Know Your Limitations

[+wheeldoctor]

Hi everyone - I wanted to share an experience I had while caching today. It was a beautiful day today, (66 deg.). We broke a record in La Crosse, WI. that was set back in the late 1800's. However, when I was out and about I came upon an area I was unfamilar with that was next to fast moving river rapids. With the warm weather, the snow was melting which made for mud, ice and hard snow all over. Long story short...you guessed it, I slipped a fell partially into the river. If not for a tight grip on some sapplings I'd have fallen all the way in and probably been carried a bit down stream. Just a bit of advice - If you don't think you can grab on to that rock, make that jump or hop that stream, my advice is don't do it. This was my first mis-hap and it didn't have to be if I'd have used a bit more common sense. No cache is worth an injury to yourself or someone else. Not to mention sloshing around with one waterlogged boot and wet jeans for several hours!

 

Anyone else have a mis-hap like this?

[GeoLizz]

Not exactally, but once while walking across a dry lake bed to a cache, I sunk in the mud up to my thighs. If my sister hadn't been there to help me out, I probably would have gotten stuck there.

[+Coastiegirl04]

Well.. not exactly like yours, but i normally cache by myself, and my sister and Mom and Dad back in Ohio, worry about me being out in the woods all by myself, so i take the precautions of protecting myself, i carry a folding hiking stick which doubles as a batlon if attacked, ( i have training on this so i know where to hit to bring them down but not beat them) I also carry pepper spray, which also i have had training on this, and personally been sprayed by it so i know how it feels! I also have been trained in self defense. So i have taken precautions to protect myself from human attacks.. But my own attacks, (like slipping and hurting myself) i have and do take precautions of always carrying a cell phone, making sure someone knows where i'm caching at, i carry a first aid kit in my car, a smaller verison in my bag... I also have a radio (i have a rino120) so i can start hailing someone there tocome and help me if i can't get back to the car..

I have slipped and fell in mud on which thats where the hiking stick came in at, to help me keep my balance. so i know my limitations and i take the precautions to help minimize the things that might come up when i'm out there caching

[salmoned]

Well... I woke up about 4pm (late riser) on Jan 7 this year after having a terrible nightmare of some team of hikers beating me out to "Triple Dog Dare You" GCR5PH, so I figured I just had to get up there right away - after all, it's just a 1/5, shouldn't be too tough. After a leisurely breakfast and a drive over there it was 7pm. Not much daylight left, but shoot, it's only rated 1 for difficulty, eh? It took about 2 hours to get up there to the ridgeline of the Koolaus, lucky I had my flashlight 'cause it's pretty steep up there. I find the cache and log in just as my flashlight died. Yikes! How will I get down? I started back as best I could by the dim light of the distant housing area (the sky was cloudy, no stars). Well, needless to say I slipped off the edge and fell 376 feet to my death. At least I got the FTF!

[+wheeldoctor]

I like the idea of your walking stick. I was out on a site where I had to poke in and out of rock crevices. The stick doubled as a good way to keep my balance on those uneven rocks. So I think I'll get a good one like you described.