Message

I've been trying to avoid this thread, but I've had a few private emails in addition to what's been posted on the listserver, so I'm going to quote myself, and reuse part of a reply I sent to another cacher, because I haven't seen this point of view surface here yet:

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