Property Damage (at your own risk?)

[+infiniteMPG]

The average geocacher is usually a travelling financial investment trucking around with stuff like their GPSr, PDA, cell phone, digital camera, personalized hiking stick, mountain bike, kayak or canoe, ATV, Jeepster, and all kinds of gear worth a good chunk of change. And being as this is a sport with risks, some of our investment gets accidentally destroyed along the way, sometimes due to lack of thinking (duh). A bad one for me was a local paddle cache run. Was pushing my kayak over a log on a shallow part of a local river and when I stepped over I didn't check first and dropped into an 8-foot deep hole. Accidentally flipped my kayak as I fell and watched my digital camera dump in to the river and zap out. I luckily managed to find it (and got it working again later) but my mood took a few days to recover, especially after denting in the rear quarter panel of my new car backing into the end of a bent guardrail after loading my kayak to leave.

 

How much property damage have you done geocaching?

[+Renegade Knight]

Dropped a cell Phone into the creek. Twice.

Managed to drive off with my GPS on the roof. It flipped off at 35mph and skidded to a stop.

 

All survived.

 

Night Stalker and I were caching and he decided to bushwack while I took the trail. Somehow he snagged his nice and fancy watch on a bush near a creek. It ripped the watch off his wrist and launched it for parts unknown while he wasn't looking. At least that's the story. He never found it.

[+TotemLake]

Went on a whitewater rafting geocache adventure. The raft caught a snag and popped the section I was on. The GPS water integrity at the time apparent wasn't. Took a few days to dry it out and in the process of putting it back together, some leads ended up having to be resoldiered back on.

[+Ambrosia]

Went on a whitewater rafting geocache adventure. The raft caught a snag and popped the section I was on. The GPS water integrity at the time apparent wasn't. Took a few days to dry it out and in the process of putting it back together, some leads ended up having to be resoldiered back on.

Beat me to it, TL. That's the worst caching damage we've done that I can think of.

 

Water"proof" digital cameras are great, my husband has started rafting/kayaking with one. He can take underwater pics with it and everything. It has changed how his water sports pictures turn out, he can take things from new perspectives.

[+DavidMac]

While riding my sport bike down to an event two hours away, I took a spill on a gravelly on-ramp. I sprained my wrist which cost me nearly $250 for doctor's bills (after insurance, co pay, etc), but the real killer was a cracked faring on the bike... a single piece of plastic which the dealer wanted $880 to replace (btw, I opted not to replace it). the exhaust will cost another $350 or so (aftermarket, not dealer), but I've been planning to replace it anyway.

 

And, I still managed to make it to the event... by car.

Edited September 12, 2008 by DavidMac

[+clan_Barron]

About $800 worth of damage when I ripped the soft top off my Jeep while caching. It was about 1am and we had snaked our way up the side of a bluff over looking Rodman rersevior (on what was more of a ATV trail than a Jeep trail) on our way to two caches. After finding the caches we found that the trail didn't continue as the map showed but was blocked by downed trees. Turning 8 Jeeps around on a narrow trail with a 40 ft drop on one side and many, many trees on the other was quite a feat. My Jeep has 6" of lift and is running 35x12.50 tires so it sits quite high. On the way up the trail we passed under a large, low hanging limb that I was not sure I would make it under (but did with about a half inch to spare). It was a different story on the way down. I was doing about 3 mph as I passed under the limb and was looking to see if I would clear. My rear wheel ran over a root as the center bow passed under the limb, causing my clearance to be minus half an inch . before I could stop the stress on the center bow snapped it and ripped the top in half down the middle. What really sucked was that we were camping and it literally rained 2"-3" that night . Good thing I had the floor plugs out . It was a bit chilly as I drove 100 miles home in misty February rain. I had to drive to work with no top for a couple days. Had to replace the soft top frame and soft top. Did it hurt financially? YES! But as I told the guys I was with, if you can't afford to break (or lose something) then you don't need to be out playing with it. At least the fun I had camping, caching & Jeepin' took some of the sting out of the $800 it cost me to find those caches []

Edited September 12, 2008 by clan_Barron

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

On one cache I was backing up and hit a big rock around the gravel parking area. Crumpled my stainless steel muffler - $400 to replace it.

