Scariest moment while geocaching

[fletcherrules]

What really is the scariest moment you've ever had in geocaching?

 

(Pretty straightforward,isn't it?)

[+dardevle]

My scariest moment while caching was getting home after 6 or so caches in the woods and finding a deer tick stuck to my ankle. Lucky for me I did not get that lemon limes thing. Nothing really scary other than that though. Maybe getting a DNF may come close......

[+cerberus1]

Sometimes I hate to admit that as I get older, I have to calm down a bit on 4+ rated terrain , unless CJ's with me...

 

Was doing a 4+ series (multi) just as Winter ceased. Until the rains in Spring end, I usually carry a snowscopic (trekking ice axe) instead of a hiking stick.

One of the hides was on top of a very large slopeing flat rock about 30' up, with smaller rocks/boulders underneath.

Slipped on the wet rock at GZ and started sliding towards what may have been the end for me. Luckily the axe dug in 4" from the edge.

So now this old fart's hangin' by one hand, trying to figure how to get back up top (sure not dropping down !)

Finally got my wits (?) back. Knew I had only one option (and one chance) and swung myself up.

Took almost a month to heal the muscle tear.

[+whinger]

There was a cache on a deactivated railroad line in an industrial zoned part of town that my daughter and I found. While signing the log, I noticed a pair of legs sticking out of a bush, face down, about 50 feet from us. I took her back to the car and called the police - I was a little worried that it was either a dead body or someone on drugs that might freak out with her there. The cops came with 4 squad cars, an ambulance and a fire truck, it was crazy. Apparently the guy was alright, but completely out of his mind and face down in the bushes. He's well known by the cops and had no history of violence, but the police thanked me for reporting it, and told me there was nothing they could do.

 

I felt really silly and chalked up the scare to having watched WAY too many CSI episodes.

[+teamhandk]

Yesterday after hiking into the cache site, on our way out, a large tree fell next to us. Now that was scarey

[JohnMac56]

My scariest moment came when I was hunting for a cache in a desert wash in AZ. I had stopped the truck right above GZ and had scrambled down over the many rocks and began searching. The hint had said that the cache was under a pile of rocks with a pinkish rock on top. Almost half the rocks around were pinkish colored. I began using my trusty stick to move any pinkish colored rocks that appeared to be on the top of other rocks. After about 10 minutes of this method, I moved one rather large pinkish rock and uncovered a 4 foot long western diamondback all coiled up and rattling!! I jumped back a few feet and fell on my keister. After I caught my breath and my heartbeat slowed back to almost normal I then decided I had to take a picture of this snake. I scrambled back to the truck to get my camera but by the time I got back down where I saw the snake it was no longer there. Not knowing where the snake had moved to I got outta there in a hurry and logged it as a DNF...

[+MountainRacer]

I've had the cops called on me twice, both within the last week... once a paranoid old couple saw me park down the road, at least 50 yards from anyone's property, and walk through a pedestrian walkway, and they immediately assumed I was a drug dealer. Very angry and confrontational, they were. The other time a woman saw me alternately standing still and pacing in a cemetery and, according to the officer, wanted to make sure I wasn't depressed. (I'm pretty sure the lady from that second one just thought I was some kind of vandal, and the cop was just trying not to hurt my feelings in case I wasn't.) I know that no amount of stealth could have saved me from alarmist muggles in public, but it still rattled me.

[+Taoiseach]

Walking on that abandoned Railway bridge yesterday, high over the Ottawa River, then having to walk to the other side on the narrow ties, then having to crawl down under the ties down on to one of the support pillars to get the cache

 

I loved the cache (GCA846) but it still scared me quite a bit - Heights aren't really my favourite things

[+Ockette]

Almost got nailed by a widowmaker in a windstorm once, that really got the hearts beating.

 

More entertaining is the Halloween before last. I was taking Pie on her first caching run, after an event, and we were both in costume. I was V. So, dressed in a huge billowy black cape, a black hat, a full face mask, and fiddling with a black box behind an abandoned movie theater...

