I've read this a lot on the letterboxing board, the claim that letterboxing is a 'leave no trace' past-time while geocaching destroys the environment.

Geocaching.com has a self-policing feature.
You can do your part for the environment by logging onto geocaching.com and posting a note on the geocache page that the area is being ruined by excessive searching. You can even post photos of the destruction. Maybe the owner of the cache doesn't realize the problem and might want to rectify the issue by providing more in-depth clues to decrease the amount of searching. If it's really bad you can post a 'should be archived' note which alerts the local reviewer.

Letterboxing is not without it's own stories about environmental issues. It has been noted that sometimes:
* clues are too vague, e.g. look under the medium sized rock -- when you get to the location, there are 50 medium sized rocks.
* Or a box goes missing and the clues are not updated, so the finders go over and over an area looking under and turning over logs/rocks and trampling plants.
* Or the planter puts the box in a old stone wall and finders start removing stones in order to locate the box.
* Or the planter hides the box in an environmentally sensitive area and finders inadvertently destroy rare plants or disturb breeding spots.

You can contact the planter and hopefully (if he/she is still an active letterboxer) will move the letterbox to a better location or provide better clues, but there's nothing that can be done if they choose not to comply.

alwayschaos wrote:
I own a GPS. I can afford a GPS. GPS does not equal letterboxing in
my never to be humble opinion and I'll never find one that requires
it. I've seen what geocaching does to the area surrounding a cache and
that's just not leave no trace.






---------------------------------
Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo! Answers.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]