+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 (edited) Funny things happen during our geocaching adventures... tell us what made you laugh. Most of our funny stories, I suspect, get put into logs or on our local forums and only subsequent finders or local members ever get to see them. Please post them here as well, let's all have a laugh! Particularly funny happenings posted here will be published in The Online Geocacher ( http://onlinegeocacher.com ) Here's my latest: Catsnfish is a columnist for The Online Geocacher. He lives in Omaha NE but was in Scottsboro AL on business so we met to find a few caches in that area. We met at his hotel after work at 6 p.m. planning for a fairly normal night-caching trip around Scottsboro. We soon enough had found the local caches, including Acorn... a cache I won't soon forget. There I saw something in the eaves of a building that I thought might be the cache, reached up and grabbed it... it started throbbing in my hand, I opened my fist (quickly!) whereupon one very perturbed bat flew out of my hand! After that it turned into a 453 mile cache odyssey through Huntsville. But the best part was while coming home... watching The Great Chicken Caper. I was tired so I pulled in back of a truck stop for some sleep. About 3 a.m. a woman's laughter woke me up. She and her fellow had cut the tie-down straps off of the back end of a flatbed tractor-trailer loaded with chickens and were stealing chickens off the trailer right in front of me! I used my GPS to see what county I was in and called the law, then sat there and watched these dufuses try to get the chickens off the trailer. I thought the glare of my laptop and cell phone light would clue them in that someone was watching from not 30' away, but they were focused on thieving chickens and never had a clue. Chickens are hauled in wire crates about 24" square, and aren't light. The fellow was unstacking them and tossing them down to his gal. Chickens crap in their cage, and chickens on the top level crap on the chickens below (there may be a life truism in that) so every time she caught one she got showered in chicken manure! I never saw what they were driving, if anything, they were just stacking them on the ground, so I have no clue what they were going to haul all those chickens off in... they may have been preparing to lug them off for a chicken dinner back in the woods. Or maybe they were looking for the one with the golden egg. All this time the truck driver was asleep in his cab. The best part was when they saw the headlights of the approaching police car... he jumped off of the truck, leaving a stack of caged chickens teetering, which promptly fell over and clobbered both of them. I lit them up with my headlights when the cops pulled in. He was on the ground amid a pile of chickens when the cops arrived. I can only surmise that there was alcohol involved in their planning! Oh man I love the things I see while geocaching! Edited November 8, 2008 by TheAlabamaRambler Quote Link to comment
+The Herd Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 (edited) I miss ALL the funny stuff. Well, there was the time with the hundreds of ninjas in the woods...but, chickens, now THAT is funny! Edited November 8, 2008 by The Herd Quote Link to comment
+markandsandy Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I don't care who you are, that there's funny! Quote Link to comment
+Too Tall John Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I'm sure everyone has their own version of this story, but here's mine. I was going after some new caches on a local rail trail, when I bumped into a local husband/wife team, the Trailmongers. We found the first cache together in relatively short order (FTF on a 5 difficulty cache!), but it turns out they were actually doubling back after not finding the next one down the line. After getting lucky in finding this tough little hide, they decided to return to the other cache with me to make another go of it. Maybe we'd get lucky again. My Oregon and Mr. Trailmonger's 60csx were pointing up the embankment next to the tracks, same place the 60 had been pointing during their previous visit. We searched and we searched. We spent way too long looking for this cache that was rated a 1.5 difficulty. Mr TM and I started chatting (while Mrs TM kept looking with her little Yellow eTrex...). We agreed that perhaps the hider of the caches had gotten the difficulty ratings backwards, since we made quick work of a 5, but couldn't seem to spot a 1.5 for the life of us. Finally, we decided to abandon the hunt. We returned to the track. I needed to continue down the track for the next cache, they were going the other way to their car. As we were saying our goodbyes, Mrs TM looks down at her GPS and says "Hey! This says the cache is over there," pointing to the side of the track opposite from where the other 2 units had been pointing the whole time we were searching. She took a step toward the nearest tree. "There it is!" There was an audible groan from both Mr TM and me. "Just kidding..." I relax for a moment. Mrs TM takes one more step in the direction of the tree and does it again. I'm about to say "Not Funny!" when she pulls the cache from it's location! A Garmin Oregon and a 60csx, shown up by a 1st generation Yellow eTrex! A side note: Even more recently, I was out caching with someone else for a Trailmongers hide. They happened by, on the way to the next cache up the trail, which had just been published. After stopping to chat and promise a hint if we didn't race them up the trail for FTF, Mrs TM offered to let me use the eTrex. Maybe it'd help me find the cache. Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 (edited) Thanks Too Tall John, I posted your story in The Online Geocacher 'Funny GeoTales' column at http://onlinegeocacher.com/articles/Someti...,11,08,06,11,27 Thanks! Edited November 11, 2008 by TheAlabamaRambler Quote Link to comment
