Historical Caches of Gloucester County Challenge Mystery Cache

This is a challenge cache, the purpose of which is to encourage geocachers to go out and find those early Gloucester County geocaches that are still active. The geocache is hidden at the listed coordinates. To log this cache as found you must complete the challenge described below.

The requirements for completing this challenge:

1) Find 15 geocaches which were published before the 20th-oldest active geocache in Gloucester County. This may include archived caches.

2) Use the Project-GC Challenge Checker to verify that you qualify for this challenge

A few notes:

1) If any of the geocaches are owned by you, you may claim them on your list.

2) If any cache on the list is archived, then the next oldest active cache will be included. Once a cache is archived, a new 20th-oldest active cache will be recognised by the Challenge Checker. Any archived caches will still be allowed on your list of 15 caches to qualify.

3) The challenge checker includes archived cache finds in your list, even caches which were archived before the publication of this challenge.

4) A successful run of the Challenge Checker serves as your proof of qualification. The checker will provide a formatted list should you wish to copy/paste one into your log, however this is no longer required.

5) If you have not yet completed this challenge, you may still find the geocache and sign the log, but you may not log it as a find until you have successfully completed the challenge. Any found-it logs submitted without completing the challenge will be deleted.

6) I have posted a write-note demonstrating that I have met the criteria for this challenge

Gloucester County’s Twenty Oldest:

1. (GC5DBD) Highlander#1 (hidden on 2002-05-28)
2. (GC69EE) Old Pine Farm (2002-06-28)
3. (GCA02E) The Pebble Palace (2002-10-25)
4. (GCCA97) It's the same only different!!! (2003-01-26)
5. (GCGGG6) OPF2 - Joe's Woods (2003-07-22)
6. (GCGGG9) Bull Run (2003-07-22)
7. (GCGKKT) Cold War Spy 2 (2003-08-06)
8. (GCH5QF) Along the ATV Trail (2003-11-02)
9. (GCHFHG) Jordyn Elle (2004-01-08)
10. (GCJ5MC) Pristine Location (2004-04-11)
11. (GCKPXG) Deja vu Double Vision Too! (2004-10-03)
12. (GCMAPG) Owens Park #2: Music Trail Cache (2004-12-23)
13. (GCMD22) Teacher I Need You (2005-01-01)
14. (GCMNWP) Little Ease Run (2005-02-03)
15. (GCMRGY) Shoe Gobbler (2005-02-12)
16. (GCPT7H) Entwood (2005-07-20)
17. (GCQMMG) Wandering Woodbury Again (2005-09-20)
18. (GCTBKZ) Welcome to Piney Hollow (2006-02-06)
19. (GCT0FE)  One for the Girls (2006-02-06)
20. (GCTFW2) Where Deer Run Free (2006-02-16)

I came out to Chestnut Branch Park this evening after work to hide some caches. When I first started caching, this park was one of the first places I came to geocache--I lived nearby as a child and came here more times than I can count. That day I found a bunch of caches in this park, but over the years most have been archived. Now the park struck me as in desperate need of an infusion of fresh caches, and today I set out to rectify that.

Soon after leaving the parking lot, I spied a prime location for a cache, one just outside the 528 ft radii of the other caches in the park. As I searched this copse of trees for a suitable hiding spot, something about this area struck a chord in memory. Had I been here before? Upon spotting the perfect host for a cache, my suspicions were confirmed. There, nestled in the branches, was a small container.

Hidden on May 2, 2008 by Nikon-ing as "Deep in the heart of the Branches", this geocache lasted ten years and three COs before being archived on March 15, 2018. I found it on December 30, 2013, my thirty-sixth cache. Looking at my signature on the log, along with those of 200 other geocachers across the years, it occurred to me that this was the perfect place for a challenge celebrating the history of geocaching in Gloucester County.

I first saw this challenge concept in Maryland, and over the past few months I noticed it had jumped the border to southeastern PA. I decided it was time for it to make the leap to South Jersey. I hope you enjoy your journey into the geocaching past of Gloucester County.

Thanks to deepdish23 for permission to expand his Historical Caches Challenge series and to Vogelbird for providing the checker.