 

Of COURSE the cops showed up.

 

I never got Pie out caching again, alas, and I forgot to ask the officers to sign the log.

[+joranda]

When the police pulls up on you when you are caching at night just trying to get one more on the way home.

[+sataraid1]

[+GlitchWizard]

The casche description said that the "drive thru" had been disabled and it read like a completely abandoned building. When I arrived at the bank drive thru - it was clearly not used, so I followed the other hint I saw that someone put in the log - they were looking somewhere else and stood UP to be staring at it. So... I leaned over and stood up a couple of times. The last time... I stood up in front of the "drive thru window" and there was a FACE at my face level in the window! We both were startled! Turns out, the REST of the BANK is now an educational center... not abandoned at all... I had just approached from the rear and couldn't tell!

 

I've just gotten started - I'm sure there will be more scary than startled moments to come.

[+Slap Me Silly]

I HAVE ONE!

 

The cache "Nocturnal Navigator"(GCMTER) was, as it says, a night cache. It seemed to be a favorite for many, and I was excited to FINALY get to this one, so I drug my sister along w/ me....

 

This is the origional log I copied and pasted:

Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!

UM, how do I say......FREEEEEAKY!!!!

Where~da~hill~am~i? (sister), my side-kick Slimy (big dog), and I decided tonight was the night to execute this exciting cache. We headed off w/ our flashlights, back-packs, gps, and cell phones....

Very near waypoint #2, we had the scare of our lives.

A transient popped up from the bushes out of no where!!!!

He asked us some very strange Q's, such as, "do you ever trip on the trails and break a leg?" & "Can you see this area from the road?" and finally "Is your dog friendly?" as he started walking closer....

My reply, "Well,she is a guard dog so NO, not really (Italian mastiff)."

I happened to be on the phone w/ a friend and made her stay on w/ me. I faked a "whats that? Dinners ready? OH, Ok."

Sorry guy, Gotta go now. As we turned to leave it looked like he was attempting to follow. We hauled butt, or should I say W.d.h.a.I. hauled butt w/ the flashlight leaving me behind in the dark to be grabbed from behind and mamed *Thanks alot!

BTW, we did report this to police.

 

This was follow up info I included the next day:

After last nights scary encounter, I woke up to the wind/rain storm. In the a.m. I called ACFL(Anacortes Community Forest Lands) and reported the man out of concern.

It turns out he is not a transient, but a nearby resident. Though he has thus far been harmless, he is apparently schizophrenic. He has grown up in those woods and knows them well.

If you encounter him, please be kind, yet, hunt at your own risk.

 

I'm afraid due to the phone call attention was brought to the cache it was investigated and reported as unnacceptable and is now archived

Edited May 8, 2008 by Slap Me Silly

[Neos2]

The time I fell out of the canoe and into the creek in January. It was the very first time we had met up with other folks from the caching community and we were true newbs. We had gathered to find all the caches on several miles of rough and hilly penninsula along the river.

 

The high for the day had been 40°F and it had rained/snowed/sleeted on us all day as we climbed up and down all the hills. It was the end of the trip; just one creek and one hill left to go. The creek was frozen just forty feet upstream and forty feet downstream was the Ohio river. I landed waist deep in very cold water, with a very long canoe between me and the slippery, muddy bank.

 

I had to wait while they moved the canoe out of the way, with my legs going numb. The first time I tried to get out my feet tangled in tree roots and nearly pitched me in again. It took the strong arms of two men to help me out without pulling anyone else in with me. And then I still had to get back into the canoe and cross the creek and then walk a mile up a very steep hill wearing soggy wet clothes that felt like they weighed a ton.

 

Two nice folks walked me up that hill, encouraging me all the way--even though they had to walk back down again to help the others cross and get the canoe back uphill. I wasn't cold because I was moving, but I was feeling weary from the adrenalin response let-down and my muscles were beginning to tighten up and feel rubbery. I knew if I didn't get out of those wet clothes and to somewhere warm pretty quickly I was in real danger from hypothermia, so I didn't dare stop to rest even though it meant barely creeping up that hill at times.

