"This is Plano Urban Microcache #1. Urban terrain should be easy to traverse. The cache is a black 35mm film canister. It contains only a scroll of paper for the logbook. Feel free to leave something small, but it is not required."
With these words, user 'drs' created the
first geocache placed in Plano on 08 Feb 2001. That's just over a week after Super Bowl XXXV! Oh sure, if you wanted to look for a geocache there was always GCA1, GCC9, GC62, GC98. But those were basically your only options at the time. GC23F was only the 518th geocache published in the world. Plus, this was different than all those others. This was a film canister- much smaller than any ammo can. It might just have been one of the first few micro caches in North America! Right here!
It took the first user two tries to come up with the FTF. "You must have long fingers or small hands! Found it, signed the log, and added a small compass. Pics will be available at the site soon." typed out the first finder. The next said: "This may be the ultimate drive-to cache. A clever hiding place, but if you make an early wrong decision, you might have a little trouble. Didn't take the compass, but left something shiny." It seemed to be so tricky to spot, the CO came out to check on the cache when it was only three weeks old. By 04 March 2001, the CO archived the cache and posted: "Well, the cache is gone. Maybe the roving scooter gang got it. :)"
A charter member and local reviewer left a favorite point, for inspiring them and being one of the first micros in the country. All in all, 15 users logged the cache online. At the 2000 census, Collin County had a population of 491,675. In 2020, the population was listed at well 1,064,465 million. Things have changed dramatically sense then, but this strip mall has been pretty consistent throughout most of my memories. It is no surprise urban sprawl and muggles got to Plano's first cache. Remarkably, there are three caches still active as of the present placed on this day. GC238, GC239, GC23A. All of them located in the Lake Calaversa area of California.
The radio shack mentioned in the original hint has vanished, along with any place to hide a film canister. So I placed a nano at the site. It went missing before the cache could be published. So I placed a nano cache nearby the site. There is no container at the posted coordinates, but you can go visit anyway. To get the location of the real cache, answer this one question:
Who was the FTF on GC23F?
A- Wrangler: N 33 02.380 W 096 45.299
B- KI5JSP: N 33 02.280 W 096.391
C- KD5NRH: N 33 02.378 W 096 45.391
D- KC5ONZ: N 33 02.370 W 096 45.388
Make sure you re-hide the cache exactly as you found it- if so, it will stay in place. Feel free to sign the log at anytime, but you can not claim this cache as a find until you have completed the challenge. What is that? Find two caches that were placed on our before 08 Feb 2001. I have listed a few local options and here is
a list of the thousand oldest geocaches in the world. I love finding older geocaches and hope you will enjoy the quest.
Please make sure you qualify via the checker.