+J-Way Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 A Garmin Oregon and a 60csx, shown up by a 1st generation Yellow eTrex! Maybe the hider used an eTrex to get the listed coords? Quote Link to comment
+vwaldoguy Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I had some neighborhood kids try to hussle us for the cache location of a 5-star difficulty caboose hide. It was the first cache attempt for my brother and his family. I strongly suggested that we not try it for their first, but they were determined. After hunting for awhile, the kids from across the street came out and offered to tell us the location of the cache for $10. We politely declined, yet they still kept trying to pry us for money. I guess kids have moved on from selling lemonade, and now can hustle cachers for difficult finds. Cache for Cash. Their mom came out a short time later, and they quickly stopped their bait and swtich. Thus, I suspect that the kids have actually taken the cache, as no one has found it in a couple of months. I got several hints of exactly where it's supposed to be, and my brother has been back, and it's still not there. Made us laugh at the time. Quote Link to comment
kickedFromATree Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 This is To Funny, I was walking through the woods in cultas one day only to kick this fungus off a tree i had no GPS and inside i found (what appeared to be a bomb lol) the geocache i took it not knowing what it was, went onto this site and found that it was a tresure hunting game so not knowing what it was i forgot to replace it ,I still have the cache and the original log book contacted the original cache owner and returning it to him asap LOL Cache On Brotha's Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Most of my funny geocaching stories begin with: And then one time at a geocaching event..... And then one time at a geocaching event..... Sam of UsMorrows fell asleep and we had some fun with a marker... And then one time at a geocaching event..... I proposed to my wife wearing a coconut bra and a lei. And then one time at a geocaching event..... I was running around naked in the woods and..... ---Image deleted by moderator---- Quote Link to comment
+Dread_Pirate_Bruce Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 I'm not sure this qualifies as funny or something else, but here goes: My wife and I were recently in Albany, NY, visiting her son and his fiance. My wife went with the fiance to look at her dress, etc. I went to look for some local caches. There was one supposedly easy one that was giving me fits. Even though the cache description provided coords for parking, I could not even find the parking lot. (It turned out that I needed to go a long way past, turn left, loop around, come back, pass it again, turn left again, and then cut back to the parking lot.) In frustration, I pulled into a parking lot (which did not give me access to any sort of approach to the cache), to study my map. As I sat there in the rental car, there was a knock on the driver's window. I expected to see security asking me what I was doing. Instead, it was my wife. It seems I had pulled into the parking lot where the wedding was to be held at about the same time as the fiance was taking her to see the wedding location. Boy, am I glad I had not enlisted the aid of a "Geo-Bunny" to help me look for the caches. Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 I'm not sure this qualifies as funny or something else, but here goes... I think it's funny, so it is published in The Online Geocacher! Thank you! http://onlinegeocacher.com/articles/Busted...,12,08,09,11,30 Quote Link to comment
+Too Tall John Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 A Garmin Oregon and a 60csx, shown up by a 1st generation Yellow eTrex!Maybe the hider used an eTrex to get the listed coords? Last time i ran into the hider, he was caching with a Colorado... Quote Link to comment
+medic208 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Here's my latest: SNIP... Hey TAR! Now that is funny! Tell me you got some pics of that Quote Link to comment
