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Injuries suffered while geocaching

Hysham Pirate
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Hysham Pirate

+Hysham Pirate

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That blood totally looks fake. I got stung twice in the buttocks today by a wasp while searching for a cache. Would you like me to upload a photo?

 

It's real blood. I suppose you get all of your "real life" knowledge from movies. If I had dumped a 50 gallon drum of red dyed corn syrup over him you'd say it was real.

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The_Incredibles_

+The_Incredibles_

Posted
Posted

That blood totally looks fake. I got stung twice in the buttocks today by a wasp while searching for a cache. Would you like me to upload a photo?

 

It's real blood. I suppose you get all of your "real life" knowledge from movies. If I had dumped a 50 gallon drum of red dyed corn syrup over him you'd say it was real.

 

You're probably right. Fortunately I don't encounter large amounts of blood in real life.

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L0ne.R

+L0ne.R

Posted
Posted

If someone get injured looking for a cache, I wonder if the injured party could sue the cache owner? Nothing would surprise me anymore in North America!! lol

 

I broke my leg while geocaching. The cache was missing. If it had been there I wouldn't have turned and headed to another spot to check when my foot got caught in branches, my body fell the opposite way.....snap. Broke the fibula. I didn't sue. Unless someone sets up a man-trap I doubt one could sue, nor should they. The GC disclaimer says: you assume all risks involved. Hopefully that disclaimer would protect the cache owner as well as Groundspeak.

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GTTTM

+GTTTM

Posted
Posted

Well we've been up trees, and waded under bridges, and climbed a mountain for caches so far......but my worst injury so far came this last Saturday when searching for a 1.5/2 cache when I got snapped a blackthorn twig from the branch by impaling it in the top of my scalp! It hurt so bad I thought I'd been stung by something, went to smack "it" (thinking insect) off my head and found the thorn stuck firmly in. Yanked it out, and said a few choice words at it.

 

Still suffering now - who'd have thought that the spike on one of those things was stronger than the point where the thicker twiggy bit attached to the main branch!

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DeepButi

+DeepButi

Posted
Posted

A branch of buxus had the bad idea to break inside my leg. 3 hours laters the rescue mountain group was able to reach the strange place I was in. 1 hour later the helicopter could pick me up. 10 hours more, two hospitals involved and I left the operating room with +30 stiches. It took me more than two months to fully recover :unsure:. And it's still a DNF ... someday I will go find it :rolleyes:.

 

GC435AG

 

No, you don't want to see the wound photos.

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DENelson83

+DENelson83

Posted
Posted

The only serious injury I got while geocaching was in April 2009, when I stupidly tried to bushwhack about over 100 metres toward a cache that was on a trail. I failed to properly monitor the terrain, and ended up tearing my MCL. It left me unable to move in that kind of terrain, so I was left with no choice but to call 911 and be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The cache in question ended up being archived without me ever finding it. :(

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Snoogans

+Snoogans

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A friend posted a picture of his bloody arm so I made a Facebook banner for him. I have yet to get hurt while geocaching, unless walking through stinging nettles counts.

 

 

ISAGBLOOD_zps03abaeaf.jpg

LOL

 

I'm a safety professional and even I have an enhanced sense of accomplishment when I draw blood whilst finding a cache. Especially when it's erasing a DNF from a previous attempt(s).

 

Is that wrong? :unsure:

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ldyparadox99

+ldyparadox99

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Posted

A few weeks ago I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I managed to ram my shin into the foundation of the pole that comes down when the bridges over the canals go up. My whole shin was black. To add insult to injury, the next week we decided to pick up a cache in Cochum, DE behind the castle and after logging, we start walking down the wet, slippery cobble stone stairway and I figured out just how little traction my hiking boots had as I ended up going down to 1 knee, not being able to catch myself with my hands (slick as snot), then doing a superman for about 3 feet.

 

After I picked myself up, wiped the mud off as best as I could, I admitted to what I wished for up in the castle (there's a legend that if you touch this mermaid lantern and make a wish it would come true). I had wished my lower back would stop hurting from all the hill hiking we'd been doing. Moral of the story? Be specific on your wishes and watch where you put your feet when geocaching. LOL

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Bluejackal

+Bluejackal

Posted
Posted (edited)

Fell 10ft off a little cliff using my arm and backside as a brake. My geocaching backpack snagged on a tree and stopped me pitching forward onto my head and face. My lucky bag! I'd add a photo of the injury if I could simply upload one.

Edited by Bluejackal
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Crashbangboom

+Crashbangboom

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Posted

Many, many scrapes cuts and bruises. I impaled my inner thigh on a jagged branch. Poked a nice clean hole in my leg.

