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Ouch, that hurt!


E-trexer

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While searching for the first stage of a multi on a rock face, I had a rock fall on my hand. Hurt VERY much bad, and was sore for about a month. EASILY avoidable, I was just being careless around loose rocks. We're all a bit of a putz at one time or another, right?

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This started out as a beautiful night of caching. The view from where we parked above the beach is incredible. My wife and I came out here a few times early in our relationship.

So, we come down the beach, and head into the woods when the arrow swung that way. Got within 40 feet of cache, and GPS was jumpy and didn't haven't much accuracy. No problem, that was to be expected in the trees. So, we begin the hunt. About five minutes in, with the GPS reading 20 feet, my wife goes "Ouch... Ouch... There's something on me..." I turn around, expecting a thorn, maybe a spider. At first I don't see anything, and then I realize we are in the middle of a swarm of extremely unhappy bees. Apparently we stepped on their home. I've only been stung one other time in my life, so the first sting was a surprise. The second sting hurt, and then I realized this wasn't going to stop, we had to get out of there. We started running through brush, killing the bees as they stung. I took between 12 and 15 hits, and the wife took almost 20. We stinkin' hurt. So, we are not going to log a DNF, because we didn't get to finish the hunt.

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I, too, had a run in with bees this afternoon. I'm not sure what the odds are of stepping on TWO bees nests in one day, let alone twice on the way to one cache. Gotta be astronomical, but I have about thirty welts to prove it can be done.

 

The first nest surprised me and since I was wearing shorts my legs were an immediate target. I also wasn't wearing socks so a couple of bees got inside my Merrells. Thats a pain I won't soon forget. I ran out of that area swatting and shouting, only to step right in another nest minutes later. This time they not only got my legs but my exposed forearms as well. My legs and right elbow are in a lot of pain as I write this - nearly nine hours after the incident. I'm taking some Benadryl and Tylenol. Nighty night.

 

Oh, the things we do for a smiley face. . .

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It wasn't my injury, but when we were caching around a lake, I noticed a runner taking a high road around us. I don't know why I was watching her, but suddenly she disappeared out of sight. I ran around the bend to get to her, and she was on the ground clutching her leg. Turns out that she had recently healed from a sprained ankle and turned the same one. Ouch! We offered to call someone or take her to her car (because we had no idea where around the lake ours was). She simply giggled, "Heh heh... i jogged about two miles here. I'll be okay." We helped her up, and she hobbled away but was obviously in quite a lot of pain. We felt terrible that we couldn't have done more, but the rest of the caches were calling, so we moved on.

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Hiking up a steep hill on the way to a cache I slipped, skid, fell, broke my foot. I am a big baby when it comes to injuries - I moan and groan and it's nothing. So I moaned and groaned and figured it was nothing and hobbled the rest of the way. DNF!!!!! :D When we got out of the woods and I didn't want to go for ice cream I figured it might be something serious. Six weeks in a cast and on crutches!!! whoo-hoo!

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Major poison oak just last week is my worst.

I'm pretty susceptible and this was my worst ever.

I saw the plants and think I'd just grazed one or two on my calf.

 

Within two days, I was oozing really bad and even transferred a little to my junk. Ouch!!

 

After three days had to make the trip to the doc, Benadryl and Calamine just weren't cutting it.

 

Big black area about 4 inches square on my calf. Doc and nurse both said it looked like a third degree burn ( I concur)

 

$52 worth of prescriptions later (that's just my copay) and I'm on my way to recovery. Junk is totally healed and calf is on the way, black area to less than a square inch now.

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To me, slipping, falling, getting wet and getting bitten or attacked by numerous plants or animals are quite common. On one occasion, I pretty much suffered all of those, but added electrical shock near the balls to my list. Here's the log with pictures. This log is one of just a couple of my logs in 'english', since it was during a holiday in France (and I'm not good enough in writing french). Usually my logs are in dutch, so not suitable for this forum.

