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worst encounter while caching?


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Kinda new at caching, and I'm sure this probably a repeat thread, but gotta ask anyway.

 

What is the worst thing that ever happened to you while looking for a cach? Falling down a hill, weeds, dog chasing you, droping the caching in the river,etc.... whatever it is I wanna hear some of these stories as a newbie.

 

Since I'm new and have only found 5 cach's, my worst story is pretty lame. Was at this cach site

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=8370

 

and thought to myself, "Awe, wont be so bad". Well I get there to find out that there was NO trail made. This was all bushwacking through sumac, poison ivy, poison oak, gooseberry thornbushes, and stinging neetles. By the time I found the cach, .79 miles through this stuff, my legs were all tore up. I have NEVER itched so bad in my entire life!!!

 

I know, I know, that story was pretty weak, thats why I wanna hear some good old fashioned cach vetren stories. Blood, guts, and homade splints. That type of stuff. Hope to hear some good ones.

 

Tim, aka The Weasel icon_eek.gif

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I've seen snakes, gators, stinging nettles, poison ivy, etc...luckily no major mishaps in that department.

The worse situation is when you get to a cache and it's just totally FUBAR. In my area I'm usually one of the first finders, so that's part of the challenge I guess. icon_smile.gif By FUBAR, I don't mean the cache has been trashed, but more that it wasn't placed well, coordinates are off by a mile, bad assumptions, screwey description...sloppy mistakes.

The only thing worse than that is when YOU place a cache and find out later that YOU screwed up and put someone through heck. icon_smile.gif

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Financial, physical, or most embarrasing? It'd either have to be...

 

Fianancial:

When my car was broken into at The End Is Just The Beginning. After all was said and done, with the cost of replacing the glass and the stuff the creeps took (Handspring Visor plus memory module, gift certificates, etc.), I'm out $413.76, not including the cost of our ''free'' cell phone.

 

Physical:

When I went wading in Puget Sound in February looking for Galloping Gertie. The instructions clearly stated ''you’d do well to pay close attention to the tides, you don’t want to spend the night or have to swim for it!'' As if. We went hunting at high tide. Scrambled up rapidly sloughing clay banks at parts, scrambled over driftwood at points. And on the way back, I got my feet wet, which made it a lot easier 'cause I didn't need to worry about keeping them dry. Nothing like hiking a half mile through Puget Sound in the winter.

 

Embarassing:

When I returned to work after hunting Bike the BPA Trail #1 at lunch, and it looked as if I had lost a fight with a bag of grass seed and wet myself as a consequence. Here's a tip: don't wear khaki Dockers when hunting a cache in deep grass in the rain.

 

'''I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)'' -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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While placing our most recent cache, we were accosted by a redneck family. The park rules were clearly posted and the park closed at 1am. We were out at 10:30pm (it's just too hot here to go out much during the day for me...).

 

So, we had the GPS and we were looking for a good spot. We had loaded the detailed maps for the eTrex Legend and the map showed the park boundaries. We were on park property and these idiots' back yard is adjacent to the park. They had several (at least 3-5) loud dogs in their back yard and they started barking. This woman starts yelling out her back yard and we ignore her since we weren't doing anything wrong. We couldn't find a good spot to hide the cache in that part of the park so we went back out that trail and Bubba starts over toward me and asks me "what the f@#k are you doing out here, God da@#it!? Who the h@#l are you???!!!" And I said, "Who are YOU?" And he continued toward us...I thought he was going to get really violent by his tone and posture. This went on for a while...I don't think he liked me shining my 120 lumen flashlight in his face...it probably helped to get him to calm down a bit. People aren't nearly as aggresive when they can't see anything. icon_smile.gif (I REALLY don't think he would've liked the next thing I was going to pull out if he'd continued to walk toward us, threatening us after I told him to stay put).

 

So...we have a "conversation" with Bubba and his idiot wife and kids come out to join in the fun telling me about how the park closes at 10pm (which it doesn't; it closes at 1am) and how they don't want the cops to come out to give them ANOTHER ticket for their loud dogs and how people go in the park and do nasty, evil things back there...blah, blah, blah. I advised him to be a little more careful and non-threatening next time or he might find himself in a little deeper situation than he would be equipped to handle.

