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At what point is it considered garbage or artifact?? SO.....do I pick this up and remove it, or does it have some historic value and should I leave it alone??
I'm often puzzled by "stuff" that I come across while hiking the Superstitions, some 'stuff' is obvious trash (plastic bottles, occasion balloons, candy wrappers, shotgun shells, etc) but some of that trash-looking stuff could have historic value and be left as is.

Pottery Shards, Arrow Heads, Stone Tools are some of the artifacts of historic value and should be left undisturbed. But what about really old shell casings or even an old six-shooter lying around for over a hundred years. Would you pass on a find like that? There's still a lot of gray areas in the rules that are open to personal interpretations.

Your thoughts..........

If it has monetary or historic value, artifact. If it does not, trash. (though eventually if the shot shell stays out there long enough space people will be fascinated by it ...)

Yes, even poop may become a copralite eventually...

I have a real old and rare animal trap stashed at Shultz Spring at Spur Cross. Am I scum or just just an idiot that one day will lug this rusty crap back?
One of my friends has a weakness for dug up guns. He has a Colt .45 Single Action with 3 live or were live rounds in the cylinder and the hammer back.
What a story that could tell.

@Alston Neal
I'll refrain from answering a question that is clearly rhetorical... I'd lug the Colt back before I even gave the rusty trap a second thought.

PLC92084 wrote:@Alston Neal
I'll refrain from answering a question that is clearly rhetorical... I'd lug the Colt back before I even gave the rusty trap a second thought.

Well yeah DUH!
I'd even lug your rusty butt back before a trap...

According to the law (on public land, anyway), anything more than 50 years old is historical and not to be picked up.
However, if you're out there alone, who knows?

autumnstars wrote:According to the law (on public land, anyway), anything more than 50 years old is historical and not to be picked up.

That pretty much describes me and my success with women.

Alston Neal wrote:

autumnstars wrote:According to the law (on public land, anyway), anything more than 50 years old is historical and not to be picked up.

That pretty much describes me and my success with women.

I'm glad to know it's the law and not just my gal darn S.O.B. personality.

Alston Neal wrote:That pretty much describes me and my success with women.

Alston Neal wrote:That pretty much describes me and my success with women.

Btw, this is the same dilemma I face when I look in my closets ...

And here I had thought all you dudes were married. Oh, well, I guess that doesn't stop you, huh?

azbackpackr wrote:And here I had thought all you dudes were married. Oh, well, I guess that doesn't stop you, huh?

Yeah you're right my wife is married. ;)

Alston Neal wrote:

azbackpackr wrote:And here I had thought all you dudes were married. Oh, well, I guess that doesn't stop you, huh?

Yeah you're right my wife is married. ;)

Oooh, I'm telling!

autumnstars wrote:According to the law (on public land, anyway), anything more than 50 years old is historical and not to be picked up.

On the other hand, if you leave it for the next guy to see. He will take it.

OK, If we count back 50 years, that would put us back in the 1960's (some really great years back then) and there was a lot of mining activity going on in the Superstition Wilderness, so that would mean there could be a lot of historical "stuff" lying around. I guess it would come down to a person's conscience to observe an object or to take your chances and remove that object (as for Alston Neal, remove only if still moving).

Rick Vincent wrote:

autumnstars wrote:According to the law (on public land, anyway), anything more than 50 years old is historical and not to be picked up.

On the other hand, if you leave it for the next guy to see. He will take it.

But if you take it, you become that "next guy" for the last person to see it.

I researched some more, and realized US laws only covers artifacts 100 years old or older. Sorry I passed on my erroneous information.
Now I can freely admit that I pick up anything obviously trash - beer bottles and cans seem to be the most common.

Wait a minute here......I'm over 50 so does that make me BOTH historical and trash?