megatherian

Megatherian means "Giant Sloth"

I recently posted a thread about trespassing to get to a cache. I'm new and wanted to get a feel for how situations like that are handled by at least this small subset of the community. Don't forget, a lot of new people join geocaching all the time and they look to the forums to learn about the "game" and what the proper etiquette is. (BTW I did do a search before I posted my trespass question). While I understand what you are saying and I agree people should do what they can to solve problems on their own - but one of those possible steps is to ask questions here in this forum. I know the heavy frequenters of this site may see the same questions asked over and over again but that's a good thing. It means someone new is trying to learn the "sport" and it's just becoming more popular than ever. The only change I'd suggest is that people do a search for past topics before posting a new one. If we create the "forum police" though no one will want to come back.

Well I thought I'd give a final update on this. It doesn't appear the cache was ever reviewed (though I did find a reviewer that has done a few in this area). I contacted the owner and they are not the original placer of the cache and they are not aware of any special permission given to cachers to be on the property. The advice they gave me was to just not worry about the signs. I feel like I'm in a bit of a dilemma now. Being so new at this I feel a bit awkward about rocking the boat. It's a very popular cache in this small town I live in so it would seem most people here don't care about trespassing or not. Ethically it really bothers me though and I know it's this kind of thing that gives geocaching a bad name and ultimately can lead to city wide bans. Do I really want to be the new guy that shuts down a cache that everyone seems to like? If the cache is suddenly archived right after I contacted the owner it's going to be pretty obvious who the "spoil sport" was. What would you do?

Thanks for the replies, it's encouraging to know trespassing isn't considered the norm. I'm new at this and was afraid I might have needed to scrap a new hobby I'll contact the cache owner but I'm a bit skeptical that there will be a legit way to get to there or even that "there" itself is in a permissible location. The hour I spent driving I completely circled the mountain (or is it a hill....) including every side street off the main roads and there wasn't any discernible way to get to the cache without trespassing. I hiked as far as I could along the power lines (which as stated I now think was trespassing as well) and looking at topo 3D etc it's clear the cache is off the ROW into the area marked "no trespassing" I did check into every entrance logged by other cachers and clearly they were all posted no trespassing as well. It seems most people in this area at least don't really care to much about the signs. I'm trying not to make assumptions here and I've done research on multiple maps for entrances. As far as I can determine (without trying to find the land owner myself) the cache itself is on private property. Being new at this I just don't want to cause problems if it's not my place especially since this has been a fairly popular cache. Not to mention I live in a small town and I'd hate to make "geoenemies". Ultimately if people have to break the law to do this hobby then it won't be long before there are laws banning the whole thing. So I'll do my part and contact the cache owner and see where it goes.

I was out geocaching with my daughter today and we wanted to try a tough one today in the mountains. The cache stated that "you" are responsible for your own entrance to the cache but then suggested using a power line right of way. I admit that I didn't do a much research before hand on the laws and made the assumption I could walk the power line path since it's a right of way. After reading tonight I'm not so sure that was correct. In any case as we were hiking up the mountain we saw signs that said no trespassing all along the sides of the ROW. It seemed they were meant to keep people out of the surrounding lands (rather than off the ROW). We got to the top of a ridge and then I was able to get more of a feel of where exactly we'd need to go to get to the cache. Clearly we would have needed to cross the line into private property and trespassed to get to the cache. So we turned back because I don't feel comfortable trespassing and I certainly didn't want to teach my daughter it's ok to break the law. This is a common cache in this area though with lots of finds - including families. I drove around for at least an hour before we finally decided on the power line route that 99% of the people seem to take - and we decided on that entrance because everywhere else would have either walked us through someone's backyard or had us go into an area clearly marked "no trespassing". Am I just being a "prude" or does trespassing just go along with the geocaching? How do you feel about trespassing to get a cache?

Mapsend lite is useless in my opinion. No there is no detail. If you don't know what state or country you are in then I guess it might help with that You'll need Directroute or Topo 3D for details. DON'T PAY $149! You can get it A LOT cheaper just about anywhere other than Magellan. Try Amazon or ebay - or the garage sale section of this site.

Sent a PM last night.