What Is Your Greatest Fear While Geocaching?

1.8k · April 17, 2006

Over the last couple of years, many have expressed their concerns regarding various factors associated with geocaching. Some geocachers encounter snakes others are concerned with landscape and environmental factors. What is it you fear the most while geocaching. Those of you that aren't afraid of anything, well, we don't believe you. Everyone is afraid of something ... what is it?

April 17, 2006

There are sightings of a mountain lion around here. (I think it may be a lynx) I've been avoiding hunting for caches near areas of sightings. The other day I had my sister's dog and thought maybe with the two of us we'd be more apt to scare it away should we, God forbid, run into it. The dog isn't going to help. He'll just bark at the animal getting it all riled up then run and hide behind me. I drove down into the parking area in the forest and wouldn't you know we passed what looked like the ribcage and carcass remains of a deer right by the side of the road. Didn't see any vultures circling. I turned around and drove right out of there. Maybe I'll try again some other time when I'm feeling braver or stupider.

April 17, 2006

With my person, I am fearless, bold, and stupid. It is a wonderful bliss. However, my wife is Type 1 diabetic, so I constantly nag and worry that we'll get out somewhere and she'll have an insulin reaction. I have made a 2 mile sprint through the woods back to the jeep for glucose tablets once.

Usually, though, I just end up packing enough sugary stuff in my rucksack that I could keep a 3rd grade class on a sugar buzz for a week. ;D

April 17, 2006

Snakes!

April 17, 2006

That after hiking 3+ miles, I'll get the area and not be able to find the geocache.

April 17, 2006

I'm afraid that Renee and I will be in the woods and I'll break my leg or something and can't walk out. She's capable of a lot of things, but dragging my 6'7", 300lbs body out of the woods (or even the car) is not one of them.

Aaron

2.5k · April 17, 2006

Running into a hard- headed cop, who thinks I'm planting drugs at a drop of point under this lamp- post.

My biggest fear is other people, I'd rather find 10 rattlesnakes than one human with the same temperament. In my opinion, the human is about the most dangerous creature you could run across, depending on their intentions of course.

April 17, 2006

Snakes!

Yep!

April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is other drivers on the road.

20.7k · April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is other drivers on the road.

Ditto

April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is coming upon a dead body while out in the woods somewhere.

My second biggest fear is running across a meth lab or my daughter unknowingly picking up something drug-related. I always try to keep her informed about such things but you know how kids are when they see things they don't know what they are, they just pick it right up. Heck, even I still do it sometimes.

It's a dang shame that we even have to fear such things in the great outdoors.

Edited April 17, 2006 by PandyBat

1.8k · April 17, 2006

People.

Thelma Marks Memorial Shelter, Wapiti Shelter. I remember Geoff and Molly.

Edited April 17, 2006 by ATMouse

2.1k · April 17, 2006

tight spaces, big/hairy spiders, breaking a leg while out by myself in the backcountry

jamie

April 17, 2006

Lunatics, real ticks, poison ivy, pitbulls, rabid raccoons, drunk drivers, tetanus, nettles, rattlesnakes, bugs, falling rocks, falling into water, car breaking down, kids getting hurt, getting a DNF on a real easy cache, mean cops, mean muggles, discarded needles, discarded undergarments, broken glass, barbed wire, dust in the eye, rust in the eye, flat tires, broken shoelaces, getting shot by rednecks, getting shot by deer hunters, sunburn, frostbite, losing something expensive on the trail, air shafts to abandoned coal mines, drug dealers, perverts, splinters, bad coordinates, grouchy bears, getting rained on, and worst of all...getting locked behind a gate. Yep, I'm a worrywart!

3.1k · April 17, 2006

Heights, ticks and evil bugs that carry deadly diseases that I can not see but may bite and kill me anyways.

April 17, 2006

1) Not finding the cache

2) Looking silly while looking for the cache

3) Making somebody else frightened while searching for the cache (i.e. voices coming from deep in a ravine, etc).

We don't have snakes and I haven't been to the mountains lately so I'm not worried about bears. I do get annoyed with the insects at times, but that's a long way from fear.

April 17, 2006

1) Breaking my leg/ankle when by myself.

2) Breaking my leg/ankle even when not alone.

3) Getting lost.

4) Having a bear eat me.

5) Falling off a mountain to my death.

6) Not finding the cache.

