Has anyone ever happened upon their worst nightmare?

January 3, 2004

Mostly harmless but as we were approaching Lakeside Hollow my 5 year daughter practically stepped right on it ... no scream or anything ... she just calmly said "Look Daddy ... a snake" and kept on walking.

Last summer, my family and a friend's family were at a family camp. (I will try not to say "family" again) We were walking on a trail to one of the camp's many attractions. I started skipping or frolicing, just to be funny, ahead of the group. I'm about 10-15 feet ahead of the group when my friend's dad halts the group at once, telling everyone to stay where they were. It turns out, I was inches away from frolicing right onto a baby rattler (which are more dangerous than adults since they can't control their venom). So, I stood one one side of the snake while everyone else stood on the other, like I had just leaped across a gorge or something, as my friends dad nudged the snake off the trail with a stick. Everyone was a little shaken, but we had a great time that week.

4k · January 3, 2004

Mostly harmless but as we were approaching Lakeside Hollow my 5 year daughter practically stepped right on it ... no scream or anything ... she just calmly said "Look Daddy ... a snake" and kept on walking.

Last summer, my family and a friend's family were at a family camp. (I will try not to say "family" again) We were walking on a trail to one of the camp's many attractions. I started skipping or frolicing, just to be funny, ahead of the group. I'm about 10-15 feet ahead of the group when my friend's dad halts the group at once, telling everyone to stay where they were. It turns out, I was inches away from frolicing right onto a baby rattler (which are more dangerous than adults since they can't control their venom). So, I stood one one side of the snake while everyone else stood on the other, like I had just leaped across a gorge or something, as my friends dad nudged the snake off the trail with a stick. Everyone was a little shaken, but we had a great time that week.

Yeah, and people will tell you not to worry, because the snake is more afraid of you than you are of it.....but lemme tell ya, I've run into a lot of snakes in the wild, and I have yet to see one of them pee their pants when the see a human! :huh:

1.1k · January 3, 2004

Yeah, and people will tell you not to worry, because the snake is more afraid of you than you are of it.....but lemme tell ya, I've run into a lot of snakes in the wild, and I have yet to see one of them pee their pants when the see a human!

Silly Sparky. Much like my Avatar, snakes do not wear pants. :huh:

1.7k · January 3, 2004

No nightmare yet, although 2 night caches (one is mine) got me all spooky.

When setting mine, dogs on the other side of the street were barking, neighbors were shouting, and I started wondering if someone might come looking for me with a shotgun. This was very rural, but in a county park (reserve).

My worst fright was a day I was caching all day out in the woods. While walking, I remembered all the incidents from when I lived in Colorado, where people were mauled and sometimes killed by bears and mountain lions, and even seriously injured by rutting elk.

I has to stop to "empty the tanks" and something shoved me hard in the back. I nearly died.

My hiking staff had fallen over and the end had jabbed me in the back. :huh:

Edited January 3, 2004 by DustyJacket

1.4k · January 4, 2004

I has to stop to "empty the tanks" and something shoved me hard in the back. I nearly died.

Talk about "power assist".

4k · January 4, 2004

I has to stop to "empty the tanks" and something shoved me hard in the back. I nearly died.

My hiking staff had fallen over and the end had jabbed me in the back.

Bet that knocked some bark off the tree!

9.4k · January 4, 2004

I has to stop to "empty the tanks" and something shoved me hard in the back. I nearly died.

My hiking staff had fallen over and the end had jabbed me in the back.

Bet that knocked some bark off the tree!

Turned it from a tree to a stump in a few short milliseconds! :huh:

1.4k · January 6, 2004

I has to stop to "empty the tanks" and something shoved me hard in the back. I nearly died.

My hiking staff had fallen over and the end had jabbed me in the back.

Bet that knocked some bark off the tree!

Turned it from a tree to a stump in a few short milliseconds!

No comment

January 9, 2004

Have I found my worst nightmare?

No, I have never found my ex-wife at a cache.

1.1k · January 10, 2004

Have I found my worst nightmare?

No, I have never found my ex-wife at a cache.

