It hurts sooooo good!

[+Laugh Your Cache Off]

Luckily we have came out unscathed most of the time. Rambler did twist her ankle once in some sorta mother nature boobie (yes i said boobie) trap in he ground (okay it was just a hole). Ever been injured caching??? This should be a fun thread to brag or whine!!! Let's hear it!!!

[+Bad_CRC]

I twisted my arm climbing down from a cache up a cliff.

 

I scrape the heck out of my arms and legs all the time when caching, lots of scars to prove it.

 

Walking back to my hotel from a geocaching event a couple weeks ago, a guy grabbed a purse from this girl right near me. She started screaming and running after him, and nobody was helping, so I ran after them, but didn't even get a block before slipping (it was raining) and falling hard on my arm. Ripped a bunch of skin off my arm, and tore a bunch of muscles in my shoulder. Still freaking hurts. the dude got away too.

[+El Diablo]

Well not to me, but my wife has had several. Here is one example. A bad day. If you want more let me know.

 

El Diablo

[+Rattlebars]

No cacher gets away without several sets of these. They are a cachers chevron - shows rank.

 

 

However, on this same cache, I fell and landed on my tailbone. Sucker hurt for weeks. Only time I've ever gotten hurt tho, lucky me.

[mrbeachroach]

I had a good one just 2 days ago in Alabama, went there and we were bushwacking down a hill off trail, 8 ft slate rock nice and flat at a slant with some leaves on them, the moist leaves gave out and I did a 180 and landed on all 4's knees 1st then wrist, hips and ankles!!! I was to excited to stop, I waited about 10 seconds to regain reality then took off again. It felt like I was bleeding but I knew if I looked Id want to give up and go back to the car. 4 hours later looking at it it was pretty minimal, but it hurt like #!;; !!!!!!!!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

Speaking for myself only (because Sue goes after a far wider variety of cache types), I primarily tend to place and also hunt only caches with rather high Difficulty rating and with a Terrain rating of 4 or higher. And, most of these outings are in extremely safe settings such as:

• long hikes in the rural mountain or desert wilderness.
  
• desert hikes on a 116F day under a blazing sun with ground/sand temperatures of 134F.
  
• 3 mile hikes with a vertical climb of 3,000 feet to reach a cave at an altitude of 10,000 feet, making the vertical climb up a cliff for the past 300 feet in the face of a waterfall emerging from the cave mouth and then crawling a thousand feet feet into the cave.
  
• a wilderness cave located halfway down a sheer 80 foot vertical cliff face, accessible only by rappelling
  
• using a helicopter hovering below the Dead Man's Curve over a raging river on a windy day to reach the top of a 100 foot tall vertical stone pillar.
  
• crawling on the understructure of abandoned railroad bridges 134 feet above a river gorge in the wilderness.
  
• wearing a fully Tyvek protective bunny suit, PAPR respirator and two portable radiation monitors to penetrate the interior of the containment vessel housing of an abandoned nuclear reactor in rural hillbilly country, where the building is contaminated with toxic chemical waste and radioactive waste and infested with rodents and fleas bearing hantavirus and bubonic plague.
  
• the dark, dank tunnels of long-abandoned military forts, where the moldy tunnels are strewn with garbage, broken liquor bottles, empty syringes, used condoms, and infested with drug dealers, pimps, drug dealers, gay sex cruisers, hookers, taggers (graffiti artists), large rats, feral cats, stoned Goth teenagers, puddles of human waste and blood, puddles of unmentionable body fluids, spiders, cave crickets and toxicogenic molds.
  
• sludge ponds at an unremediated EPA-listed toxic waste site containing tenst of thousands of gallons of gelatinous yellow toxic waste sludge infested with pathogenic microbes.
  
• deep into urban storm drains located under unremediated toxic waste sites.
  

Because of the earlier-listed factors, I have never had any injuries at all, not even minor scrapes or bruises.

[+Firespinner]

I wasn't injured while geocaching, but I seem to have made an injury worse by geocaching instead of resting.

