Caches You've Come Close To Perishing At.

[+Shifty]

There are plenty of 5 star rated caches, and even some 3 stars that can be considered dangerous. Recently a crew of myself and 3 other cachers went to Erie, Pennsylvania to do a cache called "Pray For Daylight" To summarize, we never got to the cache, had a wild ride on the way out, and could have very easily died at a drop off towards the end. You can check out the last 4 logs and read about the experience and then share a few of your own. I just want to make sure we are not the only ones who experienced a "Close call" while caching.

 

Pray For Daylight

 

Lookin forward to hearing some good stories.

 

Shifty

Edited August 21, 2005 by Shifty54

[+Tidalflame]

I've never come close to dying while attempting a cache, but I've gotta tell you that you guys posted some great stories. I want to try that cache!

[+Sue Gremlin]

Well, we did happen upon a GIGANTIC bear yesterday while walking back from this cache, which gave us pause, but that isn't even in the same ballpark as your story. (which, by the way, is an excellent read).

[+WhatsRNutts]

so far I can thankfully say I haven't had any close calls...but then again i'm still keeping to those 2.5/2.5 ones for the moment... I loved reading yalls logs...it was a thrill ride without actually having to be there!

[+dkwolf]

Haven't had any myself yet, but man that cache looks like fun! I'm going to have to do some checking around, there might be an area around here I could do one of those at...

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

Ooooooooh the stories I could tell.

 

Cache are so much MORE fun when there is some risk to life and limb, however, I've only done two of what I would consider "I could have died here" caches.

 

One was just dangerous, but a 4.5 for terrain was more appropriate than a 5. The box has, apparently, gone missing... but I'd like to make a trip out there on a better day (read: not raining, cold and slippery) to see if it's really gone since it seems no one else is!

 

And on one I truly did figure I wasn't going to make it off the mountain alive. Funny what runs through your head at times like those. I logged a DNF that day with a very short haiku. The real story is too long for a cache log. It was a challenge in every way and I intend to go back and find that cache some day.

[+BillsBayou]

This phrase comes to mind:

 

"It's always fun until someone pokes their eye out. Then it's a sport."

 

Welcome to Geocaching!

 

The closest I've come to risking life and limb is finding poisonous snakes.

[+4leafclover]

This is not horrifically dangerous...but anyone who is familiar with me and my "adventures" knows that for me...even a 1 can be life threatening...

[+mtn-man]

Bears... snakes... cliffs... big deal.

 

Try caching in New York City's Central Park at night.

My log for In The Ramble, one of several caches Mopar and I did with dboggny that night.

 

FYI... Mopar makes for great cover if you are afraid of being shot. Just ask dboggny.

[+WhatsRNutts]

This is not horrifically dangerous...but anyone who is familiar with me and my "adventures" knows that for me...even a 1 can be life threatening...

wow....seems like you need more than 4 of those lucky clovers. are you pressing them and laminating them?

 

edited to add an image

Edited August 22, 2005 by wreckelite

[+4leafclover]

This is not horrifically dangerous...but anyone who is familiar with me and my "adventures" knows that for me...even a 1 can be life threatening...

wow....seems like you need more than 4 of those lucky clovers. are you pressing them and laminating them?

why, yes I do...and then I leave them in caches!

[+WhatsRNutts]

well....here is a whole field of em (see my above post)

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

The closest I've come to risking life and limb is finding poisonous snakes.

Eh. I cross poisonous snakes while I'm out on my daily constitutional. Interestingly enough, I only seem to find them on the paved pathways and never in the wild.

 

[+Thrak]

Not real life threatening but a definite wake up. Found my foot appx. 10" from the business end of a 3 foot rattlesnake this weekend. The snake really had no interest in me at all and I just backed off. Glad I didn't step on it.

[+Planet]

This weekend, at The Great Northern Tier Geocaching Tournament, caching at 1:30 AM in the middle of the state forest, second close encounter of the day with a bear. My first encounters with bears ever. It was dark, and I'm not much of a night cacher, and I heard him, the bear was running away from MilesStone and I. He wasn't going to hurt me, the sheer fear is what almost did me in. I almost did what they say bears do in the woods. The first encounter wasn't as scary, he came galumphing through the campsite, right next to me, he was about 10' from me and hadn't seen me sitting at the picnic table entering waypoints at 5:30 AM until I turned and sort of gasped at seeing him, then he walked around the other side of the picnic table and I shot him with my flashlight right between the eyes, and said NO BEAR! NO! No Bear, NO! as we looked each other in the eyes. We didn't have food out, but the people across the road did and he helped himself to the whole big plastic tub, dragging it into the woods to enjoy its contents some 30 feet away. I tried taking some pictures, but it was so dark out all I got was the two shining dots of his eyes reflecting the flash. Then I tried getting closer, then I thought that was really stupid, so I gave up. In editing it, I can just make out the bear, and the trees and plastic tub he grabbed. These were black bears, thank God!

