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GreatCanadian

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I got to thinking the other day as I was reaching under the roots of a tree for a cache, that wow, this must be nerve-wrecking in some other parts of the world. You see, I live in Newfoundland, Canada. We don't have any snakes, or black widow spiders, or scorpions, or ticks with lime disease, or other things that would make me think twice about where I stick my hand. But it made me wonder do you guys do the same? Where do you hide your caches? I will be visiting my brother in Georgia in a few months, and I had planned to do some geocaching, and perhaps there are a few things I need to know before I stick my hand in a dark, spooky nook!!

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I got to thinking the other day as I was reaching under the roots of a tree for a cache, that wow, this must be nerve-wrecking in some other parts of the world. You see, I live in Newfoundland, Canada. We don't have any snakes, or black widow spiders, or scorpions, or ticks with lime disease, or other things that would make me think twice about where I stick my hand. But it made me wonder do you guys do the same? Where do you hide your caches? I will be visiting my brother in Georgia in a few months, and I had planned to do some geocaching, and perhaps there are a few things I need to know before I stick my hand in a dark, spooky nook!!

 

I thought about the same thing yesterday, looking for a micro under a bridge that acted as shelter for dozens of spiderwebs and wasp nests. Around here (Mississippi), many people carry a hiking stick with them, and use it to poke around in places where they wouldn't want to stick their hands. In a pinch, a small branch works as well. If you're really skilled, you can even use it to fish out the cache from a hole and pull it towards you.

 

I also carry several pair of gloves in the car: leather garden gloves for thorny places or holes that could shelter biting insects, and nitrile gloves for poison ivy or wet, muddy spots (such as those tiny holes in trees that often fill with mucky water and crawling insects).

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One word of caution though about using any type of "poking" implement...DON'T do it if the suspected cache is surrounded by bee activity. I can tell you from experience that I did *indeed* poke the tree, got the micro for the 1st stage...and then was attacked relentlessly by really mad hornets. Got stung twice. Needless to say I threw the micro at the tree and miraculously got it in the proper place, but decided that covering it up for the next hider was too risky.

 

I placed a log stating that the owner might want to don a bee suit and rehide it properly...or move it...cause' I aint doin' it. :laughing:

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Here in northern NJ there are a lot of caches in rattlesnake country. I own quite a few of them and get periodic logs from people who had an encounter. One of my these caches of mine involves climbing up a ledge and you won't see what is on the ledge until you get up there. When I placed it I threw a few stones up there first and banged my hiking pole on the rock and listened for a rattle.

 

The hiking poles are key. They go first into any hollow trees and crevices and if there is nothing, then I'll put my hand in there.

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I know you've already thought of the

  • snakes
  • spiders
  • bees
  • poison oak

we've got all of those. And then there's the people who would vandalize your car while your on the trail. We were going to do a cache on a long trail at the end of a very long dirt road out in the middle of nowhere, until we read a log by a cacher who came back to find her car in pieces. No thanks. I'm not doing that one.

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use a stick "poke it with a stick"....

 

And wear clothing appropriate to the conditions you're caching in. Last week I did a few caches in Florida, wearing shorts and tennies, and twice quit hunts when met by wasps, fire ants and dense Florida foliage. I didn't have the right apparel, so played the game looking for safe caches.

 

Dick

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Around here we have rattlesnakes and black widow spiders. I always use my walking stick to poke in holes before reaching in to find the cache.

 

In some areas here you might encounter poison oak or stinging nettles or cacti. You don't want to have a close encounter with any of those plants.

 

And bees . . . sometimes we run into bees . . . :P

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The used syringes I came across in SEVERAL locations while caching in urban Vancouver were about the most concerning risks I've come across.

 

What do I usually look out for at home?

 

Bears (minimal risk really), Wasps and Mountain Lions in Colorado. Knock wood - have never been bitten by a tick!

 

Copperheads and Poison Ivy in Texas.

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The only thing that scares me when I'm caching is being alone. Being a girl I refuse to go out alone because when I first started caching I came across some shady people... :P

 

I go out alone all the time. But I've been chased by bees, fallen in creeks, waded through stinging nettles in *shorts* (OUCH!), and once in Las Vegas, slid fifteen feet down a sloping rock face into a waiting cactus. (DOUBLE OUCH!)

 

SO I'm probably not a good role model. *ducks and covers, expecting imminent Team Cotati post*

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Add another vote to the "carry a hiking pole" idea. In the hills around the Bay Area we have a fair number of ratlesnakes.

 

I'm also going to start taking the wonderdog Toby along whenever I go out. Friday while heading up to place my first cache he was a bit ahead on the trail and stopped dead in his tracks to check out a tarantula! ICH! I know they live up there and this is their season to find other tarantulas but ICH! First one of them I'd seen out and about in a while.

