complete a task, etc. In any case, you must visit the coordinates before you can post your log.
Virtual caches were discontinued many years ago, but existing virtuals were grandfathered and remain active unless archived for one reason or another. And although they were discontinued a while back, they were around long enough to highlight many of the most interesting locations in the Austin area. In many cases, virtual caches were located in places that other hides would not have been possible. So hopefully this cache will cause you to go discover some great spots around Austin that you may not have seen, and reintroduce you to the often overlooked category of virtual caches.
To claim this cache, you need to find or to have found 25 of 55 active or one archived Virtual Caches that were hidden in the greater Austin area before December 31, 2003. (The complete list of qualifying current and archived caches can be found in the Old Austin Area Virtual Caches bookmark list.)
Here is a list of the active caches that meet this criteria:
- Virtual Cache Mania I - Texas History | by Pumpkin Princess | GC142A | 08/02/2001
- Virtual Cache Mania II - Texas Heritage | by Pumpkin Princess | GC142B | 08/02/2001
- Virtual Cache Mania III - Texas Academe | by Pumpkin Princess | GC142C | 08/02/2001
- Virtual Cache Mania IV - Texas Tourism | by Pumpkin Princess | GC1436 | 08/02/2001
- Wild In The Basin, Gone Virtual | by Sandra & RoyD | GC24A4 | 10/26/2001
- Wild In The Basin, Virtual Cache Two | by Sandra & RoyD | GC29C4 | 11/24/2001
- Wild In The Basin, Virtual Cache Three | by Sandra & RoyD | GC29C5 | 11/24/2001
- Texas Virtual Movie Cache #2 | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC2B6C | 12/05/2001
- Austin History Virtual Cache | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC2C00 | 12/09/2001
- Not Just A Hole In The Ground | by Austin Explorer | GC3DCO | 02/25/2002
- Figures of Texas History #1 | by cluelessandclark | GC3E1C | 02/27/2002
- Figures of Texas History #2 | by cluelessandclark | GC3E1D | 02/27/2002
- Figures of Texas History #3 | by cluelessandclark | GC3E1E | 02/27/2002
- Science Lesson Virtual Cache | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC4001 | 03/06/2002
- The Rock | by threelanes | GC43C2 | 03/19/2002
- Cache a Fallen Star | by cluelessandclark | GC4418 | 03/21/2002
- The House Is Rockin' Cache | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC4444 | 03/22/2002
- Auditorium Shores Star Cache | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC4445 | 03/22/2002
- Lonely Grave, Spooky Site | by IronJungle | GC4555 | 03/24/2002
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die | by unclerojelio |GC4677 | 03/28/2002
- Austin Historical Marker #1 Cache | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC4730 | 03/30/2002
- Reunion Camp | by threelanes | GC499C | 04/05/2002
- Sverge in Texas | by Austin Explorer | GC49DF | 04/06/2002
- Spinning in the wind | by GoHrnz & TxHiPowr | GC4DF2 | 04/16/2002
- I Don't Want a Pickle | by ironjungle | GC4FC5 | 04/21/2002
- Deutsch in Texas | by Austin Explorer | GC5469 | 05/04/2002
- The Archive War | by unclerojelio | GC588B | 05/16/2002
- Texas Legends | by Raymar99 | GC5BC9 | 05/24/2002
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre #1 | by FireCacher | GC6A09 | 06/29/2002
- The River City Flyer | by Dan, Kim and Ryan | GC6E53 | 07/07/2002
- Run Of The Mill | by Austin Explorer and Coppertone | GC759D | 07/25/2002
- Wile E. Coyote | by PI Joe | GC7ED6 | 08/13/2002
- Cemetery ? Virtual | by Outofbounds | GC7F71 | 08/14/2002
- The Tree That Wouldn't Die | by unclerojelio | GC8A81 | 09/06/2002
- End of Watch | by SPQPMP | GC8AED | 09/07/2002
- Round Rock Robber’s Grave | by Moosiegirl | GC91B5 | 09/22/2002
- Swept Away? | by Cajunlimeys | GC91F0 | 09/22/2002
- Spicewood Gem | by Coppertone & Austin Explorer | GC92C7 | 09/23/2002
- Head Over Here | by Team GeoDillo | GC9897 | 10/06/2002
- The Round Rock | by Austin Explorer and Coppertone | GCA219 | 10/28/2002
- Tribute to Texas School Children | by Web-ling | GCA4F6 | 11/05/2002
- Blunn Creek Preserve | by outofbounds | GCA808 | 11/13/2002
- World War II - Praha | by outofbounds | GCA80E | 11/13/2002
- World War II - Austin | by outofbounds | GCA810 | 11/13/2002
- Austin History - Extant Frame Structure | by Outofbounds | GCABB1 | 11/22/2002
- HOMEMADE TREASURES | by Bonnie B | GCB231 | 12/07/2002
- Leanderthal Lady | by Blizzard | GCC8BB | 01/22/2003
- ABOUT AUSTIN | by Bonnie B | GCCFCD | 02/04/2003
- A VIP In A Small Town | by 4genatxn | GCD9AF | 02/23/2003
- Cottonwood Creek Critter | by 4genatxn | GCD9B6 | 02/23/2003
- In Remembrance of Ralph, the Swimming Pig | by Cybercat | GCF57D | 04/09/2003
- Vigilante Justice | by Big Mo | GCFF19 | 04/21/2003
- You don't know JACK ('s house) | by doubleagents | GCG9JY | 06/15/2003
- High Post | by UT Class 1 | GCGCHK | 06/28/2003
- Walk With Warblers | by Austin Explorer | GCGG3N | 07/20/2003
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.
