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Geocaching Battlewounds


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Out of curiousity, what's the worst battlewound you've received geocaching?

 

This past weekend we went to several caches that I hadn't really planned on finding, so.. stupid me, I wore sandals. I dang near broke my neck crossing a river, slid down a hill on a blanket of pine needles and ripped a nice long scrape on my arm. On another cache I manage to sink up to my thigh in really soft, sliding mud on a soggy steep sloping hill. Not too mention the countless Horsefly bites and the occasional spider bites. Dh got a few laughs, as did some nearby clueless picnic-ers.

 

Our little Chalupa (6) sat on what appeared to be a beautiful scenic shot with a nice lake in the background, only to be swarmed with hundreds of biting fire-ants. By the time we got them all off him (dipping him in a lake!) the poor kid came out with leaches on his feet. (Which he not so lovingly calls "Water Vampires", since his older 9 yr old brother told him they'll drain his blood. )

 

So, all clutz jokes aside... anyone else getting battlewounds?

 

~The 4 Chalupa's

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My son and I just got back from the big island of Hawaii, where we logged some great caches in beautiful locations- but also found some unique hazards to the area. Our last cache involved hiking about a third of a mile over some really rough black lava rock formations. All went well until the return hike when Fred Jr. (7 yrs. old) made a wrong step and slipped, cutting his knee on the lava. To make matters worse he put his hands out to catch himself- skinning both hands up as well. Fortunately, the cuts and scratches were very minor and superficial- but in a 7 year-old's mind, any time there is blood present it is NOT a good thing! Still with about a quarter mile to get back to the car after this happened, I put him up on my back to speed up the return trip- and needless to say ended up having to catch myself a time or two! By the time we got back to the vehicle we were BOTH bloodied and battered with numerous cuts from the sharp lava rock. After a quick trip to the local Wal-Mart for some bandages and disinfectant however, we gave each other a high-five 'cause despite the cuts and scrapes we knew that we had FOUND THE CACHE!! About that time, my son looked up at me and said "Wow, Dad! That should have been a level five difficulty, don't you think?" (I think it was actually around a 2.5). I looked back at him and said "You bet it should, son! You are really becoming a man!"

Overall, I think that Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Between the 90 degree heat and sharp lava there were literally all three of these elements present for us on this particular cache!) can really add to a sense of accomplishment. Don't get me wrong- I would never take my son on a "dangerous" cache. I think he came away from this particular find however with a strong sense of accomplishment, and will probably remember it for the rest of his life. To me, that's what geocaching and the adventure is all about!

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Well, lets see. While putting out my first cache we got locked in the park and had to jump the fence to get out. The car was outside of the gate. Well lets say my landing did not go to good. When I landed I herd and felt a pop and I was down holding my knee. I tried to get back up but my knee just popped out from under me. I got up with some help and hopped back to the car and had to go the emergency room. Lets see now, I did not brake anything however I did have a chip bone and a blown ACL and my knee cap was dislocated. I have had 2 surgeries at the sum of $50 Thousand Dollars. I had other thing happen but that has been the worst.

 

Richard of the GeoCrickets

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I heard about a woman who was bitten by a copperhead and did not realize it until visiting the emergency room after a day of caching! Me I hyperextended the tendons in my right knee while caching in Salt Lake City but that's another story.

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A few weeks ago while caching one of our group tripped over a root and broke his elbow . Saturday morning I did a face plant on the beach and did something bad to my knee I'm seeing the doc tomorrow to see how bad it really is. Of course I kept caching for the rest of the day and could hardly walk the next. :lol:

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My first cache. I was riding my mt. bike along a single-track trail while holding my GPSr in one hand and trying to steere with the other. I was riding with my clips not engaged on purpose, since I new I might have stop suddenly. (you really need both hands on the handlebars...I'm dumb)

 

Well, as I went through a little draw, I intended to get off my bike as I started up the hill on the other side...but as I stood up...'CLICK' my left shoe clicked into my clips...just as the bike stopped rolling.

 

Long story short...I, and the bike, rolled backward down the hill..knocked my buddy off his bike and into the bushes. I actually felt...butt, backpack, head, face, knees hit the ground in that order.

 

The bike was messed up. My front sprocket embedded itself into my calf causing what looked surprisingly like a shark bite. My buddy was bleeding from a couple of places. But the GPS was ok.

 

We found the cache...limping.

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The last wound I got was a stick directly into my knee. Yeah.. Hurt like a mofo, but barely broke the skin. :lol: At least if it's going to hurt that bad I should have blood or something. (Note, it's been many days and it still hurts)

 

Other than that, the most serious was a tick bite :lol: Luckily I didn't get any disease from it. Lets see, briars (complete with blood), scrapes, etc... But nothing massively serious.

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Countless scrapes and bites, and I am now being treated for Lyme disease.

On our second cache ever, we had to climb a jungle gym sort of thing to read coordinates stapled to the top. Joe slipped and tore his pants, and sustaned a nice bruise on his inner thigh, and *almost* hurt the goods. Phew, that was close.

We're newlyweds, you know. We had to consider putting off caching for a while.

 

But we made the right decision and decided to forge on. We have health insurance. :anicute:

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Well, nothing serious here, aside from the standard scrapes, bruises, etc. I am sitting home sick today because of caching, though. Here's a tip...never forget to bring PLENTY of water on a 4+ hour cache hike...and if you do forget, hesitate in trying any nearby creek water. You know, you can't see those water-borne parisites...they's tiny! Headache, aching joints, fever, diahrreha...yup, sounds like parasites to me.

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One of my 3 caches is on an island in a very polluted bayou. Whenever they put the water quality chart in the newspaper the endococci and the fecal coliform are off the charts! It always says UNACCEPTIBLE. Also the mud in the bayou is full of sharp oysters that cut up your feet. I never thought anybody would be nuts enough to wade over there barefoot but two people did and it sounded like they had so much fun I really wanted to do it too. Finally did last week. I thought at first that I got away with it except for that I killed my phone which was in my pocket but I didn't realize that my feet were so cut up until the next day when I took a shower. They still hurt but they're not festering too badly yet.

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Two years ago I hyperextended my knee while trying for an FTF on a new cache in town. This was the day before a planned week long caching vacation, which ended up getting cancelled [:blink:] Fortunatly that healed fairly fast, but it did slow things down for the rest of the summer.

 

Then THIS summer, on the first hike of the season, I tripped over a tree root, landed right on my elbow and busted all three bones in my Left Arm at the Elbow. The cast is off, but recovery will still take most of the summer. I'm just now getting motion back in the hand. Hopefully some day I'll be able to straighten out the arm.

 

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Edited by Right Wing Wacko
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