There are geocaches you find because they happen to be nearby. Then there are geocaches you help plan a road trip around. Mingo (GC30) belonged very firmly in the second category.
On May 22, 2019, I stood near a Kansas fence with CanisMinor, djpd1023 and mjholley, finally visiting the oldest active geocache in the world. We were heading toward GeoWoodstock in Fort Worth. Western Kansas was a deliberate detour.
A Small Container With a Long History
Mingo was placed on May 11, 2000, just over a week after the first geocache was hidden. It survived from the earliest days of a hobby that would eventually send people like us thousands of miles in search of containers.
The cache was not a towering monument. There was no grand entrance. The setting was open Kansas country, a fence and a container with a very important date attached to its listing.
That was part of the appeal. An ordinary-looking place had become a destination because someone hid a cache there, other people kept finding it, and its caretakers kept it going. We were adding our names to a much longer chain of visitors.
The date on the listing marks the cache’s history. It does not mean that every piece of its container and logbook has remained untouched since 2000. Keeping an old cache available takes care, maintenance and people willing to look after it.
A Pilgrimage, With a Little Celebration
I called the visit a pilgrimage in my original log. That might sound like a lot of reverence for a geocache, but after years of hearing about Mingo, it felt appropriate. This was one of the places I had wanted to experience for myself.
djpd1023’s log recalls nearly ten years of wanting to make the visit. It also records our celebration with silly string and a bit of hoopla. Apparently, quietly signing the log was not the only item on the agenda.
We took photographs, including the group selfie with the container. Four friends, a famous cache and a very good reason for the detour. It is exactly the kind of photograph I enjoy bringing home from these trips.
Worth Going Out of the Way
Mingo was a red-letter moment for me. Its place in geocaching history made it special before we arrived; sharing the visit with friends made it personal.
A few days later, May 25 would mark ten years since my first geocache. It seemed fitting that this anniversary trip included a hide that had already been around for nine years before I started.
We still had Oklahoma, Texas and a busy GeoWoodstock weekend ahead of us. There would be creative caches, ladders, new friends and plenty more searching. But for a little while, our destination was simply Mingo.
The road sign pointed toward a small Kansas place. For a geocacher, it pointed toward the beginning of a much bigger story.
Field Notes
- Adventure: May 22, 2019.
- Location: Mingo, Kansas.
- Companions: CanisMinor, djpd1023 and mjholley.
- Historic cache: Mingo (GC30); placed May 11, 2000.
- Context: a dedicated stop during our road trip to GeoWoodstock XVII.
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