 

The trip leader had phoned someone who hadn't even been with us on the trip and he met me halfway up and took me to his truck on the road at the top of the hill--already running with the heat set to full blast. He dropped me off at my car, and made sure I didn't need him to stick around. I started the car and put on the heat, shed the wet clothes and put on whatever I could find that was dry to cover up and was sitting there drinking still hot coffee from a thermos and wiggling my toes in their nice dry socks when my husband finally made it back to the car.

[+Gustav129]

I was standing on boulder on the edge of the river, talking to my gf on the phone, to confirm the clue for the cache. As I turned and looked at the area the cache was in, the boulder shifted about 6" towards the river. I jumped off real quick and had to get a clean pair of britches. I was afraid it was gonna roll, dumping me into the river and pin me under water.

 

THe other time, stuck my head under a tree to find a micro cache, and there was a used condom about 6" from my face.

Edited May 12, 2008 by gustav129

[+powercatjeffy]

THe other time, stuck my head under a tree to find a micro cache, and there was a used condom about 6" from my face.

 

[+ak4me]

What really is the scariest moment you've ever had in geocaching?

 

(Pretty straightforward,isn't it?)

 

Okay the scariest moment for me was actually when trying to place our own cache. My geobuddy and I had found the biggest, gnarliest tree in our neck of the woods, Alaska to plant a cache. We dinked around this tree for aprox. 30 minutes or so trying to find the perfect hiding spot. Then of course we had to establish our waypoints...so maybe 45 minutes. Well...as my ADD was starting to kick in, I looked up the tree where we were planting our cache...and someone was looking back at me. He was BIG, and BLACK and FURRY. It was a big black bear. Course I then had to inform my geobuddy of our situation, and try not to freak out. We made it out in one piece. whew!

[+KD5XB]

While finding a cache near Abilene, Tx one day, I was looking under a yucca plant, and I heard paper rustling in the wind. I looked and couldn't see it, so I continued looking. A minute later, I noticed a rattlesnake about 6" from my right hand, just moving away from me as calm as could be!

[+thehillshaveeyes]

We haven't been doing this for too long, but we were geocaching downtown by our local greenbelt and walked under a big pine tree. The boughs were nearly touching the ground and we walk under it there was a "homeless" I guess, man in a sleeping bag. Scared me and my kids! We live in a fairly small town in Idaho so this was quite a shock and I had a lot to explain to my kids.

[+Moobeat]

When the police pulls up on you when you are caching at night just trying to get one more on the way home.

This recalls my scariest moment thus far. It wasn't nearly as frightening as any of those thus far but man it got my heart beating.

 

Me and my friend were excited to get a email about 9 pm informing us of a newly placed cache a few miles away. In hindsight we should have known this trail closed, but the cache was on a local trail that somewhat loops through some neighbor hoods and through some woods and when we left it was still a little light outside. Anyway, we insisted on being the FTF's and went out to get it and another near by one. I just snagged my gps and flash light and took off but my friend had his caching backpack with some gloves, swag, and what not in it since we had been caching earlier. Well, we found the first cache we went to get and moved on to the second one. After we signed the log and put it back in its hiding spot we saw three cop cars drive by and were like "oh crap". So we quickly hurried back to the car, which sat about a third of a mile away at the start of a paved trail. We didn't see the cop cars so we figureed we were just being paranoid. Well as we got closer some light suddenly flashed on in front of us and we came face to face with three officers of the law. They questioned us ( thankfully one of them had heard of geocaching ) and searched us. As another cop car making four total pulled up, one of the officers began to sift through my friends back pack which in addition to the "suspicious" gloves and a bundle of rope and a dagger shaped letter opener he had traded for from an earlier cache. None of these seemed to lend creedance to us. Based on the back pack another cop decided to call us in and check our records or whatever it is a cop does. So he calls our names in and for some reason the dispatcher ( excuse me if im getting these names and stuff all wrong x.x ) can't get our names but, from memory, she knows my name Zachary Day and informs the officer that I have had numerous warrants out for my arrest but none that were active. Eeeepp! What the heck!? Turns out my cousin, who shares the same first and last name, is quite a "pillar of the community" in his neck of the woods a few miles north. The cops eventually let us off without any sort of punishment but I was certain when they said the bit about the warrants we were in some deep crap.