Edited by Goonies Oosterhout
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No serious injuries. Poked in the eye with sticks a few times, Tore off half of my big toenail caching at night on a hillside in Birkenstocks. A couple of fairly good cases of poison oak on my face, arms, neck, and my groin. (Hey! I really had to go and it was dark and I hadn't seen the poison oak.) I also pulled a muscle in my inner thigh on one cache.

 

I should have had a couple of bad falls but I had my stick with me and it saved my butt. The rattlesnakes I have managed to avoid although one alerted me by rattling right next to my foot.

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I was doing a lengthy multi in a state forest near my house. It was raining, but I really wanted to ride my new mountain bike. On my way to stage four I found myself going downhill on the path. Across the path, up ahead was a fallen tree. It would need about eight inches to clear it. So as I got close I pulled up on the handlebars, and they just rotated in my hands. The mounting bolt was loose. So, needless to say I didn't get over the log, but I almost made it over the handlebars. I would have cleared both if it wasn't for my groin impacting the steering column. :o

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Several weeks ago while on vacation we had stopped to take a short 1.5 km hike to see a reportedly spectacular waterfall. I was the only geocacher in the group though the others knew of the activity and had come along with me from time to time to find caches. They waited patiently while I found the cache a few hundred meters from the parking lot and then we hiked off to the falls. After doing the requisite oohing and aahhing the rest of the group decided to head back. I told them I'd follow along in a minute after I grabbed the cache very nearby.

 

I followed my arrow onto a wide flat rocky area that slowly, then not so slowly, tilted downwards towards another flat treed area where I knew the cache must be located. Just past that was a large cliff down to the bottom of the falls and the river far below. I looked around for a way down to the flat area but couldn't see anything obvious.

 

Closer and closer I crept looking for a way down as the rockface became steeper and steeper. Now the rock was quite rough and my hiking shoes had a great grip on it, but did I mention the patches of wet moss? No? Well, there were these patches of wet moss.....

 

Yup. Soon enough I was sliding slowly, then ever faster down this ever steepening rockface. I remember thinking to myself that this was probably a Real Bad Idea as I frantically tried to stop my descent. Now fortunately, or maybe unfortunately as fate would have it, there were spots all along this cliff-face where scraggly trees were growing out of cracks in the rock. I managed to grab onto one of these as I rushed past it at a velocity better suited for motorized vehicles and ended up hanging ape-like from a branch after sliding/falling about halfway down this 20-30 meter slope. I think it's been well over a decade since I hung by my arms off of anything. It was nice to know my body still knew how. I managed to swing my feet over to a protruding rock (it occurred to me at that moment where that protruding rock would have impacted my anatomy had I kept sliding) and stood there for a moment to assess the damage.

 

Alive? Check. Still in possession of my GPSr? (notice my priorities) Nope. Walking stick? Nope. Hat? Nope. Sunglasses? Nope. Cell Phone? Well, that's some good news anyway. Now what to do? And why is a tree branch sticking out of my leg? OH MY GOD A TREE BRANCH IS STICKING OUT OF MY LEG!!

 

About 1/2 an inch thick and angled up out of the back of my right calf was a tree branch. I figured it must've just broken off and stuck into my skin a bit. I began pulling it out. 3 full inches of tree branch later I was standing there watching blood seep out of a large round hole in my calf. Strangely, it didn't hurt at all. I put some weight on that leg. A bit of a twinge but it would support weight no problem. The blood was seeping steadily, but just seeping so I figured I must've avoided anything too crucial.

 

At this point I had to decide. Try to climb back up and get the heck out of there or climb the rest of the way down to get my lost property, which I could see piled neatly in one spot at the bottom. Screw the hat, I hated those sunglasses, and I wanted a new walking stick anyway. Except there sat my GPSr.

 

On my way down the stupid blood kept making my leg sticky and slippery at the same time.

 

I made it the rest of the way down in one piece, gathered up my lost property and.....