 

THEN, we hid the cache and headed back to the vehicle. And then I called the police and advised them of Bubba's verbal (and almost physical) assault on us. They were very concerned about this and sent an officer out to meet us. We explained everything that happened to the officer, including how they didn't want "another" ticket from "the cops" about their "loud dogs".

 

The policeman said, "Oh, so he probably doesn't like the police then...hmm...where exactly did you go? Which house was it? I think I'll take a walk back there and let him run out and see if he has anything to say to ME." And after reassuring us that we'd done absolutely nothing wrong, off he went into the park to find this moron...

 

I never heard anything back, but I would've loved to have seen Bubba's face when he ran out into the park and said, "What the f@#k are you doing back out here??! I thought I told you to get the f@#k out of -- oh...hi, officer."

 

icon_smile.gif

 

So, hopefully Bubba won't bother any others going out there...the cache isn't anywhere near his place and I posted a note on that cache page warning others of his belligerent behavior and to call the police promptly if he harasses anyone else...I'm sure they've probably had a few calls on these yo-yos already.

 

By the way, this park is located in a fairly affluent area of our fair town (about $150k houses), which goes to show you that there is not a direct relationship between income level and intelligence and that just because you don't live in a mobile home doesn't mean you're not "trailer trash ala Jerry Springer"...it's apparently a state of mind -- one which Bubba and his family seem to enjoy a great deal.

 

JM-99

 

[This message was edited by Jumpmaster on July 15, 2002 at 10:40 PM.]

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This is my log from Tuna's Greta Garbo's Phone cache (The bad stuff started happening after I failed to find the cache...

 

Tires screeching, throwing off black smoke. The tumultuous cacophony sends a piercing fear down my spine. A dark colored mustang slides screaming sideways in the number two lane, I’m behind, in the number three, just about 20 feet away… Will I slam into it doing 70?

 

That, folks is a teaser line. I’ll get back to the massive pileup on the freeway in just a moment. For now I just want to log my experience seeking Tuna’s micro-cache called “Greta Garbo’s Phone”. In this journey two payphones will play their part. I’ll be forced to buy a soft drink, walk into a spider web, and get filthy-dirty. Oh yeah, And I’ll have a near death experience. Mustn’t forget that.

I earn my living pounding keys in La Jolla. A couple of weeks ago Tuna hid a cache nearby my work that had a tantalizing description. I entered the gps coordinates and saw which way the arrow pointed. Only .41 miles away! I’ve been trying to figure out where it could be just from knowing the area but I’ve never figured it out. Today I decided to hunt it down after work. Since it was so close to work I just crossed the street and headed down the sidewalk towards my destination. Its that delightful time of day just after the sun has gone down but before its gotten dark. I’ve heard other people describe this as a sad time of day but I’ve always considered it “Free Time”. Its actually nighttime since the sun has gone down but there’s still enough time to see and do things… Free Time!

 

I arrived at point zero and looked past the Iron Gates. Woops, as usual, I’m underdressed. I paused and waited a few minutes hoping that some casually dressed pedestrians would show up and walk past the gates thereby proving that the uncouth were welcome. After the fifth group of well heeled gentlemen and ladies passed by I figured I’d better make my assault on the cache now before I was written up for vagrancy.

Entering brought me underneath the ring of fire, Greta must have been obscured by one of the many loiterers cuz I didn’t see her. I did ask a helpful person to point out the phones and I was directed downstairs. Ah, is that a nook? Or maybe it’s a cranny. In any case I see some phones and I start my surreptitious search. Hmmmm… Not there…… Wasn’t under that…… Felt along the side of….. shook the phonebook out…. Checked the bottom of the wastebasket… panels pull away? .. NO… Okay I’m stumped. I contacted Tuna and told him where I looked. Hopefully he’ll tell me where I went wrong. For now I’ll have to chalk this guy up as a not found.

