GOF and Bacall Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I'd hate to have the inbox dealing with all those logs. Uhh, that would be the same inbox that's already received over 500,000 "found" logs on all the caches. 1,000 archive logs pales in comparison. That is insanity. And I thought I dealt with too many incoming emails each day. A gmail account that the co probably never looked at. Link to comment
+Panther&Pine Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 That is insanity. And I thought I dealt with too many incoming emails each day. A gmail account that the co probably never looked at. Probably, but I try to think the best about people. Link to comment
Clan Riffster Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 At an absolute minimum, some 'rules' need to be written for both hiders and seekers. Might I suggest something worded to the effect of: "Don't hide a cache every 600' just because you can" Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Sign the Petition show Your Support! Show your Support for the Sport! Sign DougShep's Petition to Bring Back the ET Run. -ygo2slow Team Low Tech - 936 http://web.me.com/ygo2slow "Cache the Planet" Without pictures of the Nevada Governor in a compromising situation, it ain't going to happen. It's dead, Jim. I know some people that are pretty good at Photoshop. Just sayin'... Now I never try to be the spelling and grammar police on the interwebs, but with the current state of that petition document, they ain't going to take it seriously, even with the photo of the Governor. Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 At an absolute minimum, some 'rules' need to be written for both hiders and seekers. Might I suggest something worded to the effect of: "Don't hide a cache every 600' just because you can" Yeah, it is written in such a way that most assume (and rightly so) that the "Please" is silent. Link to comment
+minnstars Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Groundspeak has locked the caches for the moment. I know that some people legitimately found these and want to log their finds. They caches will be unlocked later in order to allow for that. For the moment, we simply want to prevent the caches from becoming a forum for discussion. THIS thread is the correct forum for discussion. No one is watching 002 - 1020. You probably could unlock those and no one, but cachers trying to log would post. Thanks! Link to comment
+Wolfpack01 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wow, just got the news. Was going to do this run this summer while in Vegas on a business trip, along with my 16-year old son and another friend. Was looking forward to the time together. Was also going to contribute to the local economy by staying in a nearby hotel before and after the run, buying gas and food locally, etc. I'm more into "interesting" caches than running up my numbers, but I thought this would be fun to do. Oh well, less time I have to take off work this summer, I guess. Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wow, just got the news. Was going to do this run this summer while in Vegas on a business trip, along with my 16-year old son and another friend. Was looking forward to the time together. Was also going to contribute to the local economy by staying in a nearby hotel before and after the run, buying gas and food locally, etc. I'm more into "interesting" caches than running up my numbers, but I thought this would be fun to do. Oh well, less time I have to take off work this summer, I guess. There are plenty of caches down that way that will give you the experience you describe. The only things that you will be missing out on are the numbers and the repetition. But I'd bet that you'd have a much better experience with your son now, doing the remaining caches. Link to comment
caverspencer Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) Just a general thought about this... If we dont start thinking twice about our placements and what non cachers think about them we are going to continue to lose our sport. We have lost wilderness We have lost parks in several states We have lost anywhere close to a school We have lost anything managed by the national park service We have lost Indian lands. We have lost bridges Have we now lost highway shoulders in Nevada? What else have we lost? What else will lose? Just sayin' Now my opinion. Some power trails are ok. But placing caches every tenth of a mile alone a busy highway is ridiculous, careless and dangerous. We have one here in Utah along the West side of Utah lake. This is on a very narrow two lane highway with no shoulder to pull off on. Cars travel at well over the posted speed limit of 65. The series is very careless and very dangerous. Someone is going to get killed! The only other option is to drive along a farm road on private property and risk your life crossing the road for the caches on the west side of the road. Either option is not cool at all. Edited March 2, 2011 by caverspencer Link to comment
+WalruZ Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 All I can say is Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish, and thank you Ms Jenn & others for archiving this abomination I said it in our local forums and I'll say it here too - anyone who thinks that a 1000 cache power trail has any redeeming features at all is Sick. In. The. Head. Poor cache quality is a SIGNIFICANT problem for Groundspeak. I have met many people over the years who have tried geocaching only to drop it because it was "stupid", and upon further questioning I usually found that their opinion was formed because they went out and found some crappy hide that was thrown down "just to give you a chance at another number." Allowing this very pleasant pastime to be hijacked by a small subset of psychotic obsessive-compulsive lunatics has been and will be a poor business decision by Groundspeak. (Hi Jeremy!) GeoCaching will at best remain a niche activity that people have just sort of heard of, if at all, and at worst totally self-destruct under a tsunami of abuse while the people who really care about it - who OWN it - passively refuse to take any sort of stand. A gmail account that the co probably never looked at. Probably, but I try to think the best about people. The co admitted up-front that they did not look at the emails that the cache generated, nor did they care about their contents. Link to comment