 

Two weeks ago, my knee was slightly ouchy. It felt strained. I put a brace on, ignored it and went geocaching. It hurt a bit more after that. I ignored it further and performed in a firespinning gig. It got much worse.

 

Now I am awaiting an MRI and my Dr is failry certain I have a torn ACL. It was likely already injured before the geocaching and firespinning because it was already hurting a bit and felt awkward, but i could still walk fine with the brace. After doing both, I can't straighten it out, must walk bent-kneed, it hurts all the time, and sometimes it tries to bend backwards or to the inside. :-(

 

Now I just have to convince my husband to drive me to PnG's. as i can't stand the thought of a surgery and long recovery keeping me from the geocaching thrill. lol.

[+Zop]

Heck yea! but never a serious injury fortunately. I often spring leaks and leave DNA while caching. Especially if we're out on a hike and a cache is hidden amongst the native plant life. It's funny too, just last week my daughter, Kiwigirl92, chastised me for not carrying a first aid kit with me after I began to lose juice after poking my finger while reaching for a cache.

 

Maybe one of the things beginners should consider is getting a tetanus booster before you begin caching!

[+GorgeHiker]

I tore my cornea while looking for a micro hidden in a pine tree. I tend to "walk on by" those types of hides now.

[+Clothahump]

Nothing serious, but lots of bruises, bumps and blood sacrificed to sticker bushes.

[+WhatTrail?]

I went solo caching one morning here in the suburbs of DC. The cache was hidden among a very unusual (for this area) boulder formation in a small community park. I was attempting to get over a boulder and had to straddle it to do so, lost my balance and fell back, hitting my head very hard on a boulder behind me. Fortunately I didn't black out, although I was pretty shaken. After waiting a little while, I did search for and find the cache. I also went to visit my doctor--it was fun explaining to the intern working in my doctor's practice what this then 60-year-old woman was doing that she hit her head!

[+barondriver]

I have had my share of falls and scratches but nothing broken..other than the front of my Garmin Etrex. My wife and I were on a trip and while out hiking down a hill from a geocache in the Phoenix area..she fell. We ended up at an Emergency clinic where they xrayed her..a small broken area in her ankle..they wrapped it and she ended up going through airport security in a wheel chair. She ended up wearing one of those big black boots for awile while it mended.

[+ReZappers]

On only our 2nd time Geocaching, my 13 year old daughter tripped after putting the cache back in Central Park, and landed on her thumb. She felt dizzy and her thumb hurt. We took her back to her grandparent's place and iced it, and decided waiting all day in a Manhattan hospital emergency room wasn't what we wanted to do all day. So the next morning we brought her to the ER at a NJ hospital back home and they determined that she broke it. She had a cast on it for a month.

 

The crazy thing is her little sister had broken a finger the month before at a indoor climbing gym when her friend fell and stomped on it, and that same weekend had just gotten the go-ahead that she was better and could return to gym class. The pediatric orthopedist was surprised to see me walk in again with the other kid's finger broken. Broken fingers had become contagious in our household!

[+Bad_CRC]

who writes "HA HA" on someone's cast? that's mean.

[+Segerguy]

I had my Pride hurt many times!!

[+Lakeshore Geocachers]

Hmmm..where to start..perhaps a list of injuries:

twisted ankle

cuts

abrasions

puncture wounds

profuse bleeding

piece of wood in the eye (ER trip AFTER the find for this one)

sunburn

dehydration

rashes

insect bites

pulled muscles

blisters

water logged

mud covered

frustration

oxygen depravation

 

Think we got them all covered...

[dagger dog]

does anyone know the name of those evil, sadistic green vines that appear to have no leaves? are they some kin to Audrey ? you know the man eating plant from Little Shop Of Horrors.

these thing have stickers in the 5-6 millimeter class and they are spaced evenly around the main shoot of the vine and are hooked backwards like a barb on a fish hook.

they get wrapped around both ankles at the same time, then you do that kind of south sea islander land dive thing ,( the one where they jump from the rickettey tower made from sticks and try to touch their forehead to the ground ,with the vines tied around their ankles) kinda like a low bungee jump but the only rebound you get is when your skull thunks into the nearest tree trunk or better yet rock !

