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What's kind of injuries have you had while geocaching?


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I hunted down Groundhog's Day Cache about 3 weeks ago, was bushwhacking when the bushes whacked back. Lost my grip on a rather elastic branch and it got me in the eye. Teared for the remainder of the day, but no further complications... till last week. Doctor informed that I scratched my cornea & if this goo doesn't fix it, I need laser surgery.

 

Certainly this isn't the worst injury a geocacher has suffered (although the resulting surgery puts me in what I hope is a very small minority) Got me wondering what other injuries people have sustained while caching...(not just hiking, but specifically caching)

 

TeamGwho

 

WUHOO TEAMGWHO!

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I'm sorry you injured yourself, and I'm not poking fun at your injury, but the line in your cache log where you wrote "I was stumbling in my visionless state when I suddenly spotted the correct location . . ." is truly one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long time. Thank you for that!

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I did have to contend with my own stupidity last July. I took my 5yo son on the Cumberland Trail cache on Signal Mountain down by Rainbow Fall. We had a blast hiking in very humid weather. There was a very large flat stone at about a 15° angle - about the size of a dining room table top. We had to cross it, as it completely blocked the path, and there were no hand holds.

 

Going up it was no problem. We continued our hike and had a great time. On the way back, that 15° angle was going down, and it was moist. I told my son to sit down and slide down like a playground slide - no problem. I tried to shimmy down it and ended up shootin' the glute out from behind me.

 

The etrex went flying and I tried to brace myself on the way down. Bumped my tailbone and sprained my wrist pretty badly - hurt for about a week. Everything else was OK though, including the GPS.

 

Only other thing that's been injured is my pride when I go screaming because I've found a tick on my shirt. icon_wink.gif

 

Markwell

Non omnes vagi perditi sunt

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I did have to contend with my own stupidity last July. I took my 5yo son on the Cumberland Trail cache on Signal Mountain down by Rainbow Fall. We had a blast hiking in very humid weather. There was a very large flat stone at about a 15° angle - about the size of a dining room table top. We had to cross it, as it completely blocked the path, and there were no hand holds.

 

Going up it was no problem. We continued our hike and had a great time. On the way back, that 15° angle was going down, and it was moist. I told my son to sit down and slide down like a playground slide - no problem. I tried to shimmy down it and ended up shootin' the glute out from behind me.

 

The etrex went flying and I tried to brace myself on the way down. Bumped my tailbone and sprained my wrist pretty badly - hurt for about a week. Everything else was OK though, including the GPS.

 

Only other thing that's been injured is my pride when I go screaming because I've found a tick on my shirt. icon_wink.gif

 

Markwell

Non omnes vagi perditi sunt

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Well, nothing serious - YET. Last weekend while chasing Round Lake National Natural Landmark, I was presented with "400 feet, dead ahead" to get to the cache. That meant up a 45° or steeper slope, wet, loose dirt, lots of dead leaves on the ground. Nearly slid down the thing a few times.

 

Got to the top, then finished decrypting the hint. The cliff it warns about? Yeah, I climbed it. D'OH!

 

Worst part was, I never found the cache. This makes TWICE I've gone after a cache in that park, approached from the wrong side, and didn't find the blasted thing. Encountered some treacherous climbing on the other hunt as well, but not as bad as this one.

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quote:
Originally posted by Gwho:

Certainly this isn't the worst injury a geocacher has suffered (although the resulting surgery puts me in what I hope is a very small minority) Got me wondering what other injuries people have sustained while caching...(not just hiking, but specifically caching)

 

TeamGwho


 

Well, my injuries are not as serious as yours, but I did fall THREE TIMES during our recent GeoExpedition to Hillsboro, Oregon. You can read the account of my misfortune HERE. Sad but true. icon_eek.gif

----------

Lori aka: RedwoodRed

KF6VFI

"I don't get lost, I investigate alternative destinations."