 

During a different run, I damaged my pride after getting stuck in the mud!

 

[+Harry Dolphin]

The average geocacher is usually a travelling financial investment trucking around with stuff like their GPSr, PDA, cell phone, digital camera, personalized hiking stick, mountain bike, kayak or canoe, ATV, Jeepster, and all kinds of gear worth a good chunk of change. How much property damage have you done geocaching?

 

Sorry. I'm a poor boy. Just me, my geocahing partner, the Gupy and Miss Oopmhy (the cache mobile). Can't afford that other stuff. Worst I've done so far is locking my keys in Miss Oomphy. AAA solved that problem. Got stuck in a sand road in the Pine Barrens. Some passing people pushed us out! (AAA would not have like that one.) Two bouts with Lyme. Chiggers. Hiked back a quarter mile for my hiking stick.

So far, so good.

Anyone want to loan me a kayak??? I can't afford one, and it wouldnt fit in my apartment anyways. But, I've got six kayaking caches on my Ten-Mile List!

[+JBnW]

We picked up a TB asking for pictures at beaches. Took the bug, GPSr, and digital camera to the local swim beach. When I got home, being much more concerned about the camera than anything else in my hands, the lanyard on the GPSr got caught on the door latch as the door was closing...yanked the GPSr out of my hand to get crunched in the door! Toast!

 

BTW, I am not endorsing this as a way to upgrade from a plain-jane Vista to a GPSMAP 76CSx.

[+sseegars]

From not thinking (duh).....

 

TWO CACHERS

 

Two cell phones ($100-$200.)

 

Two digital cameras ($50-$100)

 

Two PDAs ($$$$$)

 

One flipped canoe. (It survived)

 

You can always buy more stuff, but the argument about who flipped the canoe........Priceless.

[+TotemLake]

From not thinking (duh).....

 

TWO CACHERS

 

Two cell phones ($100-$200.)

 

Two digital cameras ($50-$100)

 

Two PDAs ($$$$$)

 

One flipped canoe. (It survived)

 

You can always buy more stuff, but the argument about who flipped the canoe........Priceless.

Hmmmm sounds familiar about who to go with when in whitewater rafts too.

[+Ed & Julie]

Ruined two GPSrs (one off the tank of my motorcycle at 60 mph, the 2nd off the roof of my car.

 

Ruined 1 digital camera (2-foot drop out of my coat pocket).

[+Waazdag]

The average geocacher is usually a travelling financial investment trucking around with stuff like their GPSr, PDA, cell phone, digital camera, personalized hiking stick, mountain bike, kayak or canoe, ATV, Jeepster, and all kinds of gear worth a good chunk of change. And being as this is a sport with risks, some of our investment gets accidentally destroyed along the way, sometimes due to lack of thinking (duh). A bad one for me was a local paddle cache run. Was pushing my kayak over a log on a shallow part of a local river and when I stepped over I didn't check first and dropped into an 8-foot deep hole. Accidentally flipped my kayak as I fell and watched my digital camera dump in to the river and zap out. I luckily managed to find it (and got it working again later) but my mood took a few days to recover, especially after denting in the rear quarter panel of my new car backing into the end of a bent guardrail after loading my kayak to leave.

 

How much property damage have you done geocaching?

 

Lessee.... dropped my Magellan Triton 300 - 2-3 ft and bounced it off of rocks doing so... three times now... but it then just needed to be turned off and on again and it was good to go... wore my tires down a little more then normal on my 2005 Toyota Echo... and spent more $$ on gas... but no damage really... nope. None that comes to mind...