 

....yup, proceeded to look for the cache.

 

A moment later I came upon a nice plaque embedded in the ground. Somebody had fallen off the cliff and into the falls near this spot. I looked down at my bleeding leg, wondered vaguely why my fingers were swelling up where I had sprained them in my monkey-bar act, and scratched absently at the 18 inch long S-shaped gash down the other side of my leg and decided this one could wait another day.

 

I climbed precariously back up and out of the little flat area. I kept waiting for my injured leg to give out but it seemed amazingly strong considering a 1/2 wide, 3 inch deep hole was in the middle of it.

 

On my walk back out I passed the trailhead that led gently down to the flat area where I had my adventure.

 

I smiled and nodded politely as I passed hikers coming the other way who looked at my blood soaked and scratched up leg, sock and shoe in shock.

 

I arrived back at the parking lot to my brother's exclamation... "It's about time! We were getting worri...... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?!?"

 

A short 1/2 km hike to a handpump for water to wash out my injuries, a half bottle of antiseptic, some bandages and I was good to go.

 

No, I didn't go to town to get stitches.

 

The next day I went for an 8 km hike.

 

I know, I know.... but I found 4 caches!

Edited by Cap'n Cache & Lt. Geo
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Several weeks ago while on vacation we had stopped to take a short 1.5 km hike to see a reportedly spectacular waterfall. I was the only geocacher in the group though the others knew of the activity and had come along with me from time to time to find caches. They waited patiently while I found the cache a few hundred meters from the parking lot and then we hiked off to the falls. After doing the requisite oohing and aahhing the rest of the group decided to head back. I told them I'd follow along in a minute after I grabbed the cache very nearby.

 

I followed my arrow onto a wide flat rocky area that slowly, then not so slowly, tilted downwards towards another flat treed area where I knew the cache must be located. Just past that was a large cliff down to the bottom of the falls and the river far below. I looked around for a way down to the flat area but couldn't see anything obvious.

 

Closer and closer I crept looking for a way down as the rockface became steeper and steeper. Now the rock was quite rough and my hiking shoes had a great grip on it, but did I mention the patches of wet moss? No? Well, there were these patches of wet moss.....

 

Yup. Soon enough I was sliding slowly, then ever faster down this ever steepening rockface. I remember thinking to myself that this was probably a Real Bad Idea ™ as I frantically tried to stop my descent. Now fortunately, or maybe unfortunately as fate would have it, there were spots all along this cliff-face where scraggly trees were growing out of cracks in the rock. I managed to grab onto one of these as I rushed past it at a velocity better suited for motorized vehicles and ended up hanging ape-like from a branch after sliding/falling about halfway down this 20-30 meter slope. I think it's been well over a decade since I hung by my arms off of anything. It was nice to know my body still knew how. I managed to swing my feet over to a protruding rock (it occurred to me at that moment where that protruding rock would have impacted my anatomy had I kept sliding) and stood there for a moment to assess the damage.

 

Alive? Check. Still in possession of my GPSr? (notice my priorities) Nope. Walking stick? Nope. Hat? Nope. Sunglasses? Nope. Cell Phone? Well, that's some good news anyway. Now what to do? And why is a tree branch sticking out of my leg? OH MY GOD A TREE BRANCH IS STICKING OUT OF MY LEG!!

 

About 1/2 an inch thick and angled up out of the back of my right calf was a tree branch. I figured it must've just broken off and stuck into my skin a bit. I began pulling it out. 3 full inches of tree branch later I was standing there watching blood seep out of a large round hole in my calf. Strangely, it didn't hurt at all. I put some weight on that leg. A bit of a twinge but it would support weight no problem. The blood was seeping steadily, but just seeping so I figured I must've avoided anything too crucial.

 

At this point I had to decide. Try to climb back up and get the heck out of there or climb the rest of the way down to get my lost property, which I could see piled neatly in one spot at the bottom. Screw the hat, I hated those sunglasses, and I wanted a new walking stick anyway. Except there sat my GPSr.