OOOH baby it hurts soo good!

[+fairyhoney]

does anyone know the name of those evil, sadistic green vines that appear to have no leaves? are they some kin to Audrey ? you know the man eating plant from Little Shop Of Horrors.

these thing have stickers in the 5-6 millimeter class and they are spaced evenly around the main shoot of the vine and are hooked backwards like a barb on a fish hook.

they get wrapped around both ankles at the same time, then you do that kind of south sea islander land dive thing ,( the one where they jump from the rickettey tower made from sticks and try to touch their forehead to the ground ,with the vines tied around their ankles) kinda like a low bungee jump but the only rebound you get is when your skull thunks into the nearest tree trunk or better yet rock !

OOOH baby it hurts soo good!

 

Blackberry vines can trip you up, too

[+private bones]

Poison oak, poison oak and more poison oak. Yep, I use Tecnu. Still get it. Also stinging nettles. Ouch, those are the almost the worst.

 

The worst: One really BAD hot day caching in the mountains without enough water. (Once you experience that little error you become obsessed about not making THAT mistake again) Major dehydration, became disoriented on the descent, and two days of cramping, soreness and fatigue. Ah... but other than that... it was a great day of hiking / caching

[+michigansnorkelers]

Broke my leg!

 

Slipped on a small hill, twisting my ankle as I fell. There was a loud CRACK.

 

Found a sturdy tree branch and limped in agony 0.8 miles back to the car. It took over two hours!

 

At the hospital, was told I had a fractured FIBULA.

 

18 months later, and it still hurts. Guess I'll live with this the rest of my life.

 

BTW...ONE WEEK LATER, I was geocaching on crutches with my leg in a cast!!!

 

This was recounted on Podcacher Podcast #70 (or 71?)

[+Rattlebars]

Broke my leg!

 

Found a sturdy tree branch and limped in agony 0.8 miles back to the car. It took over two hours!

 

BTW...ONE WEEK LATER, I was geocaching on crutches with my leg in a cast!!!

 

I can relate. During 4 wheeling at the Hatfield/McCoy Annual, I managed to do what is shown below. Had to ride four hours out of the trails. I once broke 4 ribs and had to ride my motorcycle three hours out of the mountains.

 

[+thefieldfamily]

Happened to me in my first month of caching...was walking across a fallen log over a crevasse when I fell off and landed on my left knee. Ended up bruising my patella and having to do a month of PT. And someone had taken the geocoin out of the cache I was hunting without logging it, too. Bad day at Black Rock.

[+reptlcal]

Once I was bitten by a rattle snake and another time I was in a tree (inside) and my friend threw the cache to me (ammocan) and it hit me in the head. I fell back and scraped my back to shreds and couldn't get out. Fire men got me. BTW i am a kid!

[+reptlcal]

double post. sorry.

Edited January 3, 2008 by reptlcal

[+w2b]

Have been scraped and stuck and torn many times out in the desert but......Theres this cache called "Pirates at the Peak" I am determined to get to. I am going in about 10 hrs to try again and fully expect that it could result in injury, the last 300 ft straight up is nothing but loose rock. Oh! this is gonna hurt!

[+sunburykids]

BIG thorn in the back of my head! Why would anyone hide a cache inside a bush with well camoed thorns? No, there was not an attribute stating thorns either.

[+hawkwalker]

Yep, while we were looking for a cache we saw an eagles nest and I was looking around for the cache while mtman was looking for eagles. I missed stepped when I saw the cache and decided to smash my face against the rocks. Well hubby thought I was digging the cache out and continued to watch for eagles. No bad injuried just bruised my pride and scapes. GGRRRRR

[+3 Hawks]

Yep!! Tore my left rotator cuff, torn ligament in same shoulder, and inflicted moderate (still extremely painful) damage to my left ulnar nerve (funny bone), and a three inch long gash to my palm while attempting to stop myself from slipping down a muddy bank above a stream. The bank gave way and I was free falling. Instinctively, I grabbed the trunk of a tree with my left hand but I still ended up in the water. To add insult to injury the water was only inches deep and I'd have been better off just hiking up the stream instead of bushwacking along the bank.

