How old is your oldest active cache? Bonus: What is the oldest active cache you have found?

[+Snoogans]

Seven of my traditional caches and one of my virtuals  are all turning 22 years old later this month. Many of them are in very remote spots where they will probably outlive every person who reads this post; I have several more that are all over 20yo,

 

The oldest Traditional I own.

 

I remember finding Mingo when it had just turned 10yo a few weeks beforehand and being amazed it had lasted so long. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, IYKYK.) I distinctly remember passing on Mingo to make up time to get to a GPSaxophone  camping event about 3 years earlier before it became well known as the oldest active cache. (I'm guessing there will be quite a few that respond with Mingo. I definitely want to go back and see the monument)

 

So, how old is your oldest active cache & what is the oldest active cache you have found?

[+The Leprechauns]

Yeah, I've found Mingo (been there twice), so that's not a fun forum post.  I'd rather mention how I've found the oldest caches in Jordan, New South Wales, Queensland, Ontario, British Columbia and other places far from home, including the oldest caches in 20 USA States.

 

My oldest hidden cache is Schenley1, which will turn 24 years old later this year.  I adopted that cache.  The first cache I hid myself is also still going strong - Elves in the Forest, hidden in August 2002.  I continue to maintain these caches, even though I moved from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, because they're special.  I was in Schenley Park just six weeks ago and my oldest cache is doing great!  

[+barefootjeff]

54 minutes ago, Snoogans said:

So, how old is your oldest active cache & what is the oldest active cache you have found?

 

My oldest active hide (GC4ZQTF) is just a youngster at a bit over 11 years old, with 105 finds and 16 FPs. It's still the original container and logbook, with the only thing I've replaced being a pencil that went missing. It's a Sistema container tucked under a rock ledge on Blackwall Mountain.

 

 

The oldest active cache I've found, which is also Australia's first cache and placed on the 18th of May 2000, is GC3E. It was originally a traditional but converted into a virtual when the park ranger removed the container.

[+Goldenwattle]

My oldest active cache is Red Hill. It was the second cache I placed. Placed in 2013. 43% favourite and 39 finds. (My first cache went missing three times; plus was a rubbishy cache, so I archived it. A nano also, one of the reasons I archived it. Knew no better😆. )

 

The oldest cache I have found is Lane Cove (GC3E), (https://www.geocaching.com/live/log/GL13Q7YBC) placed in May 2000. It's a Virtual, so the oldest physical cache I have found is Europe's First, (https://www.geocaching.com/live/log/GL1A4QY6G) placed in June 2000. When we turned up to that cache, the CO was there doing maintenance; the cache contents laid out. "Well, this is an easy find," I said as I walked up.

Edited July 4 by Goldenwattle

[+The A-Team]

The oldest active cache that I own is GCGXWD, placed in 2003, though this was adopted from a locally-famous team. It's near a beach access, but isn't a destination cache. It's still a nice spot, so I've continued to maintain it and keep an old cache going. I also have two other adopted caches that were hidden in 2005.

 

The oldest active cache that I hid is GC20R31, placed in 2009. That was my second hide and benefited from lessons learned from my first. The hide has changed a couple of times over the years, and the former campground-turned-park has since been incorporated into a municipal bike park, but the GZ area has remained pretty much unchanged. There isn't anything flashy about the cache, since it was more about bringing people to check out what used to be an obscure park.

 

As far as the oldest active cache that I've found, I found Mingo in May when it was 25 years old. I've also found GC12 (second oldest active) and GC16 (tenth oldest active), and the oldest cache in two Canadian provinces, 8 US states, a Czech region, an Egyptian governorate, and the Vatican.

[+hzoi]

"My" oldest is GTMO- the other side, hidden in 2004 (2 1/2 years before I started caching), which I adopted to keep it alive.

 

Uncle Sugar kept moving me around for 16 years after we started, which is why I got into earthcaches - a nice way to leave something behind other than a container that will eventually need maintenance I can't provide. The oldest is Falling Spring Falls.

 

Our oldest find is Mingo, but I kept going that day until I could bag its less popular (but much more rewarding) sibling, Arikaree.