 

On my way down the stupid blood kept making my leg sticky and slippery at the same time.

 

I made it the rest of the way down in one piece, gathered up my lost property and.....

 

....yup, proceeded to look for the cache.

 

A moment later I came upon a nice plaque embedded in the ground. Somebody had fallen off the cliff and into the falls near this spot. I looked down at my bleeding leg, wondered vaguely why my fingers were swelling up where I had sprained them in my monkey-bar act, and scratched absently at the 18 inch long S-shaped gash down the other side of my leg and decided this one could wait another day.

 

I climbed precariously back up and out of the little flat area. I kept waiting for my injured leg to give out but it seemed amazingly strong considering a 1/2 wide, 3 inch deep hole was in the middle of it.

 

On my walk back out I passed the trailhead that led gently down to the flat area where I had my adventure.

 

I smiled and nodded politely as I passed hikers coming the other way who looked at my blood soaked and scratched up leg, sock and shoe in shock.

 

I arrived back at the parking lot to my brother's exclamation... "It's about time! We were getting worri...... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?!?"

 

A short 1/2 km hike to a handpump for water to wash out my injuries, a half bottle of antiseptic, some bandages and I was good to go.

 

No, I didn't go to town to get stitches.

 

The next day I went for an 8 km hike.

 

I know, I know.... but I found 4 caches!

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry . . . why is it that you quit looking for the cache? I don't understand . . . B)

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A couple of years ago I was with a friend running to a cache at dusk. That's the time of the day my vision is the worst. There was a large broken and rotted branch sticking out from a tree. I didn't see it until a split second before I'd hit it. I still got it in my one good eye as it was too late to miss it. The wood broken into a million saw dust size pieces and my eye was full of them. It felt like sand. I don't want to feel that strange scraping sensation again.

 

I basically continued running to the cache with out being able to see anything or being able to keep my eye open for more than a split second. I just followed the sound of the person ahead of me bouncing off a few trees on the way. We only had .14 to go or something like that so we had to try! We got a DNF on the cache. Feeling around for it or getting a quick glimpse of the area didn't work.. When we went to dinner after caching I realzed everything had a red tint to it and my eyes burned. I think my cornea was scratched up.. I could see lines for a couple of days. After two days everything was back to normal. It could have been a lot worse but luckily it wasn't.

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*sigh* Just arrived back home after a search for a night cache. Shoulder and side are sore... but when you're serving as a crutch for someone who found a hidden hole and seriously twisted their ankle, it's a small price to pay. We were about a quarter mile from the car, in the middle of the woods, and in the middle of nowhere. Only option really was to get her back to the car.

 

Going after the night cache was my idea. I feel horribly guilty now. Even if eberyone was enjoying iy up to that point.

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It all started at a cache called "The castle of arrghhh" So their used to be a castle but it washed away and on other rocks their was more "Castle" material. So I had photos of the cache site next to the creek (It's washed away before) A lot of 3 leaved plants :blink: so I had to do it the hard way started to walk in the creek water got past my ankles and found a place that looked like the cache site and no luck. The next day a cacher found it they said it had a red wristband on the film canaster to hold it on a very small stump. So I went back found a nice little trail and their it was never required any wading or bushwacking. :P

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I was on a pretty long hike and I slipped in the mud and slightly twisted my knee. Thankfully I was able to finish the hike. You can read about the hike and a video of me explaining my accident if you click the link in my sig called something like "6.9 Mi. +1645 ft. Hike Up The Mogollon Rim, AZ"

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slipped on some leaves covered in snow...started going down feet first, hit a rock, ended up head first down the hill side superman style....hit some rocks/logs/a tree/more rocks....OUCH!!! lots of bruises and a swollen knee and very sore the next day....luckly we found the cache :) other than that, lots of bee stings/twisted ankles i'm always falling somewhere <_<

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I was going from one cache to another, and felt down on a hillside of slate tailings from a mine (attraction to first cache site). I got lucky by not going face down the hill, but did catch my knee on a sharp edge and slid for about 4 feet. The cut was about a 1/4" deep and 3" long on my knee cap. It didn't bleed a whole lot. I didn't get stitches and I have plenty of scar tissue. That didn't stop me from hiking another mile to the next cache.

