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Scary subject: Attackers or sabotage?


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The other day on another non-caching web site that I frequent, I posted about how I've begun enjoying geocaching. A few other forum members there wondered if cachers might be at risk from hiding flashers, sexual predators, or some nut job who might construct a bomb from what looks like a normal cache, in the hope of harming innocent cachers like you and me.

 

Most of you have been doing this longer than I have. Have any of you ever heard of cachers being harmed in one way or another by the likes of people I described above? I always go caching with my 9 year old son and I'd never forgive myself if something ever happened to scar him...be it emotionally or worse yet, physically. I'd like to be able to tell these non-caching friends of mine that there is virtually no danger of this kind to speak of. If I can, perhaps I can convince some of them to join our ranks.

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Never happened to me personally but the worst I've heard friends tell of is a cache full of urine. Other incidents that have happened to cachers would probably have happened to them whether shopping or Geocaching.

 

Geocachers (I don't think) are any more targeted than hikers, campers, walkers, joggers, shoppers, car drivers etc....

Edited by StarBrand
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This is a scary world we live in and just leaving your house from day to day you run the risk of running in to the wrong person. Why let a minute chance ruin your fun. I have never heard of a cacher being ambushed intentionally. But like the rest of the world danger could be around any corner. If you live in fear, the you are doomed to boredem and an early grave from stress.

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Any time you are out and about you are subject to some sort of danger, whether it be in a vehicle or walking through a park.

 

Geocaching has it's risks. I've heard of anything from an occasional turd in a cache to dangerous wildlife (snakes in particular) and some nude folks being spotted now and then doing certain deeds.

 

I've not seen nor been in any danger myself but I am new to this as well. I wish I could say they are wrong, but the absolute truth is, they aren't. You always take a risk, but there are things you can do to minimize those risks.

 

1. Wait for someone else to be first to find :(

2. Cache during daylight hours.

3. Go in a group, or in non-secluded areas.

4. Know your surroundings.

5. Keep your eyes open and trust your instincts.

6. Carry pepper spray, it's cheap and effective if you use it right.

 

The worst I have stumbled across is the occasional animal carcass... dogs, deer, rabits, etc.

Edited by XopherN71
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The other day on another non-caching web site that I frequent, I posted about how I've begun enjoying geocaching. A few other forum members there wondered if cachers might be at risk from hiding flashers, sexual predators, or some nut job who might construct a bomb from what looks like a normal cache, in the hope of harming innocent cachers like you and me.

 

Most of you have been doing this longer than I have. Have any of you ever heard of cachers being harmed in one way or another by the likes of people I described above? I always go caching with my 9 year old son and I'd never forgive myself if something ever happened to scar him...be it emotionally or worse yet, physically. I'd like to be able to tell these non-caching friends of mine that there is virtually no danger of this kind to speak of. If I can, perhaps I can convince some of them to join our ranks.

 

We all face the same dangers in the world. Some of us are less paranoid about it.

 

Yes cachers have been raped, attacked, mugged, peed on, yelled at, interogated by law enforcment. They have been stung, bit, scratched and sprayed by wild critters. They know what a tick looks like. They understand chiggers. They don't need to worry about west nile. They arleady had it. They know the drill when the police ask "what are you doing". They have stepped in more varieties of scat than anyone except profesional hikers. They know not to back in at a pickle park and why. They are on a first name basis with poison oak, poison ivy, stinging nettle and all kinds of sharp pointy plants.

 

So here is my advice. Cache with friends, it's more fun. Cache where you are comfortable caching. Listen to your 6th sence. When it says "get the heck out of here or better still "don't go there" take the advice.

 

1000 caches and the worst thing I've encountered is a man who was concerned that I may be heading off into the woods to harm the girl I was with. He stopped me and asked a lot of question. Only a cacher would be heading into the woods with his daughter on a snowy day where nobody else goes...to find a great hiding spot for a cache.

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If some nutcase is looking for a way to assault or flash someone, there are many better ways than staking out a cache for perhaps several days waiting for a geocacher to happen by.

 

As far as a cache being booby trapped. There are over half a million active caches worldwide. Assume conservatively 10 visits per cache, that's 5 million cache visits without a known instance of a booby trapped cache. I'll take those odds. You are statistically more likely to get seriously injured or killed driving to the cache than you are by a booby trapped cache.

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Great question!

 

In our travels...geocaching....We've been to many states, and many tough neighborhoods :) .

We have entered areas which look very dangerous :D . These are normally in the city parks, or in terrible poor gang ridden neighborhoods. JUST SKIP THOSE :D

We turn the jeep around and go to the next cache.