Driving home on the freeway later I’m in a bit of a reverie trying to figure what I could possibly have to say to this log tonight when a mustang passes me doing 90. Happens all the time, I’m not sure I noticed it at a conscious level. Abruptly, for whatever reason it fishtails sideways and I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. My mind flashes back to a recent accident my car pool buddy and I had just a month previously. A rogue tire loose on the freeway was causing people to slam on their brakes. My friend was driving and she braked sharply and it looked like we might avoid the tire entirely (bad pun) but no such luck. As we slowed it rolled towards us… as we slowed more… It rolled closer… as we bout stopped… it didn’t and hit. Hours later I theorized that if we just maintained our speed we would have passed safely by and avoided the tire. In the split second that this was going thru my mind I could see that the car careening sideways down the lane was starting to drift closer to my lane. Since it was sliding sideways it was slowing quick. Trusting my instincts I floored the pedal and shot by the car just as it entered my lane. Looking back thru the rear view I saw the car behind me unsuccesfully try to avoid the mustang, crashing into another car in a side lane as it was pushed by the mustang there were now 3 cars molded together but still moving. Cars on either side performed wild swerves to avoid the mayhem, some did, others didn’t. I was just cringing in my seat as I drove shakily on. Luckily no one was hurt, just a lot of mangled metal.

 

Two more off ramps and it was time for me to leave the freeway. I pulled off and started the last leg for home. Half a mile off the freeway I started to hear the flub flub flub of a flat tire. Oh man, its just one thing after another! I pull off to the side of the road but I seize on a silver lining. For the last several years at Christmas time the family and I have watched “A CHRISTMAS STORY”. One of the memorable scenes occurs when the family car develops a flat. Darrin McGavin eagerly goes into action striving to change his tire and score a new personal best for quickness. I decide I should treat this the same way. Noting the time as I get out of the car I set a personal goal to have that tire off and replaced in five minutes. I look at the tire as I get out and not that there are only four lug-nuts to remove. “Easy” I think to myself as I opened the trunk. I slide all the trunk detritus out of the way and pull up the false floor grabbing the spare and pulling it out in a quick motion. All my enthusiasm leaves my body as I look at the jack. It’s one inanimate piece of red rust. I can’t believe how corroded it is. I attempt a half hearted turn on the spindle but its frozen solid. This jack ain’t jacking tonight. I’ve now got black tire dust all over my hands, shirt and pants with touches of rust here and there for contrast.

 

I’m gonna have to hoof it to a phone and call the family for backup. Luckily there are softball games going on just across the road. Theres bound to be a payphone over there. Yep, I find the phone but I don’t have any change. Trying to get change from the person at the snack bar I learn that they don’t hand out change I’ll have to buy something. Forced to buy a coke, I now have means to call the homestead. “ring… ring… ring… I’m sorry… we are not home right now please leave your name and number” is intoned by my beautiful wife Whistlestick. “Pick up the phone” I announce to the ether. “hello… hello… anyone there? … hello? …. Pick up the phone…” No one wants to hear about yrium’s problems. I leave a truly pitiful message detailing my woes on the answer machine. Then I call a tow truck.

Heading back to where I left the car at the side of the road with its blinkers blinking I’m taking a little solace in the icy goodness of my forced bought Coke. As I duck under a tree branch on the side of the road I put my face directly into the center of a sticky spider web. Ahhhh! I windmill my arms sloshing the majority of the Coke over my shoulder… Dang.

An hour later, when I finally make it home, the family is acting as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, I ask them “did you guys enjoy my message?”. Whistlestick informs me “oh we just fast forwarded it when we heard it was you… I’m expecting an important call”.

Just one of those days…

 

Thanks Tuna for the interesting evening.

 

--- yrium ---

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We took some friends out this past Saturday for their first time caching.

 

After tramping around for about 40 minutes at the first cache on our list, we had to give up in defeat.

 

On the way to the trailhead for the second cache, one of our friends slips and sprains her ankle. LTK and I decide not to continue after realizing that we are being eaten alive by 'squitoes and have no bug juice.

 

So, on Monday, we decide to hit another local cache that had previously defeated us - and my weak ankle rolls out from under me and *I* wind up with a bad sprain (7th in 16 years, for those keeping score at home).

