Injured while caching?

[+lcandela123]

Was bit by a copperhead snake on 6/22/2008. Some dates you just do not forget.

This is the day after the bite. The following day the doctor had to lance the swelling so that my finger did not split open. The bruising and swelling did not fully subside for a month. I still have some minor loss of sensation at the very tip.

 

I'm feeling faint, now....

[+AKiteFlier]

Heh heh - ok so I have not fallen since I was about 12 and roller skating BUT I've fallen three times now while Geoaching - worst one was on a hill in August when I lost my balance - stepped backwards to the sidewalk only there was no "sidewalk" and I ruptured my achilles tendon. Off caching for almost 6 weeks - UGH - still not 100% but I still hike the woods - use a hiking stick now for some extra stability. No photo - dumb me :-)

[+FishieFive]

I've never been injured, but I've gotten into stinging nettles a few times and I got a wicked case of poison oak my very first day. I was too excited searching for the cache to be looking for poison oak. My mistake. That's the cache where our profile photo was taken, incidentally.

[+Otis.Gore]

Was bit by a copperhead snake on 6/22/2008. Some dates you just do not forget.

This is the day after the bite. The following day the doctor had to lance the swelling so that my finger did not split open. The bruising and swelling did not fully subside for a month. I still have some minor loss of sensation at the very tip.

 

I'm feeling faint, now....

 

win=fail=wtf???

[+clarinetqueen]

Today I was visiting this cache and it said that it was quite sandy there, so I thought flip flops would be best. (I know, I know - stupid decision). I was halfway back to the car when I hit a downed log at full force with my middle toe. Right now it's all swollen and I'm afraid I've broken a bone in the top of my foot too. Guess I'll go get it X-rayed tomorrow.

 

Funny enough, this is not the first time I've broken a toe. I broke my little toe while grocery shopping (in flip flops) when I accidentally kicked the shopping cart.

 

I don't think I'll wear flip flops anymore.

[+Thrak]

If you haven't been injured in some way you aren't a "real" geocacher!

 

One of the (reasonably) local geocachers dropped the log and, as he reached down for it, a rattlesnake shot out of a hole in a tree (not at ground level) and bit him on the hand between the thumb and forefinger. He made it down the hill, made someone else drive his vehicle to the hospital, and then collapsed when he went through the hospital door. I think he spent about a week in the hospital.

 

Another (very) local geocacher broke BOTH ankles. Ouch.

 

Stuff happens.

 

I've bashed myself, skinned myself, removed a bunch of skin from my inner arm, had numerous outbreaks of poison oak, etc. It's part of geocaching - especially if you do it in the dark.

[+clarinetqueen]

If you haven't been injured in some way you aren't a "real" geocacher!

 

I'm beginning to figure that out Thrak! I just keep upping the ante every time though. When I called my husband to tell him, he said, "It's not going to stop you, is it?" and I said "Nope!!"

[ad5smith]

Here in Tulsa we have a cache called DrunkSlide GCXWNW

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=378a89d7-00b5-4a63-8977-bb3d76d63f17

 

Well last years CITO event was at the park that.the cache is at, after a bit of CITO a group of about ten of us went after it,i know that it was a team effort getting back up to the trail. I earned myself a three inch scar on my leg from the rocks on the way down, Ive rolled in some PI a time or two, and caught a branch or two to the head

[+stijnhommes]

I guess I've been lucky so far. I've had a couple of scrapes from what I think were bramble bushes and the DNF I logged yesterday was also a hotspot for mosquitos... Whenever, I slapped one off, another one found a spot to feast on my blood. I've still got a lot of itchy bumps, especially on my legs.

[Troutonthebrain]

I've had some funny ones but nothing that bad. Funny ones include the person in front of me holding back a big tree branch only to let it come back and clock me across the face or falling out of a tree into a colony of itchweed.

 

We do have a caching friend of ours that slipped down a hill and tore his ACL. There is another caching friend of ours who was caching by the Mississipi River in the snow. The snow slipped and he fell off the 20 ft. cliff. Yet he didn't get a scratch, broken bone, or even a concussion to his name.

 

If you haven't been injured in some way you aren't a "real" geocacher!

 

This is the truth. We went to an event a couple hundred miles north of us and the event host has a big old scar on his head. He showed us the picture real of how it happened. He slipped on wet leaves and went sliding down a cliff. He got lucky and ran into a tree. Right behind the tree was a 50 ft. drop off.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Troutonthebrain

[+RetallickRamblers]

Slipped over on the way back to the car after placing http://coord.info/GC3M7MA

One fracture in my tibia, multiple fractures of fibula.

2 young children and the dog with me and no phone reception.

Had to wait for a passer by to head for higher ground and phone for help.

Coastguard search and rescue and a paramedic attended and, four hours after my fall, I was hoisted up into a naval helicopter and flown to hospital.

10 weeks off work. At my last fracture clinic appointment I was told to stay off for 4 more weeks, but went back regardless (little choice when you're self employed)

Still not healed, but more x-rays in 3 weeks, hopefully they will show a callus.

 

[+JohnCNA]

Around here we refer to scratches from thorns and vegetation as "earning your stripes".

Here's a pic of a good one I got on a long multi in Wyalusing.

 

[+instep_guy]

Last summer I took a hard fall and was unable to hop out of the backcountry before dark. It made for a sleepless night in bear country!

[+The Jester]

[+DragonsWest]

I think I need to get this printed on a shirt...

 

[+stijnhommes]

Jester, what is the story behind that picture?

[+clarinetqueen]

PLEASE tell the story!!!!

[+timbee&suebee]

...Have you ever been injured while caching?...

 

Oh My Yes! I have sprained my ankle, skinned my knees, got cuts on my hands and my face and bruises from falling. And just this week I suffered two more injuries. On Tuesday I was wearing sandals while walking through the woods (I know... not a smart idea) and got my foot caught in some foliage on the ground. I tried to pull my foot out just to realize that the foliage was briars and by pulling my foot I was embedding the thorns and pulling them accross my foot causing multiple gashes. I kept searching though and did find the cache. Yesterday I was poking around in a hole near the base of a tree that looked like a promising hiding spot. I reached right into a nest of yellow jackets and got stung multiple times. Yowza did that hurt. I was in a lot of pain, swelled up and turned red around all the stings. But we kept caching and made 19 finds that day.

[+timbee&suebee]

I think I need to get this printed on a shirt...

 

 

HaHaHaHaHa

[+The Jester]

PLEASE tell the story!!!!

Story starts here and continues over the next several posts.

[+Roman!]

Was bit by a copperhead snake on 6/22/2008. Some dates you just do not forget.

This is the day after the bite. The following day the doctor had to lance the swelling so that my finger did not split open. The bruising and swelling did not fully subside for a month. I still have some minor loss of sensation at the very tip.

 

 

At first I LOL, I thought that was some kind of covering resembling a snake. Look closely, there are 2 eyes and a mouth ready to strike. Knowing that's your actual finger, ouch.

 

I broke my arm slipping on a gentle slope after running down about 100 stairs to get to a cache, it also broke my 138 day geocaching streak.