+ccwrestlechik105 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Because we cache exclusively at night we usually have run-ins with the cops, this was our best one yet! I'm using the log entry of my friend s ops cause he is the group story teller. lets see, where to start? we ( me, cynicalifornia, ccwrestlechick, and another one of our first time friends) started the night at our east side caching headquarters. after grouping up we headed off into the night. as we got close to the coordinates we found ourselves on top of a bridge, when all of a sudden the gps said 40 ft to the south (once again, our habit of not reading the info on the cash, or the previous logs came into play) so we continued over the bridge and went into the neighborhood. under the bridge we crossed earlier there was some railroad tracks, so of course we thought the cache was under the bridge possibly by the tracks. we pulled off into the dirt, and noticed several bars from the fence by the tracks were missing. so of course we went in. we searched all over under the tracks, and i decided to climb to the top and check on top of the bridge to look, while the others where still down below. im not on the roadside by the bridge for not more than 3 min when all of a sudden a squad car pulls up and blocks of the road, then another one pulls up and blocks the other side, and then another. the first cop gets out of his car, and asks me where im goin, i look at all the squad cars and officers, and say "im not goin anywhere". he then tells me to put my hands up where he can see them. as soon as i do, all the cops rush over to me, grab my arms, put them behind my back, and continue to put me in handcuffs. he then asks me if i have anything illegal, as he begins to search my pockets and pat me down. i tell him i have a pocket knife in my right pocket. after that he starts to ask me what is in each of my many pockets before he goes through them. got a weird look when i told him one of my pockets had a camera and oreos. after he goes through all my pockets, he askes me who is down below, so i tell him its my buddies, and they are actually on there way up here, he then says no they arnt, as a squad car pulls up beside them. he then asks me what i am doin out here, and in my most serious voice i tell them that i am geocaching, which of course they have never heard of. i am met with blank stares, so i tell him it is like treasure hunting with gps. now they give me a funny look as if to say , what is a grown man doin treasure hunting in the middle of the night. then they ask me what im looking for, and i look like a bigger fool, when i say i dont know what im looking for. i then try to explain that it could be any number of things. all of a sudden i hear over the radio, "yeah it looks like these guys are doin some sort of treasure hunting thing". after that (its been about 15 min) they take the handcuffs off and let me go. apparently someone called the cops cause they thought we were taggers. one of them sticks around for a couple min. helping me look in the bushes cause he is curious to see what i am trying to find. after a few min of no success he takes off to. after a min or to i am reunited with the rest of the group. we search all over, up down and on both sides, eventuallyl cynicalifornia goes back to his vehicle and gets online to read more about the cache. after that it is an easy find. we log and then continue on with the rest of the nights adventures! TEAM NIGHTWATCH The funniest part was that they patted down both of the boys but left the two girls alone, lol. Quote Link to comment
+wimseyguy Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Two weekends ago medic208 and I drove up to DC to attend the event at the Mason's Lodge and some cache hunting. After the event on Saturday we set off on foot across the town finding all the virtuals and urban micros in our path which took us down toward the Federal Triangle area. As I was noting the data for the virtual Q2A I saw a parade/protest march? across the street which didn't seem too odd to me since we were in DC. But as they drew closer I realized they were all dressed oddly and walking in an uncoordinated manner. Then I realized they were zombies! Then I remembered it was Halloween weekend. We saw them again up towards Chinatown while seeking another cache after dinner When I got back home to log my finds a quick googlesearch revealed that it was an organized lurch and not just a random gathering of zombies. The ride back to the hotel was even more interesting costumewise. Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 Funny stuff, ccwrestlechick105, been there, done that! Your story is published in The Online Geocacher http://onlinegeocacher.com/articles/Keep_y..._11,14,08,08,11 Thanks! Ed Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 Two weekends ago ... That would be disconcerting! Published in The Online Geocacher, thanks! http://onlinegeocacher.com/articles/What_t...,14,08,10,11,26 Quote Link to comment
team Zug-Zug! Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 On camping trips we now play family games. Like a scavenger hunt where we made a list of GARBAGE to find with points going for each piece, like beer cans you drank= 1 pnt but a beer can that has been retired=5 pnts but a animal scull is 10pnts etc. The game is timed to 2 hours and we had 2 judges( the girls that where watching all the kids ) and a extra points where giving by the judges if you bribed them( beer massages etc.) then a ranger followed one group back and stopped in and was real pleased what we where doing and we dragged him as a third judge( nobody rubbed his foot ) We now did a cache game we all had platic eggs (5) and hid them all with one leading to the next. all familys go hide them putting the first one out with a #5 and then the next with a #4 and the gps cords to the 5th, so on till you get to #1. we then put the gps cords on a piece of folded papper and we all drew and the first back to camp with all caches found gets to pick the family gift first ( each family who entered made up a family gift not going over 40 bucks) BUT WHITE ELEPHANT RULES was in affect, is was a blast! Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 It's 11 p.m. and four carloads of us are caching wagon-train style. We get to a cache at an office park by a lake. There's a walking path around the lake with picnic benches and such, and a wooden bridge over the lake to the back side, where the cache is located. We park and seven of us head out across the bridge, leaving WD4BSU with young RedneckSon at the cars. Just as we get to the cache site and start looking RedneckGal's phone rings. We look across the lake and there are yellow lights flashing at the parked cars. Ooops. It's WD4BSU on the phone, telling us that Security wants us gone. OK, be there in a minute. We look for the cache. In a few minutes the phone rings again. WD4BSU reminds his spouse that as a State Trooper he does not need to be arrested for trespassing. We need to come back. We step up the search. Decide that we'll give it just 2 more minutes. Ring. It's WD4BSU, who wants to know what part of NOW we don't understand. His beloved tells us "We better not take too long, he sounded a bit tense." Found the cache, whew, sign it quickly and head back. We get back to the cars and WD4BSU is quietly laughing, being lectured to by a 70-something year old Security Guard. I walk up to the Guard, introduce myself and explain what we are doing... "Hi", shake his hand "I am Ed Manley and we're playing a game called geocaching yada yada yada..." and tell him that the property management company knows the cache has been there for over a year and that cachers have permission to hunt it, leaving out the part about 'though probably not at night'. He's not buying my story completely, but he does get that we're not doing anything bad. He seems like a nice enough old fellow who found himself broke in his old age and ended up patrolling parking lots. He wasn't quite sure how to go about this being a cop business. You can tell that he thinks that some action is required, but he's not sure what. Still, you can tell that he thinks he needs to do something official. So he starts patting his pockets and not finding anything asks us if we have something to write on. Uh, no. He goes to his car and retrieves a napkin from the refuse of his dinner sack. Says, "I will need your name." Well, I had just introduced myself! So I say "Homer Simpson." He spreads the napkin on the trunk of WD4BSU's car and begins to write. H-O-M... "Hey wait a minute!" We all laugh and I tell him "Just kidding, it's really Ralph Billingsley." He writes that down. He gets everyone's name in turn, most are laughing so hard they can't talk, and some even give their real names. Doesn't ask anyone for ID, takes no tag numbers, as far as he can tell his job is done. The rest of the night we have a ball talking about the poor Security Guard who will forever be called Barney Fife! Quote Link to comment
+wimseyguy Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 It's 11 p.m. and four carloads of us are caching wagon-train style. Funny stuff-you should publish that one in the Online Geocacher Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 It's 11 p.m. and four carloads of us are caching wagon-train style. Funny stuff-you should publish that one in the Online Geocacher Thanks! I am trying to make TOG about other people, not a blog about me. That's why I don't do much editorializing or publish many of my own stories. I am glad you enjoyed it, though, it was a funny experience. Quote Link to comment
+Marcas_Found Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Here's one of my funnier caching stories: GC1DGKM A little Extra Incentive I was pulling a 12 hour midnight shift last night when I read Trowel32's note and thought to myself "O no she didn't!..." Now that the insinuation of being the weaker sex had been laid on the table I felt obligated to uphold the honor and integrity of every SJ male cacher out there! ...or in other words, I now had a perfectly good excuse to go make an idiot of myself . Sooooo I pull up to the bridge around 7 AM and unload my "trusty" 4 foot long, plastic, inflatable raft. The only reason we have this raft is to hold the cooler of "beverages" when we go tubing. It cost us $5 at a five and dime store. I've never bought a paddle for it so I figure the small shovel I ("coincidently") have in the truck and my walking stick will suffice on my "short" adventure. As I put the "boat" in the water I happen to glance on the rather large warning label emphasizing a max load of 120 lbs...Ya I'm about to overload this puppy "just a bit." I gingerly ease myself into the boat and try to get into a comfortable position. I think to myself "this isn't too bad" but then realize that I've already bottomed out at the launch site. Soooo I gently push off trying not to pop a hole in the boat less than a minute into the adventure. Once I get some buoyancy under me, my weight sinks the center of the boat and the sides are now pretty snug around my legs as I kneel in the boat. I now look and feel like