 

Man thats alot of text.

[+ramskid1388]

wow!me my buddy his aunt and uncle all decided to hit one last cache before we went home Flying I in hubbard ohio 44425. I think we decided on one cache to many. So we pull up and we see the people in the waffle house watching us (bunch of creepers i guess) and i didn't give my buddy any cover since i was looking at the gps and he pulled out the cache. WOW. so we walk back to the car sign the log and go to put the cache back well just when he makes sure everythings alright we hear *BANG BANG BANG* some guy pointed at the other end of the window and i think he said leave. so after all said and done we walk to the car and tell his uncle whats going on so we waited a minute and then left. So a day or two later i check the cache page and it turned out that the manager or whoever saw us called the cops and we booked it before they got there. So i don't know how that worked out but they never bothered us until a guy emailed me about the situation. But they popped up at my buddy's housed asked is darcy there he said hold on and told his mom to get the door while he ran out the backdoor and to where i have no clue. but that's the last i ever heard of the flying I cache scare.

wow that's a mouthful

[+Mongoriller]

The scariest thing that ever happened to me while caching was not that scary, but I will post it anyway. I was looking for River Stroll 2: Memory Lane in Pennsville, NJ, and I went the wrong way and was next to a crashing river in the middle of a huge storm about 100 feet in front of my dad and sister. He was yelling at me, but I couldn't hear him, eventually though, I heard him tell me to stay there, and I looked at my GPS and I was 1 foot away from the cache! He took another trail and caught up with me after I found it. We took the right way back, and as far as I know, I'm not dead. That was not a fun cache.

[+wapahani]

This isn't too scary, just sorta funny now.

 

This past weekend we went out to find a few local caches.

One being in an older but maintained cemetery.

The hint was that the cache was "Cedar" with that in mind, I found a group of cedar trees and set about looking. The other half of wapahani (the wife) was also looking around to see if she could spot it.

All of the sudden while pulling up debre from in the old tree, out came a large tree mouse. After walking around the tree, I saw the cache, the mouse had a family, a several baby mice in the tree, and she had built her nest right on top of the cache. While it wasn't a large cache, we didn't want to mess with the babies, so we moved along knowing its exact location. Funny, but I had my hand right on it when the tree mouse came flying out at me.

Luckily neither of us have a fear of mice.

[+Dumbledore'sArmy2006]

had to be the night I was caching with sis and a friend.we were walking across a field and there was a big smell of skunk as we were getting close.this big black and white cat jumped up.I can only say that my first thought was this is going to be bad!! then saw it was a cat.whew!!

[+jbar]

I'm was a newly diagnosed Diabetic controlled with pills. Out caching with my girlfriend. We were 3 caches into a state park I'd never been in before. Normally I carry something to eat, just in case. Of course this time I had nothing in my pack. We had been bushwhacking to hit these caches and my sugar bottomed out. I realized my girlfriend could not navigate us out, at this point I'm slurring my speech and staggering around. I managed to find the road on my 60csx and start a goto. Somehow I managed to get to the road but that was it, I just laid down and sent here for the car. At that point I wasn't even sure which way to the car. She managed to get the car and get me to Cumby's to get some sugar. Since this incident I've cut back the medication and increased my exercise and sugar has been under control. I always pack carbs in my pack now. This could have been pretty serious.

