Geocache goof continues to reverberate

You may remember a few weeks ago the story about how the Nevada Department of Transportation, citing dubious safety reasons, abruptly removed hundreds of geocaches along the Extraterrestrial Highway.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Adrienne Packer today posted a follow-up on that story. In short, she found no shortage of geocache fans who proclaimed they would skip Nevada and instead choose California — and Route 66 — for their activities.

That included Ed Yohn, from Lancaster, Pa.:

“The bright side for Nevada is that we are still flying into Las Vegas and renting a vehicle. Granted, once the tires roll, they won’t stop until California. If the E.T. highway trail is ever reinstated, we’ll be back.”

You get the picture. These notes, which are a fraction of those I received after writing about the caches being taken away, definitely demonstrate how angry these people are and how much money our rural communities might be losing out on.

The transportation division has requested legal advice from the attorney general’s office on the placement of caches off the highway in the desert land, some of which is public and some of which is the transportation department’s right of way.

Transportation officials said they have yet to receive a response.

Packer quoted seven geocachers in her story, and all said they would snub Nevada because of the geocaches’ removal. And, remember, she says that is “a fraction” of the comments she received. At minimum, we’re talking probably thousands of tourism dollars lost — at a time when Nevada’s economy is struggling — because of the agency’s impulsive decision.

And the dithering by the state attorney general’s office isn’t helping, either. Summer tourism season lurks just weeks away.