one of those very top heavy, wobbly, unstable Walt Disney dancing Hippos wearing a bright orange and yellow mu-mu in the middle of a creek, in New Jersey, at 7 in the morning. I finally get into the current and attempt to use my "paddle" (i.e. shovel) to go down the creek.....Have you tried to paddle sitting in an inner tube?...ya I got pretty much the same affect. Now I'm doing pirouettes in the middle of the creek but not really going anywhere. Sooooo I ditch the shovel and start using the walking stick to push/pull my way down the creek. I'm going along pretty well now and am feeling a little more confident as I approach the 1st bend in the creek. That’s when I realized I was going a little too fast towards a rather large log. It was unavoidable that I was going to hit it so I braced for impact!....that wasn't too bad!...until I realized that I seemed to be sitting a little lower in the water! I had sprung a leak! I frantically searched for the source. Right at that moment that scene from Robin Hood-Men in Tights with Little John "drowning" in the little creek popped in my head and a busted out laughing at myself. Evidently the leak was in the boat's floor. She would still float but now I was going to feel more of the bumps as I bobbed down stream. I finally make it to GZ and GPSr is pointing to the right (actually left, I was floating backwards at this point). So I gently beach the boat on the bank and start looking around. I should have gone with the geo-senses on this one because I wasted 10 minutes in the wrong position. "Evidently" my GPSr doesn't get too accurate of a signal tucked away in my pocket as I fumble down the creek. After settling down, it points to the true GZ...on the other side......crap. Sooo I get back into my trusty boat and manage to cross over to the other side. Getting to the cache log was interesting. I had to sit up a little bit in the boat making my center of gravity and my precarious position that much more unstable. To compound the issue, the current is pushing me away, constantly forcing me to claw my way back to GZ. I finally sign in at 7:20ish A.M. Now for the return trip.. The paddle/shovel has proven to be useless. So I end up using a combination of using the walking stick to push/pull my way and paddling with my hands. At times, I had no choice but to puddle with my hands due to the current. But here's the kicker....when I would lean forward to paddle, it would create just enough of a crease in the boat to allow water in, so I had to be judicious in my use of paddling. I had thought about getting out of the boat around GZ and just bushwhacking back to the truck but I felt that would be cheating the spirit and intent of the cache so I toughed it out.....besides, I had already made this much of an a** of myself, why quit now? I finally get back to the launch site and kind of fall/crawl out of the boat. Both of my legs had fallen asleep on the adventure back upstream and weren't too cooperative anymore. After sitting on the bank for 5 minutes, I was able to stand up and collect my gear. In hind site, I probably could have walked down the middle of the creek in less time and have not gotten as wet. But I definitely earned the terrain rating and FTF! I get home sometime after 8 and slosh my way into the bedroom. Mrs Galap raises her head from the pillow to see me still soaked from head to toe, stare at me, shakes her head and goes back to sleep. I crawl into bed a short time later with a grin on my face having proven that males are the superior cachers! ...tongue in cheek....Tim Allen/Home Improvement comes to mind for some reason. Its all a matter of perspective I guess. As I start to fall asleep, the wife mumbles..."you're still a dork" TFTH! -galaP- Quote Link to comment
+Unkle Fester Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 OK, I'm a pretty solid nocturnal cacher, 3am type with about one third of my finds in the dark. A couple of weeks ago a new cache comes up, Goofy's Creek Hide (GC1J2JF) so I head out for the first to find. Now, in Oregon, it never really rains hard, just constantly. It is just coming down in buckets, the wind is howling and the ground is soggy. This hide, it's in a wetland type area near water and filling up fast. searching ground zero, no luck and I try every place I can get to and not be staning in deep water. So, I log a FTDNF thinking I walked right past the cache. I went back that afternoon when no other cachers could make the grade and still no dice. The cache owner sends me a pretty detailed description and I go back the next morning at 3am, slip on my way down, a 4 foot skidmark and equal dent in the ground from my backside. I get there,The cache had been pushed even deeper into its hidey hole and I have to lay on my stomach in the mud to get it. Just as I make the grab, a big critter comes shooting out from behind the cache, it's a Beaver and he is ticked off. I go stumbling backwards as he shoots past me and starts to slap his tail in the water. This wakes up the Ducks sleeping in the water and they start quacking like mad. The neighbors homes are only about 50 ft away and their dogs start to bark wildly. The dog owners wake up and start yelling at each other about whose dog woke up the others. The dogs get hauled inside by cursing owners. All this is going on and I'm hunkered down behind a tree, going through the cache goodies and signing the log and getting the owner some better coords. Needless to say I was real quiet leaving the area. (and still got the FTF) Quote Link to comment
