Warning - Be Careful while Geocaching. Know what you pick up

[+ltblarg]

Today I was doing some geocaching. One of the caches required me to walk .2 of a mile on a known walking trail. While walking towards the cache point I spotted an object in the trail. In the middle of the 20 foot wide trail was a yellow tupperware container with the lid off. Sitting on the lid was a cylinder wrapped in black duct tape. The cylinder was about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

I went on to the cache... Found the cache then went to another one. Then I got thinking... I better do something. So I called law enforcement. Well, a few hours later and a Captain from the bomb squad showed up. When I left he had called in the bomb trailer. I suspect they will use the robot to shoot it.

 

I may never know what happens, but I believe I did the correct thing. It could be a prank, or it could be the real thing. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure it wasn't a geocache.

 

Please be careful and don't pick up things that look suspicious. I now know how a muggle would feel spotting a suspicious object out in the field. Please mark your geocaches. In fact the ammo can I found near there had geocache written on it, but it was face down and the Military ammo information was face up. I reversed it.

 

Please be careful...

[+Tequila]

Today I was doing some geocaching. One of the caches required me to walk .2 of a mile on a known walking trail. While walking towards the cache point I spotted an object in the trail. In the middle of the 20 foot wide trail was a yellow tupperware container with the lid off. Sitting on the lid was a cylinder wrapped in black duct tape. The cylinder was about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

I went on to the cache... Found the cache then went to another one. Then I got thinking... I better do something. So I called law enforcement. Well, a few hours later and a Captain from the bomb squad showed up. When I left he had called in the bomb trailer. I suspect they will use the robot to shoot it.

 

I may never know what happens, but I believe I did the correct thing. It could be a prank, or it could be the real thing. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure it wasn't a geocache.

 

Please be careful and don't pick up things that look suspicious. I now know how a muggle would feel spotting a suspicious object out in the field. Please mark your geocaches. In fact the ammo can I found near there had geocache written on it, but it was face down and the Military ammo information was face up. I reversed it.

 

Please be careful...

 

A few hours later????? They should have been there INSTANTLY.

 

I was caching with a friend when she found what appeared to be a hand grenade. Within 5 minutes of my call to 911, I had two bomb squad techs, a K9 unit and a SGT. Turned out to be a fake but they took it very seriously.

 

I am surprised at your slow response.

[+StarBrand]

If I never touched anything suspicious while Geocaching - I might well never find the cache I am looking for......

 

No matter how they are labeled, marked or type of container - several recent threads indicate that the bomb squad is going to blow it apart if they are called.

 

 

 

 

 

(.....but your point is taken......)

[+ltblarg]

 

A few hours later????? They should have been there INSTANTLY.

 

I was caching with a friend when she found what appeared to be a hand grenade. Within 5 minutes of my call to 911, I had two bomb squad techs, a K9 unit and a SGT. Turned out to be a fake but they took it very seriously.

 

I am surprised at your slow response.

 

I figured it would have gotten a faster result. But, I guess because it was out in the country and no lives were in immediate danger, it wasn't a priority. They called me back twice to tell me they had another call to run.

 

The Captain that showed up was called in from off-duty. Once he looked at it he called one of the other technicians and told him the exact same thing I told the dispatcher. But, I understand, they want to send one officer to check it out instead of calling the whole team in without someone checking it out.

 

I hope it was nothing, but it made me think twice. I will make sure what I am touching IS a geocache.

[GOF and Bacall]

Is it just me or does anyone else sense the irony here?

[+ICHTHYS]

Today I was doing some geocaching. One of the caches required me to walk .2 of a mile on a known walking trail. While walking towards the cache point I spotted an object in the trail. In the middle of the 20 foot wide trail was a yellow tupperware container with the lid off. Sitting on the lid was a cylinder wrapped in black duct tape. The cylinder was about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

I went on to the cache... Found the cache then went to another one. Then I got thinking... I better do something. So I called law enforcement. Well, a few hours later and a Captain from the bomb squad showed up. When I left he had called in the bomb trailer. I suspect they will use the robot to shoot it.

 

I may never know what happens, but I believe I did the correct thing. It could be a prank, or it could be the real thing. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure it wasn't a geocache.

 

Please be careful and don't pick up things that look suspicious. I now know how a muggle would feel spotting a suspicious object out in the field. Please mark your geocaches. In fact the ammo can I found near there had geocache written on it, but it was face down and the Military ammo information was face up. I reversed it.

 

Please be careful...

 

A few hours later????? They should have been there INSTANTLY.

 

I was caching with a friend when she found what appeared to be a hand grenade. Within 5 minutes of my call to 911, I had two bomb squad techs, a K9 unit and a SGT. Turned out to be a fake but they took it very seriously.

 

I am surprised at your slow response.

 

Where I live, and work in Law Enforcement, the closest bomb squad is from a city an hour south of us. Or we can call the state police. Either way, you are looking at a a couple hours response time no matter what.

 

The response time doesn't really surprise me.