 

You will always meet strange people hiking. :D;):(B)

 

We have been yelled at by crazy people, questioned by hobo's, and interrogated by MANY Law Enforcement Officers (once at gunpoint). Usually it's because someone else was doing something illegal near the area we were searching. A respectful response has always gained us respect in return.

 

My suggestion - Always let a few other geocachers find the cache that you are planning on finding. Then read their logs. I've crossed off many caches due to poor logs...(ie...hobo house in bushes, human crap, dangerous area, drug dealers, nudes, sexual trash, rusty barbwire, broken glass, poison Oak, Rattlesnakes, and my favorite... TICKS)

 

Look for public trails that have Rangers on patrol, and Regular sized caches that promote "for children" hides.

 

Now go have fun. :D

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Apparently no one has cued you in yet that this is all a cover for child trafficking.

 

I know you are trying to be funny, but you are not.

I beg your pardon, but I wouldn't have said it if we as a whole weren't actually accused of it. I don't know if you read the link or remember the incident, but to summarize, someone who was the vilest of criminals happened to be a geocacher, and a CourtTv forum "investigated" and decided that we were all involved. I have a post on the first page of that thread still reflects my feelings on the incident.

 

Perhaps it was too tangential to the OP's question. The connection I made was people hearing about geocaching and immediately imagining something fearful.

Edited by Dinoprophet
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Apparently no one has cued you in yet that this is all a cover for child trafficking.

 

I know you are trying to be funny, but you are not.

I beg your pardon, but I wouldn't have said it if we as a whole weren't actually accused of it. I don't know if you read the link or remember the incident, but to summarize, someone who was the vilest of criminals happened to be a geocacher, and a CourtTv forum "investigated" and decided that we were all involved. I have a post on the first page of that thread still reflects my feelings on the incident.

 

I've been following this sad story every since I read about it after discovering geocaching.......

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Apparently no one has cued you in yet that this is all a cover for child trafficking.

 

I know you are trying to be funny, but you are not.

I beg your pardon, but I wouldn't have said it if we as a whole weren't actually accused of it. I don't know if you read the link or remember the incident, but to summarize, someone who was the vilest of criminals happened to be a geocacher, and a CourtTv forum "investigated" and decided that we were all involved. I have a post on the first page of that thread still reflects my feelings on the incident.

 

Perhaps it was too tangential to the OP's question. The connection I made was people hearing about geocaching and immediately imagining something fearful.

 

Usually when I run across a link by a subject like child trafficking, it doesn't get a click out of me. I owe you an apology as I really jumped to an incorrect conclusion there.

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Apparently no one has cued you in yet that this is all a cover for child trafficking.

 

I know you are trying to be funny, but you are not.

I beg your pardon, but I wouldn't have said it if we as a whole weren't actually accused of it. I don't know if you read the link or remember the incident, but to summarize, someone who was the vilest of criminals happened to be a geocacher, and a CourtTv forum "investigated" and decided that we were all involved. I have a post on the first page of that thread still reflects my feelings on the incident.

 

Perhaps it was too tangential to the OP's question. The connection I made was people hearing about geocaching and immediately imagining something fearful.

 

Usually when I run across a link by a subject like child trafficking, it doesn't get a click out of me. I owe you an apology as I really jumped to an incorrect conclusion there.

Not at all, my post was poorly phrased for its intent and assumed that everyone would click to see what I meant. I've edited it with a little more explanation.

 

To the OP, yes, any of that stuff *could* happen. But in all honesty, I feel safer with my kids in the woods than on the highway. The highway's more dangerous, and I've seen worse things there.

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Oh I wish I could remember her name (she likes rock climbing) but someone here mentioned about how she was in the woods and saw a guy, faked like she was tying her shoe (messing with the cache) got up and the guy was flash/peeing her. From a distance but still obviously looking at her.

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Oh I wish I could remember her name (she likes rock climbing) but someone here mentioned about how she was in the woods and saw a guy, faked like she was tying her shoe (messing with the cache) got up and the guy was flash/peeing her. From a distance but still obviously looking at her.

 

 

You get two, two posts in one!

Edited by fishdirt
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The black bear still scare me the worst. Though they run away faster than I can. (Almost stepped on one once.)

I know of one cacher who was mugged. The police recovered the GPS unit.

