I think the rangers had every right to do what they did. I
have two reasons for that view. Number one, designated wilderness areas have
always been off-limits to cache placement. Even Scott Wood, who welcomes caches
in Tonto, excluded designated wilderness areas, and the Superstitions, including
the entire area around the Peralta Trail, are so designated. Number two, we have
been preaching since the September meeting, and geocaching.com has been
preaching forever, that hiders should obtain permission. AZSaluki's post gave me
the impression that the rangers weren't against Geocaching per se, but they sure
knew that the caches had been placed without consent. So I don't see that the
Geocaching community has any argument.
That
may not be a popular view, especially on the listserver, but I think it is the
correct view. If I owned one of those caches, I'd be down in Mesa as fast as I
could be, to retrieve the ammo can, hand deliver a personal letter of apology,
and find out who to talk to about obtaining permission for a possible future
placement. But I think trying to "push back" on those that were confiscated will
do nothing except alienate us further in the eyes of those who make these
decisions.
Geocaching doesn't have a lot of rules; it's time we started
playing by the few we do have.
Steve
Team Tierra
Buena