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Geocaching injuries


Guest Tissue

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Guest Tissue

Has anyone been injured while geocaching? I don't mean bumps and bruises. If we know what kind of injuries people get while geocaching then we can be more prepared.

 

[This message has been edited by Tissue (edited 27 July 2001).]

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Guest The Bees

The worst injuries sustained so far by either me or my family are as follows:

 

1- Tore off half my fingernail when I jumped down and slipped on a mossy rock.

 

2- My kid fell and cut his elbow pretty deep on a sharp rock. Almost required a stitch or two.

 

3- Twisted an ankle while bushwacking to a cache.

 

Because of these injuries I have added a couple of finger splints, butterfly bandages and an ACE bandage to my hiking med kit.

 

So far that's all

 

Mike B

"The Bees"

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Guest brokenwing

No real injuries so far, thank God. As far as additions, I would recommend a staff of some kind. Good for all kinds of things, but in the event of a sprain / break it makes a good crutch. It may even prevent injuries as it tends to make you more stable when walking.

 

brokenwing (No I didn't break it geocaching!)

 

[This message has been edited by brokenwing (edited 27 July 2001).]

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Guest Jeff Renner

Nancy, my wife, looked ahead off the Potawatomi Trail to see the butterfly weed (a pretty orange milkweed) that I pointed out, missed her footing and twisted her ankle rather badly. It was a canted trail with some rocks and roots, but she didn't go down!

 

I told her the old Boy Scout rule was "lace it up tighter and go on." So she did - on to Potawatomi Cache here in SE Michigan (we were the first ), and then on to Hell's Gate #1 Cache. Probably a couple of miles total. What a trooper!

 

Her ankle swelled up pretty badly and the next day it was turning an ugly purple (eventually even her toes), so I took a couple of digital photos and sent them to our family doc with her symptoms (remote medicine - just like National Geographic expeditions to the Amazon). He felt that it was probably a sprain, but the treatment would be the same - ice,an aircast splint, stay off it as much as possible and see him if it didn't imrove.

 

Well, it didn't get better, so yesterday (12 days after) she went to see the doc, and it wasn't sprained - it was BROKEN. 3-4 more weeks with the aircast splint. And no geocaching for a while.

 

Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, MI USA

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Guest Iron Chef

Just a few moderate cases of heat exhaustion and dehydration. :~) But then again thats what happens when you go caching during the midday. It's nothing that a few liters of room temp water and a good night's sleep won't cure.

 

------------------

-Iron Chef

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

agefive.com/geocache/ ~ Fe-26

Lets Drive Fast and Eat Cheese!

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Guest Snowtrail

I'm accident prone, so when I stepped on top of a fallen tree, I managed to hit the only rotten spot on the tree. My foot fell through and my calf was almost impaled on a limb. All I got was a really bad bruise.

 

I also had mild allergic reations to spider bites I ran into. Seems that spiders don't care about deet...

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Guest tecmage

Hi,

 

We just bought a couple of walking staffs. So far, Tracy has has very mild reactions to Poison Ivy, and I took a bad fall (feet flew above my head) on ice- strained shoulder.

 

Richard and Tracy

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Guest wizmedic

Nah...you dont need all those people. Have an Army Medic or Navy Corpsman on had. Might has well have the goverment pay for the stand-by. Oh, might has well have a Medi-Vac on stand-by also. :-)

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Guest arffer

whizmedic,

 

But would only having one person, say your suggested Army Medic, constitute having a staff?

 

Now, if you had said to select say a Staff Sargent, well that would work. icon_wink.gif

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Guest arffer

whizmedic,

 

But would only having one person, say your suggested Army Medic, constitute having a staff?

 

Now, if you had said to select say a Staff Sargent, well that would work. icon_wink.gif

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Guest makaio

Other than a few cuts and scrapes, my worst physical injury was just yesterday - got stung by a bee. The cache was placed during winter months in a tree stump. Now that it's summer, the stump it home to a large hive of yellow jackets who are none to pleased to relinquish 'their' cache to visitors.

