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When a park is closed...


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Hiya,

 

My wife and I went out today to attempt a couple of caches located in a nearby state park. Before heading out, we checked the weather reports and discovered a "severe alert." It seems the environment today is ripe for fire. With that in mind we decided to head over to the park anyway and see if it was closed. As we expected, it was.

 

Something we didn't expect was to see the plethora of people entering, leaving and just generally hanging out in and around the park. To get in and out, these people had to move the "PARK CLOSED - EXTREME FIRE DANGER" signs out of the way, or duck under the yellow caution tape.

 

Did we miss something? Doesn't a park closure mean the park is closed? Are we just being too law-abiding, or are all of those people crazy? We did not go in, feeling that the reward simply didn't outweigh the risk (the caches are significantly into the park, and if a fire did break out...)

 

What are the usual rules regarding this? Admittedly, we are new and perhaps we just don't know when its OK to bend the rules. Any thoughts?

 

CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

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I usually find that yellow caution tape and danger signs are usually a strong enough barrier to keep me away from something, unless I get the urge to steal it. icon_biggrin.gif But seriously, that would be something I'd be a little cautious about, I mean the park was obviously closed, and there was obviously a "severe fire risk." I don't know wether the people in the park were just morons, or wether they were park staff/emergency officials, but I wouldn't risk it.

 

----

Extra batteries for GPS, don't leave home without 'em.

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I agree with Kite and Hawkeye, I've never seen a park closed becuase of fire danger. We've had Yosemite emptied out during some active fires that risked closing the exits from the park. Heck, Yosemite stayed open right up to the point the flooding became obviously bad. I guess that public safety comes first and they're concerned that people may not be able to get out if a fire were to get started.

 

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. The rest go geocaching.

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This park is right up against one of the more upscale housing developments. Our guess is that TPTB really don't want million dollar plus homes burning down.

 

We too agree that obeying the local law is the best way to go. Closed means closed. For those that don't heed the closure, any idea what the penalty is? Is there some established fine or other punishment?

 

By the way, the people we saw were definitely not park workers. It was clear they were going to not let a little something like a closed park interrupt their picnics or whatever... icon_frown.gif

 

CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

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And it is beacuse of people like that we have warning lables on products. Like batteries have do not swallow and McDonald,s coffee has Caution Hot! Let one of them get hurt and they will say if they really ment to close the park there should have someone out front to actually say the park is closed

.

 

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quote:
Originally posted by CacheCreatures:

Did we miss something? Doesn't a park closure mean the park is closed? Are we just being too law-abiding, or are all of those people crazy? We did not go in, feeling that the reward simply didn't outweigh the risk (the caches are significantly into the park, and if a fire did break out...)


I think it's a general attitude that people seem to have and a lack of general respect for authority figures, be they law enforcement, teachers, firemen, etc.

 

I'm still amazed at the amount of times I'll tell a student to be quiet in my class and I'll get a response, "Why?" And it's becoming more and more prevalent in society today.

 

Today, I witnessed an incident that I've seen more than once, only this time the guy endangered me as well. I was driving me wife in the carpool lane and was going with the flow of traffic. This guy came zooming up in our lane, pulled up right behind me, close enough that I could no longer see his headlights in my rear view mirror. He then crossed over the double yellow line, zoomed by me and then recrossed over the double yellow line right in front of me. Had I had to hit the brakes quickly, he would have rear ended me. What's up with people that can't follow the laws around us anymore?

 

Webfoot

Veni...Vidi...Vicachi.

I came...I saw...I geocached.

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Am I missing something?

This seems to be a no-brainer.

What is there about a box of mcjunk in the woods that is worth a criminal record?

 

I mean, its one thing to get the cops called on you because what you are doing looks "suspicious", but why would anyone risk going to jail for knowingly, blatantly, and obviously breaking the law?

 

I don't get it.

 

"Freedom is a two-way street."

GDAE, Dave

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They close the park because of fire danger? Wow. If they did that around here, they'd be shutting down the local National Forests for nine months out of the year.

 

closed != open

 

If the sign says closed, it's closed. Case closed.

 

--

Pehmva!