caverspencer Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) . Edited March 2, 2011 by caverspencer Link to comment
+geodarts Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wow, just got the news. Was going to do this run this summer while in Vegas on a business trip, along with my 16-year old son and another friend. Was looking forward to the time together. Was also going to contribute to the local economy by staying in a nearby hotel before and after the run, buying gas and food locally, etc. I'm more into "interesting" caches than running up my numbers, but I thought this would be fun to do. Oh well, less time I have to take off work this summer, I guess. Then you might consider Red Rock Canyon, The Valley of Fire, the Toroweap Overlook (and the One Giant Step virtual), looping through Zion, Bryce, and the North Rim, the Mt Charleston area, or a side trip to Death Valley (a little hot in the summer but it still can be enjoyed). There are old ghost towns, amazing formations, remnants of the Old Spanish Trail, and things that would give a 16 year old far more important memories than film cans by the road - but there are also lots of caches with any of these options. Link to comment
+Sol seaker Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Just a general thought about this... If we dont start thinking twice about our placements and what non cachers think about them we are going to continue to lose our sport. We have lost wilderness We have lost parks in several states We have lost anywhere close to a school We have lost anything managed by the national park service We have lost Indian lands. We have lost bridges Have we now lost highway shoulders in Nevada? What else have we lost? What else will lose? Just sayin' Now my opinion. Some power trails are ok. But placing caches every tenth of a mile alone a busy highway is ridiculous, careless and dangerous. We have one here in Utah along the West side of Utah lake. This is on a very narrow two lane highway with no shoulder to pull off on. Cars travel at well over the posted speed limit of 65. The series is very careless and very dangerous. Someone is going to get killed! The only other option is to drive along a farm road on private property and risk your life crossing the road for the caches on the west side of the road. Either option is not cool at all. this is a very good point that I wish more people would take in. We have also lost National Parks, and in WA State we have to have a permit process for State Parks. If things continue to go the way they're going we're going to start losing whole cities, and who knows what yet. We need to preserve this sport in order to see a future for it. Responsible caching, both searching and hiding, need to become more important to individual cachers. I don't know how that can happen with so many not caring until it is too late. Link to comment
jholly Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wow, just got the news. Was going to do this run this summer while in Vegas on a business trip, along with my 16-year old son and another friend. Was looking forward to the time together. Was also going to contribute to the local economy by staying in a nearby hotel before and after the run, buying gas and food locally, etc. I'm more into "interesting" caches than running up my numbers, but I thought this would be fun to do. Oh well, less time I have to take off work this summer, I guess. Then you might consider Red Rock Canyon, The Valley of Fire, the Toroweap Overlook (and the One Giant Step virtual), looping through Zion, Bryce, and the North Rim, the Mt Charleston area, or a side trip to Death Valley (a little hot in the summer but it still can be enjoyed). There are old ghost towns, amazing formations, remnants of the Old Spanish Trail, and things that would give a 16 year old far more important memories than film cans by the road - but there are also lots of caches with any of these options. Could you attach some GC #'s to those areas, sure would like to take a look at them. Link to comment
+lamoracke Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) I would not go as far as to call folks who like the power trails as sick or weirdos or anything else that WalruZ said about the people themselves....I mean, some of my friends seem to like this idea even though for me, I cant imagine finding the exact same beyond obvious hide 600-1000 times in a row is fun or anything but numbers padding for the sake of numbers. If folks are so sad to see it gone and their future trips wasted, there are MANY MANY places they can go in the country or world and get some great caches. I would rather find 20 caches in the woods, or 70 caches in a cool city that are different and done by different owners than do 650 caches along the highway that are the exactly the same 528 feet apart. Edited March 2, 2011 by lamoracke Link to comment
+Crow-T-Robot Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Sign the Petition show Your Support! Show your Support for the Sport! Sign DougShep's Petition to Bring Back the ET Run. -ygo2slow Team Low Tech - 936 http://web.me.com/ygo2slow "Cache the Planet" Where is the banging-head-against-the-wall smiley? The land manager, in this case the Nevada DOT, does not want the caches there, so they've been archived. Putting out a petition to bring it back is akin to saying "we don't care why they've been archived, bring it back!". It's the same kind of selfishness and disregard for the land owners wishes that doomed the ET trail in the first place. The people who would sign that petition can cry all they want but the simple fact is this: it was the irresponsible acts by some of the numbers-driven cachers that brought this to a head. If those same cachers had gone out there and just, you know, geocached...this trail would've remained active and available. Link to comment
