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Drug stuff near a Cache?!?!


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Has anyone else ever found this? I thought I found a Cache, off about 20' but it was a tote in the woods, opened it and found drug stuff, bongs, cig papers, scared me and my son! Looking for others with similar experiences. I'm ready to quit caching and I just got started! :(

Edited by JestisFam
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I hope I'm not being an indifferent jerk here, but if something that simple "scares" you and your son, maybe being outdoors is not for you, you might want to consider hiding in the house and playing video games.

 

Editing to clarify what I mean

 

That kind of stuff is out there in the world, If someone want's to participate in adventurous outdoor activities, they'll have to learn to face it. That would be a great oppurtunity to talkto your son about what the stuff is, who uses it, and why it's not the best idea to become involved with drugs. I'm not sure how old your son is, but many people say it's never too early to start these conversations. (my eight year old nieces have been involved in these talks for a couple of years already)

 

With my past experiences I'll be more scared of Poison Oak, Yellow Jackets, and Slippery Rocks than of a Homeless Camp, or Party Stash.

Edited by WRITE SHOP ROBERT
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I hope I'm not being an indifferent jerk here, but if something that simple "scares" you and your son, maybe being outdoors is not for you, you might want to consider hiding in the house and playing video games.

I must agree with the above poster. I had to read the original post several times to see if I had missed something (i.e., a close encounter with a rattlesnake, a bear or a gun-runner) but nope... And so, I am a bit mystified at the magnitude of the reaction of the OP.

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Don't think I would have hung around that area in case the owners of the drug stuff were still around.

I might have been inclined to call police on cell phone and let them know what I found and where they could find it. Probably not good to leave that stuff lying around for kids to find.

There are some things about caching you have to be careful about. Trust your gut. For me, for the most part, it's been good. Although lately I've been trying to set up a cache by the river and guys in the area have decided the river is a good place to pee in and it doesn't matter to them that a lady is standing there. Sheesh. :(

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I can relate to the OP.

 

While hunting a place to hide a cache I found someone's pot field, 14 huge plants, and immediately felt as if I was being watched!

 

I could just 'feel' the cop's camera or doper's rifle crosshairs on me as I drove out that dirt road!

 

I was SO relieved to get out of there and not find the road blocked by a county cop! It would have been hell to explain why I had someone else's pot plants in my trunk! (kidding) (but I thought about it!)

 

Still, as the French say, Merde Happens, it has nothing to do with caching and I certainly wouldn't quit caching over it.

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I can relate to the OP.

 

While hunting a place to hide a cache I found someone's pot field, 14 huge plants, and immediately felt as if I was being watched!

 

I could just 'feel' the cop's camera or doper's rifle crosshairs on me as I drove out that dirt road!

 

I was SO relieved to get out of there and not find the road blocked by a county cop! It would have been hell to explain why I had someone else's pot plants in my trunk! (kidding) (but I thought about it!)

 

Still, as the French say, Merde Happens, it has nothing to do with caching and I certainly wouldn't quit caching over it.

 

This is a little different, and I'd have wanted to get out of there as fast as I could also.

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On my caching travels, I have encountered

  • a ceramic bong, hidden alongside a trail near a cache :(
  • three old meth labs, at last year's CITO event (yep, we called the authorities to haul 'em away) B)
  • several homeless encampments in the woods :)

Still caching! To put that in perspective, that's <10 caches out of 2950, so not exactly an everyday occurrence.

Edited by hydnsek
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I can relate to the OP.

 

While hunting a place to hide a cache I found someone's pot field, 14 huge plants, and immediately felt as if I was being watched!

 

I could just 'feel' the cop's camera or doper's rifle crosshairs on me as I drove out that dirt road!