7) Looking like an idiot in front of muggles.

April 17, 2006

Alien abduction.

April 17, 2006

Getting hit by another driver watching the GPSr rather than the road. We both can’t do it at once.

April 17, 2006

A non cacher seeing me and swiping the cache after I leave.

11.3k · April 17, 2006

Getting hurt . . .

I often cache and hike alone in areas without cell phone reception.

My fear won't keep me from going, but after nearly stepping on a rattlesnake the other day, I am going to be much more cautious.

April 17, 2006

You know ..... that scene from the movie Deliverance .... and it's not the dueling banjos! ImpalaBob

April 17, 2006

My biggest fears:

-Cops

-getting hurt while caching alone

April 17, 2006

Giant man-eating squab:

2.7k · April 17, 2006

Honestly, I am not usually afraid when I geocache. Teh biggest worry I have is revealing the location of a cache to a muggle. Otherwise, I just enjoy myself. That is not to say I am unaware of dangerous situations when they might arise, but I don't stress about it everytime I go out.

April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is probably mountain lions, although the chance of seeing one is pretty low, and being attacked even lower.

Not afraid of snakes - I actually look forward to the possibility of seeing one on the trail. I almost stepped on a rattler once because I was looking at my gpsr instead of where I was going.. I only noticed him because he started moving once I was about three feet away from him - he could have just as easily struck at me. I think I got lucky on that one...

April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is other people. Sometimes my wife can't follow me through the woods so she sits on the trail while I wander through the woods. What if someone starts to bother her when I'm not there? We're studying for our concealed handgun license and plan to pack heat while we cache. Also there have been a lot of shootings in the Houston area lately. Just another good reason to carry protection. How many of you do the same?

April 17, 2006

My biggest fear is frequently realized.

Walking a mile and a half through a million acre wilderness preserve for an "unknown" cache that turns out to be a micro in a tree.

April 17, 2006

I've done it (see mountain lion post above), but it's very difficult to get a CCW in California, so I don't have one. I will only carry in remote areas when I feel particularly vulnerable for one reason or another, and have actually only done it twice. I would prefer to have the option to carry any time I headed into the woods, but I'd rather not get a conviction for it and lose any chance of ever obtaining a CCW anywhere.

April 17, 2006

I am afraid that I don't have enough sense to be afraid of things I should be.

"Gee....that rock face doesn't look too hard to climb."

"Rattlesnake? Let me see!"

"It doesn't look that steep."

"You sure its an hourglass shape?"

"Wouldn't it be cool to see a bear or a cougar?"

April 17, 2006

Giant man-eating squab:

Sadly, my biggest fear is of other people with malice in mind. I have not been afraid while caching except once when we encoundered some, uh, Pine Barrens residents who were intoxicated and sort of scary. I'd rather take my chances with snakes, wild cats and bears.

April 17, 2006

I am not afraid of anything that is common on cache hunts. Dangerous animals are very rare in my corner of the earth. There are no bears, snakes, or killer insects/arachnids in my area. As far as two-legged animals go, I am partially reassured by my size, and partially by the fact that I've never been attacked, so I lack a conditioned response of fear of people. I don't carry, but I am going to apply for my CCW very soon. I guess my biggest fear while caching is that I won't find it.

I do have one fear, but it's too silly to mention.

April 17, 2006

Lunatics, real ticks, poison ivy, pitbulls, rabid raccoons, drunk drivers, tetanus, nettles, rattlesnakes, bugs, falling rocks, falling into water, car breaking down, kids getting hurt, getting a DNF on a real easy cache, mean cops, mean muggles, discarded needles, discarded undergarments, broken glass, barbed wire, dust in the eye, rust in the eye, flat tires, broken shoelaces, getting shot by rednecks, getting shot by deer hunters, sunburn, frostbite, losing something expensive on the trail, air shafts to abandoned coal mines, drug dealers, perverts, splinters, bad coordinates, grouchy bears, getting rained on, and worst of all...getting locked behind a gate. Yep, I'm a worrywart!

Alien abduction.

Those two about sum it up don’t they?

April 17, 2006

Sadly, my biggest fear is of other people with malice in mind. I have not been afraid while caching except once when we encoundered some, uh, Pine Barrens residents who were intoxicated and sort of scary. I'd rather take my chances with snakes, wild cats and bears.

sigh - me too. Not bad when I go with others, but being a single woman alone in the woods makes me feel a bit vulnerable. Luckily, no bad experiences so far.