Edited September 13, 2008 by Waazdag

[4wheelin_fool]

Dropped my first Garmin E-map while rock climbing (and caching). Sunk the second one while canoeing before an event. That pesky blue Garmin didn't last long before I fried it during a cache run. The Garmin V took a beating before it died while downloading waypoints. I returned the first Garmin Vista Cx I had to LLBean because the memory chip popped out slightly while changing batteries at a cache, and I did not realize it until the second one did it also. Went through several U-joints on my old jeep before the driveshaft popped loose and took part of the transfer case with it. The Buick has custom pinstripes from pine trees from trying to go down roads intended for quads during caching. Other than that, I don't think I've had any real property damage (that I can remember)

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The average geocacher is usually a travelling financial investment trucking around with stuff like their GPSr, PDA, cell phone, digital camera, personalized hiking stick, mountain bike, kayak or canoe, ATV, Jeepster, and all kinds of gear worth a good chunk of change. And being as this is a sport with risks, some of our investment gets accidentally destroyed along the way, sometimes due to lack of thinking (duh). A bad one for me was a local paddle cache run. Was pushing my kayak over a log on a shallow part of a local river and when I stepped over I didn't check first and dropped into an 8-foot deep hole. Accidentally flipped my kayak as I fell and watched my digital camera dump in to the river and zap out. I luckily managed to find it (and got it working again later) but my mood took a few days to recover, especially after denting in the rear quarter panel of my new car backing into the end of a bent guardrail after loading my kayak to leave.

 

How much property damage have you done geocaching?

 

Whew. I thought you were going to say that you damaged your kayak. I don't mind getting a few scratches on my kayaks but just hope that your kayak doesn't suffer the kind of damage that one of mine did a couple of years ago:

 

Edited September 13, 2008 by NYPaddleCacher

[+skisidedown]

 

Whew. I thought you were going to say that you damaged your kayak. I don't mind getting a few scratches on my kayaks but just hope that your kayak doesn't suffer the kind of damage that one of mine did a couple of years ago:

 

Any chance that it will just buff out?

 

I think I've been fortunate while caching, because I have very little in the way of 'damage'. Some scratches on my truck (10 years old and it looks like it should stay in the woods) and tears in my jacket where it has found a few branches before I did, but otherwise its all good.

 

Skisidedown.

[+Ambrosia]

From not thinking (duh).....

 

TWO CACHERS

 

Two cell phones ($100-$200.)

 

Two digital cameras ($50-$100)

 

Two PDAs ($$$$$)

 

One flipped canoe. (It survived)

 

You can always buy more stuff, but the argument about who flipped the canoe........Priceless.

Hmmmm sounds familiar about who to go with when in whitewater rafts too.

 

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

Whew. I thought you were going to say that you damaged your kayak. I don't mind getting a few scratches on my kayaks but just hope that your kayak doesn't suffer the kind of damage that one of mine did a couple of years ago:

 

(photo snipped)

Any chance that it will just buff out?

 

 

Skisidedown.

 

Not a chance. The kayak was essentially broken in half and only had four cedar strips (each about 3/4" wide) in the damage area that remained intact. It's now sitting in may basement where I have been slowly rebuilding it. I have the hull completely rebuilt with new cedar strips and fiberglassed inside and out. I still have to rebuild about a 4' section of the deck around the cockpit. It won't look as pretty as when I first built it but it should paddled just the same.

[dano8801]

 

Not a chance. The kayak was essentially broken in half and only had four cedar strips (each about 3/4" wide) in the damage area that remained intact. It's now sitting in may basement where I have been slowly rebuilding it. I have the hull completely rebuilt with new cedar strips and fiberglassed inside and out. I still have to rebuild about a 4' section of the deck around the cockpit. It won't look as pretty as when I first built it but it should paddled just the same.

 

You built that kayak? Absolutely gorgeous.

[+TotemLake]

From not thinking (duh).....

 

TWO CACHERS

 

Two cell phones ($100-$200.)

 

Two digital cameras ($50-$100)

 

Two PDAs ($$$$$)

 

One flipped canoe. (It survived)

 

You can always buy more stuff, but the argument about who flipped the canoe........Priceless.

Hmmmm sounds familiar about who to go with when in whitewater rafts too.

 

 

Look on my face as I went in? Priceless.

[+The Jester]

Well, two things come to mind:

 

1. I left the digital camera on the hood of the car, drove off and it slid down and I drove over it - crushing the view screen.

 

2. As I was driving from one cache to another:

So I have a new cachemobile...

