Strangest thing found while geocaching

[+Mn-treker]

What is the strangest thing that you have found while looking for a geocache?

Once I found a butcher knife stuck in a T shirt in a stump in the woods. This weekend I found a wicker basket hanging in a tree.

In the basket were a pair of galoshes.

These where a few miles back in the woods.

Strange indeed. It gave me an idea to name a geocache. A Basket of Galoshes.

Maybe I will go hang them deep in the woods again.😎

[+TheVoytekBear]

While exploring a cavern a cache was hidden in: dozens of burnt out candles (those small ones in metal casings intended to keep tea warm), a glass tablet bolted to the wall of the cavern with some kind of poem...ish story about some woman. Definately not from the time when the cavern was drilled (pre WW1).

 

During a recreational PT: an abandoned, partially demolished car.

[+Mn-treker]

That car reminds me! Up north of Grand Marks, MN.

I found deep in the woods no road to it a Chrysler of unknown model.

Year class some time in the fifties by the body style.

It also had a hemi in it. The whole thing was crushed under a very large boulder. I would bet it has a very interesting story behind it.

Especially since no other rocks in the area.

[+Viajero Perdido]

A cache I adopted was the only thing (other than trees) on a pretty big island.

 

Then one day, this showed up only a few paces away from it:

 

Of all the places on this huge island, why right in front of my cache?!? (I could imagine a cacher popping up out of the bush and scaring the [...] of somebody.

 

Coincidentally, I was part of a paddling group that camped elsewhere on the island on the day that happened (my friends saw that whole apparatus setting off down the river strapped across two canoes!), so I moved the cache to the other end of the island.

[+TheVoytekBear]

If we are sharing photos...

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=28f72160-2a29-47fb-8231-0934d38ac0e6

[+Team Microdot]

#nevermind

Edited September 27, 2016 by Team Microdot

[+Mn-treker]

A cache I adopted was the only thing (other than trees) on a pretty big island.

 

Then one day, this showed up only a few paces away from it:

 

Of all the places on this huge island, why right in front of my cache?!? (I could imagine a cacher popping up out of the bush and scaring the [...] of somebody.

 

Coincidentally, I was part of a paddling group that camped elsewhere on the island on the day that happened (my friends saw that whole apparatus setting off down the river strapped across two canoes!), so I moved the cache to the other end of the island.

A Throne! 😎😁

[Kybelum]

In Austrian Alps a rusty Panzerfaust from WW2.

[+barefootjeff]

There's a dead bulldozer out in the middle of nowhere at GC5A4K0.

 

[+hzoi]

World War II bunkers and other defensive fortifications, in Germany, France, Japan, and other locations.

 

Top three were this collection of dragon's teeth,

 

 

this set of tunnels that were later used for storage for the American post exchange in Zweibrucken,

 

 

and this Japanese bunker on the invasion beach at Iwo Jima, which still contained a rusty machine gun.

 

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

We found 10 border patrol agents once ... when they surrounded us while looking for a cache. Quite a shock but no problem once we explained why we were there lol.

 

Otherwise, the oddest thing we found was a series of large concrete crosses laid out in the desert. A cache was located at one of them. I did some digging and found out that they were originally laid out in the 1960s to calibrate the corona spy satellites.

 

Photo of one of the crosses (posted by another cacher on the cache page.)

 

[+hzoi]

We found 10 border patrol agents once ... when they surrounded us while looking for a cache. Quite a shock but no problem once we explained why we were there lol.

 

Otherwise, the oddest thing we found was a series of large concrete crosses laid out in the desert. A cache was located at one of them. I did some digging and found out that they were originally laid out in the 1960s to calibrate the corona spy satellites.

 

Photo of one of the crosses (posted by another cacher on the cache page.)

 

Cool. What cache was it?

 

edit: found at least one, very cool. I'm surprised there aren't more caches out there for these; according to Wikipedia, there are dozens still out there in Casa Grande. I was able to spot several on Cornman Road.

 

edit 2: I've found at least one cache right nearby. Odd that they didn't even mention it was up the road.

Edited September 30, 2016 by hzoi

[+Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking]

We found 10 border patrol agents once ... when they surrounded us while looking for a cache. Quite a shock but no problem once we explained why we were there lol.

 

Otherwise, the oddest thing we found was a series of large concrete crosses laid out in the desert. A cache was located at one of them. I did some digging and found out that they were originally laid out in the 1960s to calibrate the corona spy satellites.