 

Now I'm wondering if they hang out in burrows or hollow trees or what because I'd rather find a rattlesnake on a cache than another one of those! :P

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While looking for a place to hide a cache, I moved a rather large, partially-embedded-in-the-ground rock one day and unearthed a Tarantula in its "home." I gently put the rock back and continued looking for another place to hide my container. Tarantulas are kinda cute, actually, and they won't hurt you unless you pick them up and harrass them.

 

Edit for typos . . .

Edited by Miragee
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Watch how fast I will move away from a tarantula. Ive been known to exhibit unusual feats of dexterity and speed in moving away from them.

 

Rattlers dont always rattle. Sometimes their rattle breaks off and you wont hear anything.

 

Just remember not to stick your hand in places you cant see without checking it out first.

 

Out in the desert of Arizona, we have many species of rattlesnakes, coral snakes, scorpions, centipedes, black widows, brown recluses and the occasional gila monster. Not to mention cactus and other prickly objects. Then there are open mine shafts, homeless people, flash floods, being stuck outside without water in the summer heat etc. Common sense will save you from much of that. I had to walk barefoot in the desert once (not by choice) for a few miles and didnt get any cactus in my feet.

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The only thing that scares me when I'm caching is being alone. Being a girl I refuse to go out alone because when I first started caching I came across some shady people... :P

 

That can be nice on a hot day when there's no ther shade around... :P

Seriously you are doing right, never go out alone if you aren't comfortable doing so, your safety is your responsibility.

Personally where I live is super safe, we have no large predators like cougars and gators, I've yet to find a poisonious snake or spider although they do exist, they are just to rare to worry much about. Tough to get lost since in most areas you're never more than 1/2 mile from a road. I just can't think of anything particularly dangerous about caching in my area.

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*ducks and covers, expecting imminent Team Cotati post*

 

:P do we need another de-angstifying picture?

 

Now I'm wondering if they hang out in burrows or hollow trees or what because I'd rather find a rattlesnake on a cache than another one of those! :P

 

I think they generally stay on the ground during the day and make homes in crevices and such. At night I've noticed they have an eerie tendency to creep up walls and trees. I've seen someone get bitten by handling a tarantula; he didn't notice the bite marks until he put it down. As far as I know, they're only harmful if you're allergic to their venom, but I'm not personally willing to try to find out if I'm allergic. Don't worry, they're not very agressive, and they won't just run up and bite you.

 

I like tarantulas, personally.

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I agree with all of the above. But I haven't had any issues except for the time my son and I sank in the muck. After getting him out and gently tossing him to a harder surface I was up to my knees in muck and could not move either leg.

 

Long story short I was happy to find a stick that barely, and I mean barely held up as a support after I dug out one leg. It was cracking under my 150 lbs while I dug the other leg out. I was pleasently surprised I left there with both shoes.

 

Somehow when I downloaded the location from the web site the numbers were incorrect and it was pointing up a quarter mile the wrong way. An easy find could have been fatal.

 

This occured in Georgia. We'll see you here real soon! Watch out for semi-dry lake beds!

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I know you've already thought of the
  • snakes
  • spiders
  • bees
  • poison oak

we've got all of those. And then there's the people who would vandalize your car while your on the trail. We were going to do a cache on a long trail at the end of a very long dirt road out in the middle of nowhere, until we read a log by a cacher who came back to find her car in pieces. No thanks. I'm not doing that one.

Add scorpions to that list too. They like dark shady places.
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Out in the desert <snip> Not to mention cactus and other prickly objects.
We have that stuff out in the California desert too. I am especially weary of the Cholla jumping cactus:

468-0468.jpg

I have gotten pieces of Cholla (it breaks apart into little pieces) stuck deep in the side of my leg and then instinctively reached down to pull it out and then got it stuck in my fingers. It is nasty stuff and is easy to run into because it hides next to harmless plants.

 

I also don't like desert Yucca plants. Those darn things are extremely sharp and stab you as you walk by. They can go really deep really fast and can be very painful.

yuccarigida.jpg

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Out in the desert of Arizona, we have many species of rattlesnakes, coral snakes, scorpions, centipedes, black widows, brown recluses and the occasional gila monster. Not to mention cactus and other prickly objects. Then there are open mine shafts, homeless people, flash floods, being stuck outside without water in the summer heat etc. Common sense will save you from much of that. I had to walk barefoot in the desert once (not by choice) for a few miles and didnt get any cactus in my feet.

 

Oh yea, and I forgot about killer bees.

 

I lived here for so long tho none of that worries me.