 

4 hours ago, The A-Team said:

oldest cache in ... the Vatican

 

I was wondering which one, and it's nice to see you found the original two, same as us. These days the oldest there dates to 2010, hidden just after your visit.

Edited July 3 by hzoi

[+Harry Dolphin]

My oldest cache is https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCKD6D Hidden 8/28/2004.  Oldest cache I've found is The Spot.

[+The Leprechauns]

1 hour ago, hzoi said:

Uncle Sugar kept moving me around for 16 years after we started, which is why I got into earthcaches - a nice way to leave something behind other than a container that will eventually need maintenance I can't provide. The oldest is Falling Spring Falls.

Now your love of earthcaches makes even more sense to me!  I enjoyed finding "Falling Spring Falls" in the middle of nowhere Virginia during my last caching roadtrip in May.  Didn't know it was your oldest.  Great spot that I would have driven right past if it wasn't for your cache, plus I actually learned a geology lesson that stuck with me - not always the case for EC's.

[+The A-Team]

 

7 hours ago, hzoi said:

12 hours ago, The A-Team said:

oldest cache in ... the Vatican

 

I was wondering which one, and it's nice to see you found the original two, same as us. These days the oldest there dates to 2010, hidden just after your visit.

 

 

Yeah, it was neat to clear out an entire "country". I even ran into a group of German cachers at one of them. I actually didn't realize that I had found the oldest there until this discussion led me to check the Project-GC stats.

[+Mudfrog]

Oldest cache I now own is Turkey Creek South but it's one that I adopted several years back. It's 23½ years old. I placed Boggy Creek Bonanza on May 1, 2002 making it just over 23 years old. Ran with its original container and logbook for 15 years but flooding from Harvey took it out when it came through in 2017. Cache replaced and it's still going although it hasn't been found in a while. 

 

Oldest cache I've found is Cen Tex Prime, placed at the end of year 2000.

[+Max and 99]

I had no idea at the time, but a geocache I recently found turns 25 years old in 2 months. I needed to find it for a challenge geocache criteria and didn't realize till later how old it was. 

My oldest hide: Nov 2007

My oldest adopted hide: Feb 2005

Edited July 8 by Max and 99

[Stebin92]

Joined the game in October 2023 and hidden the first cache on 18 April 2024.

Oldest found so far was hidden on 15 May 2007. Not many old caches here in Italy, probably the game arrived later here. Maybe I'll find a multi from 2004 soon. It's just half an hour from me and a CITO will be held nearby.

[+CAVinoGal]

On 7/2/2025 at 8:55 PM, Snoogans said:

So, how old is your oldest active cache & what is the oldest active cache you have found?

 

Having come into the game relatively late (March 2017), my oldest cache was placed June 2017, still active.  My oldest FOUND cache is The Spot (GC39), still active.

[+cerberus1]

  Our oldest still-active is a lengthy paddle-to multi, GC1VFPR, placed 07/04/2009                    

Our oldest found was placed 04/22/2001 by a CO that joined 12/17/2000.  I don't get out much I guess...

[+geodarts]

My oldest is Bastille By the Bay (GCHYTA) on a bluff overlooking San Quentin prison, hidden on 3-19-04.  
 

I finally got around to visiting Mingo earlier this year.  I was not sure whether I was going to stop for it, but I thought I had been trying to get out to Potters Pond (Utahs oldest) for a long time — defeated by early snow or a late opening —so I might as well stop for Mingo as we drove past..  
 

I also have found Europes Oldest but walked right by Jordan’s oldest in Petra without stopping.  I have a conflicting ideas about whether I should attach any importance to an old cache.

[+Wacka]

I found Bastille by the Bay between 15-20 years ago. Parked by the gate at San Quintin and walked down the street, Checkdt out the gift shop (yes they have one) and used the bathrroom there,

Edited July 8 by Wacka

[+JL_HSTRE]

I'm up to 6 Finds on caches placed in 2000: the oldest caches in FL, MA, and PA plus the two oldest in GA and a Moving Cache that settled permanently settled in NC.