 

I'm beginning to be kinda glad that we won't be able to cache the next two weekends . . .

 

Shel

ST

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On our (me, my wife, and 4-yr old son) first day of caching we hit four seperate caches.

 

The first one was easy, walked right to it and moved on.

 

The second one was little more challenging. At the point we were just about to give up, we found it.

 

The third cache was a little trickier. We ended up parking in the wrong place and had a pretty dangerous 1-1.5 mile hike. Ended up having to turn around, walk back to our vehicle, and drive to the other side of the canyon.

 

The fourth one was the reason for my reply to this thread. We noticed that no one had found this particular cache yet and decided that we would try to be the first. We arrived in the canyon where this cache was hidden and parked approximately 70-80 ft from the cache. Upon exiting our vehicle we discovered a 20-30 ft drop to a creek. So, we walked a little ways until we could get down to the creek without having to repell. Once we got to the creek, we decided that the best way to get closer to the cache would be to walk through the creek, so that's what we did. That was the fun part.

 

Once we were within about 30 ft from the cache, we realized that we needed to get out of the creek and head up the mountain. Unfortuneately, there was a 8 ft dirt cliff that we would have to scale to get there. I was able to get up the embankment, but it was a little to steep for my wife and son. So, I asked them to wait there and I would locate the cache.

 

Upon locating the cache, I could see that if my wife and son walked a little further down the creek, they could get up to my location. I let them know what I say and they followed my suggestion. Upon reaching the no-so-steep side of the creek, my wife picked up my 4-yr old and placed him on a log and instructed him to walk from there. As soon as my son began to walk, we heard that noise! icon_eek.gif I'll never forget it and I don't think my family will either. There, a foot-and-a-half in front of my son, was an adult rattlesnake!! I don't think I've ever heard my son scream like he did at that moment. My wife, seeing what lay before my son, yanked him off the log and pulled him back into the creek. At this point I look over and see that the snake is heading straight towards me. My options were to run up the hill, which is probably where the snake was headed, or jump off of the 8 ft ledge into the brush beside the creek. I chose the latter.

 

When I landed, I realized I was in an area that would be ideal for other snakes. Fortuneately they were not there. At this point, the snake had disappeared into the brush above me and my wife and son were trying to catch their breath and yelling for me to get out of there.

 

Being the stubborn geocacher I have become, I said I couldn't because there were coordinates on the locked cache I had found and I needed to record them to get other clues. So, I stood there for about 5 minutes trying to enter the clue coordinates into my GPSr. Instead of climbing back up the ledge I had jumped off of to replace the cache, I tossed it back to where I had found it. Luckily, it landed within a foot of its original location.

 

That was our first day caching!! Since then, we have found other caches but we all carry walking sticks and I never seperate myself from my wife and son. icon_razz.gif

 

dteec

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That was my cache that he was talking about. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=27640

 

The times I've been up there I never have seen any snakes. There are easier ways around to the cache too. The whole idea of my Jedi Tests are that there are several different ways to complete the cache. The example on the posted above cache is that when they get out to the cache it is locked. The combination to the lock is on the geocaching page, if you can figure out the riddle, if not I have four other caches that have clues to each of the combo numbers.

 

The only snake I've seen was on a cache up in Bountiful Canyon. The rattler was huge and just slithered between my legs. Scared the crap out of me, but it didn't rattle or anything. I guess I was stupid and thought I was jipped cause I got away from it and grabbed a stick and poked at it. I wanted to hear a real live rattle snake. It decided not to perform for me and just went the other way.

 

My worst experiance out was on a cache that was in a fault line cave. I never have been caving before and we squeezed through the cave and found the cache and made it out just fine. Then right at the mouth of the cave I slipped and sliced my arm from wrist to elbow and jammed my thumb. Then we had to hike about half mile or so out and down the mountainside. The cache was one of the best caches I've been to though, it had an awesome theme and the cache was hidden in a really cool idea.

 

[This message was edited by Jubei Kibagami(God of the Blade) on July 16, 2002 at 11:53 PM.]

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quote:
Originally quoted by Shoebox:

I have to ask, what is a "stinging nettles"? I've never heard of them.