 

I had a similar experience in New Brunswick, Canada in June. Always taking the shorter way I decided to climb down the slate laden 30' drop back to the car. Well, my feet went one way and my hands went another. I was lucky not to have fallen head first further than I did. Like Acid Rain above I cut my right palm open 1/4" and 3" long. Upon returning to the car and my driver Cane Hunter, we washed it out and were faced with a decision. Do we return to the US for medical treatment (ie. several stitches) or continue our adventure North of the Border. Fortunately we were able to close up the cut pretty well so we pressed on to the St Laurence River near Rivier du Loup.

 

Remember this .... Slate = 1/4" x 3"

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i had someone fall into a creek when they were looking for my cache. what was funny was that their dog willingly followed them into teh creek!!!! :ph34r:
A friend of mine did the same thing (minus the dog) on one of my caches but refuses to admit it on the log! ; ) Edited by meralgia
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I went down a gigantic lava rock hill where none of the rocks were secure and falling all around me. (Luckily nothing big fell on me....) My knees were hurt a couple times. And I did all that just to get to a forest below so I could walk through it for two miles to the cache site... and I didn't even find the cache! At least I was going in the direction of the car, so I didn't have to go back.

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A couple of years ago, I took a friend of mine geocaching for the first time. At the time we lived in West Virginia and he was out for a visit. I can't remember the name of the cache but it was at the top of this hill in dense brush and the usual stickers. We took some long round-about hike to the cache but we finally found it. We were totally turned around; no idea where we were. Luckily, I had marked the location of the car. I was letting him use the GPS. He said, "We hiked all that way and look, the car is just over thereeeeeeeee....." He took a few steps towards the car but it was a pretty steep drop off in that direction, hence the round-about hike. He tumbled head over heels for a good 20 yards down this hill finally using a big sticker bush to stop his fall. He was pretty scrapped, cut , banged, and briused but OK. After I extricatred him from the stickers, I mentioned one of my Golden Caching Rules, "Stick to the trails as long as possible even if it means a longer hike.

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A couple of years ago, I took a friend of mine geocaching for the first time. At the time we lived in West Virginia and he was out for a visit. I can't remember the name of the cache but it was at the top of this hill in dense brush and the usual stickers. We took some long round-about hike to the cache but we finally found it. We were totally turned around; no idea where we were. Luckily, I had marked the location of the car. I was letting him use the GPS. He said, "We hiked all that way and look, the car is just over thereeeeeeeee....." He took a few steps towards the car but it was a pretty steep drop off in that direction, hence the round-about hike. He tumbled head over heels for a good 20 yards down this hill finally using a big sticker bush to stop his fall. He was pretty scrapped, cut , banged, and briused but OK. After I extricatred him from the stickers, I mentioned one of my Golden Caching Rules, "Stick to the trails as long as possible even if it means a longer hike.

So, the question in my mind is, does this friend geocache now?

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:unsure: While looking for a local cache, and talking to my wife at the same time, I went to lift a sprinkler valve box. As soon as my finger touched the hole I got nailed on the knuckle by a ground wasp. My hand and arm swelled up to triple it's normal size and I eventually had to go to the hospital, only to be told the swelling will go down in a week or so. :blink:
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Mine happened yesterday! Ouch.