+rafermadness Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 OK, I'm a pretty solid nocturnal cacher, 3am type with about one third of my finds in the dark. A couple of weeks ago a new cache comes up, Goofy's Creek Hide (GC1J2JF) so I head out for the first to find. Now, in Oregon, it never really rains hard, just constantly. It is just coming down in buckets, the wind is howling and the ground is soggy. This hide, it's in a wetland type area near water and filling up fast. searching ground zero, no luck and I try every place I can get to and not be staning in deep water. So, I log a FTDNF thinking I walked right past the cache. I went back that afternoon when no other cachers could make the grade and still no dice. The cache owner sends me a pretty detailed description and I go back the next morning at 3am, slip on my way down, a 4 foot skidmark and equal dent in the ground from my backside. I get there,The cache had been pushed even deeper into its hidey hole and I have to lay on my stomach in the mud to get it. Just as I make the grab, a big critter comes shooting out from behind the cache, it's a Beaver and he is ticked off. I go stumbling backwards as he shoots past me and starts to slap his tail in the water. This wakes up the Ducks sleeping in the water and they start quacking like mad. The neighbors homes are only about 50 ft away and their dogs start to bark wildly. The dog owners wake up and start yelling at each other about whose dog woke up the others. The dogs get hauled inside by cursing owners. All this is going on and I'm hunkered down behind a tree, going through the cache goodies and signing the log and getting the owner some better coords. Needless to say I was real quiet leaving the area. (and still got the FTF) Now that explains why you keep beating me to the FTF's. Quote Link to comment
+Night Stalker Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Renegade Knight and I were hunting a rural cache in the early days to caching. We thought we were alone, but when we came around a corner in the trail there was this older gentleman sitting on a log. We tried to be subtle, but it was pretty hard since our GPS said we were really close to ground zero. The gentleman asked us what we were doing and for a change we told the truth. He already new about the cache and made the statement that it must be really hard to find because a lot of cachers had come out of there without finding it. Just then I looked down and saw that he was sitting on the cache. Quote Link to comment
+Unkle Fester Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 OK, I'm a pretty solid nocturnal cacher, 3am type with about one third of my finds in the dark. A couple of weeks ago a new cache comes up, Goofy's Creek Hide (GC1J2JF) so I head out for the first to find. Now, in Oregon, it never really rains hard, just constantly. It is just coming down in buckets, the wind is howling and the ground is soggy. This hide, it's in a wetland type area near water and filling up fast. searching ground zero, no luck and I try every place I can get to and not be staning in deep water. So, I log a FTDNF thinking I walked right past the cache. I went back that afternoon when no other cachers could make the grade and still no dice. The cache owner sends me a pretty detailed description and I go back the next morning at 3am, slip on my way down, a 4 foot skidmark and equal dent in the ground from my backside. I get there,The cache had been pushed even deeper into its hidey hole and I have to lay on my stomach in the mud to get it. Just as I make the grab, a big critter comes shooting out from behind the cache, it's a Beaver and he is ticked off. I go stumbling backwards as he shoots past me and starts to slap his tail in the water. This wakes up the Ducks sleeping in the water and they start quacking like mad. The neighbors homes are only about 50 ft away and their dogs start to bark wildly. The dog owners wake up and start yelling at each other about whose dog woke up the others. The dogs get hauled inside by cursing owners. All this is going on and I'm hunkered down behind a tree, going through the cache goodies and signing the log and getting the owner some better coords. Needless to say I was real quiet leaving the area. (and still got the FTF) Now that explains why you keep beating me to the FTF's. And it's also the reason I get no sleep... Quote Link to comment
