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While Geocaching in the Woods..


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Do you walk close together with who you are with, and hold the branches for them until they can reach them?

 

Or do you walk far apart from each other?

 

(And of course there's always: Do you let the branches slap them?)

 

This question was answered in two different ways by people from two different regions. It made me think about it, and I have never been in the woods with anyone that walked far apart from me. (Although I have been in the woods with people that let the branches slap me)

 

So, is it a regional thing? Or just a matter of preference? .. Or maybe how you were taught when you were young?

You can't find a geocache with a bleeding eyeball, after all! You would have to do one of the two.. or three. :laughing:

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When we're on higher terrain, we stay close. I want to be able to rescue if need be. That also means holding a branch/brush as she enters that space.

 

If we're on a well-established trail, she usually lets me go ahead, as my pace is a lot faster and get antsy slowing down. If I get too far, I may stop and have a smoke 'til she "catches up". Any branches/brush has stopped moving, so not an issue.

She actually prefers me going ahead a bit. I remove the spiderwebs (usually in the face) that she no longer has to worry about. :laughing:

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I answered in the other thread, but here's my answer:

 

From years hunting when I was younger to doing this now our habits are to walk closer together and stand on or hold offending branches out of the way until the next person has them so they don't get smacked by them. Being closer together makes the standing on/walking over situation go much smoother and quicker.

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I was one of the responders (don't be too close) in the other thread. B)

There certainly is two ways to approach this, as it is has been shown.

 

Born and raised in an area with plenty of woods, now living in a truly forested area, and having hunted my entire life (since almost before there were firearms)... my philosophy is to NOT follow (if you follow directly behind, at all) closely.

 

True, geocaching with your partner(s) dictates holding branches for them, but there is the inevitable one that escapes or you didn't notice it. Those are the ones that hurt. Those also are the ones that you get "blamed" for, accident or not, whereas in reality it is the follower's "fault" for following too close.

 

I have found it best to not follow so close. If it is a particularly nasty spot, then yes, you should stand your ground and make it easier for the next to travel through. Otherwise no. The follower should maintain a distance of safety.

 

Whatever method you choose, it ain't wrong, nor is it right. The choice belongs to the one doing the following.

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Guess for me I tend to fall back to when I was in the Army when ever I am in the woods whether hunting for the cache or deer if bringing up the rear I am usually following back about five meters back or to the side when we get close to GZ. Course most of the time if I'm in the woods its usually by myself.

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Now I see. Some were brought up hunting, and it makes sense not to follow behind with a firearm. Others just learned the way they learned to fit their situation. I was also talking with my husband about this, and he brought up the fact that I'm a woman. Women tend to walk closer with each other, and with others. Men tend to like their space. (For example, the extra seat between men in the movie theater, and the tendency to hang onto the back of the JetSki instead of utilizing the man hug :laughing: )

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If you're walking through dense forest it's nearly impossible to hold every branch that might smack your companions. It's also a heck of a lot more work. People should space themselves so they don't have to worry about being smacked by branches.

 

Years ago when I was an occasional visitor to the woods I thought branch holding was the polite thing to do. Now that I'm an avid wanderer of the woods I've learned that it really isn't practical, nor is it necessary if people stay a reasonable distance from each other.

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and he brought up the fact that I'm a woman. Women tend to walk closer with each other...

 

A good point brought up here. It's probably that brain-chemical difference.

However, I do think that a woman that has experienced a lot of time in the woods already knows that her face is her own responsibility.

Heck, I know a lot of caching partner situations where the woman leads half the time or more (probably one of those things where a man will never admit to being lost)! Same thing -- he best maintain the interval that best protects his face.

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In the woods, I am responsible for my own face, be it branches or spiderwebs or whatever. I do tend to try to be considerate about those behind me, but in the end, they, too, are responsible for their own faces.BRANCH! DUCK!!!

 

I'm of the same mind as knowschad on this. We will hold a branch on occasion but I'm usually behind Hubby and I don't follow very close to him since he tends to 'forget' (I don't know how he could forget me!) I'm there as he's fighting his way through a thicket of brambles and will let them fly!

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This isn't only important for woods....we have many caches in abandoned structures here, and I can tell you, getting slapped with some cables hanging off the ceiling isn't pleasant either :o

 

But somehow, I sometimes even manage to slap myself as I hike through the woods....well I'm more of an urban cacher, so I tend to look for cars rather than branches :blink:

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I am a woman that holds branches for others while in the lead but Grasmere Guy "lets 'em fly". I think he's thoughtless and rude but I understand better now from reading responses from others. I guess we are all responsible for our own faces. I will step back and not stay on his tail when he's leading. I will likely still hold a branch or two though. It was an interesting subject for discussion.

