GREAT WESTERN ROAD TRIP

Back Country Utah!
And GrandFather Caches
We were finally on the road, feeling the wind through our hair, making great time up the highway towards Salt Lake City. The rate we were going, we would be there by noon....so, we took a detour.
Now, I had been studying this area on the map for a long time. Specifically, I had been trying to figure out if we could get close enough to get a chance at some "grandfather" geocaches, some of the oldest caches hidden. I had been working on a list of the 100 oldest active geocaches, and had stumbled upon a few that weren't particularly too far from the highway we had to take on up to SLC, and on to Idaho.

So, we were making such good time, and were all feeling adventurous, and that is how I happened to earn finds on two of these one hundred oldest caches, Pony Express Stash and Clover Springs Stash.

We found the Pony Express one first, after stumbling upon the right county road, luckily. Here is my log for it:

August 8 by hardings (1620 found)This cache was so fabulous. I grew up loving stories of the old west, and being a horse lover, the Pony Express always interested me. We enjoyed the plaques along the way to this one, and the hike. Was a bit of a tough one for us Texans! Thanks for keeping this one going, it was incredibly awesome to find two grandfather caches today and we enjoyed the history. Left Red Jeep TB.

That was a fun hike, about 0.11 straight up a hill, with prickly desert plants all around. In retrospect, the terrain actually reminded me a lot of Austin. We spent a lot of time exploring the Pony Express station "remains" and plaques. Then we drove next to the Clover Springs camping area, which was about thirty minutes away, if I remember correctly. This time I went by myself to find the cache, which was only about 250 feet from available parking, albeit straight up and devilishly well hidden. Here is my log for that one:

August 8 by hardings (1620 found)We made a side trip just for this one. What an honor to get one of the grandfather caches! It was a short hike, but the uphill about did this Texan in. Actually walked right past it a few times, it was so well hidden, but just right there. Way cool. Thanks for keeping this one alive!

We had so much fun driving through this part of the state. I would recommend these caches to anyone, even those traveling with small children like we were. On the map, it looked like this area would be remote and inaccessible, but it really was not. It is such a pretty area. We had such a good time, but boy, were we famished by this point! (Damned ham sandwich story forthcoming). Luckily, the first town we pulled up into had a TACO TIME! in it - we brake for Taco Time. Turns out too many times on this trip. It's those crisp meat burritos that drive us wild....

-delay in blog posting due to any number of issues, which I hope to correct soon-

Oldest Existing Geocaches

Amended list from Oct 2001,
Checked over for archived caches and updates.
As of June 2009, these are the oldest caches still listed:
1. GC30, 5/11/2000 Kansas, Mingo by The Kansas Stasher

2. GC12, 5/12/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly

3. GC28, 5/13/2000 Illinois, Beverly by Robert Reindl
4. GC3E, 5/18/2000 New South Wales, Australia, Lane Cove by Paul Edwards

5. GC46, 5/26/2000 New Zealand, Geocache by Kevin AndeO'Byrne rson

6. GC39, 5/26/2000 New York, The Spot by GPS_Fool

7. 19. GC31, 5/31/2000 Kansas, Arikaree by The Kansas Stasher

8. GC1D, 6/3/2000 Georgia, Beaver Cache by Jim Gooch

9. GC43, 6/3/2000 Ireland, Geocache by Chris

10. GC16, 6/4/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly
11. GC1E, 6/11/2000 Georgia, Stone Mountain by Chris Reynolds

12. GC53, 6/15/2000 Kenya, Rift Valley (Virtual Cache)

13. GC25, 6/17/2000 Idaho, Camels Prairie Stash by Moun10Bike, Cindy, Laura and Jasmine

14. GC37, 6/20/2000 Missouri, Missouri's First - Watts Mill by Steve Brown

15. GCD, 6/21/2000 Washington, Geocache by ajromanelli

16.GC26, 6/21/2000 Idaho, Two roads by Ry Jones

17. GC27, 6/21/2000 Idaho, Eggcellent by Ry Jones

18. GC1F, 6/22/2000 Georgia, Geocache by Jim Pate

19.GC4B, 6/25/2000 New Zealand, Aukland Stash by nz_etrex

20.GC1B, 6/27/2000 Arkansas, Gorilla Stash by Ed Normandy

21.GC18, 7/2/2000 Colorado, Tarryall by Mike Frazier
22 GC40, 7/7/2000 Belgium, Geocache by Pierre Cao