+TKDenizen Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 New Years Day 2008. I usually Cache alone and one thing I've always noticed is how quiet this game usually is. However, on this day I went out to look for a fairly new cache placed by one of the well known locals. As I approached GZ, I heard Hip Hop music? coming from the bushes. I thought it might be some clever twist like one of those frogs you put on the porch that croaks when someone comes near that had been modified. GPSr was telling me the cache was closer to the bridge so I continued. A little while later, I heard the music? again and ran over getting a little closer to the source. It stopped again. Then it started again and i found a pile of beer cans, presumably from the night before with a cell phone in the middle. I tried to answer it but it stopped ringing. Then it started again so I tried to answer to tell the owner where the phone is. But this clever subscriber had enabled a security feature that prevented me from using his phone. Several more Hip Hop ring tones in a row then silence. I found the cache and was about to leave when three teenagers came through. They tried to ignore the old man in the cargo pants till I asked if anybody lost a phone. One of the boys asked me where I found it and I said "in that pile of beer cans over there. I tried to answer it to tell you where it is but you had it locked up." He was glad to have his little buddy back but seemed a little annoyed that I knew about their secret pile of cans. Quote Link to comment
+photogal928 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Well, Takes the Hard Way, Baxter the Cache Sniffer and I decided to go find our first night cache (GC1DYGG). Never did find the cache, but we had quite an adventure all the same. We made our way to the final stage and had been searching for a while when we saw a helicopter approaching from the north. Takes the Hard Way suggested we turn off our flashlights as not to attract unwanted attention. The copter flew over and went down the road a bit then turned around and circled. We were under a tree and stood there waiting for the copter to go on its way. I could see flashing lights on the highway in the distance and figured the helicopter was providing overhead support. However, it kept circling again and again getting closer each time. Then finally, it stopped almost right on top of us! At this point, TTHW and I weren't sure exactly what was going on .. but I figured they knew we were there so we stepped out from under the tree and after what seemed like a really long time, they finally turned on the spot light. Should have taken advantage of the extra light to look for the cache, but we didn't know the proper protocol to follow when you've got a police spot light on you, so we just stood there, laughed … not believing our luck and waited .. we figured someone was on their way. (Hopefully it would be the cops and not some deranged criminal who ditched a stolen car on the highway and ran off into the brush) Sure enough a couple police officers came hiking up the hill. We explained what we were doing, they laughed and called off the helicopter. It seems they saw our car and due to the large number of gas well thefts and vandalism recently, they were checking everything out. They wished us luck and then the ultimate muggles went on their way. Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted November 23, 2008 Author Share Posted November 23, 2008 Great stuff! Thanks to everyone who has posted so far, many of your posts are now published in The Online Geocacher. The feedback I am getting indicates that folks who don't usually come to this forum are enjoying your stories, and several have told me that the magazine led them to read the forums for the first time, so it's benefiting everyone! The magazine is getting a lot of traffic, validating my belief that if given an opportunity geocachers do want to read about geocachers and geocaching... particularly the endearing funny friendly light-hearted content like this! Thanks again to all who are contributing content via forum posts or direct submission. Keep on sharing! Quote Link to comment
+Sioneva Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Renegade Knight and I were hunting a rural cache in the early days to caching. We thought we were alone, but when we came around a corner in the trail there was this older gentleman sitting on a log. We tried to be subtle, but it was pretty hard since our GPS said we were really close to ground zero. The gentleman asked us what we were doing and for a change we told the truth. He already new about the cache and made the statement that it must be really hard to find because a lot of cachers had come out of there without finding it. Just then I looked down and saw that he was sitting on the cache. No wonder they couldn't find it, if it was camoed by an old man sitting on it all that time. Quote Link to comment
+Colorado Cacher Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I am caching with Bobfireman on Blodgett peak, and he has this great idea to go find this fantastic achce that is part of a maritime series with a hidden cumulative final from all the caches having a clue in them. We are halfway up the side of the mountain side that is just plain outright stupidly steep when I stop because I have had enough, but Bob just has to continue and find this sucker. Bob gets about 100 feet above me to my left, and is out of eyesight so I have no clue what is happening. The next thing I see and hear is this 100lb. boulder crashing down the hillside, and no Bob. Well, all I can do is wait and see if Bob returns from his little cahce find. Approximately 15 mins. later Bob comes back down the hill with this story of how he reaches out to hang onto this boulder and it gives way almost taking him with it down the hillside. Before I heard this from Bob I am thinking the whole time, "who will my new caching buddy be?" Quote Link to comment
