Rappelling in State Parks.

[astrodav]

I noticed there had been a mention in another thread about rappelling & possibly rock-climbing being banned in State Parks. That discussion was getting a bit off-topic from that thread's intended purpose, so I placed this here for any interested.

This intriqued me for 2 reasons:

1. I had personally rappelled in 2 State Parks years ago, legal & permitted at the time. And have rock-climbed in one other.

2. I have been pre-planning a high difficulty cache which would require being roped for safety, but not actually rappelling. I was within days of approaching one or more of the park superintendents about that, to see if they would approve it.

Referring to regs about this on the SP site, rappelling is now only allowed on Magazine by signing in. Climbing is permitted on Pinnacle by free permit. Evidently they have taken away that sport in all of the rest of the parks. I'm not sure if either of those would be GroundSpeak-compatible, since you can't simply show up, anchor a rope, & start climbing, but have to sign in and/or request the free permit.

So, if this cache DOES appear in a State Park, it will be in one of those. If that can't be arranged, or doesn't fit GS guidelines, then I may just drop the idea entirely, or look into land belonging to other organizations.

[jclaudii]

Perhaps if that falls through you can place it on national park land like up by the Buffalo around Ponca? I'm not sure what the rappelling/climbing rules are form NPS but perhaps it can be done without a permit.

I found a website a few years ago that listed some of the best places to climb/sperlunk/boldering/etc, but I can't find it now. It would list how access was granted etc. A majority of the places were on Private land that the Owners gave permission to be on.

[OldRiverRunner]

Perhaps if that falls through you can place it on national park land like up by the Buffalo around Ponca? Geocaches are not allowed on National Park Service land. That's why you don't see any geocaches now along the Buffalo River or in the actual boundaries of Hot Springs National Park.

[jclaudii]

Why is that?

[OldRiverRunner]

Why is that?
It's clearly stated in the Cache Listing Requirements/Guidelines:
Caches may be quickly archived if we see the following (which is not exhaustive):

* Caches on land managed by an agency that prohibits geocaches, such as the U.S. National Park Service or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (National Wildlife Refuges).

[QuartzCachers]

My understanding on this, is that there used to be some in National Parks, but some wise guy thought it would be cool to bury one, which has led to no buried caches (a good thing IMHO), and no caches in National Parks, which I think stinks to high Heaven.
There are some primo spots here in Garland County that can never be utilized due to this restriction. It's kind of a sore spot with me, given my proximity to Hot Springs.
Oh yeah, there are some places that are used for rock climbing here every day which is fine with them...as long as there is no cache at the end of it. Common sense, U.S. government style. :evil:

[jclaudii]

Should this be one of those things like the NFS and State Parks that ArkGeo can get involved with and try and change things?

[SniperChicken]

In Mississippi rock climbing and rapelling IS available at Tishomingo State Park.
http://home.mdwfp.com/Parks/ParksInfo.aspx?id=81&lc=609

They recquire you to obtain a permit through the park office and a hlemet must be worn though.Climbing guides are available there also.

Different states and possibly even different park directors within a state dictate what goes and what doesn't.