The trick is to make sure you dig the hole deep enough. Geocachers never dig. :tongue:

4k · January 12, 2004

I did this weekend, but didn't know it until this morning. Saturday while caching at a local lake, I came upon a pickup parked on the shoreline in a popular area. I didn't see anyone around, so I figured it must be hunters. There was a hole in the ice about 100 yds out with some stuff laying around it. I say "stuff" because it was too far out to recognize anything. I thought nothing of it and went on my way. This morning there was a story in the paper about a couple of fishermen that had fallen through the ice and drowned. The story identified the spot and their truck, which I quickly recognized as the one I had found. They weren't reported missing till late Saturday night, and their bodies weren't found until Sunday evening. I doubt there would have been anything I could have done, as I'm sure there was no movement in the water in the hole in the ice. It just still kind of makes me sick, though. It's one of those "What if" things that will always bother me. :unsure:

January 29, 2004

What protection does anyone carry for freak instances?

.357 Magnum Of course I can always use my girlfriend as bait if I need to get away faster Hope she doesn't read this

January 29, 2004

I always cache with someone I can out run.

4k · January 29, 2004

What protection does anyone carry for freak instances?

.357 Magnum Of course I can always use my girlfriend as bait if I need to get away faster Hope she doesn't read this

Any more questions? This is one of my caching buddies.....I never leave home without him!

January 29, 2004

I always cache with someone I can out run.

Kind of reminds me of the story once told on a dive boat to a non-diver who inquired about the need for a dive knife.

Diver: "Well, you know, every once in a while, you might see a shark and it might be aggressive."

Non diver: "Oh, you use it to defend yourself against the shark?"

Diver: "No, you use it to cut your dive buddy. He bleeds, the shark goes after him, I get away!"

Edited January 29, 2004 by harleycache

February 25, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Commando: Between me and this shed were the carcases of about 6 to 8 dogs. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I guess it <A HREF="http://www.hsus.org/ace/14186" TARGET=_blank>could have been worse...</A>

That would certainly be MY worst nightmare...... :unsure:

Bec

February 27, 2004

Lucky me I have run into bears falling out of trees, mountain lions running out of bushes, and I have now seen the most snakes I have ever seen in my life in one summer (2003). Welcome to Colorado Springs and its surrounding areas. Was walking through Garden of the Gods and my next step was onto a rattlers head that was sunning himself on the edge of the trail, I jumped out of the way fast. Now anytime I go hiking on Mount Herman my Ruger goes with me. Be careful out there.

February 27, 2004

I'm not sure what my worst nightmare would be, although some of the suggestions in this thread might qualify. I grew up in the mountains and spent a lot of my childhood roaming around the woods and as a teenager, I had no problems wandering around after dark in either the woods or the desert (where we moved when I was 16). In fact, when I was in the desert, I often wandered around in the rocks with headphones on, despite the fact there were rattlers around. But wandering around the woods doesn't make me nervous. Nor does wandering around the city.

Anyhow, the only slightly scary experience was looking for a geocache near Pueblo, CO, in the foothills. I was bushwacking a bit, stepped down over a rock and suddenly heard that truly eerie yet bloodchilling sound of a rattler. Apparently I stepped right over his head. Luckily by the point he was making his case heard, I was far enough away to be out of danger, so of course I got out the digital camera to take a couple photos (they didn't turn out so hot, unfortunately). Needless to say, I found a big stick to crash around and headed straight back to the car without bothering with the cache.

John

March 19, 2004

I was fishing once, not caching and was walking under a bridge, I steped over a rock and put my foot down only an inch or two away from a guy laying on the ground. I virtualy steped over this dude.

I freaked, got far enough away to look back and see it was just some guy taking a nap in the shade. We made very brief eye contact, long enough for me to see he was looking back and appear to not be dead.

I moved on very quickly.

March 20, 2004

[/b] Was hiking to the Chinese Connection Cache in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I get to the area and can't find it so I go off the trail and stand on top of these two three feet high rocks to look around. I went to step down and see a rattlesnakes loop and design below me in the sagebrush that is in front of an opening in the two rocks I'm standing upon. This dude appears to be about four inches around from where I stand. I go back up onto the trail and throw some rocks at him and all I see is about six feet (honest) of body slither out of the hole and back into the hole, never saw his head. Posted that I wished I would of shot him for a trophy since he was huge and people are telling me not to kill the poor snakey on the cache site and respect him. What am I supposed to do? Let him hug my leg? Get real.