[+SYOTT]

I had QUITE the scary experience, something that will live with me for the rest of my life... I've told a few people so far... when I'm fully ready to talk more about it I will. Just know that the police got involved and the cache was immediatly archived

Edited June 24, 2008 by Pushing Tin

[boblindacody]

We were in Alley Springs in Eminence MO. It was a nice hike up the side of the mountain and back down the other side. The cache was 150' off the trail in a fallen "giant" tree. Well we were at one large fallen tree but I knew it wasn't right so when my Garmin Etrek Legend caught up I realized where it was. As I walked towards it I saw the tree. I am 15 and naturally I got excited so I ran and started yelling to my family to get over there I found it. I was completely oblivious to every thing around me when I pulled the ammo can out of the rotted base. My aunt walked up beside me and looked down.

She said "Look at the snake."

And where my hand had been was a copperhead snake. I stood there for a while and then started laughing. We thought it was fake because it didn't move. We thought that someone had left a rubber snake there to scare cachers. My aunt poked it as we left and it started slitering towards us. We ran off through the woods screaming and laughing.

 

Wiiman2008

[smstout19]

While hiking/geocaching in Balls Bluff Regional Park, my husband and I narrowly escaped being struck by a gigantic falling tree! We were about 40 feet away when we heard a loud CRACK. We turned around and watched the tree come crashing down with a very loud CRUNCH. **whew**

Edited June 26, 2008 by smstout19

[+victorymike]

Tiffin Ohio, a place I don't like anymore. And a cop that drew his gun on me and screamed, "Freeze Motherf***er". As I was signing the logbook of a cache. I should own that dude's badge...and maybe a piece of that town too.

[lonesome sock]

Some very very unsettling stories here. Encounters with snakes! Wow. Trigger happy cops being called out. Such paranoia..... Guns actually being drawn on people?!!! Ridiculous and insane. So very very different from caching here in the UK.

 

I think a small dog almost barked at me once while I was out caching.

[+wheezor]

So far I have been lucky - no scary experiences, but my brother is a different story. They were on vacation in Florida and they were doing some caching in a rental car. They were doing a multi that involved a stretch on the same road, my sister in law was driving and my brother was doing the leg work. Driving down the freeway they were pulled over by 2 police. She was asked to get out of their vehicle come back to the police car and on my brothers side the police had his gun drawn. They were lucky because the one guy knew about geocaching. My sister in law hasn't shared this story with anyone yet. lol

[+Belfrypotters]

We had our first cache-with-rattlesnake experience while caching in the Alberta badlands last month. The cache was hidden inside a rattlesnake den in a pile of rocks. Presumably the owner didn't know it was an active den when s/he placed the cache. The log book had even been signed by the snake researcher who had found the cache while studying the den's occupants. S/he said that "other than this is a rattlesnake den, it's a good hiding place". Of course we didn't find out about this until after we'd retrieved the cache and then nearly stepped on one of the snakes. It was the first time we'd ever heard a rattlesnake rattle, and hopefully the last. And it was quite a challenge to sign the logbook legibly with my hands shaking so much after our close call.

[+Coyote 8a]

So there I was, rain pissing down, totally soaked. I was on my second Geocache that day, failed to find the first. I had strapped my old Silva Ranger Compass into my right breast pocket. My friend, Mary had commented on that earlier, she didn't see why I was carring it when I had the GPS. I knew the best way to reach the cache was to follow the hiking trail, but I'd decided to take the truck up a road to the north then shoot a bearing in. Logged in the coords into the truck GPS, drove then parked. Punched in my waypoint, failed to mark the truck's position, sighted my compass and when into the woods. I was using a Legend, not equipped with high sensitive receiver, so with the tree cover and clouds you lost your signal. Hell, I must of picked the most difficult route to go in on. Hills, deadfall, brutal. After a while the terrain became too dangerous, I was going to have to turn back but I had no real idea where I was. Consulted the GPS, without the truck's location, and it wasn't looking good. I had changed the bearing on the compass as I attempted to get on target to the cache, but I knew what my start bearing had been. I've been navigating with a map and compass for over thirty years. That day I didn't have the map. With the GPS causing me concern, I turned to the one thing I have always trusted, the compass. Shot a back bearing and missed the truck by 25'. Now Mary knows why I still pack the old Ranger. I have since replaced the Legend, but now I make sure I always travel with a map and my old Silva Ranger compass.