Yeah, me too. Although I wasn't geocaching, but rather "critter caching", as it were. Was wearing full camo and had my AR15. Walking up a dry creekbed, I came around a turn where it opened up somewhat and I found myself just about in the middle of what I estimated to be about 100 "portable" plants in 5 gallon buckets that were covered with gunnysack material. It took a few seconds for it to register what these 4 - 5 foot plants were all about but then... I felt rather, uh, vulnerable, even with a couple of 30 rd. mags. I hauled butt back to my vehicle through a less visible route and got the heck outa Dodge. I didn't want to be shot and I didn't want to be mistaken by the law as one of the responsible parties. I did report it to the SO but never heard anything more after that. Of course, that hasn't scared me out of the backwoods for future critter caches. Sadly, I consider that part of the course nowadays.

 

And more on the topic of geocaching, I have found a used pipe that someone donated or traded, but since that is on the "forbidden in geocaches" list, I did my part by removing it (yeah, I actually traded, then lost it.) Have never found anything like the OP did and certainly wouldn't let it keep me out of the woods. Like another posted said, take it as an opportunity to launch a discussion and as a father of two (teen and twenties), keep that line of communications open. Neither you or your son will be sorry.

 

Ken

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Never ran into anything like that yet! But my son and I ran into an area that was full of underwear hanging from the trees, didn't know if it was a hobo camp or a new species of trees we didn't know about. :(

Yeah, what is it with that? I can't figure out why I run across so much underwear strewn about in the woods. It definitely ain't hobo underwear, I'll tell ya... And sometimes it isn't just the underwear, it's the entire set of clothes. I figure someone had a breezy walk back. (And I'm pretty sure it wasn't NudeCacher unless he wears purple lace bikini underwear. B) )

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Never ran into anything like that yet! But my son and I ran into an area that was full of underwear hanging from the trees, didn't know if it was a hobo camp or a new species of trees we didn't know about. :(

Yeah, what is it with that? I can't figure out why I run across so much underwear strewn about in the woods. It definitely ain't hobo underwear, I'll tell ya... And sometimes it isn't just the underwear, it's the entire set of clothes. I figure someone had a breezy walk back. (And I'm pretty sure it wasn't NudeCacher unless he wears purple lace bikini underwear. B) )

 

I think there are some people having a lot more FUN in the woods than we are.

 

Along US97 just south of Grass Valley, OR there is a tree covered in pairs of shoes. It looks like they were thrown up into the tree, I've always wondered why.

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Still a tadpole myself (30 caches - all urban easy finds), but I have alread found 2 homeless homes and a crack stash. The drugs were in a zip lock about where I expected to find the geo-cache. Thought it might have been muggled, but then looked in the baggie.

 

As to the homeless, just have to treat them like other muggles, don't let them see you retrieve or stash a cache - they will probably muggle it to see if there is anything there they can pawn.

 

As for the drug stash, walked out of the park, made a call to the police from a pay phone. I didn't really want to explain how I found a stash of drugs in a drain pipe under a park pedestrian bridge.

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Mrs. Beezer here,

Man! What would a person trade for a nice bong? Sorry also not trying to be an indifferent jerk just a flash back moment...... The fall of 1972- Four college coeds searching in the dark woods for the hollow log where they cached their home grown and papers.....

Back to the present, not something I would want to find with a child, but not something I would call the sheriff about. If we were alone I think I would have had to leave a note “busted” probably would get the stash moved, then again it might get the cache trashed. Guess this is one of those – would have to happen to us before we would know how we would feel about it. Anyhow please don't let this one stop your caching. CACHE ON! Man! :)

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I hope I'm not being an indifferent jerk here, but if something that simple "scares" you and your son, maybe being outdoors is not for you, you might want to consider hiding in the house and playing video games.

 

Editing to clarify what I mean

 

That kind of stuff is out there in the world, If someone want's to participate in adventurous outdoor activities, they'll have to learn to face it. That would be a great oppurtunity to talkto your son about what the stuff is, who uses it, and why it's not the best idea to become involved with drugs. I'm not sure how old your son is, but many people say it's never too early to start these conversations. (my eight year old nieces have been involved in these talks for a couple of years already)

 

With my past experiences I'll be more scared of Poison Oak, Yellow Jackets, and Slippery Rocks than of a Homeless Camp, or Party Stash.

 

I was in the city, people get shot for taking or looking like they might take someone else's stuff. I didn't want some druggie getting mad, they aren't rational people, one tried to burn up the chemical plant I work for about a month ago.