+JETSchmidt Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 This last February, shortly after I started Geocaching, I started looking for Caches during lunch. I thought it might be a good way to lose some weight. I was looking for a multi-cache called The Mummy. it was noted for having a 3.5 terrain, and being a 2.5 difficulty. The first day that I looked the weather was warmer than normal, so the ground was soft and slippery. I found the first two parts of the cache, but ran out of time for the final, so I returned two days later for it. The weather was much colder, the ground frozen. I found the cache after a short search, then signed the log, did some trading and then stepped back to take a picture. There was nothing for my foot to land on. I stepped back off of the small cliff that was at the hide site. The hint for the third stage of the hide read "Beware the Plunge" My wife loves to tell about my find of nicks hide. The hint was "If you're short, bring a friend for a boost" or some such comment. By short, they must have meant under nine feet tall, because the hiding spot was two things. 1) the ONLY place it could be 2) WAY out of reach for anyone not wearing stilts. Well, I didn't have stilts in my Jeep, but I did have something that I could use to boost my shortness to the hide. I had several 2X8 boards, a couple of shelves, and several cans of tomatoe juice. Making several trips to my Jeep, I built myself a makeshift platform and retrieved the cache. I've since put a small step in my Jeep in case any more of these "tall" hides cross my path. Here's an image of my "ladder" (if I can figure out how to post it) Quote Link to comment
+todd300 Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 After I found a series of caches today, I came online to log them all. I was doing it by entering the GC numbers. So y'all know, I live in the U.P. Of Michigan and was hunting there. Anyways, after I logged a few caches, I entered another GC number and the page comes up as a....Korean cache? Korea??? I was nowhere near Korea!!! So I checked my notes and it turned out I entered a typo in the GC number. I put in the correct number and it brought up the cache that I was at and was able to log the visit. Then I entered the GC number for the next cache and this time it was in...Germany!!! Oh, man, I gotta stop entering the wrong GC number. Again, I went back and entered the correct GC number. From that point on, I make sure I have the right GC number before I hit the submit button - lol Quote Link to comment
+guidosupsup Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 This cache was suppose to be a birdhouse cache, but I didn't know it at the time. I was walking in the park once geocaching obviously, we couldn't find this cache anywhere, so my brother decided to look in a birdhouse, I looked in the same birdhouse a few minutes earlier, and was unable to open it. So he tried to open the birdhouse, there was a blue jay nearby. It saw him messing with its own house. The bird hit his arm, and flew after him. Luckily, no one got injured. But it could've been worse?!?!? I tried looked for two caches that day but no use for either of them. :angry: Quote Link to comment
+Spygz Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 We are new to this. First funny so far = Big bush. Skunk. Run. Quote Link to comment
+paticpatic Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 My cache adventure, this was my written log: I didn't find this cache, except for soda and glass bottles. I noticed the last cacher moved it to better cover. So l decided to turn over the small dead trees lying on the ground, when a swarm of bees surrounded me and I went running and got back to the playground, but not before getting about 10 bee stings on my head, arms, and legs. Not sure what can be done so others don't have the same encounter. Maybe the CO can check the cache and make sure it's not around dead trees on the ground or provide a hint to narrow a search? Luckily, I am not allergic to bees stings so it is funny now..... Quote Link to comment
+JohnCNA Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) Caching in a large preserve with my 70 lb dog. Completed an 18 cache series, each with clues that point you to a final 19th cache. There is a creek running through the preserve and of course the 19th final cache is on the other side. Creek looks like it's about 2 feet deep. Probing with a hiking stick shows it has more than a foot deep of soft sucking mud below that. So wading while carrying the dog is out of the question. I find a small 8" diameter log in one spot and was thinking about crossing on it. While testing the log for stability and thinking about how to maintain balance with the hiking stick sinking in the soft mud while carrying the dog, an older fella out hiking walked up and we started talking. He was intrigued and impressed with my GPS. "That thing tells you exactly where you are within about 30 feet?" "It can point you in the direction you need to go?" "And it has a little map on the screen there?" "You spent a couple hundred bucks for that?" "Does your little map there show the bridge that's just around the bend there, about 200 feet away?" Edited April 27, 2017 by JohnCNA Quote Link to comment
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