[+keesdej]

Some very very unsettling stories here. Encounters with snakes! Wow. Trigger happy cops being called out. Such paranoia..... Guns actually being drawn on people?!!! Ridiculous and insane. So very very different from caching here in the UK.

 

I think a small dog almost barked at me once while I was out caching.

[crawil]

Mine had to be "Sticks on the Beach" (GCMT63) - a typical urban cache without much to it.

 

From the log:

We gave this a shot at about 10:30 p.m. without too many muggles about. We walked up to a bush and Mrs. CRAWIL asked if I heard something inside the bush. "Of course not", I replied. She had just stepped on a few dried leaves and they rustled.

 

Anyway, I saw a white, curved stick inside the bush and thinking, "This doesn't belong here", reached inside to touch it. It was soft and squishy and IT MOVED!!!! I don't mean it moved a little bit, but it moved on its own!!! It was an opposum's tail!! We decided to leave and maybe try this one on another day.

 

My "friends" still give me opposum-themed stuff for Christmas, etc.

[+johnling]

I was trekking through the woods and a shaggy dog slobbering like crazy popped out about 15 feet from me showing his teeth and growling. I stopped and was in a staring match. It never barked, just growled. It was not going to move on and I was not going to move. I had always heard that retreat showed you as an easy target to predators. Finally after 30 to 45 seconds or so I just stomped my foot and growled back. It didn’t run of but it did walk off into the brush. I did look for a nice thick walking stick, in case I was ambushed, and continued on.

[+gerkmax]

Sorry, in my excitement I posted mine as a new thread.

 

Read here:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=200098

[+summ01]

I'm brand new to geocaching, but this is our story.

While looking for the Rugged Island cache in Alaska,(U.S.E.D 1943) my husband, son and I were hiking with our dog up to the site. Found the WWII buildings and decided to explore a little before seaching for the cache. We always carry a backpack with "just in case supplies", etc. but didn't even think about it as we went into the dark bunker. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, my husband used a stick to check for possible obstuctions and holes. We were almost to the exit at the other side and could see clearly that there was a 2 ft square hole in the floor. No problem, just hug the wall and walk right by. I guess someone forgot to explain that to our dog. (who knew she couldn't see the hole. Dogs are suppose to have better eyesight than us, right?)

We had held on to her all the way through the bunker but mistakenly thought she would avoid the hole and she immediately fell in. My heart stopped as I watcher her disappear into a dark hole of unknown depth. My first reaction was total disbelief, then as my husband used a stick to check the depth, I ran out and searched the backpack for our flashlight. DUH!!! When I ran back in he had figured out the hole was about 6 ft deep. EEEK! No sound was coming from the hole. I was terrified to look. As I shined the light down the hole, there she was calmly sitting in the bottom looking up at us, without a scratch, trying to figure out how to get out. She must have landed on her feet just like a cat. On the wall of the hole were metal ladder rungs, my son climbed down and lifted the dog back to safety. (I hate to think what would have happened if one of her paws had caught on one of the rungs on the way down. )

Needless to say, we now know that there is a flashlight in the pack that will be used when entering dark places, along with a leash that has been added for keeping her close when exploring. We've done so much back country hiking, and she always stays so close, it didn't even dawn on us that she might not see the hole and know to avoid it. (trust me, I'm still beating myself up about it.)

 

And btw, we did find the cache, right after we stopped shaking.

[+crookedcastle7]

Another dog story, different kinda scary. My caching partner happens to be 7 lb. dog that refuses to get left behind. One day we are faced with a slick and steep ascent on a frozen slope_Here_. The mighty chihuahua is about 30 feet below me when of course I manage to knock a breadbox size boulder loose and it rolls on a collision course with the spinning and scrambling little mutt. Helpless to do anything but watch, Im trying to figure out how to tell my wife how her lapdog got crushed while taking a "walk". It was one of those slow-mo moments as the boulder converged on the dog, he ducks and the boulder skips just high enough to graze over his baseball sized melon, leaving nary a scratch and rolling harmlessly to the bottom. We made the rest of the climb without incident, but I swear the little fella looked at me sideways for quite some time, like he was waiting for the next assasination attempt.