 

Didn't find it MarshMonsters couldn't find The Frontenac and Grimalkin Lighthouse (Traditional Cache)

 

I decided to make a video on the tug boat that was breaking the ice on the Grand River. As I was driving around I figured the light house would be a perfect spot to film. I also knew that there were two caches I could find and I knew exactly where this one was. I parked my car on 2nd street and made my way up the hill near the old steps. As I was going up I slipped and fell in the mud. I managed to do a quick save and not destroy my new camera. I got my balance went to turn around and I slipped again. This time I was covered in mud and my camera got some on it too just missing the lens. I was also bleeding and tore some muscles. Needless to say I lived up to the name MarshMonsters. I plan to go back once I am healed. So close!

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Well I have been on a few Caches in my time with not alot of misshaps BUT right now I think im suffering from one hell of a case of nettles or maybe its a not so seriouse case of Poison-Oak? im not sure but there are little bumps all over my arms and sides that itch like CRAZY!! Hydrocortisone your my only friend :lol:

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Well I have been on a few Caches in my time with not alot of misshaps BUT right now I think im suffering from one hell of a case of nettles or maybe its a not so seriouse case of Poison-Oak? im not sure but there are little bumps all over my arms and sides that itch like CRAZY!! Hydrocortisone your my only friend :laughing:

 

Stinging Nettle burns like heck immediately, you would know you had touched one.

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Being dragged up a mountain (which I was told was "just a hill" when we were at the bottom) by my caching friend, on my first ever caching trip- it was very much a scrabble up the mountain, due to the mud- I stopped at one place to catch my breath and nearly knocked myself out on a low tree branch I hadn't noticed! Ouch ouch ouch! :)

 

I was, however, graciously allowed a 2 minute rest before he made me carry on!! I had a lump for a few days! :)

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It was late afternoon or early evening. The sky was clouding up and it was quickly getting dark. You could smell that rain was on it's way. One more cache to finish the day I figured. I go into the woods and there is a lot of tree cover. My gps is once again sending me in different directions. I must have had a dozen different gzs in a 5o foot radius. I have never seen so many possible hiding places in such a small area. It's getting darker and the rain is just starting. I start looking under logs and in hollows. I'm searching quickly so I don't get caught in a downpour. Now I start stumbling and tripping over everything and fall down. I grab a hold of what looks like a nice sturdy branch to help pull myself up with, then it suddenly breaks. What happened next was not real pretty. I felt a burning sensation on my back. I stop to scratch it and find out that I tore open a bees nest. Little buggers, but they carried big bats. Bigger than a house fly but smaller than a honey bee. Dark and fuzzy. I don't know what kind they were. Anyway, my shirt comes flying off as I try to keep them away by swinging it around. As I go running from the woods, I'm going through thorns and raspberry canes and two different kinds of burrs. I'm all scratched, stung and bloody running down the middle of the road for my truck. I can only imagine what kind of sight it must have been. Went back a few days later to finally find the cache. Quite nervously I might add.

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It was late afternoon or early evening. The sky was clouding up and it was quickly getting dark. You could smell that rain was on it's way. One more cache to finish the day I figured. I go into the woods and there is a lot of tree cover. My gps is once again sending me in different directions. I must have had a dozen different gzs in a 5o foot radius. I have never seen so many possible hiding places in such a small area. It's getting darker and the rain is just starting. I start looking under logs and in hollows. I'm searching quickly so I don't get caught in a downpour. Now I start stumbling and tripping over everything and fall down. I grab a hold of what looks like a nice sturdy branch to help pull myself up with, then it suddenly breaks. What happened next was not real pretty. I felt a burning sensation on my back. I stop to scratch it and find out that I tore open a bees nest. Little buggers, but they carried big bats. Bigger than a house fly but smaller than a honey bee. Dark and fuzzy. I don't know what kind they were. Anyway, my shirt comes flying off as I try to keep them away by swinging it around. As I go running from the woods, I'm going through thorns and raspberry canes and two different kinds of burrs. I'm all scratched, stung and bloody running down the middle of the road for my truck. I can only imagine what kind of sight it must have been. Went back a few days later to finally find the cache. Quite nervously I might add.

WOW!!!! That's hardcore, I would have just kept the DNF after an experience like that. Good for you!

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