April 17, 2006

My second biggest fear is running across a meth lab or my daughter unknowingly picking up something drug-related.

I didn't even have to look at your location to know you were from Missouri.

I didn't have any real fears about geocaching until I started reading some recent posts in these forums. Now I can't approach a rock without wondering if its a rattlesnake den.

1.8k · April 17, 2006

I do have one fear, but it's too silly to mention.

Come on ... spill the beans.

April 17, 2006

Come on ... spill the beans.

Okay, okay. You know that seaweed the grows in lakes and it's like a thin stalk with a puff of small leaves every six inches or so, and it grows in large patches from the bottom right up to the surface or just below?

Scares the crap out of me and I have no idea why.

If I was ever to have to swim through some of that, lets say, for example I was water skiing and happened to fall right in a forest of it, I think I would commit mental suicide through sheer force of will.

April 17, 2006

Come on ... spill the beans.

Okay, okay. You know that seaweed the grows in lakes and it's like a thin stalk with a puff of small leaves every six inches or so, and it grows in large patches from the bottom right up to the surface or just below?

Scares the crap out of me and I have no idea why.

If I was ever to have to swim through some of that, lets say, for example I was water skiing and happened to fall right in a forest of it, I think I would commit mental suicide through sheer force of will.

Fortunately, you are not all that likely to encounter this while caching. I will not judge this fear, I used to have a terrible fear of the filter intake in pools. The flappy thing freaked me out. I still don't understand that one, and the fear has gone away.

I recently read where Tyra Banks revealed her phobia of dolphins. Now that, I laughed at. A LOT. The more real she said this phobia was, the more I laughed. I'm a baaad person.

April 17, 2006

I grew up in South Florida, and we had several local manmade lakes that we called "rockpits." Starting at about 8 feet below the surface, our rockpits were a solid mass of that ropy algae you describe. I was about 12 and learning to SCUBA dive and thought that a dive in the local rockpit would be neat. Didn't take into account the reduced buoyancy in freshwater and, working hard to maintain altitude above the weed, I expended my tank in far less than the usual time. Got a little spooked by that, and went through the reserve in record time, too, as I (foolishly) tried swimming toward shore rather than surfacing. I was more afraid of my parents than of drowning, and struggled mightily to keep my gear, but finally had to abandon it to The Weed and kick my way to the surface.

We returned on several occasions with more experienced divers and with a huuuge drag magnet in an effort to retrieve my tank and regulator from the depths of The Weed. Never did. I actually made several dives into The Weed during the searches, and it's about as horrible as you can imagine.

Come on ... spill the beans.

Okay, okay. You know that seaweed the grows in lakes and it's like a thin stalk with a puff of small leaves every six inches or so, and it grows in large patches from the bottom right up to the surface or just below?

Scares the crap out of me and I have no idea why.

If I was ever to have to swim through some of that, lets say, for example I was water skiing and happened to fall right in a forest of it, I think I would commit mental suicide through sheer force of will.

38.2k · April 17, 2006

I don't mind most snakes, but I'm very wary of rattlesnakes and copperheads. There seem to be more and more of them around every year and they are prevelant in many of the best caching areas around here.

Other than that, lightning. I've long had an irrational fear (is it actually irrational?) of lightning. If I'm in an exposed area I freak out if I'm caught in a thunderstorm. Forget it if I'm camped out and a thunderstorm hits. I've been known to leave the tent and start running. Where I don't know, as the car is usually several miles away.

April 17, 2006

. . .struggled mightily to keep my gear, but finally had to abandon it to The Weed and kick my way to the surface.

So you were "flying over" The Weed most of the time and then had to drop your stuff down into it? Man! For me that would be like dropping something into the bottomless pit!, Cause it is GONE!

I actually made several dives into The Weed during the searches, and it's about as horrible as you can imagine.

Oh, I knew it! I knew it would be as horrible as you could imagine! *shiver* I can't believe you did it!

PS. Love the caps on "The Weed"!

Edited April 17, 2006 by BigWhiteTruck

1.8k · April 17, 2006

Okay, okay. You know that seaweed the grows in lakes ... Scares the crap out of me and I have no idea why.

I don't think it's silly to be afraid of harmless plants that live in the water. BWAAAHAAAHAAAAHAAAA! Sorry, but it's just a tad funny that someone whose not afraid of man or animal is scared to death of water plants.