[GOF and Bacall]

Today I was doing some geocaching. One of the caches required me to walk .2 of a mile on a known walking trail. While walking towards the cache point I spotted an object in the trail. In the middle of the 20 foot wide trail was a yellow tupperware container with the lid off. Sitting on the lid was a cylinder wrapped in black duct tape. The cylinder was about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

I went on to the cache... Found the cache then went to another one. Then I got thinking... I better do something. So I called law enforcement. Well, a few hours later and a Captain from the bomb squad showed up. When I left he had called in the bomb trailer. I suspect they will use the robot to shoot it.

 

I may never know what happens, but I believe I did the correct thing. It could be a prank, or it could be the real thing. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure it wasn't a geocache.

 

Please be careful and don't pick up things that look suspicious. I now know how a muggle would feel spotting a suspicious object out in the field. Please mark your geocaches. In fact the ammo can I found near there had geocache written on it, but it was face down and the Military ammo information was face up. I reversed it.

 

Please be careful...

 

A few hours later????? They should have been there INSTANTLY.

 

I was caching with a friend when she found what appeared to be a hand grenade. Within 5 minutes of my call to 911, I had two bomb squad techs, a K9 unit and a SGT. Turned out to be a fake but they took it very seriously.

 

I am surprised at your slow response.

 

Where I live, and work in Law Enforcement, the closest bomb squad is from a city an hour south of us. Or we can call the state police. Either way, you are looking at a a couple hours response time no matter what.

 

The response time doesn't really surprise me.

 

Perhaps to get a bomb tech on site. But wouldn't a patrol officer or twelve be there to keep people away from the area? If not I'll be sure to commit any crimes I may be tempted to commit in your town.

[+Proud Soccer Mom]

At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

They're doing it wrong.

[GOF and Bacall]

At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

They're doing it wrong.

 

Thank you for the lesson in improvised fuses.

[+mfamilee]

Is it just me or does anyone else sense the irony here?

Usually it's the muggles calling the cops... not the geocachers.

[GOF and Bacall]

Is it just me or does anyone else sense the irony here?

Usually it's the muggles calling the cops... not the geocachers.

 

Yes, that is the obvious. It also occurred to me that usually we can't keep the bomb squad boys away from Tupperware. In this case a cacher had trouble getting them near one with an apparent fuse device on it.

[+TrailGators]

At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

They're doing it wrong.

 

Thank you for the lesson in improvised fuses.

When I was a kid we used to light packs of firecrackers off using cigarettes as delay fuses. Someone would have to be a real bonehead to leave the filter on.

[jholly]

Today I was doing some geocaching. One of the caches required me to walk .2 of a mile on a known walking trail. While walking towards the cache point I spotted an object in the trail. In the middle of the 20 foot wide trail was a yellow tupperware container with the lid off. Sitting on the lid was a cylinder wrapped in black duct tape. The cylinder was about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. At the end of the cylinder a cigarette had been placed and it had burnt all the way down to the filter.

 

I went on to the cache... Found the cache then went to another one. Then I got thinking... I better do something. So I called law enforcement. Well, a few hours later and a Captain from the bomb squad showed up. When I left he had called in the bomb trailer. I suspect they will use the robot to shoot it.

 

I may never know what happens, but I believe I did the correct thing. It could be a prank, or it could be the real thing. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure it wasn't a geocache.

 

Please be careful and don't pick up things that look suspicious. I now know how a muggle would feel spotting a suspicious object out in the field. Please mark your geocaches. In fact the ammo can I found near there had geocache written on it, but it was face down and the Military ammo information was face up. I reversed it.

 

Please be careful...

 

It probably was someone micro. Film at 11.

 

Jim

[+Chrysalides]

The most unfortunate thing about this thread is - no photos!

[+larryc43230]

The most unfortunate thing about this thread is - no photos!

This is just a shot in the dark, but any chance this news item is relevant? At least the black duct tape matches the description.

 

--Larry

Edited January 26, 2009 by larryc43230

[+Castle Mischief]

In a semi-related story is seems that some cachers are having luck with their local bomb squad:

 

Bomb squad reaches agreement with geocachers

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

In a semi-related story is seems that some cachers are having luck with their local bomb squad:

 

Bomb squad reaches agreement with geocachers

Great stuff, I hope that such agreements and collaboration will be reached in more places.

 

One thing that I would suggest be added to the methodology is that the iPhone, Blackberry and many more smart-phones with an internal GPS can use Trimble Geocache Navigator to pull up a list of caches in the area. If you have cell coverage you can connect and see in less than a minute any listed caches around you. Just because a cache is supposed to be there won't mean that the container is safe, but it will go a long way towards helping LEOs know what they are dealing with.

[+Trucker Lee]

larryc43230, that may be the one. Certainly in the right area.

[EvilHomer]

[qoute]

A few hours later????? They should have been there INSTANTLY.

 

I was caching with a friend when she found what appeared to be a hand grenade. Within 5 minutes of my call to 911, I had two bomb squad techs, a K9 unit and a SGT. Turned out to be a fake but they took it very seriously.

 

I am surprised at your slow response.

 

I love how some people think that you dial 911 and a cop just magically appears instantly. Where I grew up in a town of less than 1200 people the nearest Law Enforcement was 35 miles away. Dont even ask about a BOMB SQUAD, there wasn't even a bomb squad at that time. Some people who live in the big cities seem to forget this.