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Out in the desert <snip> Not to mention cactus and other prickly objects.
We have that stuff out in the California desert too. I am especially weary of the Cholla jumping cactus:

 

I have gotten pieces of Cholla (it breaks apart into little pieces) stuck deep in the side of my leg and then instinctively reached down to pull it out and then got it stuck in my fingers. It is nasty stuff and is easy to run into because it hides next to harmless plants.

 

 

I was out hiking one time with a dachshund. I went around a teddy bear cholla. She walked close to it and got her belly covered in those spines. Fortunately I was carrying tweezers.

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Southern California Coastal dangers:

Lots of rattlesnakes, but very few people get bit....mostly dogs. Scorpions, but you have to be stupid, and put your hand in a hole in the ground like I did once. Wild bee hives, but they ignore you if you leave them alone. The number one killer in the area, the most deadly thing...... is to fall off a cliff. Yes, it happens every year, mostly at night and usually while drunk.

 

1000674smallha3.jpg

 

ctreecovesmallbs8.jpg

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An alternative to carrying a walking stick as a poking device is to carry a retractable lecture pointer. It closely resembles a car's radio antenna. But it has a slightly sturdier construction. So it is good for pushing the poison oak, etc out of the way.

 

When retracted, the pointer I bought from Staples for a little under $5 is no larger than a pen and only slightly more heavy. The pointer is roughly 3-feet long when fully extended. Rectractable pointers aren't just easier to carry. They also are less conspicuous during urban caching. They are easy to transport and muggles find them completely non-threatening.

 

Another great safety device is an LED flashlight. I've been quite happy with a 5-inch metal flashlight I bought at Lowes. It was not cheap. But it helps me all the time. The high power rating is essential because no mere maglite flashlight sufficiently illuminates a dark hole peered into it through the glare of a sunny summer afternoon. Spending the extra money for an LED instead of a conventional flashlight is also a good idea. The batteries of my LED flashlight last forever. A comparable conventional flashlight would have gone through many batteries during the same period. I commonly use my flashlight during the daytime to inspect the holes before I start poking with my pointer or probing with my hands. I've avoided countless black widows and wasp nests in sheds and holes as well as under bridges with this flashlight. I'm sure everyone will agree a they can inspect these dark spots more thoroughly visually than when they blindly probe with a sticks or fingers.

 

Other great reasons to carry always flash lights:

1. Flashlights allow you stay on the trail if you find yourself returning from a cache on a dark night. Many shady forest trails becomes pitch black at night. Bumbling down a set of switch backs at night on an unlit trail without a flash light courts disaster.

2. Flashlights double as bike lights

3. Even small flash lights can be just as persuasive at deterring assaults from potential evil doers as walking sticks--although I rely more on my pleasant disposition (and large frame) than my flashlight in those situations.

4. If the flashlight uses the same type of battery as your GPS, you get an extra level of battery preparedness--except when you need your GPS at the same time you need your flashlight. (Battery redundancy is an argument for also carrying a small digital camera.)

Edited by wineinc
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Out in the desert <snip> Not to mention cactus and other prickly objects.
We have that stuff out in the California desert too. I am especially weary of the Cholla jumping cactus:

 

I have gotten pieces of Cholla (it breaks apart into little pieces) stuck deep in the side of my leg and then instinctively reached down to pull it out and then got it stuck in my fingers. It is nasty stuff and is easy to run into because it hides next to harmless plants.

 

 

I was out hiking one time with a dachshund. I went around a teddy bear cholla. She walked close to it and got her belly covered in those spines. Fortunately I was carrying tweezers.

Yeah, caching in AZ was an experiance, we went to one cache that was just all different types of cactus everywhere as far as you could see. I'm never seen anything like that. I was afraid to move, but we had to walk a ways to get to the cache, without a trail. <_<

 

Here's a pic of my husband, caching in Cabo (I think I've posted this before):

 

3dbb1935-856c-4f5c-b666-27b90e116b84.jpg

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I was out hiking one time with a dachshund. I went around a teddy bear cholla. She walked close to it and got her belly covered in those spines. Fortunately I was carrying tweezers.

 

You're probably familiar with the low-growing cactus that people call "shindaggers?" Well, another cacher who hikes with a dachshund calls them "eyedaggers." <_<

Edited by Mule Ears
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1] take gloves

2] take a flashlight

3] take a stick or other pokey instrument

4] if you feel weird, don't stick your hand in.

 

nothing worse than someone hiding a cache in a creepy-crawly place for me to find.

 

Of course, I have a mini cave cache that forces people to deal with cave crickets and small brown bats... <_<<_<

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Hope your trip down here to Georgia is a good one. I'm going to add my vote to the "carry a stick and poke around first" suggestion. It never seems to get cold enough down here to make all the creepy critters totally go dormant. Actually, one of the main rules of Georgia Caching etiquette is to be a gracious host and display southern hospitality by letting the Canadian in the group reach into the hollow stump and feel around for the cache.