23 GC35, 7/16/2000 Michigan, Power Island by Kluso

24. GC20, 7/17/2000 Georgia, Geocache by Jeff Andrews

25. GC19, 7/20/2000 Colorado, Geocache by Rob Garrison

26. GC 17, 7/21/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly

27. GC23, 7/21/2000 Hawaii, Geocache by Tim Billings

28.GC21, 8/16/2000 Georgia, Lake Lanier by Jay Chamberlain
29 GC36, 8/21/2000 Michigan, Geocache by Gregory Benn
30. GC3B, 8/27/2000 Utah, Potters Pond by leaper64 & dirk88
31. GC57, 9/9/2000 Arizona, Geocache by Dan Rich
32. GC5B, 9/10/2000 California, Phil's Memorial Cache (Oldest CA. Cache) by GoodDogSD
33 GC5C, 9/17/2000 Idaho, Southern Idaho's First! by Eric
34 GC62, 9/26/2000 Texas Tombstone
35 GC67, 9/28/2000 Colorado, Paul Barclay Stash by Terry Shelton
36. GC 68, 9/29/2000 Alaska, Centurion Guards by Gary Short
37. GC6A, 9/30/2000 Denmark, Kippers in the Jungle by Klaus Alexander Seistrup
38. GC6E, 9/30/2000 Alaska, KidsGeoCache by Gary Short
39. GC70, 9/30/2000 North Carolina, Octopus Garden
40. GC72, 9/30/2000 Finland, Sun Gear by Kalle Reunanen
41. GC74, 10/1/2000 Massachusetts, First Mass by Jeremy Gilbert
42. GC76, 10/1/2000 Georgia, Rock Town
43. GC77, 10/2/2000 Germany, First Germany
44. GC78, 10/2/2000 California, Firestone
45. GC7A, 10/8/2000 Australia, Melbourne's 1st
46. GC7B, 10/8/2000 Arizona T824 Table Mesa
47. GC7E, 10/8/2000 Arizona, Labyrinth Canyon
48. GC7C, 10/9/2000 Utah Beaver Springs
49. GC7D, 10/9/2000 Massachusetts, Lowell, aka Second Mass
50. GC80, 10/9/2000 Utah Little Creek Stash

51. GC85, 10/14/2000 Massachussetts Camera Cache

52. GC 86 10/14/2000 Vermont 1

53. GC89 10/15/2000 Georgia Iron Horse

54. GC8A 10/15/2000 Utah Pony Express

55. GC90 10/19/2000 Mississippi Bonita Lakes

56. GC92 10/22/2000 Oregon Un-Original Stash

57. GC93 10/23/2000 Indiana's First

58. GC98 10/28/2000 Texas Double

59. GC9B 10/28/2000 Utah Clover Spring Stash

60. GC9C 10/27/2000 California Rabbit Eye View

61. GC9E 10/29/2000 New Hampshire Mines Follies

62. GCA0 10/30/2000 California Creekside Stash

63. GCA1 10/31/2000 Texas A Walk in the Park

64. GCA5 11/4/2000 Oregon Hembre Ridge

65. GCA8 11/4/2000 Utah Wah Wah Stash

66. GCAB 11/8/2000 California Orange County Stash

67. GCAD 11/11/2000 Australia Devil Bend

68. GCAE 11/12/2000 New York Sleepy Hollow 1

69. GCAF 11/11/2000 New Zealand Mount Cargill

70. GCBO 11/11/2000 New Zealand Flagstaff Hill

71. GCB1 11/12/2000 New Zealand Unity Park

72. GCB2 11/12/2000 New Zealand Botanical Gardens

73. GCB6 11/13/2000 Georgia Yellow River Stash

74. GCBF 11/19/2000 New York Boston Cache

75. GCBE 11/20/2000 New York Turkey Cache

76. GCC2 11/24/2000 California Azucar Mine Offset

77. GCC6 11/25/2000 Indiana Turkey Run Stash

78. GCC8 11/25/2000 New Jersey gerbiL cacHe

79. GCC9 11/28/2000 Texas No Walk in The Park

80. GCD2 12/2/2000 California Doggie Do

81. GCD4 12/3/2000 California Bovine Hill Stash

82. GCD6 12/2/2000 California Born Free

83. GCDE 12/10/2000 California Igor

84. GCEO 12/10/2000 Massachussets Aldo's Andover Geocache

85. GCE4 12/11/2000 Connecticut Another Brick In the Wall

86. GCE6 12/12/2000 Massachussetts Willow Brook Wander

87. GCEC 12/16/2000 Rhode Island Brenton Point

88. GCED 12/17/2000 Arizona Senda de Tonto

89. GCEF 12/17/2000 Texas CenTex Prime

90. GCFO 12/15/2000 Scotland Scotland's First

91. GCF1 12/17/2000 Australia Frying Pan

92. GCF2 12/19/2000 Massachussetts The Silver Lake Stash

93. GCF4 12/24/2000 South Carolina Modoc Stash

94. GCF7 11/25/2000 Australia's Used-To-Be Highest

95. GCF9 12/26/2000 Nevada XKD-380

96. GCFA 12/25/2000 Florida Christmas Cache

97. GCFE 12/27/2000 Arizona Diablo Point Cache

98. GCFF 12/27/2000 Pennyslvania Stone Wall Stash

99. GC101 12/27/2000 New York Hudson's Folly

100. GC103 12/28/2000 Denmark High Tension in the Bog