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Mr F is a city type who always holds a branch as if holding a door open for a lady. For me, it depends very much on the amount and type vegetation in the way, and to an extent, who I'm with and how they're dressed. I'm usually the one covered in thick clothing and in boots, so if the others (especially children) aren't, I'll lean on the thorny bushes to get it right off the path until they pass. This works best if Mr F is well dressed for this too so we can take it in turns, then the little kids get to walk through unscathed. Now they're medium sized kids and usually better dressed for a hike, we tend to spread out a bit more where the going is rough and each make our own way, gathering together at clearings and forks in the path.

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When walking in the woods, always send your tallest child out first to clear the path of spiderwebs.

 

 

:laughing:

 

While out riding horses, my fellow riders always had me out front for this very reason. I was on the tallest horse and being 6'2" they thought I would get all the spiderwebs cleared............NOT.......I always seen them coming and ducked to the side and they would end up riding through it. HA!!!!

 

As for the "tree slapping" we always leave room between each other while in heavy vegetation. Closed ranks when back in the open.

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When we're on higher terrain, we stay close. I want to be able to rescue if need be. That also means holding a branch/brush as she enters that space.

 

If we're on a well-established trail, she usually lets me go ahead, as my pace is a lot faster and get antsy slowing down. If I get too far, I may stop and have a smoke 'til she "catches up". Any branches/brush has stopped moving, so not an issue.

She actually prefers me going ahead a bit. I remove the spiderwebs (usually in the face) that she no longer has to worry about. :laughing:

 

Wierd. This describes us...from the pace to the smoke to the spiders. Wierd

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When off trail, i am always in the lead when caching with my wife, my job is to swat spider webs down, either with a stick or my face, and hold or step on branches, help her over large fallen trees or up and down rocks/ravines etc. We stick close because its easy to talk to, I have a hard time hearing when I am in the lead, and the wind is blowing and I am stepping on leaves and branches. If i am caching with some other friends we just go.

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Depends on the woods.

 

For the most part, if I'm with others, and someone stops and holds a branch for me, I stop, and ask them please not to do that. Typically, they just walked through, pushing it with some part of their body, or fending it with a hand or forearm. I can do exactly the same thing, at exactly the same pace. Each time someone stops and holds a limb, progress halts. It can really make a dent in the pace, over time.

 

I generally move at least 30% faster by myself then with others. The amount of fiddling about goes up as the number of walkers goes up. At least eliminate the "stop and hold branch" thing, when, really there isn't anyone in the group who can't perform this function for themselves just fine.

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Good question!

 

It depends who I am with. If I am with my husband (quite unusual as he hates anything that involves walking!) and my daughter who is 2 an normally in a hiking toddler carrier. My husband shouts directions so my daughter doesn't get poked by any offending branches and hanging spikey things! as I normally forget the height difference.

 

It it's me and a friend of mine we are very aware of hanging brambles and nettles and normally I pace off ahead and flatten them or lift up dangly things!

 

I'm also the one who is aware of any dodgy looking people loitering about especially in the woods.

 

If I with 3 or more people who are all caching ANYTHING GOES! As long as we find the cache first! Not that I am competitive of anything!

Edited by springbok200
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When walking in the woods, always send your tallest child out first to clear the path of spiderwebs.

That would be me. <_<

But really, it doesn't matter if someone or several people are in front of me, I'll still catch the webs. Even if we've just gone up a trail, and are coming back, I'll still manage to find some webs. Maybe we just have really fast spiders around here? It's so bad, unless it's a heavily-traveled trail, I'll often walk with my hands up to break the webs. At least at this time of the year the spiders aren't very active, so I don't have to worry about it as much.

 

As far as branches, there doesn't really seem to be a consensus around here. Usually it just depends on how fast you're going relative to the people in front or behind. You may try to keep some distance behind someone, but if they suddenly slow down, you're quickly going to be right behind them and in the path of any swinging branches.

 

There was one night cache (GCZ6PR) that 11 of us went to get a couple of years ago. As we worked our way along a pretty well-defined geo-trail, calls would go out like "root", "rock", "cliff!", and get passed back along the line, so there was an almost continuous chain of calls ringing out through the forest! It was pretty windy that night, and someone posed the question, "If a tree falls on a cacher in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Ah, the memories...

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Guess for me I tend to fall back to when I was in the Army when ever I am in the woods whether hunting for the cache or deer if bringing up the rear I am usually following back about five meters back or to the side when we get close to GZ. Course most of the time if I'm in the woods its usually by myself.

That's me. I always keep interval. Just my Army traning and hunting background. Even my kids do it while hiking, even over open land.

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Now I see. Some were brought up hunting, and it makes sense not to follow behind with a firearm. Others just learned the way they learned to fit their situation. I was also talking with my husband about this, and he brought up the fact that I'm a woman. Women tend to walk closer with each other, and with others. Men tend to like their space. (For example, the extra seat between men in the movie theater, and the tendency to hang onto the back of the JetSki instead of utilizing the man hug :laughing: )

Not always my wife and two daughters keep the same interval that I do. Of course my wife is ex-mititary as well, and all my kids hunt.

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