Andronicus Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I have booked airfare tickets for 4 to do this run and now have to figure another plan. So now it's up to Plan D. Man, I feel for you! But, geocaching is about having fun. So go down there and have fun. There are lots of other caches in the area. It may even be more fun doing some of the local back country caches; who knows... Link to comment
+jellis Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Ok is the rumors flying or what. I know that the DOT shut down due to unsafe conditions. But what is it I just read on Facebook? that a snow plow almost hit a cacher and the city is suing. Sounds like a wild tale just so someone can sleep better at night. And Lamoracke Thank you I couldn't say it any better. Power trails are not caching. Caching is seeking out a container while exploring the world around you, not jumping out fo a fast moving car to swap out containers as you dodge traffic just so you can say you did it. With all the good Groundspeak does to make this a fun sport, I can't see power trails like Trail of the Gods, Route 66 or this one as Geocaching. Link to comment
Andronicus Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) No thanks. I'm not going to show my support for what I think is one of the worst aspects of our sport and the most dangerous to its long term viability - the thirst for ######s What do octothorpes have to do with power trails? Edited March 2, 2011 by Andronicus Link to comment
+j robin Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 about the alien head runs...will they continue to stand alone? Link to comment
+BBWolf+3Pigs Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Wow, just got the news. Was going to do this run this summer while in Vegas on a business trip, along with my 16-year old son and another friend. Was looking forward to the time together. Was also going to contribute to the local economy by staying in a nearby hotel before and after the run, buying gas and food locally, etc. I'm more into "interesting" caches than running up my numbers, but I thought this would be fun to do. Oh well, less time I have to take off work this summer, I guess. There are plenty of caches down that way that will give you the experience you describe. The only things that you will be missing out on are the numbers and the repetition. But I'd bet that you'd have a much better experience with your son now, doing the remaining caches. +1 Link to comment
+Smurf Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Certainly some official statement from NDOT or GS explaining what happened would be welcomed. Surely the note on the cache page says all that needs to be said This cache is being archived after a request from The Nevada Department of Transportation. Link to comment
+briansnat Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) Just a general thought about this... If we dont start thinking twice about our placements and what non cachers think about them we are going to continue to lose our sport. We have lost wilderness We have lost parks in several states We have lost anywhere close to a school We have lost anything managed by the national park service We have lost Indian lands. We have lost bridges Have we now lost highway shoulders in Nevada? What else have we lost? What else will lose? Just sayin' Now my opinion. Some power trails are ok. But placing caches every tenth of a mile alone a busy highway is ridiculous, careless and dangerous. We have one here in Utah along the West side of Utah lake. This is on a very narrow two lane highway with no shoulder to pull off on. Cars travel at well over the posted speed limit of 65. The series is very careless and very dangerous. Someone is going to get killed! The only other option is to drive along a farm road on private property and risk your life crossing the road for the caches on the west side of the road. Either option is not cool at all. There is a bit of hyperbole here. We didn't lose bridges and schools. TPTB decided early on that they were bad places for caches and made a preemptive decision to ban them. We're actually getting NPS lands back in some cases. We never had Indian lands to begin with. We've lost some parks, but probably have been embraced by a lot more as many see the benefits geocaching brings. That said, I'm with you on this power trail. I thought it was a bad idea the day it was announced and after things developed pretty much the way I expected, I think it's an even worse idea now. I don't see the redeeming value in ANY power trails other than to satiate the vanity of the numbers hounds, but these mega power trails are simply a horrible idea. For years we've operated largely under the radar. Most government agencies knew about us but we generally went quietly about our sport, attracting little attention (outside of the occasional bomb scare). Because of this our activities have for the most part been tolerated, if not always fully embraced. Sure a few banned us and others regulated us, but we generally have gone about without much governmental interference because we weren't seen by most agencies as a problem. Power trails have changed that. The so called Trail of the Gods did not sit well with the BLM. Piss them off enough and say bye-bye to hundreds of millions of acres of prime geocaching land. Now the Nevada DOT is very aware of us. I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with regulations banning or severely restricting geocaching soon. These things are putting us on the radar - big time. No good can come of that. Edited March 2, 2011 by briansnat Link to comment
+pklong Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe this is time for a reality check. I quite liked series of 20 - 30 caches or so arranged in a nice long walk somewhere, so long as they were not all micros. It seems so did many others, hence the popularity. Then the one upmanship started. Who can find the most caches. Who can hide the most (no matter if their is no way they can maintain their hundreds of caches). It seems to me to have spiralled out of control. Is it time to get back to just one nice big box, at the end of a walk somewhere nice? Philip Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Is it time to get back to just one nice big box, at the end of a walk somewhere nice? Short answer...No. Link to comment
+Happy Humphrey Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 We can still hide caches in National Parks, as I've pointed out before. Who says we can't? It's only those in the U.S. that are restricted. However, if anyone tries making a power trail alongside a road in a National Park, chances are it'll cause trouble. But most important, what can we learn from this? Clearly, the ET Highway is a very quiet road; very quiet indeed. Probably one of the least dangerous places to set up a roadside power trail. So if even this road is no good for the purpose, it perhaps means that roadside power trails aren't a suitable cache format. But there are some that do work, for instance the Skeg to Ness series. It may be naïve, but surely this points towards having some special guidelines for roadside power trails? Something that successful and safe trails already follow? Perhaps the key point is that the caches must have sensible off-road parking available, and any that don't should be reported and archived. Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 All I can say is Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish, and thank you Ms Jenn & others for archiving this abomination I said it in our local forums and I'll say it here too - anyone who thinks that a 1000 cache power trail has any redeeming features at all is Sick. In. The. Head. Poor cache quality is a SIGNIFICANT problem for Groundspeak. I have met many people over the years who have tried geocaching only to drop it because it was "stupid", and upon further questioning I usually found that their opinion was formed because they went out and found some crappy hide that was thrown down "just to give you a chance at another number." Allowing this very pleasant pastime to be hijacked by a small subset of psychotic obsessive-compulsive lunatics has been and will be a poor business decision by Groundspeak. (Hi Jeremy!) GeoCaching will at best remain a niche activity that people have just sort of heard of, if at all, and at worst totally self-destruct under a tsunami of abuse while the people who really care about it - who OWN it - passively refuse to take any sort of stand. A gmail account that the co probably never looked at. Probably, but I try to think the best about people. The co admitted up-front that they did not look at the emails that the cache generated, nor did they care about their contents. Well, at least now I don't feel so bad when I say stuff like that, being a person with 2,100 finds. I'd word it slightly less abrasive, but I guess I'll agree with "a small subset of psychotic obsessive-compulsive lunatics" running the trail. But I also believe it attracted, and would have attracted in the future, a decent sized subset of more casual Geocachers, although still long term players, and all premium members, who just wanted to try something like the E.T. Highway. Link to comment
+M 5 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) As long as power trails are allowed the problem will exist. These things attract hordes of geocachers, the very thing that concerns many land managers, and too many of these "geocachers" act irresponsibly.The archival had nothing to do with power trails. It was about one group of geocachers almost colliding with one snowplow before or after finding one cache. The power trail was simply collateral damage. It's not obvious "thoughtless geocachers" deserve all the credit. After all, the series was approved on a major federal highway.The highway in question is neither 'major' nor 'federal'. Edited March 2, 2011 by sbell111 Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Link to comment
+M 5 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Actually, I was just looking at that. At least initially it is just the power trail. So Nevada DOT, at least, thinks that power trails are the bigger issue. Link to comment
+GeoGeeBee Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 At an absolute minimum, some 'rules' need to be written for both hiders and seekers. Might I suggest something worded to the effect of: "Don't hide a cache every 600' just because you can" Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Actually, I was just looking at that. At least initially it is just the power trail. So Nevada DOT, at least, thinks that power trails are the bigger issue. Actually, they don't have a clue what a power trail is (pretty much just like the rest of us). They had an issue with how some cachers were going after this specific group of geocaches. The apparent near collision with the snowplow forced them to take action. Link to comment
+M 5 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Actually, I was just looking at that. At least initially it is just the power trail. So Nevada DOT, at least, thinks that power trails are the bigger issue. Actually, they don't have a clue what a power trail is (pretty much just like the rest of us). They had an issue with how some cachers were going after this specific group of geocaches. The apparent near collision with the snowplow forced them to take action. I think most of us know exactly what a power trail is. Somehow they targeted the powertrail only. May have had help from another entity that thinks it's the problem. I don't know. The post from the CO that I saw, was that the snowplow incident was the "last straw". There are many issues amplified by power trails that are bad for the hobby. Glad that action was taken, and hope it doesn't trigger bigger, more widespread action. Edited March 2, 2011 by M 5 Link to comment