 

Even my two-year-old knows about them and my 5 adn 7-year olds can identify them by sight. You'll know them if you brush up against them. They burn like crazy and cause some nasty welts but if you can leave them alone, the welts and burning go away eventually (anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours by my experience). I brushed against some today while scouting for a new cache location. I had shorts on but should have known better. I've heard complaints about caches hidden in areas with poison ivy and nettles but around here, they are both pretty much ubiquitous. Unless we limit cache locales to manicured lawns, there will be obnoxious plants, yucky bugs, and even the occasional snake or other scary creature. It's all part of the challenge!

 

GeoMedic - team leader of GeoStars

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I love the idea of the Jedi Test caches. I enjoyed going after #1. I just didn't enjoy the whole rattlesnake next to my 4-yr-old experience. Being my first day out caching, I didn't even think about a clue being on the note taped to the cache.

 

We passed a guy when we were walking through the creek and he obviously didn't think it was a clue either. I guess the Force just wasn't with us that day. icon_cool.gif

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Numerous cases of poison ivy (including currently)

One case of poison oak (poison oak is worse)

Attacked by a skunk who was sitting on top of the cache container (literally)

 

Not so bad compared to some, but I am deathly tired of my arms and legs having pinkish splotches in the middle of summer.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

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quote:
Originally posted by dteec:

I love the idea of the Jedi Test caches. I enjoyed going after #1. I just didn't enjoy the whole rattlesnake next to my 4-yr-old experience. Being my first day out caching, I didn't even think about a clue being on the note taped to the cache.

 

We passed a guy when we were walking through the creek and he obviously didn't think it was a clue either. I guess the Force just wasn't with us that day. icon_cool.gif


No the clue is on the Web Page. If you know about Star Wars and the movies. You'll find a thing on the page where I have different titles of the movies in paranthesis(sp?) and the combination is the Episode numbers.

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_____________________________________________

TravisL wrote:

Physical:

When I went wading in Puget Sound in February looking for Galloping Gertie . The instructions clearly stated ''you’d do well to pay close attention to the tides, you don’t want to spend the night or have to swim for it!'' As if. We went hunting at high tide. Scrambled up rapidly sloughing clay banks at parts, scrambled over driftwood at points. And on the way back, I got my feet wet, which made it a lot easier 'cause I didn't need to worry about keeping them dry. Nothing like hiking a half mile through Puget Sound in the winter.

______________________________________________

 

Sorry dude, tried to warn you.........

 

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

What is the price of experience, do men buy it for a song,

Or wisdom for a dance in the street.................

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quote:
Originally posted by yrium:

... All my enthusiasm leaves my body as I look at the jack. It’s one inanimate piece of red rust. I can’t believe how corroded it is. I attempt a half hearted turn on the spindle but its frozen solid. This jack ain’t jacking tonight...


Man, you made me spit diet Pepsi all over my screen when I read that.

 

Sucked to be you, that day. Thanks for telling us about it. You brightened my day icon_razz.gif

 

Lil Devil lildevil.gif

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quote:
Originally posted by Lil Devil:

 

quote:
Originally posted by yrium:

... All my enthusiasm leaves my body as I look at the jack. It’s one inanimate piece of red rust. I can’t believe how corroded it is. I attempt a half hearted turn on the spindle but its frozen solid. This jack ain’t jacking tonight...


 

Man, you made me spit diet Pepsi all over my screen when I read that.

 

Sucked to be you, that day. Thanks for telling us about it. You brightened my day icon_razz.gif

 

Lil Devil http://www.trailbikesportsmen.org/images/lildevil.gif


 

Right back at you Lil Devil. You just made me smile. I don't know that I enjoy anything more than picturing someone spraying their monitor with Pepsi due to something I've written.