 

Oh and before you leave, make sure you get a buch of kudzu to take home with you and transplant. It makes a great groundcover and really looks great in your flowerbeds (at least until the second week when its grows over the top of your house and your car disappears.

 

Seriously, hope your trip down to Dixie is enjoyable.

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Hope your trip down here to Georgia is a good one. I'm going to add my vote to the "carry a stick and poke around first" suggestion. It never seems to get cold enough down here to make all the creepy critters totally go dormant. Actually, one of the main rules of Georgia Caching etiquette is to be a gracious host and display southern hospitality by letting the Canadian in the group reach into the hollow stump and feel around for the cache.

 

Oh and before you leave, make sure you get a buch of kudzu to take home with you and transplant. It makes a great groundcover and really looks great in your flowerbeds (at least until the second week when its grows over the top of your house and your car disappears.

 

Seriously, hope your trip down to Dixie is enjoyable.

:huh: Try geocaching in New Zealand - we have no slithering,biting,grabbing,etc nasties, only a very benign environment that is absolutely ideal for geocaching. My recent experiences in Texas contending with snakes and poison ivy (or is it poison Oak) coupled with a topography that leads geocachers to resort to hiding caches in the scrub or in popular places that result in most of them getting muggled put me off ever geocaching in that region of our planet again!

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Along with the various rattlesnakes, black widows, brown recluse's and other kreepy crawlers that humans get in trouble with...lets think about our four legged geodogs and pets that come along. I see that some have mentioned cacti and bushes. Here in South Dakota there are miles of barbed wire fences, some up...some down...some in balls...some pieces just lying there. I just spent a eavning in the doogie ER because of that. Then there are the porcupines, badgers, and oh yeah mountain lions! These lions already have grabbed a couple of pets from homes in the area. Don't mean to scare anybody from caching here but just please be careful! :huh:

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Snakes are my biggest worry. And with all the caches hidden in reclining trees, :( I pretty much stand ON the downed tree and poke around with my stick. The entire time I think...perfect place for snakes! :( The other that will keep me far away are bears. ;) We've gone caching down at a swamp twice. Once just us walking. The other, on bikes with a group. Not looking to go other places with bears, bobcats, etc., etc., etc. :(

 

Oh! I started using a hiking stick way back in the beginning. It's just a good stick I came across in the woods. Actually, this is my second. The first was so worn down on the end that I was dropping it since it became too short. Any way, back in the beginning a fellow cacher mentioned using a stick. He said it would be good in case I needed to pick up a snake and throw it somewhere else! :(;):laughing:

Edited by VirginiaGator
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My parents house was infested with scorpions. I've been stung 6 times. I'm a native Arizonian and my parents are native arizonians too so I think I have evolved immunity to deserty stuff ya know. scorpion stings don't even affect me anymore. Even so, I still don't stick my hands anywhere that I can't look in to first........well..........most of the time.

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On the east side of Washington state, we have rattlesnakes. Bees are a common threat to both sides of the state. I got stung once during the summer. I did some caching in a county park where there was a lot of mining during the 19th and early 20th century, so there are signs about staying on trail due to the posibility of sinkholes and other historical mining hazards.

Edited by Dwoodford
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Not too long ago in my area, a local cacher was bitten by a copperhead (venomous snake) when she picked up a cache container. Since then I have tried to make a habit of poking around the cache with a stick before actually picking it up. Feeling for micros under wooden handrails also makes me nervous at times, black widows like to make nests under there.

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I always take my hiking stick with me as it's great for poking in holes, etc.

I take a flashlight for looking in holes and I also have a mirror on a telescoping stick.

Bought the mirror on a stick in the automotive section of a store. It's great

for looking in places that you can't see, like under railings, holes in trees, etc.

It has definitely saved me from putting my hand on a wasp's nest many times.

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The biggest danger here in Upper Michigan is the amateur hunters from Detroit. October and November become 'city caching' months.

 

As for reaching into stumps and dark holes in rocks, look for fresh piles of dirt around a hole or at the base of a tree that indicates a burrow. Fresh droppings or nut shells piled at the base of a tree indicates that something lives higher in the tree and may still be inside. There's no point in jabbing a stick into a hole that is obviously occupied. You could inure the resident or cause them to exit suddenly. The last thing you want is a porcupine in your lap or a skunk stinking up your clothes and skin.

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Being in Ontario (Southern, but we go up North often) our main concerns are limited to PO/PI, bees, wasps, bears. When we go north to my parents snakes are added to the list (there has been found the odd rattle in the bush behind my parents)

 

I really do need to get myself a good walking stick (nice and long :D ) to carry with me on those outings.

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