Erik, thanks! Certainly would not do anything without permission of the CO. Thanks for going above & beyond!

quote:

Originally posted by doctor mole:
And it's confirmed. I can & will make a run up there for The Great TB Rescue on the 23rd. Jerry too if he can juggle the work schedule.

Given what Erik discovered makes me wonder if the whole container ought to be retrieved. Maybe Erik can put us in touch with the owner?

I'm in on the 23rd as well for a TB rescue trip. We'll see what Erik hears back on whether we retrieve, leave, or relocate the container as well.

I will amplify Erik's statement by adding that a geocache is the personal property of the person who placed it. While removing the travel bugs placed in it by JMTBuzz would be fine, since the travel bugs belong to others and are intended to keep moving, the remainder of the cache should be left as-is pending possible direction from the owner.

That's probably what we would want to have happen with our caches.

But of course - originally it sounded like the cache may have been abandoned. So that's why I asked & found out. If we find something out beforehand, great. Otherwise of course it will stay put where it is.

quote:

will amplify Erik's statement by adding that a geocache is the personal property of the person who placed it.

It is abandoned if it is not clearly identified as a Geocache and the owners contact information.

Actually it was never a cache to begin with as it was never published as such.

As per Erik

quote:

The cache owner is a student, according to his profile page, so may be busy with final exams at this time and unable to relocate his cache. I'm not sure it's appropriate to do so for him.

I've sent him an e-mail with a link to this discussion and invited him to join in.

Based on that my intention is to merely accompany JMTBuzz to retrieve the TB's and move on. If the owner ever does communicate with us, well, then that might be another great excuse to get up into the mountains.

When does such a circumstance become geo-litter and we haul it out of there?

Jim

I'd be tempted to consider this one geo-trash given the location in an area that wouldn't normally allow caches and that it hasn't yet been published, apparently for some time. However, given that we have additional knowledge, well, as I said above I'm inclined to leave it there.

Jim, you make a good point and I wish I had a better answer. What if we didn't have this additional knowledge?

I think it is great that you guys are volunteering to head up there. How far of a drive is it to the AT?

If caches are not allowed there and we have tried to contact the CO without a response (even if he/she has a hectic schedule) shouldn't the cache be removed just to protect the integrity of the caching community? We have to support following the rules if we don't want more problems placing caches. If we allow rogue caches to be placed where they are not allowed it will be harder for geocaching to gain acceptance and for the restrictions to be lessened.

You guys have really gone above and beyond trying to contact the CO and locate the cache listing. It is not like removing it is a rash decision.

Maybe they changed their mind and listed it in a... more relaxed listing service.

Good point. I may have misunderstood a previous post. I thought that it was in the "buffer zone" along the AT in which caches were not allowed.

quote:

Originally posted by Joebids:
Maybe they changed their mind and listed it in a... more relaxed listing service.

This is what comes to my mind. Opencaching.us, Garmin's Opencaching.com, Terrecache, letterbox.org and I think there are other letterbox listing sites.

Was there a stamp and stamp pad in the cache?

I just looked on Opencaching.us and Terracaching.com and neither show an active cache near the post coordinates.

quote:

Originally posted by Shilo:
I just looked on Opencaching.us and Terracaching.com and neither show an active cache near the post coordinates.

There wasn't a stamp and pad in the container and I found nothing in the area from Letterboxing. Due to all of these alternative container placement options however, unless Scott and I hear from the owner, we'll leave the container. They still have a week to do so.

Our Report on The Great Travel Bug Rescue.

JMTBuzz and doctor mole today traveled to the North Georgia mountains. By Noon we had arrived at Woody Gap and hit the trail shortly afterwards. At about half past we arrived at the location and quickly inspected the site.

I can verify this completely looked and appeared to be a geocache. It had the logbook with the standards notations - do not remove, and cache title - had swag, hidden in the manner of a geocache. It looked to be completely undisturbed from the last visit when JMTBuzz was here with his Scout Troop.

We snapped a few photos, and retrieved the three travel bugs. The bugs were placed into another geocache later this same day.

We did note that this location was some 20-30 feet off of the actual Appalachian Trail itself. The Reviewers may be able to say better but I understood caches were not allowed along the Appalachian Trail Corridor.

Oh, well. Perhaps Erik will hear from this owner and let us know what the deal is. In the meantime if we hear more, and it's appropriate to remove the container, I'm willing to make the trek on out there again.

For what it's worth we signed the log & if it is ever published we can count a FTF, right?

quote:

Originally posted by doctor mole:
For what it's worth we signed the log & if it is ever published we can count a FTF, right?

Only if JMTBuzz didn't sign it first ;-)

We signed it together so I'm saying yes!