4k · March 20, 2004

[/b] Was hiking to the Chinese Connection Cache in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I get to the area and can't find it so I go off the trail and stand on top of these two three feet high rocks to look around. I went to step down and see a rattlesnakes loop and design below me in the sagebrush that is in front of an opening in the two rocks I'm standing upon. This dude appears to be about four inches around from where I stand. I go back up onto the trail and throw some rocks at him and all I see is about six feet (honest) of body slither out of the hole and back into the hole, never saw his head. Posted that I wished I would of shot him for a trophy since he was huge and people are telling me not to kill the poor snakey on the cache site and respect him. What am I supposed to do? Let him hug my leg? Get real.

I've been struck by a 6 foot rattler before, he only got my boot, though. It was enough to make me think about dying! I've seen my share of rattlers and copperheads, but never felt the need to kill them. Every situation is different. If I can get away, I will. If I get in a position where it's me or the snake, the choice is obvious....I'm gonna add another rattle to my backpack.

April 7, 2004

I was out with the wife and kid once - we stopped at the playground after the cache and observed a dad physically injuring his two kids. I asked one of the kids which car was theirs and got the license plate, called Child Protective Services that night. That was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen.

Second was a trip to Overton, Nevada. Did some serious high desert geocaching, and hit one with a 2 mile round trip hike. There were four vultures circling me overhead on the way back. Very creepy. Glad I had the camelback full of water, even though it was only 9:30 AM and 82 degrees.

merkin4

April 8, 2004

What protection does anyone carry for freak instances?

.357 Magnum Of course I can always use my girlfriend as bait if I need to get away faster Hope she doesn't read this

Any more questions? This is one of my caching buddies.....I never leave home without him!

Does he play the banjo ?

4k · April 8, 2004

Does he play the banjo ?

Nope, but he can knock the eye out of a pig at 200 yards, which generally makes them squeal a bit just before dying. :lol:

April 20, 2004

my worst nightmare would be constantly walking without moving, and the closest i had ever come to that was when we go to the beach..... in oregon......(thats very cold water if anyone here knows) and we were fishing and the tide was coming in really fast , kinda dropping then coming up again, dropping then coming up even more, and so i was trying to walk away from that, and the water moved with me, it was really freaky, it felt like i was running along as fast as i could and never moving...... uuung i hated that.... I know, a kinda odd worst fear, but it was pretty bad for me. Of course, i didnt really believe that i wasnt moving, i knew the whole time that it just looked that way, but even though, it was still just....

ok now i can stop telling a story that no one wants to hear

April 20, 2004

Lucky me I have run into bears falling out of trees, mountain lions running out of bushes, and I have now seen the most snakes I have ever seen in my life in one summer (2003). Welcome to Colorado Springs and its surrounding areas. Was walking through Garden of the Gods and my next step was onto a rattlers head that was sunning himself on the edge of the trail, I jumped out of the way fast. Now anytime I go hiking on Mount Herman my Ruger goes with me. Be careful out there.

Thanks for the warning...we should be moving there by the end of the year! I would like to think snakes don't bother me that much, but I *have* been bitten once already. Don't want to make it twice!

Paula

April 21, 2004

I ran into my ex-husband the other day . . . does that count?

:mad:

4k · April 21, 2004

I ran into my ex-husband the other day . . . does that count?

Gee, hope it didn't dent your car! :mad:

April 23, 2004

This is not caching-related but is one of my scariest memories:

When I was growing up I always had a horse, and one of my best friends who lived over the hill would ride her horse over and we would spend countless summer days racing, swimming, grooming our "babies". My friend was a few years older and my parents trusted me with her completely. One Friday night after school we begged my folks to let us go horse camping by ourselves. Behind their place was a large piece of public property with lots of logging roads and solitude. We packed our gear on our horses and set out on our adventure. After riding for what seemed like forever, we found a nice spot in a grove of trees with no noticeable poison oak and a creek and grass for the horses. We were so excited to start a small campfire and watch the stars come out.

