What do you use for bushwacking?

[+jkhashab]

Ok, so some of the caches I've bookmarked say they might need some "bushwacking"...this seems self explanatory until I tried to figure out WHAT to do the bushwacking with? You guys don't carry machetes around with you while geocaching, right???? Help...too new at this.

[+Knight2000]

You don't carry a machete while geocaching?

 

I did once for an extreme cache. Bushwacking simply means there is no trail and you will probably be going through thick brush, tall weeds, etc. Your going to get dirty and scratched. I mean it doesn't have to be that bad but I think most people consider it just going off of the trail.

[+ngrrfan]

Ok, so some of the caches I've bookmarked say they might need some "bushwacking"...this seems self explanatory until I tried to figure out WHAT to do the bushwacking with?

One does the bushwacking with their feet.

 

It means that the trail or road or path doesn't go right by the cache and you have to head across country to get to it.

[+Touchstone]

Around my part of the world, trail maintenance is pretty much imaginary, and bushwacking is pretty much the norm.

 

Machetes are both heavy and unwieldy. Most of the veteran volunteer trail crews discourage using a machete as it usually leads to more injuries than just a simple folding handsaw or some hand clippers or loppers.

 

The reality is that I just don't normally have the time to sit there and clear the trail, so I end up just pushing through the brush and manzanita while protecting my eyes. Long sleeve shirts and pants are a requirement for any serious backcountry hiking in my neck of the woods (or brush if you prefer). A certain amount of grit and determination go a long ways as well.

 

Best of luck!

[+jkhashab]

THANK YOU BOTH! And here I thought I had to cut something

Ok, now I know why I got muddy and a tick on me yesterday...I bushwacked!

[+briansnat]

My hands. Bushwacking is just a term that means going off trail. You don't literally whack bush.

[+Knight2000]

THANK YOU BOTH! And here I thought I had to cut something

Ok, now I know why I got muddy and a tick on me yesterday...I bushwacked!

Bushwacker.

[+briansnat]

THANK YOU BOTH! And here I thought I had to cut something

Ok, now I know why I got muddy and a tick on me yesterday...I bushwacked!

 

Yep, sounds like you bushwacked.

[+dfx]

hands, arms, feet, legs, butt, head. whatever is necessary to get there

[+DonB]

I use my feet and my right arm....and I have the scars on my arm to prove it.

[Danielc]

Hi,

I live in an area which boasts some fairly difficult rain forest country thick with wait-a-whiles and other prickly plants. I have found that a pair of garden secateurs in a pouch on my belt is often worth their weight in gold. You will only ever slash at a wait-a-while that has hooked onto you with a machete once.

Cheers,

Dan

[+Firefly911]

We've got a lot of thorny vines around here and I have found my walking stick to be great for moving them out of the way. (hands/arms don't work very well unless you like being stuck). If there are no thorny vines I just use pretty much every part of my body.

 

We HAVE actually thought about a machete before....but we don't actually own one....

[+J the Goat]

I usually end up bushwhacking with at least part of my face. It sucks.

 

I found a machete in my hedge when I started cutting it down. My wife made me get rid of it.

[+WatchDog2020]

Find a nice sturdy 5-6 foot long stick. Helps to move all the 'prickers' etc. out of the way.

[+HawkLawless1]

I've always tried to ascribe to the "Leave No Trace" approach, so the use of a machete is out. So, that limits me to the use of hands, legs, feet, and walking stick to put up with the thorns, vines, pricklies, etc. However, by the time I've crashed through the underbrush, I've been scratched, pricked, and poked too many times to count. I even went to get a tetanus shot when I got tangled in some rusty barbed-wire. I like to think of it as leaving a little bit of myself at each cache...

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I use my feet and my right arm....and I have the scars on my arm to prove it.

Think of it as "earning your stripes", and wear them proudly!

 

P.S. They ain't "stripes" unless they bled.

