Nature is powerful. Trees can sprout from solid rock; weeds will quickly work their way up through the cracks in your paved driveway. Two excellent examples of nature's determination and recovery are lava flows from which sprout many plants, and the Mayan temples that were overrun with growth until humans discovered them and cleared them out for all to see. Certainly, there is concern about young trees and rare plant life being trampled. That's valid. But as some posts point out, how many people are going to be stampeding the caches? And what route will they take? Forcing people onto a prepared trail makes sense when bus loads are visiting, but that's not the issue here. What about hikers and rock climbers, as one person noted? Forcing people to stick to a path takes away from the enjoyment of nature. Aren't we already forced into "avenues" like sheep? If Parks Canada removes all the caches, is that really going to stop kids from charging off into the bush, or adults who want to see more than the back end of their predecessor? As a nature photographer, I will venture into any area that promises an interesting scene, whether it's on or off a path. Parks Canada can't stop all of us, which makes their decision in this matter an unfair one, should they decide to ban caching. It might be to everyone's best interests if the Parks people take time to identify rare areas and alert visitors not to go there, rather than making this a blanket demand to stay out. What's interesting too, is that the government takes our taxes to maintain the parks, then tell us we can't use them as we'd like (within reason and I don't think hiking is unreasonable). Makes no sense
