----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 2:27
PM
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Cache In/Trash
Out?
<ok, climbing on a mini soapbox
here>
Today we were the 4th team to find a new cache in
the East Valley. When we got to the site, I was surprised to find 2 very
old crumpled pop cans, a straw, an old mostly rolled up piece of tin foil, and
a cracked and beaten plastic cup right at the cache site! I mean from
the position that you had to find and retrieve the cache, these items were
right at your feet...and as you sat to log your find you couldn't help but
notice them. They aren't there any more, we picked them up and put them
in the garbage can that was about 110 feet from the cache.
Then we also decided to visit a nearby .17 miles
away cache that we had previously found as there was a travel bug there and we
were going to pick it up if it was still there (it wasn't). We found
some bags in the cache along with a copy of the Cache In/Cache Out
Cache. We grabbed a bag and filled it up coming out of there.
Again, a lot of this trash was not hard to find and has had to have been
passed up by the numerous finders of the cache. There is more trash
there, we ran out of room.
When Geocachers got bad press in the Republic, we
were quick to point out that we practice Cache In/Trash Out to formulate
our argument we had a stewrdship for the land and sites . Also
I noticed in the informal survey that was on this site that most everyone
either put that they "Usually" or "Always" practice Cache In/Trash Out.
It would seem from my exerience today that this may not be true.
I have seen evidence of Cache In/Trash Out.
The Lake Front Property Cache is a good example. In the logs that I read
of the cache it was said that there was a lot of trash in the area, and
cachers had mentioned picking some of it up. By the time I got there to
find the cache, ther was NO trash left...except the cache container which in
it's position could have been mistaken for trash. In this case I say we
did a great job!!! Bravo to those who picked up the trash.
I'm not one to say that I always at a cache site
go around for 100 yds in each direction and pick up what I find...heck, at
some cache sites I've been to you couldn't possibly clean it all up. But
I have and do stop to pick up trash that is at my feet or that I walk right
next to on my route to get to and from the cache. I think this is
logical and realistic expectation
My point is that at least 3 Cache Teams (who are
pretty experienced teams) and the Cache hider of the new cache had to have
seen this trash...being as it was located where you had to be to retrieve the
cache. Why wasn't it picked up? Are we in that much of a hurry to
get to the next cache?
I believe in the light of some of the bad press
that we have received that we need to take care and pay attention to our
claims. While I'm not saying that we need to pack out a pick-up truck
load of trash at these sites, a bag or part of a bag if that is all the trash
that is in the area shouldn't be too hard. I would certainly say that
taking the 10 seconds to pick up the trash that was at my feet at this
particular cache site was not too hard.
Let's just be sure that the claims that we have
made on this listserv ar factual and being lived up to.
Thanks,
Joe
TeamBlunder