OpenCaching

Local rules

Rules for hiding geocaching vary from country to country, state to state, city to city, and park to park. To help keep track of these different regulations, we have a publicly accessible database with every local rule that we know about.

Local rules can vary greatly. Here are some examples of what they might say:

• No geocaches allowed under any circumstances.
• All geocaches require a permit. Apply for a permit at the ranger station.
• Geocaches must be moved every three years to minimize environmental impact.
• Caches were previously prohibited here, but now they are allowed.
• In this park, geocaches much be at least 200ft from the horse trails.

When you are hiding a new geocache, or reviewing a pending listing, we will show you any local rules that apply to the area where the cache is hidden. Cache owners should always leave a note to the peer reviewer explaining what they have done to comply with any of the local rules listed.

We’re still building the database of local rules. If you know of some local rules that aren’t in our database, please let us know by emailing geocaching@opencaching.com. We’ll need to know what rules are for the area, and we’ll need the latitudes and longitudes that define the border of the area (we can accept them in almost any format, kml, shape file, etc). To ensure that we only list official and correct rules, we can only add a rule to the database if we hear directly from someone in charge of managing the park, city, or area that the rule affects, or if the rule is already posted on an official website for the area.