I would hope that the Forest Rangers and other folks up here (Prescott
NF) as well as Coconino and probably Tonto NF's would be so busy
focusing on the threat posed by all the dead pine trees, and what is
being done to get rid of them to try and prevent a horrid fire season,
that they wouldn't have time to worry about a few people walking thru
a few sticker bushes for a few "abandoned" boxes. Priorities!!!
(grin)
Trisha "Lightning"
Prescott


On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, "Team Tierra Buena" wrote:




Message





 

  I guess this would be my 
  question too. It would seem that more people engage in other types
of activity 
  that would cause more problems than geocaching. In other words, I
can tell my 
  friends that he/she should hike to this really cool,
off-trail location 
  that I found in a National Forest, but if it's posted on a website
as a 
  geocache then it's against the rules. 
   
  I think you've probably nailed the heart of the 
  matter here. In theory, you shouldn't be encouraging your friend to
go 
  off-trail either, but unless your friend a) takes you up on your 
  suggestion, b) gets caught, and c) watches too many episodes of "Law
and 
  Order" and decides to drop the dime on you, you're never going to
have any 
  repercussions from your suggestion. We DO break some rules, and then
we tell 
  the whole world exactly where we've committed our 
  infractions.
   
    Either way there is a possibility of a 
  new trail being started as people find out about this location. I'm
not sure 
  of the difference. Isn't geocaching (in National Forests) just 
  hiking with a goal of finding the cache. 
   
  If the rest of the world was as honest and morally 
  upright as we Geocachers, we could place our caches right on the
edge of the 
  trail, and non-cachers would just leave them in peace for us to
find, and 
  probably none of the land management agencies would care about what
we're 
  doing. But reality is different.
   
   If the concern is new trails being 
  started, then wouldn't they just have to ban hiking altogether?  
   
  There are those who would do just that. 
  
    
   I'm not trying to stir things up, 
  but this kind of doesn't make any sense. I certainly understand the
need 
  of the rangers to protect our National Forests and I appreciate
their effors, 
  but it seems like they are trying to correct some issues by banning
a 
  very small (in comparison to other activities) group of people. 
   
  Small but rapidly growing. To some extent we may be suffering 
  because of the ATVers, and I'm not blaming the ATVers. There are
many 
  land managers who feel that because their agencies didn't react to
the 
  explosion in popularity of those machines quickly enough, their
lands were 
  overrun, and they're not going to repeat that mistake with something
that's 
  growing as quickly as Geocaching. And the easiest (not necessarily
the most 
  effective) way to control something is to prohibit it.
   
  Just some thoughts. 
   
  Good ones, all.
   
  Steve
  Team Tierra Buena


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"Although no one can go back and
make a brand new start,
Anyone can start from now and
make a brand new ending."
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