[+Miragee]

I was a very new cacher when I attempted this cache. Silly me. I got back to my car when it was almost completely dark . . . and I didn't have a flashlight with me . . . and that is mountain lion territory.

 

I also saw a rattlesnake at another cache last February, but it was sleeping peacefully. I let it continue its slumber.

[+2Dee2Dee]

Being attacked by hawks 5/19 GC90A9 and near cache guard rattlesnakes 8/21 GCM20J and 6/14 GCMNC6 doesn't compare. Geocaching sure opens up the opportunity for new experiences.

[+CompassCollector]

The closest I've come to risking life and limb is finding poisonous snakes.

Eh. I cross poisonous snakes while I'm out on my daily constitutional. Interestingly enough, I only seem to find them on the paved pathways and never in the wild.

 

I think they're referring to the kind with no feet.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Oh, pish tosh on bears! I've met seventeen or so of them on my ten-year hiking career. Here's Samantha Bear. We met her searching for Mahlon Dickerson Pavillion Cache. Sam Bear. Closest encounter was last fall, on Bearfort Ridge, when I rounded a bend in the trail, and almost stepped on a bear. Missed it by about four feet. It charged off through the mountain laurel. I almost had a heart attack!

Snakes don't bother me. Toss rocks at the rattlers or copperheads, and they'll slither off.

I do have a fear of heights, though. Which is strange for someone who has climbed fifteen (or so) mountains over four thousand feet. We were on the top of the Palisades this weekend. That's frightening! I can think of one cache suspended in the guts of an abandoned train trestle that I will probably never log. Not my kind of cache.

[+The Leprechauns]

Our group had a much easier, and more fun, experience today at "PRAY FOR DAYLIGHT." A truly great subterranean caching experience. Here's my daughter and her friend enjoying their stroll in the tunnel:

 

[+JohnnyVegas]

I almost got swept into the pacific ocean the first time I tried to find this cache

Dirty Rocks

I parked in the wrong spot and tried to get to the cache along the beach, when I turned back I got caught between to large rocks when a wave came in. Being that I was standing in a spot were the two segments of the wave met, as they made contact they shot a large plum of sea water up between my legs. I got soaked pretty well. Because by Pock PC was in the inside pocket of my vest it did not get wet and digital camers survived in it's bag, My ham radio got soaked but it is water proof so I just rand some fresh water over it in the restroom at the beach.

 

I went back at a later date and parked in the right spot, then it was an easy hike

[+bear&fox]

I came extremely close to stepping on a puffadder (similar to rattlesnake) on Saturday whislt heading up a hill for Trappieskop. I was mere inches away from stepping on the snake when I saw it (this is one species that does NOT sail away when they feel vibrations. Luckily I managed to hold my balance and avoid an unpleasant trip down the mountain! The snake was about the girth of a man's wrist - probably wouldn't kill (just), but would spoil your geocache outing!

 

Bear

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

There are plenty of 5 star rated caches, and even some 3 stars that can be considered dangerous. Recently a crew of myself and 3 other cachers went to Erie, Pennsylvania to do a cache called "Pray For Daylight" To summarize, we never got to the cache, had a wild ride on the way out, and could have very easily died at a drop off towards the end. You can check out the last 4 logs and read about the experience and then share a few of your own. I just want to make sure we are not the only ones who experienced a "Close call" while caching.

 

Pray For Daylight

 

Looking forward to hearing some good stories.

 

Shifty

Shifty and everyone else, thanks for the great stories! This cache you mention is timely, as we have, over the past week, placed several storm drain caches (one of them a multistage) in Frederick as part of our Psycho Urban Cache (PUC) series. BTW, the only other cache type in the PUC series (other than #1) is lamppost micros with a Terrain rating of 5 as well, if you care to guess what they are! Although I had originally considered assigning a Terrain rating of 4.5 to the storm drain caches, I finally decided to give each a Terrain rating of 5, and for two reasons:

• 1) many in the caching commmunity feel that any special gear needed automatically makes Terrain rating a 5, and these caches require waterproof flashlights and perhaps hardhats; one may require climbing safety gear as well (for a tight underground climb.) Some may even require an SCBA airpack or SCUBA gear at times.
  2) Lately, the thinking about Terrain rating is that it should reflect Terrain conditions under the worst circumstances, i.e., at the worst times of year, and frankly, each of these caches could become DEADLY at the wrong times of year!
  

