+jmlytle Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 Hey all, I've been caching since March and have been enjoying myself immensely. After perusing the forums I came to the consensus that a large number of experienced cachers encourage noobs like myself to find a good deal of caches before venturing out to hide their own. I've seen the arbitrary number 100 thrown out a few times as a minimum amount of finds before hiding, and I figured that would be a good goal set for myself. Since I'm approaching my "100 finds" goal I started researching different places and ways to hide some caches. My question for you all is concerning the permissions needed to place a cache. I've read through the guidelines for placement quite a few times and know it's necessary to gain permission from land owners/managers before hiding a cache on property not owned by me. However, I'm curious how often this rule is followed as well as interested in any tips you can give me in hunting down the permissions needed.. Concerning the myriad of Wal-mart, Light Post, urban micro's that it seems everyone hates - how often is permission granted to place them? I cannot see every store manager (much less every property owner) granting permission to hide a cache in a parking lot or shrubbery, but it seems like there are more hidden in these places than not. So how often are permissions skipped in these instances? And for those of you who were granted permissions in these situations - how did you go about obtaining it? Concerning park caches - Any tips you can give me in finding the proper person in authority to talk to? Is it as easy as calling the park/township office and asking "Can I place a cache in your park?" Lastly, concerning land that 'isn't owned." By "not owned" I'm referring to no posted signs saying private property, no park or state game land registration, and no obvious owner. I'm thinking of a particular cache I found awhile ago that I absolutely loved. It was a few hundred feet off of a trail, but not zoned or belonging to a park. It was near a state highway, but not under a bridge. If I had to guess a farmer sold it off when they were building the highway and it sets neglected now. Or it was part of a water thorough way which is now replaced by a stream a few hundred feet south. Either way, it's not particularly important. What do you do with land that is essentially "No one's?" I think that's all my questions :-) I'm hoping this results in a few helpful hints and interesting discussions! Thanks in advance for all your input, you guys are seriously some of the most helpful forum people around. -JML Quote
+Harry Dolphin Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 I don't know about the rest of the country, but in New Jersey, every bit of land belongs to someone. I should imagine that that's true in Pennsylvania as well. Person, corporation, park, town, county, state &c. Someone owns it. Quote
Andronicus Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 Remember that the guidlines states "adequate permission". Many people hold the "frizbee test". Basicaly, if you would feel comfortable playing frizbee at a location with your freinds, that it is also OK to hide a geocache, (implied permission). Esentialy, if one recreational activity is OK, why not another. This may be sufficient sometimes, but not all times. And it likely wont help you if you are detained by mall security. Quote
+StarBrand Posted September 29, 2010 Posted September 29, 2010 On most public type lands - find and closely follow any rules or guidelines pertaining to Geocaching. For the most part, if they don't have some guidelines by now - they are ok with Geocaches if only tacitly. On private land - always get permission from the highest available authority over the land. Quote
+jmlytle Posted October 1, 2010 Author Posted October 1, 2010 I don't know about the rest of the country, but in New Jersey, every bit of land belongs to someone. I should imagine that that's true in Pennsylvania as well. Person, corporation, park, town, county, state &c. Someone owns it. Yeah I can't imagine a piece of land anywhere that someone doesn't own. I was more referring to land that's been abandoned, desolate, or generally just unknown. I've never seen something that falls under those categories in NJ :-) It seems kinda packed over there. haha Quote
+jmlytle Posted October 1, 2010 Author Posted October 1, 2010 Remember that the guidlines states "adequate permission". Many people hold the "frizbee test". Basicaly, if you would feel comfortable playing frizbee at a location with your freinds, that it is also OK to hide a geocache, (implied permission). Esentialy, if one recreational activity is OK, why not another. This may be sufficient sometimes, but not all times. And it likely wont help you if you are detained by mall security. Never heard of the "frizbee test" before. I can see where that would be useful in certain situations.. Thanks!! haha, and I think I'd get in trouble with playing frizbee in a mall parking lot as well.. Quote
+jmlytle Posted October 1, 2010 Author Posted October 1, 2010 On most public type lands - find and closely follow any rules or guidelines pertaining to Geocaching. For the most part, if they don't have some guidelines by now - they are ok with Geocaches if only tacitly. On private land - always get permission from the highest available authority over the land. Thanks for the advice! Quote
+SeekerOfTheWay Posted October 1, 2010 Posted October 1, 2010 My reviewer is really helpful. When i started hiding caches they let me know what needed to be tweaked. i had to move a cache off a telephone pole because i don't own it. They gave me contact info for the parks department. i emailed the contact, exchanged a phone call and got my cache permits in the mail or my Sarasota Park hides. All went really well. i think cachers should get adequate permission so we keep up a good reputation Quote
+jmlytle Posted October 1, 2010 Author Posted October 1, 2010 My reviewer is really helpful. When i started hiding caches they let me know what needed to be tweaked. i had to move a cache off a telephone pole because i don't own it. They gave me contact info for the parks department. i emailed the contact, exchanged a phone call and got my cache permits in the mail or my Sarasota Park hides. All went really well. i think cachers should get adequate permission so we keep up a good reputation I was actually thinking about contacting my reviewer(OReviewer) pre-hide, but I know that they're volunteers and didn't wanna waste any more of their time than I prolly will once I submit a cache. :-) I sincerely agree about adequate permissions. I would think achieving correct permission would eliminate a percentage of muggled caches as well. I appreciate your advice! Quote
LaRocquette Posted October 2, 2010 Posted October 2, 2010 My reviewer is really helpful. When i started hiding caches they let me know what needed to be tweaked. i had to move a cache off a telephone pole because i don't own it. They gave me contact info for the parks department. i emailed the contact, exchanged a phone call and got my cache permits in the mail or my Sarasota Park hides. All went really well. i think cachers should get adequate permission so we keep up a good reputation I was actually thinking about contacting my reviewer(OReviewer) pre-hide, but I know that they're volunteers and didn't wanna waste any more of their time than I prolly will once I submit a cache. :-) I sincerely agree about adequate permissions. I would think achieving correct permission would eliminate a percentage of muggled caches as well. I appreciate your advice! Quote
+Bear and Ragged Posted October 2, 2010 Posted October 2, 2010 I was actually thinking about contacting my reviewer(OReviewer) pre-hide, but I know that they're volunteers and didn't wanna waste any more of their time than I prolly will once I submit a cache. :-) Still a waste of the volunteers time if you submit a cache that wont get published! I'm sure the reviewer would rather reply to an emailed question, than have to refuse your cache. Quote
+jmlytle Posted October 4, 2010 Author Posted October 4, 2010 I was actually thinking about contacting my reviewer(OReviewer) pre-hide, but I know that they're volunteers and didn't wanna waste any more of their time than I prolly will once I submit a cache. :-) Still a waste of the volunteers time if you submit a cache that wont get published! I'm sure the reviewer would rather reply to an emailed question, than have to refuse your cache. Haha good point, thanks for the advice! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.