We unsaddled our horses, put their lead ropes on and tied them to trees with enough rope they could munch on grass. We started unpacking, and had just got everything out of our packs and ready to set up when a truck with a booming stereo came roaring down the logging road, not 200 yards from our encampment. We were freaked. It was nearly dark, the headlights of the truck quickly illuminated our camp. The truck stopped with it's headlights on us and hesitated there. The doors opened, the loud stereo boomed and out stepped about 5 drunken teen/early 20's males. One of them started yelling and clanging several beer bottles together. The others were loud and laughing like hyenas. We were petrified. All alone, teenagers, female and in the middle of nowhere.

We must have had a shot of adrenaline because within 15 seconds we had both grabbed what we could and were on our horses, no saddles (those were leaning against the trees), no bridles (hanging on a branch) just their halters and a rope each.... and we left in a hurry. The guys in the truck seemed a bit shocked that we weren't more inspired to go talk to them, and they jumped back into the truck and pursued us. On those rutted logging roads I think we were better equipped with horses than a vehicle and we galloped headlong into the dark. I have never been more scared in my life. It literally felt like they were right behind us the entire way home. We galloped up to my parents house and ran inside, and of course my dad came out with a gun ready to confront whoever the predators were but they didnt drive out for another two hours or so and by then we had all calmed down. We figured they had found our saddles and other gear and plundered them, but the next day when we rode out (with my dad) to find them, they were there, untouched. We did find a couple beer bottles tossed out here and there that hadn't been there before.

Ahhh.. the death of innocence.

April 25, 2004

This really was not my worst nightmare, but was certainly nothing that I ever expected to come across when I began caching...it is our log from Cache-a Grande Holiday Cache GCHA0Q:

I'm going to put this down as a Didn't Find, though we really never got to look for this cache. Instead we had an experience that a growing number of other cachers have faced as well. Unfortunately this will detract from the nice theme behind this cache. We found a dead body in the vicinity of the cache area. I won't give the exact distance or area as yet as it is still being investigated.

This was definately the result of foul play. On finding the body, we backed off, and called 911. The Pinal County Sherrif's office was going to respond...that took about 40 minutes. While waiting for them looked over the area from a distance. I could see where the man was killed (also there were some recent beer cans there) and the drag marks where someone had moved the body a distance of about 125 feet to an area behind a low tree and bush.

When the Deputy arrived he got my information and we walked over to the body. The man was older, at least 65. Looked like he hadn't been there that long, was not decomposed or bloated. He was shot in the upper chest/shoulder area and had been blugened. He was laying on his back and was stripped of all clothes except his blue underware.

It looks like there were people out there drinking, maybe an argument, and somehow the guy got killed, but that doesn't explain the body being stripped. I don't know, as an Invesigator I make a pretty good Engineer.

There was a bit of a juristicional dispute over who would have to deal with this. The City of Casa Grande, was where the site was, but they said that it was marked as MILITARY on their map so they walked away from it and the Pinal County boys were going to assume responsibility for the investigation. They weren't too happy about it as by the time they got out there, it was close to 1:30 and the overtime bell was ringing. Some of them mentioned wanting to get out to Country Thunder!

They finally got ahold of the investigators that were going to have to come from Apache Junction. They had our information and asked to take pictures of the bottom of our shoes, our tires, and license plates, and allowed us to go.

I believe the cache is and will be intact as the actual cache was some distance from this dead body. I had informed the Deputies of why we were there, gave the the coordinates in my 911 call and was informed that the Deputy did not have a GQS. But they didn't seem concerned about the cache, and it is far enough away from this site as it would not be considered part of the crime scene.

I hadn't really thought this would happen to us, but you never know...it was a strange day, my 12 y.o. saw the body, but luckily my 3 y.o. did not. I kept him far enough away and he was actually asleep for most of it anyway.

I would say anyone wanting to do this cache should wait a few days before attempting it.

I hope to come back some other time, and have a better time than we did today.