The best one though, was a 1/2 with my kids. I knocked my ankle on a boulder, tipped backwards and slowly fell onto a huge rock. I rolled right over backwards, down the hill, winding up face down in the leaf litter. It was the slowest fall ever! My kids couldn't stop laughing at me. They found the cache as I was picking leaves and twigs out of my hair.

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mom2sage

+mom2sage

Posted
Posted

Currently suffering from poison oak that I think I got when I sat on the ground while signing a log book, doh! I had a bit of PO on my leg (mainly one scratch) from the week before, but this time ended up with the back of both thighs affected up to the panty line (my shorts weren't even that high), plus scattered bits all over the rest of my legs. Needless to say, I was more careful yesterday when out in the bushes :(

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wmpastor

+wmpastor

Posted
Posted

That blood totally looks fake. I got stung twice in the buttocks today by a wasp while searching for a cache. Would you like me to upload a photo?

Whether you post the photo is up to you ... but the story of how it happened is probably good ... including how the wasps had access ... well, you know.... :cute:

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wmpastor

+wmpastor

Posted
Posted

That blood totally looks fake. I got stung twice in the buttocks today by a wasp while searching for a cache. Would you like me to upload a photo?

 

Maybe, is it a medical journal photo, or an artistic one?

The consensus in this thread is clearly, yes, upload the "artistic" photo. There are some art connessieurs here.

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rjb43nh

+rjb43nh

Posted
Posted

While going after a cache I jumped off a low wall and landed off center so most of weight was on my left leg. I suffered a complete quadriceps tendon rupture which means the large tendon that connects the quadriceps muscles to the kneecap tore away from the kneecap and it had to be reattached surgically. I still managed to get a few FTFs shortly after the operation with the immobilizer on my leg and walking with crutches.

 

IMGP2081C_zps6d58756a.jpg

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DragonsWest

+DragonsWest

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I put this image together years ago:

giveblood.jpg

 

At the time I laughed because I survived my folly. I've had some injuries which are a bit harder to laugh off, considering the remote locations I've received them. I've also been quite aware a few caching outings I could possibly not return home from if I'm not reeeealy careful. I've met mountain lions and rattle snakes while caching. I've got some really good scars and gone through some extreme suffering. But I get back out again, usually a bit more careful.

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Dread_Pirate_Bruce

+Dread_Pirate_Bruce

Posted
Posted

I was riding my mountain bike on a narrow trail on the side of a mountain. I had my GPS and the intention of grabbing any nearby caches. I fell off the mountain. I slid about 100 feet and tore up my let pretty well. Fortunately, we were not too far from civilization and another rider's cell phone had good reception. It took about 15 minutes for a search and rescue helicopter to arrive and lift me out on a harness. I spent some quality time getting to know the trauma surgeon.

 

I've got photos, but the really good ones will be violative of the TOS.

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-CJ-

+-CJ-

Posted
Posted (edited)

Was close to be seriously wounded once inside an abandoned military construction deep in woods. Passed my headlamp to another member of the team and almost immediately fell into a gap in darkness. Luckily, my backpack prevented me from falling another 5 meters to concrete basement so I managed to get out. Since then I've used headlamps for every member of my team in such conditions as a must. Every time I hear about someone's being injured during his/her hiking route I feel it's about the lack of experience.

 

One guy broke his leg when hunting for one of my remote caches. Together with his mates he was trying to pull out a 4x4 Jeep with another heavy vehicle from the bog when the metal hawser snapped.

 

One of the worst cases I remember was when one of newbies went to woods to hunt a geocache in winter. (It was in Russia, mind that). For some unknown reason he started late so he had little time to walk deep in the forest (where the cache was hidden) and return to civilization before darkness. He wasn't skiing. He also lacked gas stove, matches, headlamp, food, hot tea/coffee and enough warm clothing, as well as a good map and compass. And he was also pretty new to this sport and to hiking at all. The poor guy managed to get to the cache but then decided to walk further and cross the forest and reach the remote village where there was a good road. This wasn't a brilliant idea. After a while he understood this and turned back but it was too late - already dark and he was too exhausted to continue walking through deep snow. Luckily, he still had a mobile phone with him and managed to call other cachers. So, a resque team arrived asap and got him out of there. In my experience this was a classic example of how a person could do almost everything to get buried while geocaching. Nevertheless, I found it very difficult sometimes even to persuade people to wear good boots while going to the country. You meet them at a railway station, ready to go, wearing nice new light Gore-tex trainers with wide smiles on their faces when seeing your heavy knee-boots and a waterproof coat.

