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Dumb Acts. Who else is guilty?


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Every time I go off course towards the cache, through a field of thorns and find out that if I had just gone 10 more meters it would have been an easy find.

 

I think everyone is guilty of bush whacking in and taking the wide well maintained trail out a time or two.

 

Yes but did you bushwack you way in to any easy off the tail find and disturb a wasps nest which resulted in being stung 7x .... oh yeah THAT was ME, yesterday!

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My very first cache was near a tattoo parlor and the hint was "Need a Tattoo?" So I had no idea what I was doing and walked in to the tattoo parlor and asked the two burly guys where the cache was. They kind of looked at me, one said he had heard of Geocaching but didn't know there was one around. The other looked like he was going to kick my a**. I kind of slowly backed out of the shop and then found it in the parking lot.

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I've locked my keys in my car too. I think it has to do with all the distractions of preparing to set off for a cache hunt. I put the keys down between my legs on the car seat and did all the prep for the hunt, grabbed my gps and pen, jumped out of the car, auto locked the doors with the button on the door, slammed the door just as it occurred to me that my keys were still on the car seat. I tried to grab the door before it shut but it was too late. It's a pretty low feeling looking into your car window to see your keys just sitting there mocking you. There were no caches found on that trip. Just a $40 fee to a tow truck driver to get the door open for me.

 

Another time I set out on a series of caches in a remote area in northern SD. I mix my geocaching with one of my favorite forms of exercise, cross country trail running. I got a few miles in on very hilly terrain and noticed that there was not a soul, house, or road in sight. With the very real risk of rattle snake bites ever present in the area, I felt rather stupid for not having brought a buddy or at least a cell phone in case of emergency. It was a very rarely used trail and the chance of eminent rescue was very slim and if I had been bitten by a rattle snake I most certainly couldn't hike out of there without raising my heart rate. In any case, rattler bite would have been a death sentence. I was on edge the rest of the cache run and it made me rethink remote cache runs without a partner or cell phone.

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Me. I did a cache that you had to cross a local river to an island to get, it's a real cool pirate's themed cache also. There is a large dam very close to the point to put a boat in at. I got my inflatable raft and GPS and gameplan ready the day before the adventure. Once I started off in the river over to the island I realized I didn't take the time to scout the river downstream and I was swiftly approaching a second dam, that was panic time when I first saw it and I was by myself so the current was not helping matters. I managed to get to the island and find the treasure chest (a singing treasure chest at that when you open it) but I knew that was a pretty dumb thing to do alone.

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I'm very new to geocaching and I have so loved reading all these stories. I don't know if mine is as entertaining...but it certainly shows my budding obsession.

 

So 3 days ago I go to look for a cache that is behind my usual grocery store. It was a nano cache and I've never found one before. So I figure I can peak around, get an idea, and come back since I go to this grocery store a few times a week anyway. So I peak around, and don't see anything. But I go to bed and end up dreaming about the stupid thing.

 

Next day I decide to go peak again for it. My GPS was behaving better and I got a bit of a better idea, but still could not figure out where this thing could be! Go to bed and again, dream about this one particular cache. It's become my white whale. I can't stop thinking about it.

 

So yesterday I went again. Pretending to talk on my cell phone while I looked around, I feel less creepy that way! I decide to look up on this concrete wall, this wall is 7 or 8 feet high...and there is a metal ledge! And I SEE IT! tucked between the metal ledge and the concrete wall. BRILLIANT! But I couldn't reach it. I'm 5'2". I had nothing to stand on and it was broad daylight.

 

Fast forward to tonight...I go out there WITH a step ladder and tweezers. I get the bugger out of there only to see there is a wasp nest next to it...and they are getting a little mad. So I open it up...LOG FULL! So I put it back together, use my tweezers to get it back in there, I don't want to be any closer to those wasps...and it slips, up! My tweezers squeezed it in an upward direction...and it went too high for me to get back out. So I panic because I don't want to ditch the cache is an unreachable place...get some scissors out of my bag, only to shove it up there FURTHER and closer to the stupid wasp nest. So I get stick....and of course, shove it up even farther. Now it's unreachable, I didn't get to sign the log. Sometimes...it's best to leave well enough alone! (BTW, I've contacted the owner and I think I'm just going to replace the cache myself for him since it's 100% my fault that it's lost up in this wall.)

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My adult son and I are still very much newbies. So far, our worst idea was to try caching in the middle of the day in 115 degree heat. We had water, so it wasn't the worst idea ever. BUT we went for a cache from a couple that is fast becoming our favorite - extremely creative and fun hides, but NOT the easiest ones. We spent nearly an hour before our bodies started yeling obscenities at us. We'll go back in November, and I'm sure we'll find it was as obvious as the nose on our sweaty face.

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Spraining an ankle badly. Next few geocaches done with aid of a walking stick. (Note: good stealth technique; everyone expects anyone with a walking stick to be meandering slowly.)

 

Falling out of a tree. At age 43. (Well, the cache was _supposed_ to be up there, and I thought I could see it ... still seeing the physiotherapist re that one. Seriously, I was trying to fix the cache, which was supposed to be able to be retrieved from ground level.)

 

Spraining the other ankle mildly: yup, rocks in long grass are just a risk of the game.

 

Falling over and getting muddy doesn't count, I don't imagine, but my standard geocaching gear is now work pants (and I wash 'em after most outings) and work boots. (I'd wear hiking boots but hiking boots and driving a MX-5/Miata just doesn't work well; the work boots have enough elastic that it's OK.)