TeamBlunder

Joe, Brad, & Erik

1.2k · April 30, 2004

my worst nightmare would be constantly walking without moving, and the closest i had ever come to that was when we go to the beach..... in oregon......(thats very cold water if anyone here knows) and we were fishing and the tide was coming in really fast , kinda dropping then coming up again, dropping then coming up even more, and so i was trying to walk away from that, and the water moved with me, it was really freaky, it felt like i was running along as fast as i could and never moving...... uuung i hated that.... I know, a kinda odd worst fear, but it was pretty bad for me. Of course, i didnt really believe that i wasnt moving, i knew the whole time that it just looked that way, but even though, it was still just....

Could be worse... as I understand, the tides in the Bay of Fundy are just about the most extreme you can find... one moment you are on dry land, the next you are desperately drowning in several feet of rushing water.

May 10, 2004

Did somebody say leeches? :lol:

After going through some rainforest country in Queensland my wife and I were driving out and she said... "look, there's a worm on the floor of the car!"... Now, she had never seen a leech before, but I had and so I said "that's not a worm, that's a LEECH!!" I look down and my sock is soaked with blood! (Screams from Mrs Ron, and demands of "stop this car right now...")

So, we pulled over on the side of the road, and a quick check reveals several leeches on our feet, lower legs etc, quickly removed with glowing cigarettes...

Anyway, I don't know if you've ever been in that situation but you just *know* that there are leeches crawling all over you, you can feel them infesting every nook and cranny of your body, so we head off down the road looking for somewhere a little more private...

Couple of miles along we see a sign pointing down a dirt road ... "Cemetary", so we take it! The cemetary's deserted luckily so we rip our all our clothes off and we're checking each other for leeches, like chimps grooming! Luckily there weren't any more leeches but to this day we wonder what anybody would have made of it, if they had they seen us... Two people, tearing each other's clothes off furiously and jumping around naked in a cemetary ...

Black Mass maybe?

Cheers

Ron

4k · May 10, 2004

Did somebody say leeches?

After going through some rainforest country in Queensland my wife and I were driving out and she said... "look, there's a worm on the floor of the car!"... Now, she had never seen a leech before, but I had and so I said "that's not a worm, that's a LEECH!!" I look down and my sock is soaked with blood! (Screams from Mrs Ron, and demands of "stop this car right now...")

So, we pulled over on the side of the road, and a quick check reveals several leeches on our feet, lower legs etc, quickly removed with glowing cigarettes...

Anyway, I don't know if you've ever been in that situation but you just *know* that there are leeches crawling all over you, you can feel them infesting every nook and cranny of your body, so we head off down the road looking for somewhere a little more private...

Couple of miles along we see a sign pointing down a dirt road ... "Cemetary", so we take it! The cemetary's deserted luckily so we rip our all our clothes off and we're checking each other for leeches, like chimps grooming! Luckily there weren't any more leeches but to this day we wonder what anybody would have made of it, if they had they seen us... Two people, tearing each other's clothes off furiously and jumping around naked in a cemetary ...

Black Mass maybe?

Cheers

Ron

OMG!!!!!!! :lol: Thanks for the laugh to start my day! Yes, I've had leeches before, and ticks and chiggers and some other bugs that I won't mention. So true that once you find one tick crawling on your body, you will swear you can feel them crawling all over, and nothing will make that feeling go away till you totally strip down and do the "chimp grooming exercise"!

May 16, 2004

We joined the rattlesnake cachers' club today on a cache in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia. My wife and I, along with our Golden Retriever namesake, had finished one cache and decided to head overland to the next atop a nearby mountain. Gus and I were in the lead by about 50' when we noticed the sound of an underground stream beside us. It was so loud I literally thought a jet was passing over head. I was standing on top of a fallen tree and the time. Gus went over to check it out and hopped down from the tree. At that moment I heard a high-pitched rattle behind me. I turned around, spotted what appeared to be at least a ~5' rattler, and shouted "Rattlesnake" to alert my wife.