There are currently 6 caches in the PUC series. The tough and fun caches in the series are:

 

Psycho Urban Cache #2

 

Psycho Urban Cache #3

 

Psycho Urban Cache #4

 

Psycho Urban Cache #5

 

Psycho Urban Cache #6

 

And, my only slightly close call so far while hunting caches was while hunting an old nearby wilderness cache called Castle Rock Cache located on a mountaintop filled with rattlesnakes and bear. We were clambering on a large rock pile (1/3 acre) looking for the cache. After scanning to make sure the area was clear of rattlers, I sat on a rock to tie my shoelace. As I reached for my shoe, I heard a familiar rattling noise, and there, hidden under a rock shelf 8 inches from my right foot, was a beautiful large rattlesnake, poised to strike -- she had been sunning herself in a protected nook. I am not sure who was more surprised, but I apologized to her for the intrusion and got out of there quickly! She was very beautiful!

 

However, as far as POTENTIAL danger: we have done two caches located under abandoned RR bridges over river gorges (NJ) which, while easy -- and safe -- for us because we used the appropriate climbing and safety gear, could easily prove deadly for the unwary.

 

--Vinny of Vinny & Sue Team

Edited August 30, 2005 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+Shifty]

Well Since people have been finding this cache after an event. I should point out that they are the only 4 DNF logs on the whole page.

 

S

[+Anonymous']

This could suck to fall off when wet:

 

 

Light House Point

[darwinmay]

There are plenty of 5 star rated caches, and even some 3 stars that can be considered dangerous. Recently a crew of myself and 3 other cachers went to Erie, Pennsylvania to do a cache called "Pray For Daylight" To summarize, we never got to the cache, had a wild ride on the way out, and could have very easily died at a drop off towards the end. You can check out the last 4 logs and read about the experience and then share a few of your own. I just want to make sure we are not the only ones who experienced a "Close call" while caching.

 

Pray For Daylight

 

Lookin forward to hearing some good stories.

 

Shifty

 

Wow, nice story! In a sick, twisted way, that sounds like fun, except for the bruises, cuts, and general injuries.

 

Closest to death I've been while caching is a skinned knee

[+Criminal]

• 1) many in the caching commmunity feel that any special gear needed automatically makes Terrain rating a 5, and these caches require waterproof flsahlights and perhaps hardhats. Some may even require an SCBA airpack at times!
  2) Lately, the thinking about Terrain rating is that it should reflect Terrain conditions under the worst circumstances, i.e., at the worst times of year, and frankly, each of these caches could become DEADLY at the wrong times of year!
   
  

Special Equipment is generally considered equipment that requires special knowledge or training to properly employ. By your logic, any cache is 5 stars because you need shoes, or tires on your car, or gasoline, or clothing....

 

If you are going to count "worst case", then again, this logic makes almost all caches 5 stars. There are plenty of super easy caches in New Orleans right now that require special equipment or are extremely dangerous to get to.

Edited August 29, 2005 by Criminal

[+The Leprechauns]

This could suck to fall off when wet:

 

 

Light House Point

Light House point? Once again, here is Little Leprechaun, traveling far and wide across the country to prove that the caches aren't too scary if you are in the proper frame of mind:

 

[+Anonymous']

This could suck to fall off when wet:

 

 

Light House Point

Light House point? Once again, here is Little Leprechaun, traveling far and wide across the country to prove that the caches aren't too scary if you are in the proper frame of mind:

 

It wasn't scary, it would just suck to fall off.

[+DocDiTTo]

Our group had a much easier, and more fun, experience today at "PRAY FOR DAYLIGHT."  A truly great subterranean caching experience.  Here's my daughter and her friend enjoying their stroll in the tunnel:

 

I hadn't noticed until now, but the discoloration on the pipe itself in your picture seems to indicate that it routinely gets half full. That's a 7 foot pipe too. Luckily when we were taking our "swim" through it the water was only about 14 inches at its deepest. Seeing your pic, I now realize just how bad that could have been....

[+Wreck Diver]

As a professional firefighter and member of the county technical rescue team, I doubt I was in any real danger of dying that day, but I ended up with some discomforting pictures of the Cliffsides and Grapevines event meet in Sutton, Massachusetts.

 

 

And yes, there was a cache or two involved in the descents!