 

I don't count hiking up a hill in 40 degree Celsius heat ... but it would _definitely_ have been smarter to have water with me and not merely back in the car.

 

Then there's the story about the dodgy Vietnamese restaurant lunch and how I felt two caches later, but let's not talk about that, please.

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These are hilariously familiar! I have two - one mine, one belonging to my boyfriend.

 

Mine: We were going after a cache in Maryland down an ORV trail, really beautiful area. There are stinging nettles around - I hate them so much!!! - and I'm wading through them thinking "OW OW OW!" The pain intensifies but I'm really focused on finding the cache... until I look down and realize it's no longer just the nettles stinging me, but the dozens of yellowjackets from the nest I stepped in. I flew down the mountain, crying and batting at the little bastards! They just grab on, sting, pivot slightly, sting again... I HATE THEM! I was in severe pain for days, I never did find that cache. And now, I'm very skittish about walking near logs in piles of dead leaves...

 

His: Caching has helped him start to conquer a fairly intense dislike of heights. One day he was out caching by himself, and ended up having to climb up a very tall firetower for a cache at the top of it. Though wary, he did it, and he found the cache. Feeling on top of the world, he snaked out the logbook to sign it... and promptly dropped the lid to the cache. He watched it sail alllllllllllll the way down to the earth with dismay, knowing he'd have to climb ALLLLL the way down, and then do it again. But he did it! :) Can't leave a cache without a lid, after all!

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Here's my dumb act, as logged here for this cache named "The Empress".

 

My GPSr put me a few metres away from GZ, so I spent several minutes searching the wrong location before deciding to widen my search. Once I did, it was an easy find.

 

Alas, I discovered that I had lost my writing stick, and had no way to sign the log. "No problem," I thought, "I will just go into the nearby store and ask to borrow a pen." Cheered by this ingenious solution to my problem, I set off across the parking lot.

Upon entering the store, I was wowed by the wonderful displays of merchandise, and quickly began ogling several different items. I purchased a few items and left, making my way home.

Arriving at home, I reached into my pocket for my house key, and pulled out... The Empress, still residing in my pocket. In my frenzied consumerist excitement, I had forgotten to sign and replace the cache!

I turned out that one of my purchases needed to be returned anyway, so I quickly signed the log and made my way back to the cache location. After a quick "drive and drop," the cache was back in its location with no one the wiser. I returned my purchase to the store, and notched this up as a lesson in the wiles of consumerism.

 

And that's the story of how The Empress decided to take a little stroll.

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Instead of thinking I just bushwacked through the woods and got some cuts from the brambles on my side (you can see the pic in my gallery lol) when I could have just gone around the neighborhood to the other side of the forest and just walked down a trail.

 

Bypassed someone's fence. Like no one else has done that before.

 

Accidentally jammed a bison. That has taugh me to gently roll up the log and fit into the lid, and then the larger half.

 

Jaywalking. I think most city/urban cachers understand this.

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Climbed up a cliff thinking the cache was in the middle of it. Since there's no elevation in the cache description i wrongly assumed it was there because an area sort of matched the hint . The cache actually was at the top, near a nice and family place to do a picnic. Took a helluva time to go down the cliff since i vertigo owns me.

It's always easy to climb, that's another story to go down.

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While caching near Superior ,WI My wife and I were going down a steep ravine with a creek at the bottom. The creek was only a few feet wide ,but it was raining and slippery banks. I crossed first and reached back to give her a hand. She reached for my hand and pulled, I pulled, she pulled.... we both went in! We both laughed uncontrollably but continued on Wet and soggy ,we found the cache and made our way back to the car. It was our last find of the day!

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A few months ago when I was brand new to geocaching, I went out by myself into a vast, heavily wooded area (surrounded by basically ghost towns) that I was 100% unfamiliar with. There were no trails and I was bushwhacking the whole way. Got hopelessly lost, GPS died eventually. Thought I was going to die too.

 

On another occasion, I climbed a rock "wall" that was about 70 feet high at a 90 degree angle without any climbing equipment. When I reached the top, I realized that there was a narrow path going around it I could have used instead :P

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Sometime during my first 20 finds, I couldn't find a LPC. Went to the location three times looking. I finally read about them here in the forums. Everytime I lift a skirt, it reminds me how dumb I was/am

 

THIS. I'm still pretty new, but I felt SO sheepish when, after logging a DFF, the CO sent me a message explaining what a LPC was. And then the epiphany hit and I was able to find 3 other DNFs, all while feeling like a total moron. Especially considering I had spent like 30 minutes digging in ground cover around the lamppost outside a Target.

 

Also, geocaching in flip flops, sandals or heels. I've done all 3 and regretted it each time. Just ordered some Wellies to keep in the car. I'm mostly an urban/suburban cacher, so I'm not really on trails/hikes, but I've faced mud, tall grass and bugs!

 

I've found myself without a pen, must have lost from my pocket it while searching.

 

I've also grabbed a cache in excitement and forgotten exactly where it was hidden. Once a nano with a screw-off lid was attached to a bush. I unscrewed the container, took it back to my car, then had to try to find the tiny, tiny nano-lid in the bush. I try to remember to bring my pen with me to the cache now, unless it's a P&G.

Edited by Beccajack
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