Edited September 14, 2008 by The Jester

[+Flo.]

Knock on wood I have not really lost anything but the accelerated depreciation of my vehicle from high milage, but I have a friend who will kill a PDA within a week of getting it. I believe she is on her 4th or 5th one now in a little under 6 months.

[+infiniteMPG]

Whew. I thought you were going to say that you damaged your kayak.

Nooooo, but I did take my Hurricane Tampico 135L on a charity paddling trip yesterday (for a big cat wildlife sanctuary and yes, I placed a paddle-only cache while paddling based on Hurricane Ike). They included livery service back to the parking area and loaded 'yaks up by weight which put mine on the top of the steel tube rust pile rack pulled behind the rust bucket short bus. The guy was flying back the bumpy and winding dirt roads away from the state park and I was watching as the nose of my Tampico slid further and further back. Couldn't stand it anymore so I got the driver to stop so I could adjust it. After backing into a tree and denting my bumper when arriving, my luck wasn't running on the good side of center and I didn't want to see what was going to happen when we hit the 60MPH highway part of the livery trip

 

I don't mind getting a few scratches on my kayaks but just hope that your kayak doesn't suffer the kind of damage that one of mine did a couple of years ago:

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That looks like (it was) a beautiful 'yak!!! Don't want to pry but if I had a beautiful boat like that it'd be locked in the garage with a security guard protecting it Wish you luck on the rebuild.

 

Anyone want to loan me a kayak??? I can't afford one, and it wouldnt fit in my apartment anyways. But, I've got six kayaking caches on my Ten-Mile List!

You wanna come down and borrow my old Perception? But I need it back by dark You should check on inflatables. They're not the best thing in the world but they fold up and can be stored in the closet. Edited September 15, 2008 by infiniteMPG

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That looks like (it was) a beautiful 'yak!!! Don't want to pry but if I had a beautiful boat like that it'd be locked in the garage with a security guard protecting it Wish you luck on the rebuild.

 

Here is what it looked like on the day I first launched it. I wasn't going to break a bottle of champagne over the bow so I had a drink of some instead.

 

 

I live in a pretty safe place so I'm not too worried about theft. I had actually taken it off my car and put it on slings in the backyard the day before the storm brought down the tree. The tree hit it smack dab in between the slings across the cockpit. I had considered leaving it on my car and taking it with me on a business trip down to Baltimore but changed my mind. I actually have another kayak (and old fiberglass VCP Skerray) sitting on slings right now. Last night the remnants of Ike passed through the area and still had some strong wind gusts. We actually lost power for four ours last night. I was watching the trees swaying back and forth and hoping I wouldn't have a repeat tree meets kayak incident.

 

Anyone want to loan me a kayak??? I can't afford one, and it wouldnt fit in my apartment anyways. But, I've got six kayaking caches on my Ten-Mile List!

You wanna come down and borrow my old Perception? But I need it back by dark You should check on inflatables. They're not the best thing in the world but they fold up and can be stored in the closet.

 

Inflatable kayaks have come a long way from basically a person raft/pool toy (although I know some people will use those to go after paddle caches). A really good one can get quite expensive though. One of the other options is a folding kayak. There is a really good site at http://www.foldingkayaks.org/

that will show lots of options. If you're handy with tools you can also build your own folding kayak. One of these days, once I finish rebuilding my cedar strip kayak, I may build one of these:

 

http://yostwerks.com/

Edited September 15, 2008 by NYPaddleCacher

[+skisidedown]

Not a chance. The kayak was essentially broken in half and only had four cedar strips (each about 3/4" wide) in the damage area that remained intact. It's now sitting in may basement where I have been slowly rebuilding it. I have the hull completely rebuilt with new cedar strips and fiberglassed inside and out. I still have to rebuild about a 4' section of the deck around the cockpit. It won't look as pretty as when I first built it but it should paddled just the same.

 

Wow - I thought it looked like it must be a wood strip kayak. That sucks though about the tree. At least you have the know-how and desire to rebuild it.