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Don't think I would have hung around that area in case the owners of the drug stuff were still around.

I might have been inclined to call police on cell phone and let them know what I found and where they could find it. Probably not good to leave that stuff lying around for kids to find.

There are some things about caching you have to be careful about. Trust your gut. For me, for the most part, it's been good. Although lately I've been trying to set up a cache by the river and guys in the area have decided the river is a good place to pee in and it doesn't matter to them that a lady is standing there. Sheesh. :)

 

No I didn't hang around, went to the police department and had to take them back to it. So had to tell a couple of them the web site etc. One even helped me look for the real cache but we never found it.

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I can relate to the OP.

 

While hunting a place to hide a cache I found someone's pot field, 14 huge plants, and immediately felt as if I was being watched!

 

I could just 'feel' the cop's camera or doper's rifle crosshairs on me as I drove out that dirt road!

 

I was SO relieved to get out of there and not find the road blocked by a county cop! It would have been hell to explain why I had someone else's pot plants in my trunk! (kidding) (but I thought about it!)

 

Still, as the French say, Merde Happens, it has nothing to do with caching and I certainly wouldn't quit caching over it.

 

This is a little different, and I'd have wanted to get out of there as fast as I could also.

 

That's what I meant I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. And maybe not cache in the city anymore!

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I just got started in caching, and in fact have only went out one day at four attempts (two finds). On the second cache of the day, and my first DNF, the location was at a dead end road with a guardrail at the end. (BTW, off topic, but is this a common type of locale? Two out of the four were at a place like this.) Anyways, the area was littered with discarded condoms. Now for the record, I am a cop in Oakland, CA, which is about as bad a place as you can get (at least in the U.S.!) and you can't walk ten feet without finding old condoms, syringes, crack wrappers and so forth. So the items didn't necessarily bother me, but I had my eight year old and three year old kids with me to help search. Needless to say, I didn't let them search that area and the experience definitely tarnished my introduction to geocaching. Also, the cache location was not in the ghetto in Oakland, which I can understand would have limited "clean" cache locations, but was in a small, newer bedroom community out in the 'burbs. It just appears that this particular dead end is a common "make-out point." I had chalked it up to bad luck, but after seeing this post I am wondering if people need to use a little more common sense and be aware of the surroundings when hiding caches. I have definitely gotten the impression that this is intended to be a family hobby and that needs to be considered not only for swag but for cache locations as well.

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Cache Hustler,

 

I am glad, and sad, to say the answers to your questions are no, and yes.

 

No, these are not the normal locations. Parks, historical sites, and cemetaries appear to be more the norm, at least in my area.

 

Yes, definitely, some do need to put a little more thought into the cache location. I have come across some that were obviously placed just to be placing a cache. Lamp posts in parking lots and magnetics on a guard rail fill the ranks. Nothing notable to see, no history lesson, no redeeming value. At these, you sign the log, and pledge to do better yourself.

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I just got started in caching, and in fact have only went out one day at four attempts (two finds). On the second cache of the day, and my first DNF, the location was at a dead end road with a guardrail at the end. (BTW, off topic, but is this a common type of locale? Two out of the four were at a place like this.) Anyways, the area was littered with discarded condoms. Now for the record, I am a cop in Oakland, CA, which is about as bad a place as you can get (at least in the U.S.!) and you can't walk ten feet without finding old condoms, syringes, crack wrappers and so forth. So the items didn't necessarily bother me, but I had my eight year old and three year old kids with me to help search. Needless to say, I didn't let them search that area and the experience definitely tarnished my introduction to geocaching. Also, the cache location was not in the ghetto in Oakland, which I can understand would have limited "clean" cache locations, but was in a small, newer bedroom community out in the 'burbs. It just appears that this particular dead end is a common "make-out point." I had chalked it up to bad luck, but after seeing this post I am wondering if people need to use a little more common sense and be aware of the surroundings when hiding caches. I have definitely gotten the impression that this is intended to be a family hobby and that needs to be considered not only for swag but for cache locations as well.