GeoGadgets Team Website

Comics, Video Games and Movie Fansite

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quote:
Originally posted by Gwho:

Certainly this isn't the worst injury a geocacher has suffered (although the resulting surgery puts me in what I hope is a very small minority) Got me wondering what other injuries people have sustained while caching...(not just hiking, but specifically caching)

 

TeamGwho


 

Well, my injuries are not as serious as yours, but I did fall THREE TIMES during our recent GeoExpedition to Hillsboro, Oregon. You can read the account of my misfortune HERE. Sad but true. icon_eek.gif

----------

Lori aka: RedwoodRed

KF6VFI

"I don't get lost, I investigate alternative destinations."

GeoGadgets Team Website

Comics, Video Games and Movie Fansite

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Fell so many times I lost count but never was seriously injured from any of those. Apparently, falling on one's butt, while undignified, isn't really so bad. Then I go to pick up a cache and break a fingernail. What irony.

 

There was a time when a large rock rolled over my foot while I was up on the side of a hill in Harriman State Park. Fortunately, my foot just happened to be inside a small depression so there was no damage done.

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Sorry to hear about your eye, GWho!

 

When I was setting up my Splitrock Splendor multicache , I over-estimated when the sun would set and, as I made my way back from the multi-caches, it was as dark as black can be. Using my small torch, I stumbled back using the BackTrack feature of the GPS. The last section before my car was a rocky hill.....

 

...I fell down so badly that Humpty Dumpty would be laughing! Needless to say, I was cut and bleeding all over. Thankfully, I had a female companion with me that patched up my wounded pride icon_smile.gif

 

9929_700.jpg

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Sorry to hear about your eye, GWho!

 

When I was setting up my Splitrock Splendor multicache , I over-estimated when the sun would set and, as I made my way back from the multi-caches, it was as dark as black can be. Using my small torch, I stumbled back using the BackTrack feature of the GPS. The last section before my car was a rocky hill.....

 

...I fell down so badly that Humpty Dumpty would be laughing! Needless to say, I was cut and bleeding all over. Thankfully, I had a female companion with me that patched up my wounded pride icon_smile.gif

 

9929_700.jpg

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quote:
Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

When I was setting up my Splitrock Slendor multicache , I over-estimated when the sun would set and, as I made my way back from the multi-caches, it was as dark as black can be. Using my small torch, I stumbled back using the BackTrack feature of the GPS. The last section before my car was a rocky hill.....

 

...I fell down so badly that Humpty Dumpty would be laughing! Needless to say, I was cut and bleeding all over. Thankfully, I had a female companion with me that patched up my wounded pride icon_smile.gif


 

Hey Artful, we notice you didn't say anything about your lady friend falling down or receiving injuries. Was that because she stopped and asked for directions? icon_wink.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by The Artful Dodger:

When I was setting up my Splitrock Slendor multicache , I over-estimated when the sun would set and, as I made my way back from the multi-caches, it was as dark as black can be. Using my small torch, I stumbled back using the BackTrack feature of the GPS. The last section before my car was a rocky hill.....

 

...I fell down so badly that Humpty Dumpty would be laughing! Needless to say, I was cut and bleeding all over. Thankfully, I had a female companion with me that patched up my wounded pride icon_smile.gif


 

Hey Artful, we notice you didn't say anything about your lady friend falling down or receiving injuries. Was that because she stopped and asked for directions? icon_wink.gif

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I am glad to see I am not the only one to smack myself in the eye with a tree branch. On the same hunt I slipped on the ice and fell with my leg twisted in an odd position behind me. I thought for sure I had broken it but thankfully it was only a sprain. On another cache hunt I slipped on the ice again and fell face foward and landed on both knees, re-injuring my right knee from an accident a couple of years ago. I bought ice cleats after that and for the time being I'm stuck doing level 1 and 2 terrain until my knee is better.

 

Chris from Team Rex

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There is an entertaining set of entries by scooterj at Rowdy's Cache.

 

My own worst injuries (so far) have been a slightly sprained ankle simultaneously with a scratched GPS faceplate: Before you jump into a drainage ditch full of leaves, make sure it's not a drainage ditch full of leaves floating on eight inches of water. Also thorns in the head on another occasion.

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