 

I had a look at the yostwerks site, and I may be able to manage construction of one of those. I have limited canoe experience, and none at all in a kayak, but there are a few lakes and ponds around here that would be great to learn on. Then I too, can give my electronics the bath that they don't deserve!

 

Skisidedown

[knowschad]

2. As I was driving from one cache to another:

So I have a new cachemobile...

 

I sure hope you got FTF for that!

[+The Jester]

2. As I was driving from one cache to another:

<image clipped to save space>

So I have a new cachemobile...

 

I sure hope you got FTF for that!

I wish! I'm just glad no one was in the passenger seat, the door was pushed in about 6 inches and they would have been badly bruised if not more seriously injuried.

[+firennice]

i dropped my palm phone lunking a 40 pound cache a mile into the mountains.

 

If only I had something that I could backtrack.

 

I did and found it lying in the middle of weeds where i climbed over a log

 

I didnt want to explain that to my wife.

 

[+infiniteMPG]

I actually have another kayak (and old fiberglass VCP Skerray) sitting on slings right now. Last night the remnants of Ike passed through the area and still had some strong wind gusts. We actually lost power for four ours last night. I was watching the trees swaying back and forth and hoping I wouldn't have a repeat tree meets kayak incident.

I think I'd of had my 'yak tucked away in my garage. We didn't get much from Ike down here but we west central Floridians were in the crosshairs for a while. Was out 'yakkin' the day it hide and hid a cache in honor of those in Texas (and elsewhere affected by Ike).

I wish! I'm just glad no one was in the passenger seat, the door was pushed in about 6 inches and they would have been badly bruised if not more seriously injuried.

Glad everyone was okay and we can relate. We were heading back late after geocaching and paddling and some old guy in a beat up van with no insurance, a suspended license and just got out of jail that day for domestic violence pulled out in front of me heading down a rural highway, I blew my horn and managed to swerve around but my GF was following behind and was trapped by cars alongside her and didn't manage to make it around him...

.

 

She was okay but shaken up pretty badly.... been meaning to go back to this spot and hide a cache

 

i dropped my palm phone lunking a 40 pound cache a mile into the mountains.If only I had something that I could backtrack. I did and found it lying in the middle of weeds where i climbed over a log I didnt want to explain that to my wife.

Those close calls are tough... was maintaining a cache hidden in some big rocks at the north end of the Skyway Bridge just as it was getting dark. Couldn't find what I was looking for and started scrambling all over and around the area. Didn't have a flashlight so was working as quick as I could and finally located the cache (was going to relocate it). Reached on my belt and where my MAP60CSx was, was only the belt clip and it was pretty much dark. ACK!!!! I was in a panic for a long while until I found it resting under some big rocks pretty far from where I noticed it was missing.... close calls make you buy lanyards Edited September 16, 2008 by infiniteMPG

[+firennice]

i dropped my palm phone lunking a 40 pound cache a mile into the mountains.If only I had something that I could backtrack. I did and found it lying in the middle of weeds where i climbed over a log I didnt want to explain that to my wife.

Those close calls are tough... was maintaining a cache hidden in some big rocks at the north end of the Skyway Bridge just as it was getting dark. Couldn't find what I was looking for and started scrambling all over and around the area. Didn't have a flashlight so was working as quick as I could and finally located the cache (was going to relocate it). Reached on my belt and where my MAP60CSx was, was only the belt clip and it was pretty much dark. ACK!!!! I was in a panic for a long while until I found it resting under some big rocks pretty far from where I noticed it was missing.... close calls make you buy lanyards

 

I decided to actually start using the carbeener attachment. Force myself to never put it down but clip it on a belt loop.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Just scratches and small dents and flats............had eleven nails in one tire once.

We do forget things at cache sites and have to re-find several caches to find where we left our stuff.

[+Sagefox]

I've dropped gpsrs a couple of times without any problem...

 

...but there was this other time in Long Beach two years ago where the 60cs flipped out of my hand while I was multi-tasking with the pda and it fell face first on the sidewalk. No bounce - just a good, clean, perfect smack. About two weeks later it quit outright. Garmin sent me a remanufactured unit for $150. Not the best deal but a new one was not in our financial picture.