 

Photo of one of the crosses (posted by another cacher on the cache page.)

 

Cool. What cache was it?

 

edit: found at least one, very cool. I'm surprised there aren't more caches out there for these; according to Wikipedia, there are dozens still out there in Casa Grande. I was able to spot several on Cornman Road.

 

edit 2: I've found at least one cache right nearby. Odd that they didn't even mention it was up the road.

 

After we found it, we adopted it. But it is long archived. Lonesome Bush. There are many others out there in the area. Many are on the reservation. What hasnt been plowed under or destroyed by construction should still be around. You can see them pretty easily on the satellite photos spaced about a mile apart.

[+Dread_Pirate_Bruce]

I recently found a dead horse. As I was driving up, it was right where my geosense said the cache was. Fortunately, the GPS said it was 50 feet away.

[+Dread_Pirate_Bruce]

While riding quads in the Mojave Desert, I found a wooden box that the as a part of another treasure hunting game. It was 20 feet from the cache I sought.

[+mlplatt]

 

not really strange, but found this as pretty neat the other day.

Edited October 8, 2016 by mlplatt

[+hzoi]

We found 10 border patrol agents once ... when they surrounded us while looking for a cache. Quite a shock but no problem once we explained why we were there lol.

 

Otherwise, the oddest thing we found was a series of large concrete crosses laid out in the desert. A cache was located at one of them. I did some digging and found out that they were originally laid out in the 1960s to calibrate the corona spy satellites.

 

Photo of one of the crosses (posted by another cacher on the cache page.)

 

Cool. What cache was it?

 

edit: found at least one, very cool. I'm surprised there aren't more caches out there for these; according to Wikipedia, there are dozens still out there in Casa Grande. I was able to spot several on Cornman Road.

 

edit 2: I've found at least one cache right nearby. Odd that they didn't even mention it was up the road.

 

After we found it, we adopted it. But it is long archived. Lonesome Bush. There are many others out there in the area. Many are on the reservation. What hasnt been plowed under or destroyed by construction should still be around. You can see them pretty easily on the satellite photos spaced about a mile apart.

Spotted this story on NPR.org today: Decades-Old Mystery Put To Rest: Why Are There X's In The Desert?

[+J Grouchy]

One time I found a plastic grocery bag containing a pair of dirty gym socks and a handful of 9mm bullets. I tried coming up with some scenario that allowed that combination to make sense...but was unsuccessful.

[+Gill & Tony]

When doing a multi with my son we came across a huge hairy spider where one of the physical stages should have been. This being Australia, my son grabbed a stick and proceeded to beat it to death, until he realised it was plastic and had a bison tube inside it.

[+Viajero Perdido]

One time I found a plastic grocery bag containing a pair of dirty gym socks and a handful of 9mm bullets. I tried coming up with some scenario that allowed that combination to make sense...but was unsuccessful.

Take off your clothes for a skinny dip, and - aw expletive - all the coins/bullets fall out of the pocket as you're folding up the pants. Throw 'em in the bag for now, then forget 'em completely after the dip.

[+J Grouchy]

One time I found a plastic grocery bag containing a pair of dirty gym socks and a handful of 9mm bullets. I tried coming up with some scenario that allowed that combination to make sense...but was unsuccessful.

Take off your clothes for a skinny dip, and - aw expletive - all the coins/bullets fall out of the pocket as you're folding up the pants. Throw 'em in the bag for now, then forget 'em completely after the dip.

 

Which might make sense, except this was in the middle of a forest with no water nearby.

[+mdplayers]

Kittens...

 

there was a litter of kittens under a sheet of plywood. This was in a woods where kids were hanging out, riding bikes etc. Paths were carved from their riding. Hubby lifted the sheet of plywood looking for the cache and saw there was 'something furry' under it. Only after screaming like a girl, dropping the plywood did he realize the 'something furry' was kittens.

 

we didn't take them, they were obviously cared for by momma; fat little kittens

[+St.Matthew]

1. A bag of children's underwear, bloodied, and deep deep deep into the woods. I gave it to the police because it looked suspicious.

2. The grave of a dog deep into the woods north far from any trail, complete with headstone and such.

[+Team DEMP]

Back in 2005 I was hiking to a cache and came across 1 snake eating another snake across the trail. There are a series of pictures in the log at https://www.geocachi...4f-a16a65abfba7 showing a progression of the event. I left after I took the last picture and not sure how things ended up since 1 snake had itself wrapped around a stick.

