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Desert Geocaching Clothing


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OUCH! GOD %#@#!! F%(#ING CACTUS! Sound familiar? Well, I am sick of getting stuck by cactus and want to talk to people who have knowledge in this area...I am looking for the best pair of cactus-proof hiking pants out there. They have to be lightweight, to beat the summer heat in AZ, and breathe. Any suggestions?

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I've done a lot of desert hiking, and have more than my share of battle scars from aggressive agave plants.

 

The best remedy is to not stumble into them. I don't know of any pants that can withstand southwest cacti. I have a pair of army pants, thick and heavy....they go right through that.

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I agree with Tradboy. There are no Pants I know of that can keep cactus needles away from your skin. Some of them are thinner than hypodermic needles. The only way I know of is to stay away from the cactus. Sometimes I see how close I can walk near them without touching them. It's good practice in avoidance.

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On our trip Mar 15th through like a week later, illDRIVE mostly wore shorts, while I with my shiny, porcelain white legs kept them hidden beneath blue jeans. illDRIVE cut his shins on some thorny tree, he says he got it at Mosquito Cove cache near Zion NP.. He says that he didn't get torn up so much by cactuses.. but by the usual (we are used to this) sage, and some thorny tree he remembers seeing and apparently thrashing around in at many of our southwest caches. If I had any money leftover from this Spring Break, I'd put up a prize for anyone who can guess what that thorny tree is, perhaps from their geocaching experiences in Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

I (Zzzoey) have to say, I didn't even get sunburned. I really expected to. I was shocked the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was closed.. I am shocked that you guys down there even HAVE a winter.. I just didn't think you did! It was explained to me about how skinny the saguaros get when they are underwatered... but when we got to Phoenix, the clouds had opened up, and the saguaros looked as fat and happy as ever. No blooms though. Something like 200 gallons of water one of them can suck up during one single rainstorm. Amazing. I think we could harness this energy and become mideast oil independent or something.

 

Um.. yeah I was happy in jeans and my leather hiking boots. The geopup however, was injured the second day of the trip... rock hopping near Gold Ace cache, near Beatty, Nevada. Great cache by the way. Some rock sliced clean through the pad on his paw, and for the rest of the trip he AND we babied his injury. Watch for puppy paws too!

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Well, if you stay on the trail you can avoid most of the cacti, but sometimes you have to leave it.

 

If the cache is off the trail, hopefully fellow AZ Cachers don't make it too far off, the more cactus we are touching the more we are killing.

 

Or if a rattler is on the trail. This happened to us a week or two ago. Walking along a rather narrow trail and all of a sudden that familiar sound scared us running backwards along the trail. Being 2/3s the way thru a 6 mile hike, didn't much want to head back, so we ventured off the path a little bit with the rattler in our sights. Unfortunatly the cacti was not in the sights of my girlfriend who got a big cholla burr firmly on the inside of her knee. OUCH! Well is was up to me to get it out, took off my t-shirt to try to grab the spikey ball, OUCH! Went right through it. So we managed to get back on the trail on the other side of the rattler, and it came to me that many desert hiking guides reccomend a comb to remove cactus. You should have seen her face when I came at her with a comb, but it slipped over the needles between her leg and the ball of needles. A few hard yanks later she was free of the nasty tag along.

 

Moral of the story, bring a comb along with your cache goodies next time hiking through the desert!

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".......and it came to me that many desert hiking guides reccomend a comb to remove cactus. You should have seen her face when I came at her with a comb, but it slipped over the needles between her leg and the ball of needles. A few hard yanks later she was free of the nasty tag along."

 

Sounds like a quick (if painfull) way to remove cactus. I'm new to caching but not new to the desert. The only protection I've ever found wasen't worth the discomfort. Leather chaps, these work great. I've used them when stringing barb wire but they'er way to hot for hiking.

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Being a Native Arizonan all I can say is there is no clothing that is cactus proof. All you can do is Keep your eyes on the ground in front of you and Watch your step. you don't need to stare at the GPS all the time. Have a comb or letherman type of tool with you and lots of water. On rattlers just move them off to oneside of the trail they're harmless. I've encountered them almost every time I hike and I take a stick and lift them off the trail. They'll even move on their own if you prod them with the stick. Make sure the stick is at least 4' in length. If you're so scared as to not want to play with them , then go around them, they don't attack and are not aggressive unless constantly abused. In the last 25 years of hiking the desert I've walked over them and sat next to them without realizing it until I see them. I always carry a 6' saguaro rib bushwacker tapping the shrub in front of me to alert the critters. Rattlers do not always rattle when you come upon them also. Just be careful when out in the desert and use common sense.

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quote:
Originally posted by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders):

If you hike nude you learn to watch where you are going --very quickly!!


 

Way too much information.

 

Oddly enough, I've walked barefoot (not by choice) and in sandals in the desert without incident. In my own yard, in enclosed shoes I got a hedgehog cactus needle through the joint of a toe. I nearly kicked the doctor in the face when he tried to pull it out. I have a bone spur there as a permanent reminder. Tweezers are essential geocaching gear.

 

That moss-covered bucket I hailed as a treasure,

For often at noon, when I returned from the field,

I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure.

 

Samuel Woodworth The Old Oaken Bucket

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