[jeeper88]

No damage yet, except for my pride from the several DNF's, and a slightly lighter wallet from the gas in a 20 year old Wrangler. . .

 

I've been having a blast though, wouldn't trade the experience for anything at this point!

[+Team CAT9]

I've got to say that since my wife an I started, we've been pretty lucky. Yeah, I'd drop the Magellan, but it would usually bounce right back with out a problem. Some custom stripes on the side of the car, But nothing major

[+Too Tall John]

You know the touch screens on the new Oregon? Nowhere near as tough as the screens on anything else out there.

 

I put a stick through the screen while looking for a cache.

 

I hadn't had the thing for more than a couple weeks.

 

Thankfully, I sent it in to Garmin & they fixed it (actually, sent me a whole new unit) for $150.

[+Buggheart]

It's mostly just damage to myself that occurs and not so much to my gear. I cache with my mom at least once a week and I almost always end up bleeding from my overzealous bushwhacking or twisting my ankle in a hole. A few weeks ago she and I were night caching and I was all excited and following too close behind her when I got smacked in the face just millimeters from my eye with a branch she let go of. Learned my lesson there. Last week I pullted a muscle in my leg when I went running to help my mom who had fallen down. Other than that just some ruined clothes and lots of mud on my car and I dropped my GPS at a cache once but realized it when I got back to the car and went back for it.

Edited November 2, 2008 by Buggheart

[+Hrethgir]

Nothing major for me yet, but I did put several big snags on a hockey jersey (not cheap) I was wearing while climbing INTO a stickerbush to get to a cache. I'm 6 foot tall, climbing into that thing led to snags on the jersey and a couple cuts. the wort part was that I finally got to the cache, the first part of a multi, and the paper inside with the next coordinates on it had gotten wet and turned to mush, couldn't read a single number off of it. I put that as a find, though, especially since the description said no bushwhacking was needed. Guess that stickerbush grew right over the cahe in the last 3 years, which I believe.

[+GreatBazunka]

Im pretty new at caching so i havnet had much time to mess things up but yesterday we were just finishing up a multi cache and in my excitment i left the GPS (etrex legend) on the roof of the car. Surprisingly it held on for a while, but then at 40mph i heard a noise. Sounded like something bounced off of my car. I looked in the side view mirror and there it was rolling off into the distance behind us. I stopped and pulled over. Luckily no cars were coming so i ran out into the street and grabbed it. It wouldnt turn on!!! i figured out that the buttons on the inside were jarred out of alignment a bit so i fixed that and it works now. Only some scratched resulted and none on the screen. Now i know the true durability of these units.

[+infiniteMPG]

I've got to say that since my wife an I started, we've been pretty lucky. Yeah, I'd drop the Magellan, but it would usually bounce right back with out a problem. Some custom stripes on the side of the car, But nothing major

Forgot about my buddy at work and his Magellan story. I placed a cache about a mile from work and was waiting for it to get posted. Took several days and he was itching for the FTF because I told him about the hide. Finally it got posted but on day he was riding his bike (pedal bike, not motorcycle). He took off for the cache and called me about 1/2 an hour later. Turned out he forgot to zip up his pack and when he got to the cache site his Magellan was gone! He retraced his path and found when he went over some railroad tracks it must of popped out. Unfortunately this was a busy road with lots of big trucks and it was smashed flat. And I mean smashed! So I drove over, let him borrow my MAP60CSx and he got the FTF... and is now the owner of a Garmin eTrex instead of the Magellan (not saying a Garmin would handle that any better, he just got a better deal).

[+hairball45]

Damage? oh the usual bumps scratches and bruises that come from running around in the woods. Loss? one older Palm has come up missing, my sweetie thinks I left it at a cache someplace. I say not, I think it's hiding in the house. Don't know where, it'll show up some day I'm sure. A couple of weeks ago I reached for my cell phone as I was getting out of the car to hunt a cache. No phone. I found the current cache, and drove back to the previous one. There it was, happily ringing in the grass. Sweetie called it from her phone to help me find it. Nice thing to do, huh? Then she told me "That's how you lost the Palm". Grrr.

hairball