 

Early on in my caching career (10/2000), my 8 month old daughter suffered some nasty cuts across her face when Daddy failed to duck low enough under some sticker branches. Daddy suffered a fate worse than any physical injury upon presenting her to Mommy when we returned home icon_frown.gif

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Guest makaio

Other than a few cuts and scrapes, my worst physical injury was just yesterday - got stung by a bee. The cache was placed during winter months in a tree stump. Now that it's summer, the stump it home to a large hive of yellow jackets who are none to pleased to relinquish 'their' cache to visitors.

 

Early on in my caching career (10/2000), my 8 month old daughter suffered some nasty cuts across her face when Daddy failed to duck low enough under some sticker branches. Daddy suffered a fate worse than any physical injury upon presenting her to Mommy when we returned home icon_frown.gif

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Guest CharlieP

Nothing serious, but I wear shorts on most hunts (Georgia is HOT in summer) and have had some mild rashes from poison ivy, and many scratches from briars. Stepped in a hole and turned my ankle on one hunt and it swelled a bit, but no real damage. I would agree with others who have recommended carrying a walking stick, it has saved me from falls several times, and can be handy poking around for the cache.

 

CharlieP

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Guest topo_canoe

Had a near miss this past weekend. While walking on a narrow cliff, the limb broke and I fell 6', luckily landing on my feet. Resulted in scrapes to my leg and forearm, but probably kept me upright.

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Guest jc364

We learned our lesson on our first cache hunt. We wore shorts and thought this was a walk in the park. After treating insect bites, scratches and running across natures slithering friends, we now go out as fully prepared as we would when we hike the moutain trails. This consists of a back pack with a first aid kit, snake bite kit,emergengy supplies and walking staffs. I have also read here about a lot of sprains. They make an emergency cold pack that you can carry in your back pack. You can get them at wal-mart.

 

Jerry

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Guest Peter Scholtz

Well, I slipped twice today! Now I know that early morning shaded areas are slippery, specificly large rocks with moss and log paths.

 

I have the minor wounds to prove it. Ten minutes after my first slip, I thought about the first aid kit I bought on the advice of other cachers, and humoured myself with some first aid.

 

Thereafter I was careful, real careful! Taking no risks! Then there was this log path, and it was flat & level. Half way, woops, couldn't believe it. Second time this morning I ended up halfway on a hard surface and halfway into a bush.

 

The second thing I learned is that a backpack takes all the impact when you slip and land on your back/side ...

 

------------------

Peter Scholtz

www.biometrics.co.za

 

[This message has been edited by Peter Scholtz (edited 11 August 2001).]

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Guest Squad51

arm!

 

Forgot to mention that we finished the hunt before even considering medical treatment! LOL!

 

[This message has been edited by Squad51 (edited 11 August 2001).]

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Guest PharoaH

While not an in jury...

 

While caching last night I got dive bombed by a screech owl! All I remember was this... I was holdng the flashlight about shoulder height, helping our daughter along the trail. The next thing I remember seeing was the outstretched wings and talons of a bird swooping right towards my face. It had made most of it's stealthy attack arch through darkness, only to be betrayed at the last second by the flashlight beam. Thank goodness my natural reaction was to drop to the gound! The thing floored me, thats for sure. I got up, dusted off, and continued onward.

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Because I HAVE to wear shorts, I've had some wonderful scratches from berry bushes--oh yeah, and there was the time I fell in a hole up to my waist--but aside from that--I don't EVER want to have to post to THIS forum again!!!!

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SeeSquirrel Bridge cache. The first cache I placed. Unfortunately one geocacher fell and broke an ankle while approaching (I believe it was a fair distance from the actual cache). I felt terrible. Bumped up the difficulty a bit and posted my regards for the cacher but didn't know what else to do. I thought about archiving it but then I have been on several caches that I felt were much more difficult and apparently other finders have liked the area/cache. What would you do if it was your cache?

Edited by Brer Rabbit
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