[+TeamSeekAndWeShallFind]

I really enjoyed reading some of the stories here. We've had many "interesting" moments but one that sticks out was what happened while we were doing "Scout Master",the final in the Boy Scout series. I would call it "The dumbest thing I ever did to reach a cache."

 

Scout Master resides on a little island along the mighty Fox River.We took our inflatable fishing boat there,got out and started the 450' hike to the cache.All of a sudden,20' into the hike,our legs were ON FIRE!! When I say "on fire," I mean ON FIRE!! I was like "Man, are your legs burning?" He's goes "Yeah,what the hell is that?"

 

Then the 'needles' started.On top of the intense,bone-deep burning it felt like a million tiny needles were being poked through our skin(mind you,we have heavy,army issue camo pants on!!). THEN the incredible itching started. Imagine burning,needles and itching all at the same time.

 

We realize it must be the swarm of these very unassuming thigh high plants that must be causing this.They were EVERYWHERE and there was NO WAY around them.The island was covered in them like a blanket from end to end and everywhere inbetween!!

 

We keep going and there's nothing else to think about except the burning.At one point it was so bad,I started pounding on my legs to make it stop.The pain from the pounding was better than what I was feeling.We reach the cache and as we had known from the satellite map,it was on the VERY EDGE of the island right at the water, and that edge was vacant of these plants.Problem was,when we took off from the shore on land the current was so rough we couldn't row across it sideways fast enough to end up at the edge of the island so we had to trek in from the spot we landed which was almost in the middle of the island.

 

The moment we get out of the plants and stand at GZ,the burning starts to subside."Ahhhh.What a relief." We sign the log,trade swag and start the trek back.THE VERY MOMENT we stepped back into the plants it started all over again.This is where I started ballin' my head off. Yeah I know,there's no crying in geocaching right ? I used to think that too,but there is and this was the 3rd time I cried while geocaching!! First time was when I slipped in the wet leaves during a .4 hike in the woods and my knee SLAMMED down on a log and I thought I was gonna be crippled for life.That was last year and the knee still acts up anytime I hike over 8 or so miles.The 2nd time was when we got attacked by a SWARM of vicious,man-eating Mosquitos that flew around our heads,in our eyes,in our ears and in our mouths BUZZING AND BUZZING AND BUZZING!That was the first time we ever ran out of GZ and like the 2 fools we are,we went right back because this cache was #25 in a series of 25 that took us 7 hours to finish(Centennial Trail #25-Willow Springs to Lemont).

 

Anyway,we can't find our boat so we ended up walking an extra 250' in the stuff.By the time we got to our boat I was crying like a baby and almost hyperventilating.Anyone and everyone up and down the river must've heard me.I was petrified to lift up my pants leg because I thought my legs were gonna be charred and covered with blisters.They weren't.They were only flaming red and after 10 minutes or so it started to cease.I later discovered,from the photos I managed to snap while crying,that the culprit was the Wood Nettle plant which shoots Folic Acid from the hairs on it's stems!! I was traumatized for life and since then have found the plant at several other caches and am petrified of it.It's been my mission to inform the Geocaching world of this evil,evil plant.I'm posting photos here so you'll recognize it.Hope I do it right

[+Mokzii]

Once, caching with my sister, we walked quite a ways in to some woods and came across this sitting oddly at the base of a tree:

Doesn't look like much, but it was unsettling to say the least. Especially when combined with the odd assortment of other items scattered around in the little clearing. An old ripped up mattress, huge pad lock, chair and rope, and other things that seemed sinister given the circumstances we found them in.

We high-tailed it outta there! That was one DNF I don't feel bad about!

[chuckr30]

Scout Master resides on a little island along the mighty Fox River.We took our inflatable fishing boat there,got out and started the 450' hike to the cache.All of a sudden,20' into the hike,our legs were ON FIRE!! When I say "on fire," I mean ON FIRE!! I was like "Man, are your legs burning?" He's goes "Yeah,what the hell is that?"

