Alberta GAS 2007 Geocoin

Discovery Only.

This geocoin celebrates Medicine Hat, a geocaching destination as unique as it sounds!
If you are not sure what a medicine hat is this geocoin will fix that, it features a medicine hat design on one of the faces.

The word "saamis" is a Blackfoot word denoting the eagle feathers that are used to make ceremonial headdresses (medicine hat's).

The buffalo headdress on this coin is inspired by the fact that the Buffalo Trail (Highway 41) passes directly through Medicine Hat and the buffalo/eagle-feather headdress has been a symbol of our community for over a 100 years.

The second GAS geocoin also features a purple dinosaur, dinosaurs are a big part of life in Alberta South and the design of the second GAS Geocoin reflects that fact with two dinosaurs on the coin.

This new GAS Geocoin reprises the first GAS Geocoin in a unique fashion with an iconic representation of the first GAS Geocoin, the orange dino, on one face of the coin.
The dino featured on the new GAS Geocoin is an Albertosaurus. This raptor was discovered in the Alberta South badlands and it was named "Albertosaurus" by Joseph Burr Tyrell to honour the province of Alberta.

That name, Tyrell, may sound very familiar to people who love dinosaurs, the world famous Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller was named to honour Joseph Tyrell!
Alberta South is the home of Dinosaur Provincial Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site and a unique Alberta South destination.


A large number of dinosaur fossils have been recovered and are still being recovered today, the nearest major center to Dinosaur Provincial Park is Medicine Hat, the GAS City.
Dinosaur Park is the field station for Tyrell Museum and many of the 500 fossil skeletons recovered in Dinosaur Park have been given to museums around the world.

The phrase "Cache in the Hat" is an invitation to come and enjoy the great geocaching landscape that has developed in and around Medicine Hat and a humourous reference to Dr. Suess and his "Cat in the Hat" books..

GeocachingAlbertaSouth (GAS) is centered in Medicine Hat but also encompasses other Alberta South geocaching destinations like Lethbridge and Drumheller.

This geocoin was designed by an Alberta artist, peanutbutterbreadandjam, the same artist who designed the 2006 Alberta Wild Rose.

The features and colours of this geocoin clearly reflect life in the GAS City, the brick pattern was lifted directly from the signs that welcome visitors to Medicine Hat.

The golds and oranges symbolize not only the prairie grasses but they also reflect the importance of bricks in our local economy.

Medicine Hat is the source of some of the finest clays in the world and IXL has made bricks here since the turn of the century, in fact the oldest brick building in Alberta is found in Medicine Hat.

Clay and fired bricks and the red shale that gives the bordering village of Redcliff it's name are all reflected in the colours of this geocoin.


I would like to thank Miles who produced the art for this coin and as always a special thank you to Mike at The Geocoinstore, thank you both for your help and efforts in making this coin a reality.

This geocoin features a custom icon and it is trackable on geocaching.com.

"This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat. And don’t you ever think of changing the name of your town. It’s all your own and the only hat of its kind on earth."
- Rudyard Kipling

wavector - Medicine Hat, Alberta
August 14, 2008