I've seen more than my share of men cruising, or having sex in the woods. Hey! I want to put a cache in Pickell Park, but my QC Department will not approve. <_<

The one that concerned me the most was in a residential neighborhood. Set out by a college student. Two geocachers of the female variety told me that they had received further invitations to hunt caches by the owner. No offense, but these cachers were more than twice the age of the college student. They were, of course, smart enough to ignore the further invitation.

I've been to some very strange places. One had rats larger than some dogs. Or homeless people sleeping on the trails. You pick your comfort and safety level. Keep your wits about you. And leave if you have any inling of a problem.

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The other day on another non-caching web site that I frequent, I posted about how I've begun enjoying geocaching. A few other forum members there wondered if cachers might be at risk from hiding flashers, sexual predators, or some nut job who might construct a bomb from what looks like a normal cache, in the hope of harming innocent cachers like you and me.

 

Most of you have been doing this longer than I have. Have any of you ever heard of cachers being harmed in one way or another by the likes of people I described above? I always go caching with my 9 year old son and I'd never forgive myself if something ever happened to scar him...be it emotionally or worse yet, physically. I'd like to be able to tell these non-caching friends of mine that there is virtually no danger of this kind to speak of. If I can, perhaps I can convince some of them to join our ranks.

 

I think the flashers, sexual predators and other nut jobs are very unlikely to be targeting cachers. We haven't encountered any of them yet and we are approaching 5 years of hunting. As with life in general be aware of your surroundings and try not to put yourself in bad situations and be aware of your surroundings when you do.

 

Harry Dolphin cleary hunts in areas much worse than those we typically encounter here in the great Pacific NW. Critters are common. Human creeps are not. Any time a cacher feels uncomfortable hunting a cache they should leave the area. If there is someone who identifies themselves as a cacher and they are acting improperly they should be reported to Groundspeak and perhaps the police.

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I've crossed off many caches due to poor logs...(ie...hobo house in bushes, human crap, dangerous area, drug dealers, nudes, sexual trash, rusty barbwire, broken glass, poison Oak, Rattlesnakes, and my favorite... TICKS)

 

In the northeast you'd have about 5 finds if you crossed off all the caches where there were ticks.

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There is a TB Hotel at a rest stop near me that gets frequent visits by men in the dark.

 

It is a favorite meet-up location, and some poor cacher stopped by one night around midnight only to be followed into the woods. Nothing happened, but the guy was certainly creeped out!

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The other day on another non-caching web site that I frequent, I posted about how I've begun enjoying geocaching. A few other forum members there wondered if cachers might be at risk from hiding flashers, sexual predators, or some nut job who might construct a bomb from what looks like a normal cache, in the hope of harming innocent cachers like you and me.

 

Most of you have been doing this longer than I have. Have any of you ever heard of cachers being harmed in one way or another by the likes of people I described above? I always go caching with my 9 year old son and I'd never forgive myself if something ever happened to scar him...be it emotionally or worse yet, physically. I'd like to be able to tell these non-caching friends of mine that there is virtually no danger of this kind to speak of. If I can, perhaps I can convince some of them to join our ranks.

Yes, yes, yes! Thank God that someone has finally brought to light the incredibly sordid dark underbelly of geocaching! It is ENTIRELY true that geocaching, unlike hiking, orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking, bird watching, letterboxing, jogging or running, is indeed beset with all these maladies! In fact, I believe that our account currently has about two thousand finds since we started this game in April 2005, and I would say -- speaking off the top of my head without checking our detailed records -- that on about 95% of our finds, Sue and I have encountered at least one of the species of nasty things which you have mentioned, and, if the truth be known, at some caches we have encountered ALL of them at once! For example, at an unnamed (to protect the innocent) cache located in the woods about two miles from our home, during our find in early 2007, we encountered six flashers along the route to the cache, seven violent sexual predators hiding near the cache site waiting for unwary cachers, four drug dealers waiting at the site trying to sell their wares, and then, worst of all, when we finally reached the cache and attempted to open it, we realized belatedly that it had been a bomb constructed to look like a cache, and, in reality, it was really a small homemade 15 kiloton-yield thermonuclear explosive device! Boy, that really hurt when it detonated! We were sore for weeks, and the resultant gigantic crater still occludes and obscures much of what useta be the rural areas surrounding the city of Frederick, Maryland.

 

Its a crying shame, all these bad people out there waiting to prey on hapless geocachers! In fact, at least in the USA, I feel that this previously-hidden issue is, in reality, the LARGEST public health problem and the LARGEST public safety problem facing our country today, and worse, this issue is TOTALLY ignored by our legislators. Shame! Shame! Shame! :D:D:D:D

 

 

 

 

 

:P

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