 

I've run into rattlesnakes and copperheads many times in NJ but this was the first time I came across something like this.

 

Here's the first & last pictures from the series...

 

 

[+Harry Dolphin]

Was headed for a cache, walking down the sidewalk. Two women on a bike tour come by. One looks over her shoulder and says "Hey! What beautiful water." And drives right into a parked car, and ends up her back in the road. She said she was okay.

[+St.Matthew]

Back in 2005 I was hiking to a cache and came across 1 snake eating another snake across the trail. There are a series of pictures in the log at https://www.geocachi...4f-a16a65abfba7 showing a progression of the event. I left after I took the last picture and not sure how things ended up since 1 snake had itself wrapped around a stick.

 

I've run into rattlesnakes and copperheads many times in NJ but this was the first time I came across something like this.

 

Here's the first & last pictures from the series...

 

 

 

Nature is so terrifying.

[+gnarkilljboy]

I was walking through the woods the other day, and came across a picnic table, and on top of it, was this lonely teddy bear.

 

 

[+hzoi]

I was walking through the woods the other day, and came across a picnic table, and on top of it, was this lonely teddy bear.

Our little insurgent is very attached to her stuffed animal menagerie. I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that ensued when this was left behind.

[+gnarkilljboy]

I was walking through the woods the other day, and came across a picnic table, and on top of it, was this lonely teddy bear.

Our little insurgent is very attached to her stuffed animal menagerie. I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that ensued when this was left behind.

 

Glad I wasn't there to witness it!

[+Mn-treker]

Today when I entered the woods not far from the Blain, MN small aircraft airport.

I found a three foot tall rocket with parachute. I citoed it out nosecone and chute in good shape. Main body cardboard tube no good now. Hmm maybe a geocache later.

[+Thrak]

Yesterday I found something bizarre in a geocache. In the cache was a fairly decent forgery of a $100 bill. This was not the standard "joke" bill. I asked two different businesses to check the paper and both used their "pen" to mark the bill. Both said the paper was genuine. In both cases I told them I had found it and asked them to check it for me. In neither case did I try to pass the bill.

 

One business said he was certain it was a forgery and the second said it was real and offered to take it in payment for my purchase (restaurant manager) but I told him I didn't trust it and paid him with my credit card. After checking online how to tell a fake and then carefully checking the bill I found four items that told me it was fake. No "security" strip hidden in the bill. There is one in every bill larger than a $2 bill and they are in a different location depending on the denomination. If you have a black light (I don't) the strip will fluoresce and it is a different color depending on the denomination. Only $1 and $2 bills don't have that. The holographic head that shows when held to the light was on the wrong side (left instead of right). There was no "ridge" on the shoulder of the portrait. It doesn't show when you look but you should be able to feel it. Then my wife noticed the most blatant thing - the image on the back of the bill was upside down. The "top" of the bill should be the same edge both front and back. Bizarre that neither of the business owners caught that. Just goes to show it isn't as obvious as one would think. As I said above, the second business was willing to take the bill in payment but I didn't trust it (hadn't checked these things myself at that point) and didn't give it to him. I took it to the bank this morning and turned it in. They will send it to the secret service. VERY weird thing to find in a cache. Given that the paper tests good it is likely a $1 bill that was "washed" and then reprinted into a One

$100 bill. The images (other than as noted above) were very good. The bank said the ink didn't look right to them but I just attributed that to wear as it was an older bill. The said they would have caught it right away but were pleased I hadn't passed it to the business and caused them to take the loss.

 

Now that is a weird thing to find while geocaching.

[+narcissa]

This summer we found someone's half-burned shared diary of love letters while geocaching in a small town. Looks like it was tossed out of a moving car and landed underneath a tree where it thankfully burned out instead of setting the neighbourhood on fire. Looks like a couple of teenagers were using it to write letters to each other but things didn't end well. Oh, the folly of young love!

[+Viajero Perdido]

An unpublished cache.

 

A geo-friend and I were trying to find a puzzle cache by brute force (there's a suspicious gap in the geo-map right around here), and instead we stumbled across this:

 

 

That's me looking for the logbook. All it contained at the time was a set of golf clubs and a laminated geo-stash note. (The CO was still stocking the shelves, so to speak, and we missed each other by a couple of hours.)

