MnGCA

MamaDuck-24 · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 392

I received the following email today:

Rachel Gulczinski sent a message using the contact form at
http://mngca.org/contact.

If this doesn't go to the right place, please forward on. I am president of
my homeowners assocition in Rochester, MN. Today, we had numerous people
tramping all over our lawn, climbing our trees and in short, TRESPASSING
all to find a geocache. Please remind your members to use common sense when
placing and tracking a cache; if your climbing a tree outside someone's
patio or bedroom window, it's a safe bet your on private property and
scaring the heck out of people. Not cool. The location of the cache is: N
44° 02.438' W 092° 29.962'. The cache has been taken down and destroyed.
Please inform your members that further searching on our property will
result in cars towed and trespassing charges being filed.

I believe the cache in question is "in the Pines," so if you were the ones looking for the cache today, you did not go unnoticed.

Just a friendly reminder to be considerate when geocaching.

Thanks!

King Boreas · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:23 pm Post subject:

http://coord.info/GC3BH9H

Arcticabn · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:26 pm Post subject:

Well if the cache is Hide in the Pines, they looking at it on GC.com it does not appear to be located on private property.

The cache is located off a bike/walking trail directly under the power lines.
The closest a set of apartments.

Now I would agree that accessing it by parking in their complex and walking through the trees to the bike trail would be trespassing.
_________________
Airborne All the Way!

MamaDuck-24 · Past MnGCA Board Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 392

Here is part of another email I got from the Association clarifying that it is on private property:

"I appreciate your response, and want to clarify that "in the pines" is actually private property. Once a person steps off the trail and is at the tree line, that is private property. This is according to our own boundary line docs we obtained, from the Rochester property records department, when the trail was under construction. Thank you"

I personally feel that in a case such as this, we archive the cache. Which the cache owner has already done.

pfalstad · Geocacher Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 962 Location: Edina

Looks pretty close to the property line, hard to tell.. https://gis03.co.olmsted.mn.us/Property_Info_Public/OlmstedParcelZoom.aspx?PIN=079800

With no fence and the parking lot right there, I wouldn't be surprised if most people access it from their property...

rosebud55112 · Geocacher Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 89

Interesting that they knew about geocaching and who to contact. That makes me think that at some point there must have been some contact between someone with the HOA and one or more geocachers. However, none of the logs on that cache are DNFs or Finds with any information about a potential conflict with landowners. I assume that whoever spoke with the HOA person explained geocaching, and that's good, but didn't log anything about their encounter. CMon people, log when there is an issue or potential issue too! There well could have been more than one encounter, and proper logging could have prevented the second one and saved us some bad PR.

Arcticabn · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:42 am Post subject:

The power poles and lines are clearly visible on both the GC.com map and the city plot map. The the resident is wrong, they don't own to the bike path because there is an easement for the pole line.

However, it is not worth getting into a pissing content with them over one cache.
_________________
Airborne All the Way!

dornole · Geocacher Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 352

Yet another reason to hide more caches deep in nature, out of sight of any homes or passersby. : )

Pear Head · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:18 pm Post subject:

threenow24 · Geocacher Joined: 06 Jun 2010 Posts: 23

ArcherDragoon · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:15 am Post subject:

The property may have changed hands...or a new resident moved in...

I talked with a couple of the residents when I found the cache (and yes, I accessed it from the Bike Trail). They thought it was cool and asked for more info about geocaching. They also brought out the Building Supervisor (or what ever title they had)...that person thought it was cool and had no problems with the location.

Otherwise, yes, the problem is most likely people grabbing the cache from the Parking Lot and not the Bike Trail...
_________________
You may only be young once...but I will be immature forever!!!

emmanogoldfish · Geocacher Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 106

Sky King 36 · Geocacher Joined: 09 Apr 2009 Posts: 36

To me, it seems like the ship has largely sailed on this issue. Years ago, caching had out-in-the-woods outdoorsmanship as its center of gravity. Caches were hidden, and found, by outdoor enthusiasts. But the last four years or so have brought the advent of urban caching, really a very different sport than "old school" caching.

Used to be the challenge of caching was getting to the GZ. The journey was the important part and the log was really just an incentive, an excuse to take the journey. It used to be about luring people into interesting outdoor experiences in places they may never have otherwise gone.

Now the central challenge of caching has become "how do I hide a very small container in plain sight? How do I make a container so small, and so deceptively camoed, that I can hide it from the public? How can I slip a tiny cache into high-muggle urban public areas, or quasi-private land (like parking lots)? How can I make them so small and deceptive that not even the private landowner knows I hid a cache on their property? I dare say that today, most caches are hidden on private property and most are not hidden with owner permission.

It has evolved into a different game. I'm not sure there's much we can do to turn this around.

ArcherDragoon · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject:

Arcticabn · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject: