Geocaching, geocoins and the many roads of life.
This is made up of stories from my caching and my reviewing. It is a collection of those along with comments and thoughts. Photos, and maps of some adventures and lists of some of the oldest caches.
Lackey coins were made by Groundspeak and were given out by lackeys at events, and you could buy them online. There were different versions of some coins. I will try and post as I find more, or more get added.
As I began running out of version 1 geocoins I realized that I needed to redesign them. Not only was I starting to find the version 1 design boring, but the reverse that I created was a violation of the Geocaching.com logo usage rules (I had altered the logo by reconfiguring it to work more cleanly on the round surface of a coin). The redesign led to the coin that you see above. The reverse displays the view across Priest Lake (my favorite place in the world) toward Chimney Rock, Mount Roothaan and the heart of the Selkirk Crest that rise above the lake's eastern shore. This coin design also featured the first of what would become a tradition on Moun10Bike Geocoins - a hidden code that would reveal the location of a special geocache.
These geocoins were again minted by D&R Military Specialties and the first one was released February 21, 2004 in my "Moun10Bike Maze Multicache" (GCH6R6). They were minted in a single batch of 200 numbered from 201 through 400.
This geocoin was designed during the summer of 2005 when the geocoin fever was at its peak. The reverse features a photo I snapped of a sunset seen from Cougar Rock near our cabin on Priest Lake, Idaho, and a quote from Albert Einstein regarding the knowledge revealed by looking deeply into nature (a quote I found fitting given the nature of geocaching!). Outlines of the states of Washington and Idaho adorn the outer rims of the compass, relecting my dual "homes", and once again there is a hidden code on the coin that leads to a special cache that will be placed when the version 4 Moun10Bike Geocoin is ready.
I had 500 of these coins minted by Coins & Pins and the first one was released on October 29, 2005, at an event in Spokane, Washington.
This coin features a spinning inset on the reverse that models the spokes of a bicycle tire. Attentive observers will see that there is again a secret code embedded in the design.
Two hundred of these coins were minted by Coins & Pins. The first was released on July 13, 2008, in one of Washington State's oldest caches, Monte Cristo (GCBC).
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This is the only one of these that I have actually received. I have been offered quite a bit for this coin. Happily I keep holding on to it, and I don't think that I will ever give it up.
This is the current version of the Moun10Bike Geocoin. It was designed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of geocoins, specifically the placement of the first geocoin in the wild on September 30, 2001 at the now-defunct "Light House Point" cache (GC126C). The reverse features a rendition of the rickety aluminum ladder that once led up to the rocky promontory and an image of the original Moun10Bike Geocoin that was placed there.
Two hundred of these coins have been minted by DirectMint.com, and they are not for sale or trade. They are distributed only by placement in caches.
The 2005 Christmas Coinament was the first of what would become an annual tradition of releasing a coin ornament ("coinament") for the holidays wishing fellow geocachers a Merry Christmas and a Cache-Filled New Year. The picture is a family photo taken during our summer vacation at our property on Priest Lake, Idaho.
I had 100 of the coins minted by Coins and Pins and started releasing them on December 13, 2005.
This year's coinament featured a photo of Moun10Tyke and me at Mt. St. Helens, taken by my wife.
As with all of the Coinaments, a batch of 100 was minted by Coins and Pins. The first of this design was released on December 6, 2006.
The 2007 Christmas Coinament featured a picture of Moun10Tyke in a baby backpack on my back taken by hydnsek during a group geocaching outing to Hell Hole, Oregon, in October.
A batch of 100 was produced by Coins and Pins and the first of the coins released on December 6, 2007.
This is a coin that was produced by the four cachers that produced the first four geocoins.
Moun10bike, Indy Diver, Dhobby1, Team Fisur
This is a coin that was produced by the four cachers that produced the first four geocoins.
Moun10bike, Indy Diver, Dhobby1, Team Fisur
From Moun10bike's site
This is the one that started it all - the world's first geocoin. The idea came about as I was looking for a special signature item to create for my upcoming 100th cache find. A fellow geocacher turned me on to military challenge coins and they seemed ideal for a signature item - durable, easy to carry, and unique. I did some research and found out that there were a number of places on the Web that could mint custom coins. I sent my design idea to D&R Military Specialties and before long had my first batch of 100 coins in hand. On September 30, 2001, I set out with Jeremy to hunt down what is still to this day one of my most memorable caches, Light House Point (GC126C). As planned, I placed the first of the coins - #002 - into this cache to celebrate my milestone. Jeremy was just in the process of unveiling Travel Bugs on Geocaching.com and graciously offered to track the coins on the website using the numbers that were engraved in the coins.
I had a second batch of version 1 coins minted about a year later (numbers 101-200). By then I had been contacted by several individuals wanting to mint their own coins and to help them with costs I made the design I had created for the coin reverse available to all who wanted to use it. That's why you will see several geocoins from this era using this design.