If it is any encouragement I have found thousands of caches in 26 states and not 50 of these have been in locations such as you, and others, describe. Yes, I have found caches in places like this, and worse, but they are fortunately few and far between.

 

For some reason folks come to the forums and talk about the crappy caches, but not the good ones! Maybe it's like our news media, good news does not draw eyeballs, so you won't often see it. Thusly, you won't see a lot of posts here saying "I had a great day and enjoyed all the caches I found".

 

I have a saying that I believe is a truism: The best thing about geocaching is that it's open to everyone. The worst thing about geocaching is... that it's open to everyone!

 

Ergo, as in any population, you will find some lame ducks. Fortunately the average bird in geocaching is more like a Dove, and quite a few are like Eagles!

 

Please don't give up the game until you give it a chance to see that there are far more good caches / locations than bad!

 

EDIT to add: Of course when you find yourself in such a place, simply walk or drive away! You don't have to look for every cache! Following a cache listing that leads you to a bad place is not under your control, hunting a cache in a bad location is.

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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Never ran into anything like that yet! But my son and I ran into an area that was full of underwear hanging from the trees, didn't know if it was a hobo camp or a new species of trees we didn't know about. :)

Yeah, what is it with that? I can't figure out why I run across so much underwear strewn about in the woods. It definitely ain't hobo underwear, I'll tell ya... And sometimes it isn't just the underwear, it's the entire set of clothes. I figure someone had a breezy walk back. (And I'm pretty sure it wasn't NudeCacher unless he wears purple lace bikini underwear. :) )

 

I think there are some people having a lot more FUN in the woods than we are.

 

Along US97 just south of Grass Valley, OR there is a tree covered in pairs of shoes. It looks like they were thrown up into the tree, I've always wondered why.

Well duh its a shoe tree of course :):laughing::laughing::):)

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I think there are some people having a lot more FUN in the woods than we are.

Along US97 just south of Grass Valley, OR there is a tree covered in pairs of shoes. It looks like they were thrown up into the tree, I've always wondered why.

Well duh its a shoe tree of course :):):laughing::laughing::)

A shoe tree starts with one dreamer, tossing his or her footwear-of-old high into the sky, to catch on an out-of-reach branch. It usually end there, unseen and neglected by others. But on rare occasions, that first pair of shoes triggers a shoe tossing cascade. Soon, teens are gathering up their old Adidas and Sauconys, families are driving out after church with Dad's Reeboks and grandma's Keds. The shoe tree blooms with polymer beauty. A work of art like this may last for generations, tracing our history by our sneakers . . . as long as the tree doesn't die.

 

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/shoetrees.html

 

Hey, now there's a cache idea for ya! Sign the log and throw your shoes up in the tree! :)

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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;) Maybe Geocaching should have a rating on each cache page That way people could rate the site as friendly clean or dump or watch your back . Might help that way you know if the kidies should be with you on that cache or not. Just a Thought :rolleyes: Dilligas45 Edited by Dilligas45
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Has anyone else ever found this? I thought I found a Cache, off about 20' but it was a tote in the woods, opened it and found drug stuff, bongs, cig papers, scared me and my son! Looking for others with similar experiences. I'm ready to quit caching and I just got started! :)

 

Dont worry, it most likely was not left by a cacher.

 

On the other hand, if it had aspirin, geritol, OFF, calamine lotion, or little plastic toys, then there is a good chance a cacher left it.. :lol:

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Well....I wondered where I left my stash...THANKS! :D

 

I've found pipes a few times, one was right under the bench on a boardwalk (cache was under the boardwalk)...someone used the area to take their "breaks" from work would have been my guess!

 

And yes Cache Hustler...many caches are placed on dead end roads in gaurdrails, at least around here...I guess the hiders thought these were interesting places?

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Has anyone else ever found this? I thought I found a Cache, off about 20' but it was a tote in the woods, opened it and found drug stuff, bongs, cig papers, scared me and my son! Looking for others with similar experiences. I'm ready to quit caching and I just got started! :D

So did you take them home and put it on ebay? :D

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