Replicated from the GGA EZBoard:

AJLacy
Awe-Inspiring Poster
(4/9/02 9:05:05 am)
Individual Responsibility

This forum is for listing “Best Practices”, which I perceive as Guidelines and/or Suggestions, not hard fast rules and are obviously unenforceable by any Geocaching group or individual. For instance I have seen either here or on Groundspeak “Don’t cache in the woods in shorts”, but I always wear shorts in the summer, my risk, my choice.

But here is what I think is a “Best Practice”. So to paraphrase Lewis:

A geocacher should always examine the location and other relevant circumstances, and decide for themselves if they can place or seek a cache safety and legally. However the hider should provide information about any known problems. An example which I have seen is Do not come from the north as that will require crossing private property.

Neutiquam erro.

Edited by: AJLacy at: 4/9/02 9:16:48 am

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erik88l r
Administrator
(4/9/02 10:54:02 am)
Re: Individual Responsibility

I think I'd amend the "known problems" to include only those related to safety or the law.

I can think of caches (some quite recently hunted) wherein a known problem might be that the cache is on the other side of the river from what TopoZone shows. That is the sort of thing that some might want to advertise and others might want to keep to themselves to make the hunt more interesting.

There are other factors that I wouldn't term a "problem" that I'd want to know. If a cache is going to require a lot of hiking or a lot of time, for example, that would be helpful in planning the day and not being stuck in the woods at night!

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AJLacy
Awe-Inspiring Poster
(4/9/02 11:14:07 am)
Re: Individual Responsibility

I meant known legal and safety issues. But I also really meant known legal and safety issues not obvious from the maps. As for hike time, that is one I don't mind being missing. So far I have had to hike out after dark twice while cache hunting, but in both cases I expected it, based on start time, distance, terrain and my ability. Also I always have a flashlight with me in case I miss judge time required.

Neutiquam erro.

Edited by: AJLacy at: 4/9/02 11:15:53 am

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erik88l r
Administrator
(4/9/02 12:19:34 pm)
Re: Individual Responsibility

The flashlight helps with hiking out in the dark, and I do carry one.

It doesn't help with the dark faces that greet me when I get home late though! So it helps me to know how much time to allocate to the hunt and how early to start....

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AJLacy
Awe-Inspiring Poster
(4/9/02 12:54:27 pm)
Re: Individual Responsibility

As I said, the only times so far that I have used a flashlight, I expected to based on my guess as how long the hike would take given the location, terrain, time starting, and my ability, not based on time estimate given by the hider. So if the hider wants to give it, fine, if not fine. I still will make my own guess of can I get in and out before dark, and take the flashlight no matter what my guess is. If the hider wants to give information and the trail isn't on the topo map, I would rather have distance instead of time. This is because I am much more familiar with my abilities than the hider can possibly be.

Neutiquam erro.

Edited by: AJLacy at: 4/9/02 12:59:03 pm