[+Team Cotati]

[+jkhashab]

Find a nice sturdy 5-6 foot long stick. Helps to move all the 'prickers' etc. out of the way.

 

Yikes...that taller than me...at least anything over 5'2! Maybe I'll just use my husband

[+fishgeek]

You don't whack the bushes....the bushes whack you.

 

My hands. Bushwacking is just a term that means going off trail. You don't literally whack bush.

 

 

Does blood count as a "trace"?

 

I've always tried to ascribe to the "Leave No Trace" approach, so the use of a machete is out. So, that limits me to the use of hands, legs, feet, and walking stick to put up with the thorns, vines, pricklies, etc. However, by the time I've crashed through the underbrush, I've been scratched, pricked, and poked too many times to count. I even went to get a tetanus shot when I got tangled in some rusty barbed-wire. I like to think of it as leaving a little bit of myself at each cache...

[+rambrush]

We did a bush wack a couple of weeks ago, heavy cat claw cactus scrub oak not to mention 25ooo ft elevation gain 6 mile hike round trip. pulled our gear up the rock faces with rope. We were tore up and barely got through some areas. I now carry a small folding saw. lots of extra wide bandages etc.

[+dfx]

that's only good as mosquito repellent.

[+howzitboy]

i got a machete in my backpack , just in case. Never can tell who or what might be coming down the trail...

 

usually I just push thru the stuff or stomp it to the ground lol. long pants and boots are a must have item.

[+Triskeles]

I use my son. "Child, clear us a path to the cache!!"

 

Not really. But he does have a hiking stick, and he does tend to just take off on the shortest route to a cache, which is inevitably through various plant life. I tend to have to stop him and insist that we we find an easier way around. But despite his bushwhacker attitude, I'm the one who winds up with scratches and blood on the trail!!

 

He does seem to be taking things slower since I reminded him that the warm weather means more rattlesnakes are out and about!!

[+Team Cotati]

that's only good as mosquito repellent.

 

No, it will do a really great job of clearing out bushes, brush, trees with a diameter up to 3", rabbits, squirrels, fox, coyote and all birds within a 25' radius.

 

Admit it, you're just jealous because I posted it first.

[+mwellman]

I also carry an old pair of leather gloves in my geocaching backpack. Saves your hands when climbing a slope and the only bush around is a rose bush. Also very useful when looking for the micro in the spruce tree or the false rock in the rock pile etc.

[hoosier guy]

I have a good stout hiking stick. good for brush, snakes, etc

[+BlueDeuce]

I have a good stout hiking stick. good for brush, snakes, etc

 

Yep. Long pants, long sleeves and a hiking stick get me through most of the bush.

[oakenwood]

I mostly "deer walk", or walk crouched over to follow deer trails. Sometimes I encounter thorns. If I can just step on them and walk over, I will. This means that I occasionally look like someone from the "ministry of silly walks", as I'm crouched over and trying to get my foot on top of a thorny branch three feet up.

 

Sometimes I break a branch to get by. More often I choose a path that's a little longer, but has less obstructions. That's part of the fun of geocaching for me. I look ahead and choose a path from the available options.

 

I've never used a machete or walking stick. If the spider webs are bad, I'll find a long twig and wave it in front of me.

[+Upham]

Around my neck of the woods there are a lots of bullbriar, so I always carry my walking stick to help move it aside. I comes in handy for a lot of things I almost never go out without it.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Upham

[ad5smith]

I've taken a few paths where i wished i had my machete. but usually i'll just push on with just my hands. i bushwacked yesterday in my running shoes cause i forgot my boots, yep each cache is an adventure

[+Viridios]

While I have never used a machete for geocaching, I have used them on a number of occasions for camping and extended hikes. Depending on the type you buy, they can be lighter than an axe or hatchet, and almost as useful for splitting wood for fires. Like everything else in this world, you need to know how to use it properly for it to be useful and efficient...

[knowschad]

You use that in the field, as well as the forums?