 

Then the 'needles' started.On top of the intense,bone-deep burning it felt like a million tiny needles were being poked through our skin(mind you,we have heavy,army issue camo pants on!!). THEN the incredible itching started. Imagine burning,needles and itching all at the same time.

 

We realize it must be the swarm of these very unassuming thigh high plants that must be causing this.They were EVERYWHERE and there was NO WAY around them.The island was covered in them like a blanket from end to end and everywhere inbetween!!

 

Sounds like stinging nettle. They can easily reach 4 feet high. Easily cured by crushing jewel weed (aka Touch Me Not) on the affected skin. I've been stung, been cured, it's easy once you know how.

[+izce.nine]

Once, caching with my sister, we walked quite a ways in to some woods and came across this sitting oddly at the base of a tree:

Doesn't look like much, but it was unsettling to say the least. Especially when combined with the odd assortment of other items scattered around in the little clearing. An old ripped up mattress, huge pad lock, chair and rope, and other things that seemed sinister given the circumstances we found them in.

We high-tailed it outta there! That was one DNF I don't feel bad about!

 

Wait isnt that the cache in the upper right?

[+Hellolost]

Some very very unsettling stories here. Encounters with snakes! Wow. Trigger happy cops being called out. Such paranoia..... Guns actually being drawn on people?!!! Ridiculous and insane. So very very different from caching here in the UK.

 

I think a small dog almost barked at me once while I was out caching.

 

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[+Mokzii]

Once, caching with my sister, we walked quite a ways in to some woods and came across this sitting oddly at the base of a tree:

Doesn't look like much, but it was unsettling to say the least. Especially when combined with the odd assortment of other items scattered around in the little clearing. An old ripped up mattress, huge pad lock, chair and rope, and other things that seemed sinister given the circumstances we found them in.

We high-tailed it outta there! That was one DNF I don't feel bad about!

 

Wait isnt that the cache in the upper right?

 

No. Just a piece of junk. The actual cache was about 50-60 ft from this spot in some trees.

[Scorch07]

I guess the scariest thing that's happened to me was nearly stepping on a live yellow jacket nest. I haven't been caching long though, so who knows what's to come.

[+Buggheart]

I had QUITE the scary experience, something that will live with me for the rest of my life... I've told a few people so far... when I'm fully ready to talk more about it I will. Just know that the police got involved and the cache was immediatly archived

 

Wow, that sounds scary and serious and I'm so sorry that you're so shook up about whatever happened. I have to say some of these stories have me a little bit freaked out.

[+elephantmama]

I guess the scariest thing that's happened to me was nearly stepping on a live yellow jacket nest. I haven't been caching long though, so who knows what's to come.

My kids and I almost stepped on a copperhead. My 8 year old was in the lead and he was pretty freaked out.

 

A few weeks ago, I peeked into a crevice to see a bat peering back. Ack!

 

And I've almost grabbed a few wasp nests when reaching into crevices. I guess I'll learn when I get stung.

[+busterbabes]

My scariest moment geocaching was losing my GPS in a field of armpit high weeds...just 266 feet from the final.

Thank God I was in a group that did CPR on me...and found my GPS!

Needless to say...at the next event, a fellow searcher gave me a lanyard. LOL

[+StClairC]

Scariest moment happened a few months ago. We were driving home on the 395 and came across a multi. The first stage was right off the road but the 2nd was about 3 miles off the main road way out in the middle of nowhere. When we got to the coords, it was an old abndoned building all shot up and shot gun shells all over the ground. Also the building was spray-painted with "DEATH" pretty much the whole way around. The topper was when we finally worked up the guts to step out of the car - we get into the building and see a half-eaten hamburger and drink sitting right near a pile of fresh shells.

 

Needless to say, we didn't stick around any longer and booked it back to the main road. Freaked out my girl so bad that it ended up being the end of our caching day and we made the rest of the drive straight home.