[+jennergruhle]

My oldest caches are the ones that I adopted from other cachers (mostly no longer active) in my area. The oldest one is from 02/16/2003.

The oldest still active cache that was placed by myself is a webcam cache from 06/23/2005.

 

And my oldest found cache is GC40 in Belgium, placed 07/07/2000.

[+Snoogans]

6 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

I'm up to 6 Finds on caches placed in 2000: the oldest caches in FL, MA, and PA plus the two oldest in GA and a Moving Cache that settled permanently settled in NC.

In 2003, I found a 3yo cache on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean that still had all the food items that were listed in the cache contents, I didn't remove them because they were part of the original approved listing from the short period before food was outlawed in caches.

[+Snoogans]

On 7/7/2025 at 2:40 AM, geodarts said:

My oldest is Bastille By the Bay (GCHYTA) on a bluff overlooking San Quentin prison, hidden on 3-19-04.  
 I have a conflicting ideas about whether I should attach any importance to an old cache.

I remember looking that one up and passing on it on a trip to the area n 2003 0r 2004.

 

I find it curious what makes a hide's longevity matter too. There are so many factors, but the one I respect the least is the will of the community. There has been a lot of drama attached to Mingo. As I said in the OP, I happened to be going right by there just a month or so after it had gotten the recognition of the oldest active cache at 10yo. The "giant film can" hidden in a pipe, below ground level, in a corner of a field near the highway. Ho hum. Just another unremarkable cache other than the questionable hiding method and the interesting container that looked very much like a large film can as advertised. Things turned nasty not long after my visit. It kept getting stolen and vandalized. As I recall there was some state intervention prior to the placement of the roadside plaque. There was some debate over whether or not it even qualified anymore after that. I didn't care either way, but I leaned a little toward those that wanted it archived, but I figured the next cache on the list would suffer the same fate so why not Mingo.

Half of the caches I've found were a better caching experience than that one. Its age and the view of the thunderstorm headed away from the location were the only really memorable things about it. I knew I had already done better than that. 

Several of my caches are so remote that at the rate they are found, it would take another 100+ years to fill their logbooks. Plus, they are in interesting locations well away from highway noise. Places I used to hang out before my caching days.

[+Wadcutter]

Oldest I've placed and still active was Sept 2002.  It's been found 198 times.

Another placed and active since June 2004.  Found 372 times.

Another placed and active since April 2005.  Found 111 times.

Found Mingo GC30 in June 2003.

[+thebruce0]

My oldest is

Puerile pine plays plaza peekaboo by thepruce0 | GC2GKBX | Ontario, Canada

Placed October 10, 2010

 

But I have a cache still in place near my 4th hide, from 2009-07-07.  A big tree that eventually fell over. Loved the spot so much I kept a 'memorial' cache there. That's now archived and replaced by a real memorial cache in challenge form; so, oldest cache "in spirit" would be 7/7/09. 

[+The A-Team]

I found this part of my Charted stats a bit humorous:

 

To answer that question..... uh, no. 

[+xandryyte]

Oldest found: Beverly GC28. 

I have only been hiding for the last year or two, so no old number for me for this stat.

[+DreamMachine74]

I'm a newer cacher, having started in 2014, so while I have found the oldest cache in my province in Canada - (https://coord.info/GC2B4 ) , I didn't start hiding caches until much later in my caching career. My oldest hide is a mere toddler, at May 20th, 2019 (https://coord.info/GC885EM)

[+Ringrat]

My oldest active hide is from Nov. 23, 2008, GC1C2RF. It's an easy mystery at an easy roadside stop that's been found 89 times, but not in the last 2 years. Gotta love relatively rural locations.

The oldest cache I've found is Canada's 1st Geocache, https://coord.info/GCBBA, from June 28, 2000.

[+garretslarrity]

I have found Mingo, and my oldest active cache is The Massapequa Preserve Challenge. It's now 13 years old, is by far my most favorited, and it's a pre-moratorium Challenge that you can't publish today. It's for all those reasons that I intend to keep maintaining it forever, despite the fact that I now live about 4,000km away! 

[+Clongo_Rongo]

i have found the oldest placed caches in 11 country's and 51 year 2000 placed