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On our geocaching show today, we bring you the first part in a series on Geocoins. We have a very special interview with Aaron from CoinsAndPins about the coin making process. We also bring you the first of many listener-supplied GPS reviews. NOTE: Click on the coin picture to see more images from the show.
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We Recommend...
CoinsAndPins.com - a great resource for high-quality geocoins (place an order by April 15th and tell them PodCacher sent you, for a 5% discount on your order!)
Links mentioned in the chat:
Some of our favorite games: Fluxx and Cosmic Wimpout
Geocoins:
Moun10Bike's Coin Page - highly-prized geocoins
Article by Moun10Bike in Today's Cacher Magazine
Laser burned wooden coins at Geocoins.net - link sent by bmwrider2
Smashed penny signature item idea - link sent by ScurvyDog
Comprehensive Geocoin Reference Page by Team AI
Interview with Coins and Pins:
by DarrylW4 and Firefly03
DarrylW4 on Flickr
Firefly's Wreaths-N-Beads
Links on CoinsAndPins.com: geocoins, minting, and samples
Groundspeak Geocoin Policy
I have cached with Jon (aka Moun10Bike) he’s a fantastic guy!
Living in Washington, I’ve had the honor of finding 7 Moun10Bike geocoins and 5 were first generation. I kept one, my pastor has one, one of the boys from my bible study has one at Pepperdine, I gave one to a friend and I let another cacher have one I found on a night hike because he hadn’t found one yet…he later sold it on ebay…booo. In addition, I found 2 second gen coins within a 18 hour period. Here are the stories with each find. You can tell it got progressively harder to find them.
My 1st Moun10Bike Geocoin #104 (Herr Fritz took it to New Mexico)
4/20/02 Found this one a wonderful park! Not sure what I’ll do with it…But I had to take it.
My 2nd Moun10Bike Geocoin #117 (Circuitrider has it)
Through the Iron Horse tunnel. We found it….long story…but we found it in tact and Circuit Rider is now the proud owner of a Moun10bike coin! Great cache.
My 3rd Moun10Bike Geocoin #143 (HunkofGod has it)
Left this one while taking the GeoCoin…side note…inside joke…Hunk of God couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.
My 4th Moun10Bike Geocoin #152 find:(later sold on Ebay)
First Finders! Circuit Rider and I met up with BeefCider in the parking lot and we were all after one thing ….the Geocoin…Decided that BeefCider should have it since it is his first! This is my 4th Geocoin find. Great night with some great people! I took the geocoin gave it to Beefcider, took his Lady Two tb and left the Land shark TB.
PS…I had CircuitRider distract Beefcider by having him climb a nearby tree…while I, with out a flashlight made the easy find near the hint in the dark without a flashlight! Back home at 12:30…Geocahing is fun!
My 5th Moun10Bike Geocoin #172 find: (In my possession)
Saw Geocoin @ 8:00 pm
Called Hunkofgod @ 9:00 pm
Left Graham for Snoqualmie @ 9:30 pm
1st Finders @ 11:48 pm
Took GeoCoin TB Left 116 Wins TB FTF
Back in Graham @ 2:15 am
FUN FUN FUN Find
Thanks Moun10Bike
My 6th Moun10Bike Geocoin #220 find: (In my possesion)
Stats:
Saw posting @ 7:00 pm
Left Graham @ 7:15 pm
Arrive in Monroe @ 8:30 pm
Find Cache @ 9:15 pm
Solo in the Dark
Weak Flashlight
Bad Satelite Reception
One lost TB (Sketch)
Prayer Works
Over 130 Miles round trip
Found Geocoin
Home at 11:00 pm
I used Moun10Bike’s coords to start my search and the clue from EvergreenHiker. Searched for 30 minutes on the wrong side of the trail. Came back to the trail…Prayed that God would help and immediately heard a noise on the other side of the trail…walked over to check it out and there was the cache and the coin. I had fallen int he dark and lost the contents of my pockets..I think I found everything except the TB I was gonna use to trade. I think he’s in the rocks on the other side of the trail..I’ll post him here…It was dark so I could see well. Hope someone can see him in daylight.
Logging now at 11:39 Ahhhh Now I know what Frodo or Smegle felt like when he had the ring in Lord of the Rings! MY PRECIOUS….
My 7th Moun10Bike Geocoin #221 find: (Given to Ruck in a Drawing)
My 7th Geocoin..my second in less than 18 hours.
My plan is to hold this one as a prize for the winner of our Summer Geocaching event planned at the Pierce County Fairgrounds…With Jon’s permission.
Here’s the story from the got coin? cache page.
5:45 am Alarm goes off…I hit snooze.
6:30 am I ask Mrs. GEM’s if she really wants to drive the 75 miles (150 miles roundtrip) up to get the coin. She says yes but continues to snuggle with her cat…I say let’s skip the showers and go. Finally at about 7:15 am we head out.
While on Hwy 167 headed north at 8:00 am I remember it’s spring forward time…so it’s really 9:00 am…dang we don’t have a chance.
As we headed east on I-90 I notice the auto routing on my GPS V did not include the maps for this area, it was just outside my normal maps. When we hit Hwy 18 we turned around headed back to take Hwy 203 through Preston. Finally found the area using the non-routing method. During the drive up I was thinking about all of those who live in this area that already have coins…Lucyand rickie, Pepper, TeamIt’sAllGood! (TIAG!), Pocahontas&Meeko…and 7 others from other countries and states. I had forgotten that runhills had flyingdogs go get one while he was at work!
At the entrance to the park I tell Mrs. GEM’s that it looks like we need to drive down Stossel a little farther…bad idea…we ended up turning around and heading back to find a SUV with lots of dogs driving quickly down in the direction of the cache parking area, ahead of us. As we arrived at the suggested parking, the SUV was nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing it was about 10:15 am. We were getting ready to head up the trail and the SUV returns from the opposite direction and they start to unload the dogs. Mrs. GEM’s and I head up the trail and discuss the possibility of them being after what we’re after…I told her that I knew most of the cachers with coins and this didn’t look like any of them plus this couple had what seemed like a dozen dogs. Nevertheless, Mrs. GEM’s insisted that we jog the first .25 mile luckily downhill. Mrs. GEM’s led at a very quick pace on this mostly uphill beautiful walk. Occasionally, we would look back to see if the other couple was in pursuit. No sign of them and at about a mile and a half in it seemed like we were safe and not being followed. I suggested we slow the pace a bit and enjoy the walk; Mrs. GEM’s reluctantly eased the pace, but only slightly.
At about 11:15 we hit the cache area armed with the hint and what we hoped were the correct coordinates from the puzzle. As we were within 100 feet of the cache I hear…�You better run GEM’s� or something to that effect, I looked back to see runhills bustin up the hill literally only seconds behind us with his wife flyingdogs and 4 real flying dogs not far behind. I immediately saw the cache and picked it up just as runhills arrived.
This is a beautiful hike! We could see the Columbia tower on the horizon. What a great view! The cache is stocked full of fantastic items! We were not disappointed that we had decided to drive all the way up from Graham, Washington on this day!
Thanks Jon!
We exchanged some things that only geocachers would cherish…Geocoins, cache containers, and travel bugs. We had a fantastic walk and chat on the 2 mile leisurely walk back to the vehicles. Our GeoDog Katie was timid at first but had a great time walking with and watching the antics of the 4 real flying dogs.
Back to the car at around 12:15.