 

I had to cache for two weeks with my shoulder immobilized with my arm in a sling. It was three months before the throbbing in the elbow stopped and I was not able to pick up my then 2 1/2 year old daughter for almost 6 months.

 

On the bright side, caching while under the influence of prescription narcotics can be a real trip.

[+QuiltinNana]

Just broke my upper arm/shoulder 2 weeks ago. we were on a bike path through an abandoned railroad tunnel. This tunnel is approx 1 mile long and has a bend in the middle. We almost made it to the middle part, just shy of the bend, when my bike decided to take a detour off the paved part of the trail. Once I hit the sloped ballast and cinders, I was just thrown into the wall shoulder first. Knocked all the wind out of me, I thought I had at first broken a rib. Once I caught my breath and managed to stand, I knew I needed to get xrayed. So we walked back out of the tunnel with my poor husband having to walk both bikes. Broke the shoulder bone in 2 places. I have my arm in a sling as it's too high to cast.

And to make it all worse we hadn't even gotten to the cache part of the trail yet!! But the next weekend, we made up for it by taking a road trip from PA through New York into Canada.

[+L0ne.R]

Just broke my upper arm/shoulder 2 weeks ago. we were on a bike path through an abandoned railroad tunnel. This tunnel is approx 1 mile long and has a bend in the middle. We almost made it to the middle part, just shy of the bend, when my bike decided to take a detour off the paved part of the trail. Once I hit the sloped ballast and cinders, I was just thrown into the wall shoulder first. Knocked all the wind out of me, I thought I had at first broken a rib. Once I caught my breath and managed to stand, I knew I needed to get xrayed. So we walked back out of the tunnel with my poor husband having to walk both bikes. Broke the shoulder bone in 2 places. I have my arm in a sling as it's too high to cast.

And to make it all worse we hadn't even gotten to the cache part of the trail yet!! But the next weekend, we made up for it by taking a road trip from PA through New York into Canada.

 

Ow. I hope it's healing up nicely and you regain all of your mobility in the shoulder.

 

The bright side of it is you can still geocache.

 

Here's me 2 years ago with a freshly broken right leg (with a temporary half cast). Broke it while trying to find a geocache (that turned out to be missing):

 

 

The hardest part was no geocaching for 2 months until I could drive again. Then limited low-terrain geocaching until about 6 months of physiotherapy.

[+GMartinTX]

Comminuted distal radius fracture of my left arm (multiple fractures of the large bone in the forearm). Surgery to place a plate and a bunch of screws to hold the bone together. Several weeks of a soft cast, splints and rehab. And of course, I'm left handed...

 

A big fat DNF on the date it happened cuz it was missing, but Shelle518 and I went back several months later and scored the smiley. Grandma's First Cache

 

[+etphoneme2plz]

WOW, some really bad injuries out there!! All I've had is of course PI & bug bites. And living in Texas gotta watch out for them dang mesquite trees those thorny thing will scratch u up!!

[+sparklefingers]

I've only had stings and scratches... oh and a bruised bum (and of course a bruised ego when i fail to find a cache)

[+Andromeda321]

A few scratches and some frays in my jeans from climbing a barbed wire fence, but nothing too major.

 

In fact, the funny thing was how the biggest tumble I had in my life was when searching in the woods behind my childhood playground for a cache. It was really steep and I was surprised at how hard going it was (compared to when I was a kid and we'd just run straight up the hill!) but then on the way down I slipped and ended up falling down the hill a fair number of feet before stopping. Something else that I don't remember happening back as a kid.

[+ipodguy]

I got chiggers, then sunburn, then poison ivy on my right leg within three days. The skin turned black.

[+AutisticMajor]

I've come close several times to being seriously injured looking for caches. Bushwhacking, for me, involves the bushes whacking me. I nearly put an eye out on a piece of rusty metal while reaching for a cache a few days ago.

 

When climbing down a steep slope, remember that you can catch hold of a tree to arrest your slide. If said tree is a cedar, remember that those little branches break easily.