Garbage Caches

[+danielwest76]

Far too often lately I'm coming across caches that have be purposely placed in garbage. Not older caches that have accumulated garbage in the area, but newly placed caches where it's a 99.9% likelihood that the garbage was there first. Are CO's blind when they place these caches? Do they see all the garbage and still somehow think it's a great idea to bring people to this location? And then there's all the cachers that go to find the cache and very few if any make mention of the absolute mess that GZ is, instead complimenting it as a 'great hide!'. I'm sorry, but in my mind litter-strewn areas filled with used needles etc are bad places to hide caches. If we don't speak up a bit more vocally against these kind of hides then we're going to see more and more of them as a new generation of cachers think them to be acceptable. What's other people's thoughts?

Edited March 30, 2012 by danielwest76

[+L0ne.R]

Far too often lately I'm coming across caches that have be purposely placed in garbage. Not older caches that have accumulated garbage in the area, but newly placed caches where it's a 99.9% likelihood that the garbage was there first. Are CO's blind when they place these caches? Do they see all the garbage and still somehow think it's a great idea to bring people to this location? And then there's all the cachers that go to find the cache and very few if any make mention of the absolute mess that GZ is, instead complimenting it as a 'great hide!'. I'm sorry, but in my mind litter-strewn areas filled with used needs etc are sh!++y places to hide caches. If we don't speak up a bit more vocally against these kind of hides then we're going to see more and more of them as a new generation of cachers think them to be acceptable. What's other people's thoughts?

 

I appreciate those that mention the unfavourable location in their logs. Posted photos of the area are also a nice backup. I'm in your camp with regards to posting about unsanitary conditions. I consider my logs to be a journal of my caching adventure, a courtesy to the hider AND a service to the next finders.

[+ohmelli]

Fortunately for me, I have not run into too many "trashy" hides... yet. But if when I do, I will definitely be speaking up about it... and I like that idea of photographing it too! NO ONE wants to search through garbage to find a cache! And since I often take my granddaughter caching with me, I certainly don't want her exposed to that! Great topic!

[+Cache-tech]

Maybe this would be a good opertunity to pratice CITO at these locations, or avoid those types of urban caches that would be in those types of areas.

 

I also want to remind posters of the forum guidelines

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules

 

3. Foul language and obscene images will not be tolerated. This site is family-friendly. All forum posts must conform to a family-friendly standard and contributors must act accordingly. It is not appropriate to replace characters in a profane word to elude the built-in censoring filter, or forum moderation.

 

Changing the letters of a word to mask or get around the filters is not appropriate, please refrain from doing so. Thank you.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Cache-tech

[+danielwest76]

My apologies...has been edited.

 

I don't mind CITO'ing a location where garbage has accumulated, but I refuse to CITO an area where a CO has deliberately place a cache in garbage. That just shows them that someone will clean up after their bad decisions.

[+L0ne.R]

If it's a power trail cache then it goes where the gps says .1 miles has been reached. If garbage happens to be there, so be it. Power trail caches are most often about the numbers not the location. Some people love PTs and the adding another smiley to the find count so for them it's a "great find".

[+danielwest76]

I can think of probably half a dozen caches right off hand that fit what I'm describing, but only one of them is on a power trail, the rest are stand-alone caches where the CO had the free choice to place it there, rather than just being dictated to by the gps.

 

Roadside power trails do have their own issues with litter that people throw out their windows as they drive by. Last Sunday my fiancee and I were out and did 68 caches on the London Loop and decided to pick up litter at each stop. At a few caches we had to do some looking to find at least one piece of litter to pick up, but at most caches we easily were able to remove several pieces of litter. Sadly there were numerous locations where we simply had to draw the line and stop picking up once our hands were full. We ended the day with three garbage bags, two Walmart bags, about 2 dozen alcohol bottles/cans, several hubcaps and a few other miscellaneous items.

[+Arctikkat]

As a medical professional I must warn against picking up dirty needles though. Check with your local Ambulance Service or Fire Dept. They usually have a program in place for you to call in and advise them of the needles so they can be retrieved and disposed of properly.

[+danielwest76]

Needles is one of the items where I draw a line. I also draw the line at picking up feminine hygiene products (saw at least two on last weekend's expedition), doggy poo bags and full garbage bags (space constraints really, I drive a little Mazda, not a full sized garbage truck)

[+ElectroQTed]

I agree with you wholeheartedly Daniel! I have found caches in garbage-strewn areas more often than I care to count. Often times, they were quick roadside park and grabs on country roads. Other times, they were in city parks or trails. In both cases, there would have been umpteen better spots to place the cache. I ALWAYS mention this in my logs and often post pictures. I have no idea where this mentality comes from. My best guess is that the cacher is as lazy as the people who dumped the garbage, because often it's in a spot you can easily pull off the road, or a clearing (party zone) in the woods.

[+Frankie & Johnny]

One step worse re: the garbage ? Hiders who actually use the garbage as camo? I mentioned the negativity of this in a find log and the CO deleted my find. Thankfully, this CO was a fly by nighter who quickly left the hobby.