Ask Signal: Volume 1
We’re excited to share Signal’s first answer to a question sent in for our Ask Signal series. This first question touches on important information for geocachers who want to create and hide their own geocache. Let’s get started!
How do you find the proper person to give permission to place a cache on public land?
Getting permission to hide a geocache at the spot you’ve picked for it is a critical part in the cache hiding process and it sets your geocache up to have a long life full of finds.
A good first step when you want to know about permission to hide geocaches on public lands is to research whether the public lands already have rules or policies in place for geocaching. For example, if you wanted to hide a geocache at a Washington State Park in the US State of Washington, the organization’s website has detailed information about what they allow and links to the permit that cachers must fill out to get permission to place a new cache.
If you don’t find any information about existing policies for hiding geocaches in the area you’ve chosen after a bit of research, the next step is to find out who is a good point of contact for the public lands. Find the website for the public lands, agency, or organization that manages them, then look for information about how to contact them. They might offer specific contact information for individuals, but even if they only offer a general email address or contact form, that is still a good starting point to reach out and inquire about their geocache placement policies.
Another helpful resource when figuring out cache hiding permission on public land is the Regional Geocaching Policies Wiki. This site has information about geocaching placement policies for different regions around the world. Geocaching community volunteer reviewers for different regions add information about policies to the site. Please note, the guide is for reference and is not exhaustive, so just because a policy isn’t mentioned on the site, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a policy in place for that space.
Are you looking for certain geocaching advice or answers to geocaching questions? Send Signal your questions by filling out this form.
