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Geocache becoming a lost place


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Hi,

I own a Geocache in a wood which leads you to several signs describing the deforestation.

When it was placed 7 years ago the signs were very visible once you found the trail to them.

By now, ironically, they have overgrown and some people even go past them without noticing and have to go back (searching the signs wasn't supposed to be a challenge orginially).

 

1 or 2 years ago I spent quite some time cutting branches so one could see the signs again.

 

I am not sure if I should do this again and would like to collect some thoughts about this of you while intentionally not stating my opinion in detail.

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We had a cache spot once that, because of zinc mining, looked like a scifi movie scene of another planet.

If we were allowed to keep that area, it would have now shown a forest, where only red dirt, dead pines, and rocks once were.

 

We would have fit the now-reforested area into the cache page, stating something about the EPA and superfunds.

 

We sure wouldn't be cutting anything that's now growing...

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I don't have quite that problem, but I do have a traditional cache that's about 20' off a suburban trail that was easy to navigate original but has grown denser and denser over the years. I just bump the terrain rating a little each time I visit and find it harder than it was the last time and modify the description to reflect why the rating's what it is. In your case, it sounds like the difficulty rating would also need to be bumped.

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I asume you are writing about a multicache. If the place is nice, I'd convert it to a traditional one, so people are still lead to the area.

Cutting branches to show effects of deforestation isn't the best kind of irony...

Pruning some low branches and shrubs in a dense, fast growing forest to access some information signs is hardly a statement on deforestation. The intent of the forest managers was to provide that information to the people walking the trails.

 

Changing the multi to a traditional cache seems to defeat the purpose of getting people to each sign.

 

Each situation needs to be assessed independently. There is no need here for us to tell someone they should not do this kind of trail maintenance. I would have no hesitation to do this work if my on-site assessment led me to believe it was appropriate.

 

In Northern California there is a virtual cache that had a requirement that finders do some trail pruning to get to it. (This ALR is no longer enforceable and the cache owner never hassled anyone who did not do maintenance.) The idea was that the property managers did not have funds to maintain all their trails so we geocachers would help out. It was a fun project.

 

For this cache I would consider contacting the property managers and volunteer to prune brush between the trail and the signs.

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Seems a few problems

 

1) This cache seems to have an agenda. This is against the geocaching.com guidelines.

 

2) As the OP mentioned "If deforestation is happening, it really is nowhere near that area." Maybe you don't want to bring people to these signs anyway. If you are trying to raise awareness of deforestation, bringing people to these signs will likely just result in producing cynics.

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1)

Well, the initial thought for this geocache mainly was "Hey, there are signs next to a trail which basically noone walkd anymore - let's show it to some people".

This trail is about 50m next to an asphalted, ~10m cross forest "path".

I'm not even the original owner of this cache.

 

2)

I don't think I agree with this.

It is obvious from the signs that they are a bit older than this century and honestly I'd leave it to the geocachers to interpret it.

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Hi,

I own a Geocache in a wood which leads you to several signs describing the deforestation.

When it was placed 7 years ago the signs were very visible once you found the trail to them.

By now, ironically, they have overgrown and some people even go past them without noticing and have to go back (searching the signs wasn't supposed to be a challenge orginially).

 

1 or 2 years ago I spent quite some time cutting branches so one could see the signs again.

 

I am not sure if I should do this again and would like to collect some thoughts about this of you while intentionally not stating my opinion in detail.

 

you mean you're not sure if you want to go through all the work again, only to have very few people appreciate it ? i can understand not seeing the point if no one notices.

 

if you're worried about the official rules and regs, i'd say you have nothing to worry about.

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