 

Few years after that I got a call from people whom I didn't know; they apparently were at one of my geocaches. Again, it was winter and dark already. There were three of them. They lacked gas stove, matches, headlamps... so on. Lord, it was exactly the same situation. They even had the very same intention to "just walk a bit through this forest and get to that village we've heard about". I managed to organize a rescue attempt with the help of my friend who lived in the town nearby and a couple of hiking gurus who knew that very forest well. Luckily, the rescue team managed to find these poor guys in the snowy forest before any of them was seriously frostbitten.

Edited by -CJ-
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Seedless928

+Seedless928

Posted
Posted

Many, many scrapes cuts and bruises. I impaled my inner thigh on a jagged branch. Poked a nice clean hole in my leg.

The best one though, was a 1/2 with my kids. I knocked my ankle on a boulder, tipped backwards and slowly fell onto a huge rock. I rolled right over backwards, down the hill, winding up face down in the leaf litter. It was the slowest fall ever! My kids couldn't stop laughing at me. They found the cache as I was picking leaves and twigs out of my hair.

 

Your name seams very fitting! Hahaha :P

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StripyJules

+StripyJules

Posted
Posted

Not s serious injury, but wounded feelings.

 

Out caching with Other Half and dog (Sykes), I got a huge thorn in the end of a finger and pulled it out the wrong way, which caused an amount of bleeding; I had nothing to dress it with.

 

At some point some of my blood dripped on the dog.

 

We DNFd and went onto the next cache; some time later OH practically shrieked: 'OMG Sykes has got blood all over him! What's he done?!'; I said 'No it's okay, it's my blood: I dripped on him.'

 

OH said 'Oh that's alright then'... and walked off.

 

Nice to know they care, isn't it? :blink:

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Ambrosia

+Ambrosia

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Posted

Was bit on the finger by a copperhead back in '08. Here's what it looked like 48 hours later before a visit to the hand specialist to relieve some of the pressure and swelling. Five years later I'm all better except for some loss of sensation right on the tip.

 

<snipparoo>

 

 

Why in heck do you keep posting that pic?!? :surprise: Stop it! :anibad:

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The_Incredibles_

+The_Incredibles_

Posted
Posted

Was bit on the finger by a copperhead back in '08. Here's what it looked like 48 hours later before a visit to the hand specialist to relieve some of the pressure and swelling. Five years later I'm all better except for some loss of sensation right on the tip.

 

<snipparoo>

 

 

Why in heck do you keep posting that pic?!? :surprise: Stop it! :anibad:

 

LOL, I've been waiting for them to post that photo...

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Scratch Ankle

+Scratch Ankle

Posted
Posted

"The GC disclaimer says: you assume all risks involved. Hopefully that disclaimer would protect the cache owner as well as Groundspeak."

 

I'm not a lawyer but a lawyer's comment to me was that disclaimer doesn't provide that much protection. At the very least, you can't sign away the rights of others to sue. It's a pretty common clause that I have seen a lot and his comment was if you get killed doing it, your family has every right to go ahead and sue regardless of your signature on that document. Used to be that you were responsible for what your knowingly undertook. Nowadays everyone seems to think everyone is stupid and needs to be protected from themselves. One of my favorite things I have run across was a cartoon where the character was saying something to the effect that he wasn't saying we should kill all the stupid people but should just remove all the warning labels and let nature take care of the problem. Anyway, these days it's probably a crap shoot as to whether a lawsuit would be successful or not.

 

To get back on topic, I've not injured myself. In large part, that's because I'm not near as dumb as I look. I worry more about my wife since she's likely to stick her hands in places without looking while I poke and prod with my cane or other items first. I have no desire for either of us to have a finger look like wimseyguy. A lesson I wish my wife would learn. She came screaming in the house one day that she had reached into a flower pot and there was a snake in it. I asked her why she reached into the flower pot if there was a snake in it. :laughing: Of course that was much later since we have had a few copperheads and one rattlesnake around here so a snake sighting is taken quite seriously. The kicker was the snake was about 6" long (and not venomous). She's rough on my blood pressure.

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BlackRose67

+BlackRose67

Posted
Posted

I can finally add myself to this thread.

 

I was out caching this morning, attempting to find 25 puzzle caches in a day for a challenge cache.

On the way back to the car I caught the back of my leg on some rusty wire on a broken gate.

 

It cut my leg open and exposed some inner tissue (but oddly did not tear my pants).

That ended my caching day. I had to drive myself to the ER department of the nearby hospital to get patched up and get a tetanus shot.

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