At this point, Gus decided he should greet the nice snake. Fortunately, the tree slowed a moment, and in a surprising and timely display of obedience, he obeyed the "Stay" command for once. My wife caught up and we were able to leash Gus before he did anything doglike. We noticed at that point that the air had a very heavy snake smell, and became concerned we might well have stumbled very close to a nest (and both recalled at that time, as well, a Crocodile Hunter special he did in the Valley where he backed into a nest of five rattlers).

We decided to give the snake the benefit of the doubt on his property claim and detoured. [ :lol: ]

Link to log with photo

May 21, 2004

I found a dead man that was apparently murdered near the border of Nevada by Las Vegas.

Does that qualify ?

:huh:

June 1, 2004

This doesn't even begin to compete with some of the listings I see here ... but this is the worst that happened to this rookie cacher ...

Yesterday we ignored the endless rain in our area and headed out to find "Zzyxx Lake Home". Now if we had bush wacked it would have been a straight .3 miles, since we didn't know the trails in the area, we gave that I try ... we hit unpassible water :lol: . We tried the north trail, which seems to go on and on too far north by about a mile, we hid a point were the trail seem to look like one of those photos of tar pits sucking down a dinasoar . So we bush wacked from that point, which is no where near the coordinates now. It was very wet and we kept pulling our 8 year old free from the muck . We found the cache ... it was totally trashed, filled with water and the log book didn't resemble a logbook any more (which explains the little pieces of paper stuck in trees along the last approach). We didn't want to use the north trail on the way out, so we tried the south trail ... just as we came to the point where small fish were crossing the trail, a large dog started barking at us , but the standing still thing worked, it smelled us and left to chase the fish. At this point deep water seemed less of a problem than being mauled by a dog ... so south it is. Got back to our car, 1 hr. 45 min. later (remember the car was only .3 miles from the cache) ... we all drove home bare foot. :rolleyes:

June 10, 2004

Does he play the banjo ?

Nope, but he can knock the eye out of a pig at 200 yards, which generally makes them squeal a bit just before dying.

I won't say what county I was in in Alabama, but, I was going for a cache at an abandoned mill last week and drove up on a house that creeped me out really bad, I was on my own and the guys on the porch acted like they hadn't seen a female since 1976. Just in case you are curious, a full sized Chevy Truck CAN and WILL do a donut in the middle of a one lane dirt road/pig trail and still be drivable. How much foliage you take out is up to you. Daisy Duke ain't got nothin on me. I hate like heck to perpetuate a sterotype, but, they freaked me out. I could have sworn I heard a banjo! LOL, I am laughin now, but, I wasn't then!

June 17, 2004

The other day a was searching for a cave ein fall creek falls state park and was standing on top of a waterfall that was slippery and slipped. I fell about twelve feet and that freaked me out so bad i decided to come back another day

August 6, 2004

I have also come across someone's abode in the wilds, and wondered if they were watching me. It's that weird feeling that you are not alone. I did have one thought, though. If there had been a cache up the canyon where Elizabeth Smart was held captive above Salt Lake, that whole thing may have had a happy outcome much sooner.

If you want to know about the hidden places, just ask a cacher!

August 9, 2004

though not a cache this was one of the scariest time i ever had. it was a few years ago. my buddy comes over for a night-time hike at some tunnel that goes under a busy steet. we walk about half way through , and we can hear the cars going over top of us. until now we have been hunched over in this little tunnel, and suddenly we are able to stand straight. with a quick shine of out flash lights, we see an area were another smaller tunnel meets ours at about waist high at a self-like lip. this lip was covered in satanic objects. candles, images, and such. there was writing on the wall of a girl sacrifiest their named Zelda. wheather or not its true, my buddy tells me this is an urban mith. well this freaked me out. so we look around a little more and left. the tunnel was dark, and granted all we had were flash lights, the tunnel had a slight curve to it, that gave us about only a 10 ft. field of vision.

"Did you here that?" i say

"What?"

OMG!! this is the best part. my buddy had another one of our friends meet us their w/ me not knowing, he comes runnin full speed screachin a sound i've never heard before, right towards me. i almost pee'd my pants.

they thought it was great.

about a year ago this place was closed, and houses are built in the area of entrance the the site.

Has anyone ever happened upon their worst nightmare?

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