This is ridiculous! I'll put the permit right next to my flatulation permit.I got one of those in advance because I know thats next.
NJ State Policy for Geocaching
- Thread starter ecampbell
- Start date
I know very little about geocaching other than folks put something out in the grand NJ countryside and give clues, then other folks go out and try to find them using GPS. I fail to see the need for regulations for this. Just don't see what regs will stop that is so horrendous that it needs yet another regulation. 
I think the problem is we have paid legislators that get paid to make up laws.If their not making up more laws it looks like their not doing anything.There are also a lot of busy bodies whose sole purpose in life is to ruin everyone's party that they can.I can't stand motorcycle noise but I tolerate them because I know that is their enjoyment,just wish they'd tone the noise down a bit.I am thankful for the hunters that tolerate my bushwacking when it inadvertently brings me past their stand while their still in it.Both of us doing our thing and sometimes someone gets temporarily inconvenienced but this is Jersey and were over populated and that's it.Someone out there probably has seen a scattered cache off trail and thought "All this litter has to stop"!So they want to kill the cachers game.I don't get the cacher game but Lord Bless em,it's gettin out in the woods and that's a good thing. Long as their not caching sensitive stuff that can be easily vandalized or stolen I smile and shake my head and wack right on past em.By the way wack is just a term,I actually leave less of a trail then a bear and a little more then a deer but it's not mayhem and destruction.I seriously think someone needs to start their own site and tell the state to bug off.Some Thoreau style disobedience is in order.Overwhelm em and leave em thinkin what now? Thats their woods too.Cachers today,wackers next.
I wish they would publish the names of those that initially come up with these ideas; "I don't think that's right, I think I'll make a law...". The next step after a regulation and folks protesting it is a license to participate in said activity, and it won't be for free.
No Gibby. Below is the text of that bill. Even as slow as the wheels of the lawmakers move, I don't think it would take 11 years to see action from that bill.
I just showed all of this Geocaching policy crap to my wife and she is furious.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2004/bills/a2000/1930_I1.HTM
Red, I thought that this evolved from Section 2.b. The bill was signed into law in 2008.
- Anyhoo, I firmly believe that there are larger matters that should be dealt with than geocaching. There are to many of us on this forum who have to help the State with serious issues and yet they can deal with this. Unbelievable!
You got that right.
I have been very impressed and pleased with the progress the State has made on illegal dumping in State Forests and WMA's of late. I would really like to see the few slugs that are going to be delegated to the NJ Geocache Review Team be redirected to the NJ Let's Get Shingles Out of The Woods Team.
To be fair we did have a lot of arguments on this site years ago about people placing caches in places that shouldn't get a lot of foot traffic. This would address that.
Yes on one side this is a good thing.I"m just afraid that the next step is that no one should go off trail.One take on it is is that cachers make trails from repeated visits to a cache whereas off trailers on this forum usually aren't going to the same places often enough to make trails.This might put a halt to the caching of sensitive spots I just hate seeing the cachers freedom cut down wondering okay,whose next?Then again as long as we don't start a bushwackers.com were kind of a hard bunch to pin down
Most people are lazy and many have a natural aversion to a stick in the eye. Therefore, the amount of remote woodland disturbance is self regulating and is inversely proportional to the distance measured from a cache to a road. (Big distance = Small disturbance)
Our most remote cache was placed in 2007 and it has only been visited 21 times over a nearly 8 year period. That's not even 3 times a year.
One person watched the cache for over a year waiting to see if anyone else made it out there. I shudder to think of how many twigs were snapped and how many ground dwelling insects were stomped to death by those 21 pairs of feet plowing through the woods over those 8 years.
Our most remote cache was placed in 2007 and it has only been visited 21 times over a nearly 8 year period. That's not even 3 times a year.
One person watched the cache for over a year waiting to see if anyone else made it out there. I shudder to think of how many twigs were snapped and how many ground dwelling insects were stomped to death by those 21 pairs of feet plowing through the woods over those 8 years.
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Considering since there was no trail they may have came in from different directions. You didn't get cussed out did you Scott?The one I cussed over wasn't a long trip but it was green haze hell.
We are going to go out today to repair one that is in need of maintenance. When we are done, we will post the update to the Geocaching website. I am interested to see if the site will give us any feedback on the new State policy when we log it.
Well it was not a good day.
I couldn't find my Garmin 60 CSX in the house this morning so I took my old Magellan 315. It's a rope start with the smallest countdown increment of distance being 0.01 miles.
I went with just my dog Murphy because my wife got called into work. We had to hoof and paw about a mile and a half from the nearest good road, taking two woods roads with impassable water holes to get to the spot.
When we got close, I started trying to remember what the hide looked like from 2009 and all of a sudden, everything looked like the Pine Barrens.