4wheelin_fool Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Actually, I was just looking at that. At least initially it is just the power trail. So Nevada DOT, at least, thinks that power trails are the bigger issue. Actually, they don't have a clue what a power trail is (pretty much just like the rest of us). They had an issue with how some cachers were going after this specific group of geocaches. The apparent near collision with the snowplow forced them to take action. Actually, they are well aware of the series of caches lined against the road. Although they probably are not familiar with the term "power trail", but that could be a bad thing because they may imagine that all caches are like this - a road rally series where each person has to sign a checkpoint. Edited March 2, 2011 by 4wheelin_fool Link to comment
+geodarts Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) This is the second megatrail to be archived. Apart of the philosphic issues, practical matters should be addressed before the experiment is tried again. Notice. When I visited the ET trail I assumed that the NDOT or local officials had been notified. Certainly the collective impact of people stopping every tenth of a mile is different than an occasional roadside cache. Notice would have allowed concerns to be addressed before problems arose and provided agencies with the ability to quickly sort out problems when they arose. Maintenance. Relying on visitors to throw down new caches is not a maintenance plan. Partucularly given that most visitors had a very short attention span. This was most apparent when hundreds of caches were removed and visitors began to replace them. It was not a good idea. Size. In most cases, when caches are removed by people working for an agency they get immediately disabled. This was not done here. Perhaps the sheer size of the project dissuaded the COs. At what point does the numbers make a megatrail more like vacation caches, which are not permitted because of maintenance concerns. Size has a lot to do with it. Edited March 2, 2011 by mulvaney Link to comment
+Ecylram Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Size. In most cases, when caches are removed they get immediately disabled. This was not done here. Perhaps the sheer size of the project dissuaded the COs. At what point does the numbers make a megatrail more like vacation caches, which are not permitted because of maintenance concerns. Size has a lot to do with it. This is one of the myths that sprung up around this series. NDOT did not authorize anyone to remove caches along the highway. The caches, in effect, were muggled. Since they were immediately replaced there was no need to disable them. And to address other comments in this thread... The CO were hardly absentee. They worked closely with Groundspeak in setting up the series and when the Nye county concerns were raised, they reached out to the County, NDOT and talked with Groundspeak. When the AG demanded the end of the power trail, the CO's assisted in the archiving of the files. During the life of the series they actively monitored the gmail account where the notices were sent and responded to inquires submitted to them. Agree or disagree with power trails, the CO's did not throw out a bunch of caches and disappear (ala vacation caches). Link to comment
2oldfarts (the rockhounders) Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Maybe now it can be suggested back on the feedback site. Although, I never really agreed with the multi-cache angle to the suggestion. Just rules limiting power trails to prevent this type of issue. Does anyone know if Nevada DOT has made statewide rules for their land, or just this powertrail? As far as I know, they've done neither. No geocaching-specific rules were necessary for them to request that this cache series was archived. The fact that only this series aws archived supports the theory that no such geocaching-specific rule was created. Actually, I was just looking at that. At least initially it is just the power trail. So Nevada DOT, at least, thinks that power trails are the bigger issue. Actually, they don't have a clue what a power trail is (pretty much just like the rest of us). They had an issue with how some cachers were going after this specific group of geocaches. The apparent near collision with the snowplow forced them to take action. Actually, they are well aware of the series of caches lined against the road. Although they probably are not familiar with the term "power trail", but that could be a bad thing because they may imagine that all caches are like this - a road rally series where each person has to sign a checkpoint. Give NDOT some credit for knowing what is going on here. They see a problem with this series of caches and took steps to remedy that problem. As far as how they react to other caches under their jurisdiction, they are quite good to us cachers. We have a cache that is in the median of Interstate 15 (it has easy access) and the road crews take care not to change the way the cache is hidden when they do their annual roadside clean-up. They even went so far as to improve the area used for parking by the cache seekers. NDOT is not the villian here. John Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 For years we've operated largely under the radar... Now the Nevada DOT is very aware of us. I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with regulations banning or severely restricting geocaching soon. These things are putting us on the radar - big time. Yes. I know that there are many areas where the land managers (or the people who work for the land managers) are aware of geocaching, even though they have chosen not to enact specific geocaching-related regulations. This rubs their noses in it a bit. Link to comment
+addisonbr Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Perhaps the key point is that the caches must have sensible off-road parking available, and any that don't should be reported and archived. I like how you're thinking about it. That said, with specific regard to the ET Trail, there could have been Walmart-sized parking lots behind each and every one of the film cans and I sincerely doubt that they would have been used much, if at all. Link to comment
+geodarts Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) Removing duplicate that happened when my phone hit the San Francisco gridlock. Edited March 2, 2011 by mulvaney Link to comment
+geodarts Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) This is one of the myths that sprung up around this series. NDOT did not authorize anyone to remove caches along the highway. The caches, in effect, were muggled. Since they were immediately replaced there was no need to disable them. I don't want to rehash the old thread but the caches were "muggled" by a highway crew. At that point the CO should have disabled the caches to find out what was going on rather than visitors take it upon themselves to throw down new ones, without even knowing for certain where the caches were originally placed. A short time later there were reports that the sheriff was going to ticket cachers, citing NDOT concerns. Things needed to be put on hold until or unless the situation could be resolved. But I think it is relevant to the present thread in that it shows the practical problems inherent in a large trail. How does the maintenance plan for a megatrail differ from a vacation cache? Both seem dependent on people other than the CO -- as was done when the highway crew "muggled" a few hundred caches. What are the limits of the numbers that can be effectively maintained under the guidelines? At the very least the ET trail shows how difficult it can be to handle large numbers of caches. Edited March 2, 2011 by mulvaney Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I suppose sign like this will be springing up soon..... Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 I suppose sign like this will be springing up soon..... But they aren't really "parking" they're just stopping long enough to throw a film can out the window and pick up the one the last group left. Link to comment
+northernpenguin Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Snowplow collided with a geocacher, and the series got archived. Sounds like something an Insurance company would trigger. That's the typical reasoning I hear from Land Managers anyway - they don't have a problem with geocaches but their insurers do. Now I don't know if NDOT is self insured or not but they're not going to want to repeat the incident. Link to comment
+DocDiTTo Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Are there actually snowplows driving down highways in Nevada? That completely blows my mental image of the desert. Thanks a lot. Now I need a new "desert" stereotype. Slightly more on topic, I know at least 4 or 5 local (PA) folks who have plane tickets and vacation plans that were centered around this series. They'd hoped to complete the whole series in 24 hours. It was actually a discussion topic at our last monthly event, which centered around planning caching trips, vacations, and runs. I'm sure they're disappointed that the series is gone. Link to comment
jholly Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Are there actually snowplows driving down highways in Nevada? That completely blows my mental image of the desert. Thanks a lot. Now I need a new "desert" stereotype. High Desert can and does get quite snowy. Link to comment
+JBnW Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Are there actually snowplows driving down highways in Nevada? That completely blows my mental image of the desert. Thanks a lot. Now I need a new "desert" stereotype. Slightly more on topic, I know at least 4 or 5 local (PA) folks who have plane tickets and vacation plans that were centered around this series. They'd hoped to complete the whole series in 24 hours. It was actually a discussion topic at our last monthly event, which centered around planning caching trips, vacations, and runs. I'm sure they're disappointed that the series is gone. While they're out there, why don't they go geocaching? A quick scan of the map shows hundreds of caches scattered about the areas surround Vegas. Looks like almost every road in the area has enough caches to keep one entertained for more than a day. Link to comment
+dfx Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 At an absolute minimum, some 'rules' need to be written for both hiders and seekers. Might I suggest something worded to the effect of: "Don't hide a cache every 600' just because you can" I think it's a mistake to put all powertrails into the same drawer. It's perfectly possible to have powertrails that don't have any negative impact on anything. Link to comment
+DocDiTTo Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 While they're out there, why don't they go geocaching? A quick scan of the map shows hundreds of caches scattered about the areas surround Vegas. Looks like almost every road in the area has enough caches to keep one entertained for more than a day. Hopefully they will, although their trip was planned specifically to do 1000 caches in a day, so doing the ET highway was the goal and they were pretty pumped up about it. (not to mention rather heavily invested with plane tickets, accommodations, rental car, etc) I don't share the desire to do 1000 caches in a day, but I do get the whole concept of having a good time geocaching with friends. I'm sure they'll make the most of it and have a great time anyway. Link to comment
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