It seems like it would make sense to temporarily deactivate the cache and
post a note for those curious as to the reason for deactivation.  That
doesn't seem like a difficult thing to do and will help keep geocachers from
wasting time planning to go after a cache in a closed area.  I think leaving
a note in addition to deactivation makes sense no matter what the reason for
deactivation was, be it a lost cache that you plan to replace or a cache
damaged or destroyed by nature or whatever.  Cachers probably ought to check
a cache's webpage before heading out on a hunt anyway, to make sure it is
still available.  I know I have printed out versions of the cache webpages
that are pretty old and it would be easy to just run out to find one of those
only to discover that it had been archived last month or something....

Jim.

On Wed, 22 May 2002, Ford, Denny wrote:

> 
> With all the discussion of closing areas due to the fire restrictions, I
> am not meaning to get into a debate on whether or not they should be
> completely closed.  The point that I would like to bring up, what are we
> going to do as owners of caches, to inform our community that a cache is
> in a closed area.  We could handle it as a post or a note in the cache
> page that states it is currently in a closed area and is inaccessible, or
> do we temporarily deactivate the caches until the area is re-opened.  I
> just think there are enough new people in this game that might not know
> if the location is on National Forest, or in the case of multistage
> caches some or all might be in closed areas.
> 
> In short how are we going to handle this situation to save ourselves a
> lot or wasted time and energy?
> 
> Denny
> Tres Hombres
> _______________________________________________
> Az-Geocaching mailing list
> listserv@azgeocaching.com
> http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching
> 
> Arizona's Geocaching Resource
> http://www.azgeocaching.com
> 

Jim Scotti                              
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory         jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu 
University of Arizona                
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/