sub32: (Log written by DewPoint52 who is maintaining all sub32 caches now)
It's a very sad day. Over 10 1/2 years ago, after seeing a geocache hidden in a rubber duck in Montana, sub32 started a new series of caches in Wake County using the same kind of container. This was the very first one of those. Several were hidden in this park. OVer the years some had to be archived due to repeatedly going missing, but this one and one other on the other side of the park survived nature for all this time.
During that 10 1/2+ years, almost 300 separate geocaching accounts, likely representing considerably more people than that, have found this cache. Many commented in their logs about how they and in many cases their kids enjoyed finding it. For some it was their first geocache find ever.
But no one else will have the pleasure of finding this little duck because someone in park management has decided to ban all geocaches from the park. I do not understand or agree with this decision at all. To me, the point of having a large park in a city is to allow people that might not otherwise have an opportunity to experience nature to have a chance to do so - to get out of the concrete and asphalt jungle and into the woods to explore and see a bit of the natural world - and geocaches help entice people to go out and do that.
During my geocaching career, I have found and explored many very nice parks that I'd have never visited or even know about otherwise as a result of looking for geocaches there. Unless current or future park management reverses this decision to ban geocaches, no one will ever again discover this very nice natural area as a result of there being geocaches in it.
I would think that drawing people that might not otherwise know about it to the park would be a desirable thing, but apparently current park management feels differently. That's very disappointing to me. I thought this park was one of the best places in the area to enjoy geocaching in the woods without having to leave the city which is why I and sub32 hid and found numerous caches here over the years.
After over 10 1/2 years in the wild, this little duck has become the victim of (in my opinion flawed) human decision making and has been involuntarily evicted from its long time home. Very sad.