Caches in National Parks

[+weigle]

I just started geocaching a few days ago and LOVE it - I'm hooked with only 4 finds under my belt.

 

I wanted to place my own cache in a national park which is close to my home but I read that national parks are off-limits. Why? Has there been some issues with the NPS? Have they made a statement about geocachers? Do they consider it littering? Obviously it's not a trespassing issue since you have free-reign in the parks unless otherwise posted.

 

Anyone else been hiking and seen that you could have picked up a garbage bag full of trash within a mile?

 

Seems like the NPS would ENCOURAGE the Cache In - Trash Out campaigne.

 

any thoughts?

[+StarBrand]

I think the new policy towards letterboxing opens the door a bit for us Geocachers but you will need some very explict permission from the current superintendent.

 

The issue is and always has been that our caches will be buried and that seekers will dig up large areas looking for them. Once the perception took hold - policy followed quickly and in the early days of geocaching.

[+Isonzo Karst]

The NPS has recently issued a new policy re GPS games. You can read about it here

 

NPS policy on GPS games.

 

I'm aware of one new cache placed on NPS managed since this internal memo was written. There may be others.

 

It IS possible to place a cache on NPS land, and it IS possible to get permission for it. You'd need to demonstrate that permission to a reviewer here to get the cache published.

I suspect more than, "I got permission for the cache".

 

The early perception of geocaching by NPS was that it involved buried caches. And there were buried caches early on, so they weren't entirely nuts to arrive at that conclusion.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Isonzo Karst

[+edscott]

I just started geocaching a few days ago and LOVE it - I'm hooked with only 4 finds under my belt.

 

I wanted to place my own cache in a national park which is close to my home but I read that national parks are off-limits. Why? Has there been some issues with the NPS? Have they made a statement about geocachers? Do they consider it littering? Obviously it's not a trespassing issue since you have free-reign in the parks unless otherwise posted.

 

Anyone else been hiking and seen that you could have picked up a garbage bag full of trash within a mile?

 

Seems like the NPS would ENCOURAGE the Cache In - Trash Out campaigne.

 

any thoughts?

 

National park administrators seem to have one of two philosophies.

 

(1) Protect the park from the public at all cost.

 

(2) Allow the public to use the park resources for recreational and educational activities to make the public more aware of our natural heritage.

 

Over the past few years I see a gradual trend from (1) to (2). That bodes well for Geocaching in the future, but changes in bureaucratic philosophy take time.

[+mbbaumann]

I spoke with a Ranger last September in the Hyde Park area of the Mid Hudson Valley in NY (I was up from Virginia to drop my son off at his college in Poughkeepsie). I was searching for a few caches that were on a trail across from the FDR Presidential site and had the luck of teaming up with a local cacher I ran into on the trail. The land had been in a trust that was recently given to the NPS. The ranger happened upon us searching for a cache and started asking a lot of questions. He accompanied us on the trail for a few finds and left with a favorable impression of geocaching, mostly because we were carrying out 2 bags of trash from the trail.

 

Those caches were archived a few months later because they were on the property acquired by the NPS. That one ranger saw the minimal impact we had on the land and appreciated the care we took in our search and the amount of trash we removed from the area. I know that there are some people in every endeavor who ignore rules or just don't care, but my experience in the year I have been geocaching is that those people I have stumbled upon in the woods from North Carolina to upstate New York so far have been very respectful of their surroundings. They may be a little out of their minds, but they are trying to have fun, see new things and leave as small an imprint as possible.

 

The best endorsement for allowing our access to the National Parks is our continued respect for the land and the people who oversee it. Following the rules will go a long way to warming your local Ranger up to our hobby and maybe then they can change the misinformation at the decision making levels.

 

I just started geocaching a few days ago and LOVE it - I'm hooked with only 4 finds under my belt.

 

I wanted to place my own cache in a national park which is close to my home but I read that national parks are off-limits. Why? Has there been some issues with the NPS? Have they made a statement about geocachers? Do they consider it littering? Obviously it's not a trespassing issue since you have free-reign in the parks unless otherwise posted.

 

Anyone else been hiking and seen that you could have picked up a garbage bag full of trash within a mile?

 

Seems like the NPS would ENCOURAGE the Cache In - Trash Out campaigne.

 

any thoughts?

[+edscott]

Not surprising. The rangers that are actually out in the woods doing something are the younger, lower seniority guys. Until they are in the system long enough to get the corner office, what they think or know doesn't matter much.

[+briansnat]

I think a lot of it has to do with misconceptions about geocaching. Some early caches were buried and one or two of these were found on NPS land and right away they said "this won't do".

 

We stopped burying caches early on, but the perception that we are digging up parks continues.

 

Also they assume that there will be a parade of people visiting cache sites and creating all kinds of damage.

In truth this is very rare. The most popular caches (visit wise) tend to be in built up areas like parking lots and

already heavily used sections of parks.

[TwoCrow]

The Michigan state parks also discourage the hiding of caches. One ranger told me they don't want folks going off trails and tramping, let alone digging up, delicate vegetation. But they do encourage virtual caches on the trails, and I've seen a couple of pretty good ones in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Upper Michigan.

 

The national forests seem OK with hidden caches.

[+weigle]

What about STATE parks? Do the same rules apply with placing caches as national parks?

 

I'd like to place some (4/3) caches with a mile hike to them but finding that kind of area without someones house or fence on it is HARD these days.

 

- jeremy

[+edscott]

What about STATE parks? Do the same rules apply with placing caches as national parks?

 

I'd like to place some (4/3) caches with a mile hike to them but finding that kind of area without someones house or fence on it is HARD these days.

 

- jeremy

 

Depends on the state and the park. Check the local area. If state parks already have some caches they are probably OK with permission, if none exist it's probably for a reason.