Kealia

I don't recall that coin off-hand but make sure that you try letters/numbers that look alike. For example, "S" and "5" and often mistaken on coins as are "o" and "0" as the writing is so small. Did the coin show up as being in the cache where you found it?

Ok, so where are all the people that love the icons? I know they are out there because in almost every sale thread there's either a request or a complaint about custom icons. I want to hear from those people, too.

I'm curious. With discussions kicking up every few months about tracking and icons and how important it is to some I'd like to hear about how often folks (old and new, big collectors and little) actually look at the icons on their profiles. I keep my coins in display cases on the wall so I can see them when I'm in that room, but I never log into my profile just to look at the icons associated with them. Of course, I don't really care about icons so that makes sense . For everybody else, especially those that are adamant that coins have unique icons - how often do y'all look at them. Is it just for a few days when you get a new one? Every week? Once in a while? Curious minds want to know.

Agree. Agree. Agree. Me, too. Well said. Agree. Thanks everybody for saving me a lot of typing!

Yep, opinions vary. Personally I don't like them as I feel like I haven't seen the real thing. To me it would be like seeing a picture of a famous painting - it just ain't the same.

I traded emails with the OP to add this cache to my own bookmark list - but other than that there is no official list that exists that I am aware of. Certainly Groundspeak doesn't keep anything like this as a way to promote particular challenges, etc. As far as I know the only lists that exist are bookmarks that are put together by cache owners. Always glad to see more of these caches popping up!

Thanks for the interesting read today. I've been on conference calls for the past two hours and this made it much easier to pass the time. Being in Nomex's area and having dealt with him many times I'll speak up on his behalf as well as there have been many character attacks thrown his way throughout this thread. Not only do I know him, but I consider him a friend, too. That being said, I've never had occasion or reason to doubt his intentions, character or desire to do the right thing. In past cases, this meant denying a cache or two of mine when he could have easily used the "guidelines" and not "rules" to make an exception for a friend. That took character in my book. Does that mean he (or any other reviewer or moderator) is above reproach? Nope. I think it's been made clear that GS takes action when things go wrong and I would agree. Heck, I've been on the short-side of some decisions and don't always agree with them but I generally feel they make the right call. So here I am defending Nomex's character and reputation. A few have defended the CO's character and reputation. I think almost everybody agrees that there is more to the story and I, like others, am comfortable in knowing that I will never know all of them. I've seen the typical leaps to "this means the end of all caches that are hard, etc." that I would have expected to see here and many analogies that don't serve any purpose - also expected. In the end, I don't see GS purposely covering anything up that others think may have been done wrong. Saying that they are against hard caches, etc. just seems silly to me. While I may not responding to the most recent points, it's all top of mind right now. Kudos to those of you who disagree but can stay civil. In my mind, this issue is isolated and closed. It's obviously not (and never will be) for others.

Nice thread. Coins in caches, who would've thunk it? Heading to San Diego today and plan on dropping a number of unactivated coins in the area for trade. Will try to take pics with cell phone.

#168 here. I've held # 100, too. I didn't look at the list that Eartha posted from him his trackable page but I highly doubt there is still one in a cache anywhere. A few years ago there was a rush to get these (again) and people starting emailing every holder asking the same questions that you are (is it in somebody's hands that isn't caching anymore, in a kids drawer, etc.) I would be shocked to see one these change hands at this point unless somebody was in dire straits (but that's another can of worms).

Cool! I produced that coin with our local group (GBA) and am glad that you not only got one from CKayaks (great guy) but appreciate it. I'm too old to respond to the original point of this thread....

Me, too. Oregon 2004 that was found in a cache. Nurse Dave dropped it on a visit before he moved out here and he kindly let me keep it. Yes, I absolutely still have it. The coin meant something and still does = the best kind.

Yep, and that word of mouth is "it's a Touchstone cache..."

Nice....

Try Image Shack: http://imageshack.us.

I think what you should pursue is the answer to this question: "How can I get visibility into the proximity of nearby puzzles and multis?" I say this because your current question about adjusting the guidelines happens every now and then and the conclusion is the same: It's not going to change. It sounds as if you are not willing to accept this because you have a really cool spot/feature picked out. If that's not your intention to come across that way, it does. The issue with the question I posed, of course, is that any type of tool to give you proximity to puzzles or multis exposes at least part of where they are and can lead to brute-force finds.