2.7k · April 17, 2006

Okay, okay. You know that seaweed the grows in lakes ... Scares the crap out of me and I have no idea why.

I don't think it's silly to be afraid of harmless plants that live in the water. BWAAAHAAAHAAAAHAAAA! Sorry, but it's just a tad funny that someone whose not afraid of man or animal is scared to death of water plants.

Oh they aren't plants... They're aliens, just waiting.... watching... and when you aren't looking... BAM! They've wrapped themselves around your legs and pulled you under!

Why aliens would want to do this, I don't know... BUT THEY DO! THEY DO!

1.8k · April 17, 2006

I've been known to leave the tent and start running. Where I don't know ...

It could be because of your frequent occurence of the 'stuffed squid face' nightmare ...

4.5k · April 17, 2006

Giant man-eating squab:

Sadly, my biggest fear is of other people with malice in mind. I have not been afraid while caching except once when we encoundered some, uh, Pine Barrens residents who were intoxicated and sort of scary. I'd rather take my chances with snakes, wild cats and bears.

Same here. There are some bad people out there who could either hurt us or muggle our belongings. As far as animals go,, they aren't scary at all but we do of course use common sense and try to watch our step and hand placement while out caching!

It's kinda funny, seems you city folk are skeered of what's in the woods and us country folk are skeered of what's in the big city!

5.7k · April 17, 2006

Another geocacher seeing me using my Meridian Gold GPSr. I mean, I can most likely B.S. a muggle but any experienced cacher would know right away. Then the only honorable option left would be for me to go and shoot myself.

April 17, 2006

. . .struggled mightily to keep my gear, but finally had to abandon it to The Weed and kick my way to the surface.

So you were "flying over" The Weed most of the time and then had to drop your stuff down into it? Man! For me that would be like dropping something into the bottomless pit!, Cause it is GONE!

I actually made several dives into The Weed during the searches, and it's about as horrible as you can imagine.

Oh, I knew it! I knew it would be as horrible as you could imagine! *shiver* I can't believe you did it!

PS. Love the caps on "The Weed"!

Just thought you'd appreciate knowing that your fear of The Weed isn't irrational--that stuff is nasty. I could go on, but it'd give you serious nightmares. (Spelling it with Capital Letters is scary enough.)

Early experiences like that one, and the time dear-old-Dad lowered me headfirst into the septic tank to investigate a clog, made me grow up to be pretty much fearless. Still wouldn't go back into the weed, and I am kinda afraid of Silny Jako Bek.

April 17, 2006

. . .struggled mightily to keep my gear, but finally had to abandon it to The Weed and kick my way to the surface.

So you were "flying over" The Weed most of the time and then had to drop your stuff down into it? Man! For me that would be like dropping something into the bottomless pit!, Cause it is GONE!

I actually made several dives into The Weed during the searches, and it's about as horrible as you can imagine.

Oh, I knew it! I knew it would be as horrible as you could imagine! *shiver* I can't believe you did it!

PS. Love the caps on "The Weed"!

I'm an avid snorkeler, and have encountered The Weed on occasion. It's not pleasant to swim through by any means, but it has always behaved appropriately and given way. The only negative effect from doing so was the leeches that used said weed to hang out in, waiting for passerby.

The only things I really worry about while caching are weirdo, nut-case people, and ticks, especially lyme carrying ticks!

2.7k · April 17, 2006

I spend a lot of time in some real backcountry, and I'm usually alone. I have respect for the weather. And and SCARED of lightning, especially when I might be near timberline or above it. Then its a mad dash down hill to find some cover. I may cook for a living but getting fryed on the Mountain doesn't sound like any fun.

1.7k · April 17, 2006

I wasnt afraid of much, except not finding the cache or not being able to reach the cache because of my physical limitations yet seeing the cache, taunting me....until I read this thread.

Im not too keen on finding the poisonous critters in the desert, dont care for lightning. Especially after it struck an overpass just as I was about to go under it, sparks flying everywhere....that unnerved me a bit. But Im not afraid of them.

I am extra cautious when caching alone. My sister in law was kidnapped 6 yrs ago by a serial rapist/ killer and nearly murdered. It tends to make me a bit more aware of those around me when Im alone. Yet I will still cache by myself.

What Is Your Greatest Fear While Geocaching?

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