 

It was published a week later, and the true FTFer took [something] and left a TV.

[+TotoTeam]

While looking for an appropriate location for a cache we found an old abandoned car in the forest.

Edited November 3, 2016 by TotoTeam

[+narcissa]

While looking for an appropriate location for a cache we found an old abandoned car in the forest.

 

I love finding those!

[+Viajero Perdido]

Oh yah.

 

This was the last thing I expected to find on an island on a reservoir. No roads in sight. So whatever track that thing arrived on had at least a few decades to become completely overgrown.

 

(Anybody know what model this is?)

[+hzoi]

I found a wrecked train once. The cache was based off the wreck, though, so not exactly a surprise. I'd link to the cache, but I guess it was archived; it was north of Chickasha, Oklahoma, on the Canadian River. (Fun fact, the Canadian River does not flow anywhere near Canada.)

 

edit: I lied, it was on the Cimmaron river. Same highway, just farther north.

Edited November 3, 2016 by hzoi

[+HHL]

While looking for an appropriate location for a cache we found an old abandoned car in the forest.

 

I love finding those!

Then you will like this location shown on week 44's calendar page:

HCT-Kalender 2016

 

Have fun and see also the cache's image gallery.

 

Hans

Edited November 3, 2016 by HHL

[+Viajero Perdido]

<tangent>

I found a wrecked boxcar once, in the middle of a field. (It wasn't while caching; I was off-road on the mountain bike and skirting a field, saw something odd, and went over to check it out.)

 

This was the year after a devastating tornado tore through the area, and the boxcar looked like it'd been dropped from an airplane.

</tangent>

[+TriciaG]

Some geocachers found an injured woman.

[+narcissa]

While looking for an appropriate location for a cache we found an old abandoned car in the forest.

 

I love finding those!

Then you will like this location shown on week 44's calendar page:

HCT-Kalender 2016

 

Have fun and see also the cache's image gallery.

 

Hans

 

Wonderful!

 

We cache out in the country as much as we can. Rusty old cars always get a favourite point from me.

[+hzoi]

These folks found something interesting all right.

 

Geocachers make unusual find — trapped Benton City woman

 

edit: oh, I see TriciaG already posted. Derp.

Edited November 7, 2016 by hzoi

[+KatnissRue]

I don't have a photo, but I found a dumpster in he middle of the woods. It had been there for some time, so it was sunk several feet into the ground. This thing was a quater mile hike into the woods- away from the main road. I was so amazed by it, that I hid a cahce there too.

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I was first to find on the cache called Automated Railway which is in a railroad car that derailed and rolled more than 200 feet below the tracks.

[+wimseyguy]

An exceptionally large chocolate colored sex toy. Even more odd was that it had silver duct tape wrapped around the midsection. Just think about why.

[+Rose Red]

My daughter and I were hunting for the first stage of a multi in the Mt. Hood National Forest around noon on a weekend. We encountered a large smoldering mound covered in canvas strips. We did not find the clue so we walked back to the forest service road. We talked it over and decided that we should report the smoldering mound. I called in the coordinates to the US Forest Service. I had trouble finding someone who understood coordinates. There were numerous phone calls. We continued Geocaching in the area. A woman called about 4:00PM to say they finally located the smoldering mound. They discovered a device in the midst of the mound that would trigger a fire. She thanked us for reporting it.

[+Die Nemos]

While looking for an appropriate location for a cache we found an old abandoned car in the forest.

That's always great. We found one on our way to Waipio on Big Island:

[+hzoi]

My daughter and I were hunting for the first stage of a multi in the Mt. Hood National Forest around noon on a weekend. We encountered a large smoldering mound covered in canvas strips. We did not find the clue so we walked back to the forest service road. We talked it over and decided that we should report the smoldering mound. I called in the coordinates to the US Forest Service. I had trouble finding someone who understood coordinates. There were numerous phone calls. We continued Geocaching in the area. A woman called about 4:00PM to say they finally located the smoldering mound. They discovered a device in the midst of the mound that would trigger a fire. She thanked us for reporting it.

Glad you persevered until USFS got on the case.

[Octochan]

surlybird and I found someone's drug stash near a geocache. We'd thought we'd actually found the geocache - it was three nested ziplock bags! Except it was full of dime baggies of probably crack, and a few of weed. We left them a note telling them about geocaching and suggesting they move their stash.

[+cheech gang]

suggesting they move their stash.

 

That was really your first instinct?