Cache location muggled...

[+Rev Mike]

I have a nice cache that was at an very old covered bridge along a nice creek with a waterfall and some high shale cliffs. The bridge was a registered National Historic Landmark and rich in local lore. I say was because a few teenagers thought it would be fun to torch it.

 

The bridge is a total loss but my cache was not in the bridge so it is still fine. I have disabled it because I am sure there is an arson investigation taking place and this is likely not a good time for anyone to be caught snooping around the area. I am sure the cache is still fine but I am not sure if I should archive it or not. The area is still very nice and I am sure that they will do something with the area eventually but the cache was focused on the bridge and the legends surrounding it. If you were to ask anyone that lives around here if there are any haunted places nearby this would have been the first thing off of their tongues.

 

I am not sure if another covered bridge will be built but I know they must do something because this was the main way in and out of the area and the people living nearby will now have to drive over twenty minutes out of the way to get anywhere.

 

Anyone interested further can read about the legend on my cache listing HERE.

 

Has anyone else ever had their cache location muggled?

 

- Rev Mike

[+SimbaJamey]

I have a cache in a parking lot that is currently under construction. I woke up one morning to find the fence around the lot removed and that night when I got home from work the sidewalk was gone too.

I'm still waiting for them to finish the construction before I put the cache back out there.

 

Can Mother Nature be a muggle?

I have a cache near a wall in a small creek. The wall is ancient and the creek has mostly moved off to the side...but we had 3 huge flooding storms late this summer and I'm pretty sure the little wall is moving ...and the cache seems to be getting deeper and deeper but more exposed at the same time.

 

Bummer about the bridge...I hope they catch the arsonists!

[+9Key]

I would leave it disabled until the investigation is over. Your cache page tells a good story even if the bridge isn't what it used to be.

[Luckless]

I'd archive it. Sounds like there will be a lot of activity that cachers wouldn't want to be invoved in- investigation and possible new construction. There must be lots of other places where that cache would be welcome and once things are back to normal a cache can always be placed there again- with the story.

[+BCandMsKitty]

What a great cache location! A shame something as picturesque and historical has been destroyed. Depending on how close your cache is to the bridge, you should definitely disable it and if the time frame is going to be long, maybe even archive and re-publish with coords far enough away to enable the cachers to see where the bridge used to be, and hunt the cache without getting involved in anything with your original write-up still intact with some minor changes. That would have to depend on the area, of course.

I had one where my cache (Maynard's End) was well above normal high water levels, but an unusually high flood washed it away. I archived and re-published it as Maynard's End Reloaded in the same little park, but in an area where if it gets flooded again, we are ALL in deep trouble!

[Skippermark]

That's a shame. If it were me, I'd archive it then wait to see what happens with the area. In the future, maybe put another cache in the area.

[+WatchDog2020]

Hey Rev Mike

 

Leave it there and make it a 'what was lost' cache. Include newspaper articles about the arson etc. in the updated listing.

[+markandsandy]

I would leave it disabled until the investigation is over. Your cache page tells a good story even if the bridge isn't what it used to be.

 

I agree with 9Key on this. Disable it until the investigation is over and they decide what to do next about the bridge. You can always archive later if you wish, but keep your options open at this time.

[+Jackalgirl]

Howdy -- what a great cache page! I especially like how you've documented both the before and after of the bridge. I'm really sorry to hear about the arson. : (

 

I agree with the disabling of the cache until the investigation is over, but I second WatchDog2020's idea of still having the cache be active as an historical marker.

 

I'd also highly recommend (if you or the NWPA are interested in such things) getting involved with whatever government body is deciding how to replace the bridge. You could get a grassroots movement going to replace it with something that references the original structure, if you can't get them to actually replace it with a duplicate. It would be nice if whatever replaces the bridge has something to do with the original bridge. Or perhaps the National Historic Monument folks could put up a picture plaque or something like that...

[+Rev Mike]

Well I am not holding my breath waiting for a new covered bridge to be built.

 

The township has wanted to tear it down for years since it is one of the only ways into a rather remote part of the county. Now that the bridge is gone the people living there have to go over twenty minutes the other way to get around to the other side. The proble with the covered bridge was as remote as the area was they could not get firetrucks, plows, or other important emergency response vehicles through. They had their hands tied while the bridge was standing but I truely suspect something more modern showing up to replace it.

 

If they catch the kids that torched it they should have to rebuild the bridge themselves at their own expense.

 

and maybe we could beat them too... ok not really.

 

- Rev Mike

[+markandsandy]

and maybe we could beat them too... ok not really.

 

- Rev Mike

 

Well, maybe just a little bit.

[+team_goobie]

 

Has anyone else ever had their cache location muggled?

 

- Rev Mike

 

Worser, I've had one cut down! I went to check on this one today- GC1C2G0 Six Step Hustle - because of construction close to the hide. Landscapers had taken out the tree it was in. Good grief!

[+SerenityFound]

Last week, we discover geocaching and we're looking for starters nearby. We find one right down the road. The neat thing was we had been by this place hundreds of times in the past few years and never knew it was there. My son finds it hidden in plain site (in a tree) after I missed it. He makes the nifty snag and replace, while subtly mocking me... good times.

 

They cut the tree down. Today.

 

What's up with that? Shouldn't there be some sort of law?

[7rxc]

 

The township has wanted to tear it down for years since it is one of the only ways into a rather remote part of the county. Now that the bridge is gone the people living there have to go over twenty minutes the other way to get around to the other side. The proble with the covered bridge was as remote as the area was they could not get firetrucks, plows, or other important emergency response vehicles through. They had their hands tied while the bridge was standing but I truely suspect something more modern showing up to replace it.

 

If they catch the kids that torched it they should have to rebuild the bridge themselves at their own expense.

 

- Rev Mike

 

I might have some other suspicions... but perhaps a more modern 'replica' of the bridge would be more practical... similar appearance (even antiqued), modern dimensions for clearance, support etc. By all means wait til the cloud clears and then go historical site cache...

 

Doug

[+ThePachecos]

My Where's Stitches cache was muggled and they abused the poor container so bad I couldn't replace it. I still have the container on my desk because it was one of my first cache's and it has a place in my heart.