My Magellan 315 was bouncing between 0.02 and 0.01 miles but I couldn't zero out. While standing on what looked like perfectly good ice, I all of a sudden found myself ball deep in ice water. I instantly had two ice water filled knee high boots attached to my feet. The dog found it amusing until he put two front paws through the ice trying to get to me and quickly backed up. I crawled back up onto the ice and then stepped onto a sphagnum clump that instantly disappeared under my weight.
I made it back to the dry ground and laid down on the ground and put my legs up to drain the boots. That was refreshing since most of the water in the boots traveled down my legs, inside my pants and into my crotch.
Murphy thought this was fun too and jumped on my head.
I was thinking this whole thing was going badly and being in the middle of nowhere by myself probably wasn't too smart. I made one more attempt at finding the cache. I left my tree tie lead back at the truck so I couldn't tie Murphy off. I became very worried about him getting into trouble on the ice so I bailed.
1.5 miles back to the truck we went. Me dragging two soggy Lacrosse boots and Murph bouncing off the trees as usual . I didn't take the boots off until I got home and my feet were actually not too cold. Always a big fan of Merino wool in winter.
I logged the cache maintenance attempt as if my wife and I were there out there together and received no governmental warnings afterward.
The high point of the day was being deep in the big woods with Murphy (before the dunking) and thinking to myself, "I can't hear anything but pines."
I couldn't find my Garmin 60 CSX in the house this morning so I took my old Magellan 315. It's a rope start with the smallest countdown increment of distance being 0.01 miles.
I went with just my dog Murphy because my wife got called into work. We had to hoof and paw about a mile and a half from the nearest good road, taking two woods roads with impassable water holes to get to the spot.
When we got close, I started trying to remember what the hide looked like from 2009 and all of a sudden, everything looked like the Pine Barrens.
My Magellan 315 was bouncing between 0.02 and 0.01 miles but I couldn't zero out. While standing on what looked like perfectly good ice, I all of a sudden found myself ball deep in ice water. I instantly had two ice water filled knee high boots attached to my feet. The dog found it amusing until he put two front paws through the ice trying to get to me and quickly backed up. I crawled back up onto the ice and then stepped onto a sphagnum clump that instantly disappeared under my weight.
I made it back to the dry ground and laid down on the ground and put my legs up to drain the boots. That was refreshing since most of the water in the boots traveled down my legs, inside my pants and into my crotch.
Murphy thought this was fun too and jumped on my head.
I was thinking this whole thing was going badly and being in the middle of nowhere by myself probably wasn't too smart. I made one more attempt at finding the cache. I left my tree tie lead back at the truck so I couldn't tie Murphy off. I became very worried about him getting into trouble on the ice so I bailed.
1.5 miles back to the truck we went. Me dragging two soggy Lacrosse boots and Murph bouncing off the trees as usual . I didn't take the boots off until I got home and my feet were actually not too cold. Always a big fan of Merino wool in winter.
I logged the cache maintenance attempt as if my wife and I were there out there together and received no governmental warnings afterward.
The high point of the day was being deep in the big woods with Murphy (before the dunking) and thinking to myself, "I can't hear anything but pines."
I have given up swampin when there is ice in the swamps. I have bad experiences with ice.What is one thing slippier then dry ice? yep! Wet Ice and what is slippier then wet ice thats level? yep wet ice on a slant! I have several times broken through ice that went under which now means it's wet ice and of course whats it gonna land on under there? certainly not a table top,99% of the time it's gonna land on a tilt with me still standing on it. This means now instead of upright I am immediately on either side in the water or on my back in the water or on my face in the water and it there is ice on the water it means that water is very close to 32 degrees and who knows what the air temp is and now I"m soaked.I"ve also had to do the lay on your stomach to empty the boots thing with the same result.This also happens if you raise your leg while standing.The Crotch being the inevitable target no matter what.I"m not saying I"ll never wind up on ice in a swamp again but it will hopefully be very close to the car.
I also have to watch Sophie around ice.Thankfully she seems to be somewhat afraid of it though has no problem running out onto it if it's snow covered.Last thing i want is to be involved in a chest deep dog rescue but that's what I would do because Momma has already warned me to never come home without her. I am now in third place,right behind the grand kids and the dog.
I also have to watch Sophie around ice.Thankfully she seems to be somewhat afraid of it though has no problem running out onto it if it's snow covered.Last thing i want is to be involved in a chest deep dog rescue but that's what I would do because Momma has already warned me to never come home without her. I am now in third place,right behind the grand kids and the dog.
Every depression that can hold water/ice is full. Even the most familiar road is now an adventure. I was an ice breaker, no turning back once you start. Glad for the Kevlar belted tires. I have to find the Moody Blue Tube and a few others in Wharton before the state kills them off. Water, water everywhere.
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That is a hilarious story Scott! You made my day. A man who can laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.
PS: the next time you are up to your balls in ice water, do what I do; take in a quick, sharp breath and let it out through your clenched teeth with a whistling sound.
What do you mean you did that?
What do you mean you did that?