Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

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Will Whitfoot
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Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Will Whitfoot »

Greetings all!

On my last road trip west I have placed two separate caches of coins in places where it is unlikely someone will just stumble upon them.

One is in the Ruby Range in NE Nevada at an elevation of 9,000 feet, up Thomas Creek from the trailhead on pavement.
One is in the San Juan Range in SW Colorado at an elevation of 12,000 + feet. On Treasure Mountain, near the Animas River.

I have GPS coordinates and topo map locations. Neither requires technical climbing, but you should be in decent physical condition to attempt either. The Thomas Creek cache requires a pretty long hike up about 1500 feet of elevation on a trail before going off-trail to the site. Avalanche hazards (in season) and stream crossings are the worst dangers. It should not be attempted in the snow. The Treasure Mountain site would require a decent 4wd vehicle to get close enough to hike... the roads up in the San Juans are very rough. The speed limit signs say 10mph, but that's a joke. I was seldom able to go more than 5mph in a 4wd Jeep Wrangler 2dr with knobby tires. The cache is on a ledge in some steep rocks. Be surefooted! It's not a deathfall but you could get banged up if you mess up.

The caches each contain Shire Post Mint fantasy coins (mostly of the A Game of Thrones series but with a few Hobbitly things as well) with a total retail value of about $400 and are placed in decorative brass cannisters, protected from the weather in plastic ziploc bags. They do not require any digging or tools... the caches are both in plain sight... if you are in the right place looking in the right direction.

Want more clues? Anybody close enough to consider it, and in the mood for a quest?
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Manveruon
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Manveruon »

OH. MY. GOODNESS. SIR. YOU ARE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE! A treasure cache in Colorado??? I see a trip to the San Juans in the very near future!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Elleth
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Elleth »

THAT IS AWESOME!!!!

I love this idea - thank you for going out and making adventures for people. :lol:

Hrm... let me know if you want a cache placed in the White Mountains next summer.
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Will Whitfoot
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Will Whitfoot »

Get to Silverton, go up the Animas River canyon. Past Eureka you will need 4wd. You can get up onto the shoulder of Treasure Mountain either from the Picayne Gulch Road on the south side, or via Placer Gulch on the North. Placer Gulch has a very interesting restored mill building you can tour. (free) Appx NAD-84 UTM loc, 13-S, 272700E, 4199220N. Can get more detailed if necessary. Park as high as you can. The cache is up in the rocks about 20m to the right of the steel fencepost that marks the easy trail to the top of Treasure Mountain.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Manveruon »

Will Whitfoot wrote:Get to Silverton, go up the Animas River canyon. Past Eureka you will need 4wd. You can get up onto the shoulder of Treasure Mountain either from the Picayne Gulch Road on the south side, or via Placer Gulch on the North. Placer Gulch has a very interesting restored mill building you can tour. (free) Appx NAD-84 UTM loc, 13-S, 272700E, 4199220N. Can get more detailed if necessary. Park as high as you can. The cache is up in the rocks about 20m to the right of the steel fencepost that marks the easy trail to the top of Treasure Mountain.
BRILLIANT. You, sir, are an adventurer's best friend!
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Melthrist »

:( Wish I could do this. I've been eying your coins for a while now.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
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o menel aglar elenath!
Na-chaered palan-díriel
o galadhremmin ennorath,
Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!
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Will Whitfoot
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Will Whitfoot »

... and while you're there... you might as well jaunt up to the top of Treasure Mountain and take some pics with the cache at the summit! Please post! The summit is at 12,987 ft. So if you toss a coin up into the air 13 feet, it will reach 13,000 ft!
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Manveruon »

Will Whitfoot wrote:... and while you're there... you might as well jaunt up to the top of Treasure Mountain and take some pics with the cache at the summit! Please post! The summit is at 12,987 ft. So if you toss a coin up into the air 13 feet, it will reach 13,000 ft!
Hah! I love your challenge, and shall endeavor to accept it! However, since this particular adventure is about a 7 to 8 hour drive away from my home in the Denver metro area, it may have to wait a little while. A friend of mine is planning a trip to the Arizona Renaissance Festival in February, so perhaps I could give it a go then, if it's not too terribly snow covered that weekend. We'll have to see.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Greg »

Manveruon wrote:...if it's not too terribly snow covered that weekend. We'll have to see.
BAH.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Elleth »

Hah!

I'm sure he just need elf-shoes to get over those drifts. :)
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Will Whitfoot
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Will Whitfoot »

I have not been there in February... but I think it might be too early. At 12,000+ feet I would expect it to be snow covered then. The roads are not plowed beyond the community of Eureka. Access in winter would be by snowmobile or XC skis. It might already be too late this season. The site is on the HANDIES PEAK COLO quadrangle, in case you want to go old-school. There was no cell reception on the mountain.... had to get all the way down into Silverton proper to get a connection... so phone-based GPS does not work. Satellite based GPS is fine of course.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by SierraStrider »

This is one of the coolest things I've ever heard...I'd love to do more of it. Seeding treasure caches in the wilderness sounds like a great way to add an objective to a trip.

I've done orienteering "treasure" hunts in the past; sort of like geocaching, but with multiple steps instead of just "Go to X and Y, find the thing". More like, "Start hiking south from X and Y along the trail. Under the footbridge in the meadow, you'll find a half-dollar coin. 213+(the sum of the digits in the year the coin was minted)=the heading to the next objective. Travel along that heading X yards until you reach a large oak tree. In the hollow stump near the oak..."

Unfortunately, Kortoso's the only ranger I know of near enough to me to go after any caches I'd hide, but if he's interested (or if there are any other CA rangers I'm not aware of) then maybe I'll start planning a Quest.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Greg »

There's a whole group in Chico represented on the forum by member "Druin".

As for quest-o-cacheing, there's an Arborist/tree climbing supplier near me here in the midwest that has "Tree-o-caches" all over the world. Get the coordinates, hike in, find a tree, set your ropes and climb 30+ feet up to access the cache, professional climbing skills and gear required. It's a blast.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by Manveruon »

Greg wrote:There's a whole group in Chico represented on the forum by member "Druin".

As for quest-o-cacheing, there's an Arborist/tree climbing supplier near me here in the midwest that has "Tree-o-caches" all over the world. Get the coordinates, hike in, find a tree, set your ropes and climb 30+ feet up to access the cache, professional climbing skills and gear required. It's a blast.
That's awesome!

The more I think about this the more I want to expand upon it for Middle Earth Reenactment purposes. I wonder what other little caches or quests a person could hide... It would make great incentive to get local folks out and about in their gear.
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Re: Treasures in the mountains! Coin-caches.

Post by SierraStrider »

Manveruon wrote: I wonder what other little caches or quests a person could hide...
I don't think most chaches could have much significance beyond "designated McGuffin". A map might be a good option, except that they're not particularly durable. The most likely caches rangers might be expected to plant would be food, but that's a non-starter for a number of reasons. Arrows would make sense, but the price of period arrows makes that a hefty investment, and the fletches have to be protected. Coins make a lot of sense, but most of us don't have the production capacity to do something that cool.

Little trinkets seem like the best option. A pewter cast of one of Elleth's stars or Thorin's key from the Hobbit Movies would be the most likely candidates for what I'd hide. Any sort of costume jewelry would serve. In The Fellowship, Gandalf says,
Magic rings are – well, magical; and they are rare and curious.
Which in context sort of implies that there are more than the twenty enumerated in the Elvish Poem, and without the baleful implications.
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