 

[sTATS IMAGE REMOVED BY OVERBEARING ADMINS]

 

Random quote:

[RANDOM QUOTE IMAGE REMOVED BY OVERBEARING ADMINS]

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Yeah I don't know what's up with that. I was camping at Crater Lake with Faile last summer when a fire started in the park. We were never told that the park was closed, but they did tell us that if we wanted to get a good look at the lake we better hurry because the winds were changing and the smoke was going to obscure the lake view in half an hour.

 

A couple roads got closed, but the campgrounds were all left open. We started getting a bit worried when we couldn't see the sun anymore at 3:00 in the afternoon due to all the smoke, but the park never closed.

 

"Sometimes you are a very large fool Perrin Aybara. Quite often in fact." Annoura Sedai (Book Nine of The WoT)

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Threads like this one, to pick a relatively recent example. Among the views expressed, there's usually a school of thought that the park managers are too restrictive, and have no right to limit geocachers' activities.

 

I found it by doing a search on the word "permission" on the general forum, if you want to find more, similar examples.

 

evilrooster

http://www.bookweb.sunpig.com

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-

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quote:
Did we miss something? Doesn't a park closure mean the park is closed?

No. Yes.

quote:
Are we just being too law-abiding, or are all of those people crazy?

No. No. They are probably not crazy. They merely acted with "depraved indifference."

quote:
What are the usual rules regarding this?

Closed = GO AWAY, COME BACK ANOTHER DAY

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I don't like hearing people dis park officials for restricting geocaching - they have their reasons. I do think we could work with them, and maybe someday get caches placed in national parks, with a more restrictive approach.

 

That said, I do part with the parks on the yellow-tape issue. Around here, anyway, it gets over-used. After every ice storm - a perennial problem here in the Southeastern U.S. - the local park entrances are festooned with yellow tape, sometimes for months. The concern is with trees and branches that could fall on hikers, but it's taken too far, out of concern for litigation, no doubt. The result is, however, that the tape is, sooner or later, universally ignored. Joggers, bikers, and - yes - geocachers are back out on the area greenways, the tape left lying in a pile by the park entrances, long before the trails officially re-open.

 

-------------

"Thos' Degrees of Longitude and Latitude in Name, yet in Earthly reality are they Channels mark'd for the transport of some unseen Influence, one carefully assembl'd chain…"

– Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon

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You all raise interesting points!

 

Webfoot: I have witnessed countless examples of exactly what you describe. It occurs to me that people act in a very one-dimensional way these days. There seems to be little concern for anything outside of the primary focus. Cell phones and driving; driving becomes background to the conversation. Classroom's and teachers; the teacher/education is background to the social bohemouth. People and their desire to visit a park; the fire warning and park closure doesn't apply to THEM... I could go on. All that driver knew is that you were in the way; I'd bet the person never even considered the risks he/she was taking. It simply wasn't part of the thought process.

 

Cruzin!: We get a lot of fire-closures around here (SF Bay Area). I think the Oakland fires of many years ago scared TPTB into ultra conservative-ness. Any time there is the potential for property damage (expensive homes specifically) the nearby park will be closed.

 

Evilrooster: I actually think the rangers around here do a wonderful job. It doesn't get more congested with people than the Silicon Valley/SF Bay. However, we have a plethora of parks and open space to enjoy. I know for a fact people abuse the parks here, and yet thru it all they remain open and clean. It is my feeling the park workers really do care. Once in a while it seems they almost care too much.

 

ChurchCampDave: You're not missing anything. I think I just wanted to be sure we weren't being the people that think speeding means 1mph over the speed limit. We feel the same that everyone here seems to feel: closed = go home. It seems, however, that understanding is not shared by the majority of park visitors (at least that day.)

 

Thanks for the comments!

 

CacheCreatures are spreading... They can hide, but they can't run!

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quote:
Originally posted by ChurchCampDave:

Am I missing something?

This seems to be a no-brainer.

What is there about a box of mcjunk in the woods that is worth a criminal record?

 


 

Well, I can't sing or play an instrument, hell, I can barely play a CD without screwing it up. So if I were to put out a record, and it was hidden in a closed park, you dadgum well better go get it! icon_wink.gif

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

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