It's isn't a lack of understanding it's a lack of agreement. I would venture to say that a good majority of people who have placed caches have run into this at some point. Does it suck that you put in all that work? Yes. Does that require the guidelines to be changed? Nope. I've hiked 7 miles round-trip with over 1,000 feet of elevation gain to place a new cache only to get home and find out that when I ran my PQ it didn't include the area I was in. I placed my cache within 15 feet of another and had to go back and hike it again to retrieve the cache and move it elsewhere. Was I upset at the person who had their cache their first? Nope, that would be silly. Lest you feel that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison I have run into the exact same situation as you are, too. You just have to accept that it happens sometimes. You've gotten good advice in this thread (contract reviewers first, etc.). Heed it an move on. Oh yeah, have some fun.

After running some stats programs a while ago I wanted my goal to be to have my average terrain rating be 2.0 or higher (i was very close at the time). As time went on I realized that I always hovered near that number because the hiking-required caches were the ones I liked the best (thus, naturally raising my number). Now and then a road trip sets me back, but I check just for kicks. Back in November I completed a goal of finding caches in all of California's counties. Man, I live in a big state.... I also created the first of the Fizzy Challenge caches although I have yet to complete the requirements myself. I just don't have the time to cache that I'd like. All in all, my goal is much like what Snoogans and others have said. Keep it fun, and keep it going.

So....to get a free geocoin you have to drop 50 of their tokens in other caches and put something in your log that verifies it like: "dropped a token from xxx.com"? Sorry, but that's a little too commercial for me. I don't want a bunch of logs promoting a website on my caches - I find it a bit obnoxious. That's very different than reading "dropped a XXX coin/TB" because you're not soliciting. Gut reaction = no likey. Open to hear other opinions to convince me otherwise.

I get new cache notifications for my area and look at the cache page when they are published. Based on who placed it and where it is located I decide right there if it goes on my ignore list. When heading to an unfamiliar area, I use Google Maps to look at caches in the area, read the pages and then create a bookmark and subsequent PQ for those that I want to do. I don't need 500 caches to cover everything, just a handful of good ones that I've read up on to choose from when I get there.

I've been traveling and unable to post for awhile (or find caches) - but I see a lot of good back and forth here without a lot of name calling: nice. It seems that people are actually interested in the exchange of ideas and understanding each other's POV - kudos. It's no surprise that I agree with everything that Yime, Avroair and RK posted. I see the issues that YY talked about, too. At heart of things at some level was the issue that everybody feels a sense of entitlement to everything - I see this every day. Can't afford to make a coin to drop in caches? Whip one out and sell it to raise funds - presto. Instant gratification. Did some of these turn out good? Sure. Then, you (speaking generally) see how relatively quick and easy it is to make some money on these coins as and others have stated before, you start cranking out coins. And don't get me started on multiple editions. What started out as a different version for special occasions (milestone caches, volunteers at events, locals buying a special version AT THE SAME COST) quickly was recognized as another way to make money. Next steps: 3 -4 versions of each coin to capitalize on the need of some to have every coin out there. The INTENT was quickly replaced due to greed. This is certainly part of how some of us think. Look, if you (generally) enjoy the way things are now - more power to you. Enjoy. I accept that some don't agree and see things the way I do and I would ask that you do the same. There are many opportunities for me to make some quick money in here: - Sell my personal coin - never have, never will. - Sell the DeathMarch coins. Nope. It's just not how I roll.

Happen to still be online so I'll step up enough to say that I stand by the coins that I've done in the past. Some were for our coin club (at the time), some were for the local caching group, our personal had our avatars on them, my Fizzy coin is certainly caching related as was my Deathmarch coin. Have I been through the process? Yep, many times. Do I feel I have enough experience to speak my opinion? Yep. Am I going to re-hash everything in here for the umpteenth time? Nope. Just tired of it. Those that share my thoughts stay in touch and those are the people that I am closest to and chat with about coins at this point. Am I saying I am better than everybody else? Absolutely not. Just that maybe that the majority of folks in here don't agree with my thoughts and it gets old after a while seeing everything through rose-colored glasses. That's simply not a discussion IMO. So, while I certainly agree with "put up or shut up", I've put up.

I'm still around now and then as well. I get new topic notifications but rarely see anything that peaks my interest enough to come in and read or post about. Lots of people selling off their coins. Lots of "please, oh please I want this coin". Lots of "guess what color my socks are" cointests. Not many interesting coins coming out IMO. That's why I'm not in here much actually posting.

Sure you can. Just be ready for honest feedback from this group.

Chime in on this thread if you want that feature.

Ok, after finally logging the 87 caches found on this trip (whew!) I think I've decided that my favorite EarthCache of the group was Mammoth Hot Springs. While they were all educational and interesting at great locations, I found the terrain and overall location here to be the most intriguing. I think my fingers are cramped now. On a related note, I gave my daughter an EarthCache geocoin as a reward for all her hard work and she was happy!