 

--- yrium ---

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We were hitting this cache - Sundace Cache

 

We were all sort of new to caching....and I kept trying to place my GPS in different spots near the front window or side window to get a good reception. So at the current moment I carefully have my GPS wedged between the window and door of the driver side door. So we go up this one lane road and it deadends...and we're still to far away from the cache...so we head back down the road and a truck is coming up. It's a very narrow road with small rock walls...so I turn into a driveway to let the other guy past....in the process, I decide to roll down the window to wave him on. We back up and the passenger in the front seet and I hear this weird crunching sound. Funny, I don't remember any branches being in the road.....a car length farther down the road I go...."where is my GPS." Sure enough, I combined Mini-Van with a Garmin yellow etrex and the van won.

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There was the time I was hiking back to my car, after a successful find. The hike out was about 2.5 miles, all downhill, and I was moving fast as I needed to get home. Came up on a pair of hikers and their dogs also going down, and as is customary and polite the guy in back steps aside for me to pass. His partner though speeds up, and I practically have to run to pass him (thinking what a jerk the whole way by). Once I got by him, I figured he would slow down and quit being a jerk, but instead he begins to keep pace with me. My legs were longer, and this guy at times was practically running, dogging me the whole way down. As we reach the trailhead, he suddenly says, 'Hey, maybe we should stop and wait for the dogs to catch up.' I turn to look at him, and say, 'There your dogs, do what you think is best.' It's at this point that he looks at me, and realizes I'm not his friend, and freaking out he turns and runs back up the trail. So his stupidity and my ego resulted in a funny thing.

 

Then there was the time here recently, when I was happily going through the contents of a cache, and reading through the logs, when this guy comes crashing through the brush nearby with a sickle in his hand. Obviously drunk, he looks at me, and says, 'Have you seen my machete lying around - it has a red handle?' I say no, and quickly gather everything up ammo box and all and head straight for my truck. Actually took the cache home with me, as the parking lot got really busy (didn't want to explain the ammo box), but replaced it later in the afternoon.

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quote:
Originally posted by yrium:

This is my log from Tuna's http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=6815&logs=y&decrypt= cache (The bad stuff started happening after I failed to find the cache...

 

Tires screeching, throwing off black smoke. The tumultuous cacophony sends a piercing fear down my spine. A dark colored mustang slides screaming sideways in the number two lane, I’m behind, in the number three, just about 20 feet away… Will I slam into it doing 70?

 

That, folks is a teaser line. I’ll get back to the massive pileup on the freeway in just a moment. For now I just want to log my experience seeking Tuna’s micro-cache called “Greta Garbo’s Phone”. In this journey two payphones will play their part. I’ll be forced to buy a soft drink, walk into a spider web, and get filthy-dirty. Oh yeah, And I’ll have a near death experience. Mustn’t forget that.

I earn my living pounding keys in La Jolla. A couple of weeks ago Tuna hid a cache nearby my work that had a tantalizing description. I entered the gps coordinates and saw which way the arrow pointed. Only .41 miles away! I’ve been trying to figure out where it could be just from knowing the area but I’ve never figured it out. Today I decided to hunt it down after work. Since it was so close to work I just crossed the street and headed down the sidewalk towards my destination. Its that delightful time of day just after the sun has gone down but before its gotten dark. I’ve heard other people describe this as a sad time of day but I’ve always considered it “Free Time”. Its actually nighttime since the sun has gone down but there’s still enough time to see and do things… Free Time!

 

I arrived at point zero and looked past the Iron Gates. Woops, as usual, I’m underdressed. I paused and waited a few minutes hoping that some casually dressed pedestrians would show up and walk past the gates thereby proving that the uncouth were welcome. After the fifth group of well heeled gentlemen and ladies passed by I figured I’d better make my assault on the cache now before I was written up for vagrancy.

Entering brought me underneath the ring of fire, Greta must have been obscured by one of the many loiterers cuz I didn’t see her. I did ask a helpful person to point out the phones and I was directed downstairs. Ah, is that a nook? Or maybe it’s a cranny. In any case I see some phones and I start my surreptitious search. Hmmmm… Not there…… Wasn’t under that…… Felt along the side of….. shook the phonebook out…. Checked the bottom of the wastebasket… panels pull away? .. NO… Okay I’m stumped. I contacted Tuna and told him where I looked. Hopefully he’ll tell me where I went wrong. For now I’ll have to chalk this guy up as a not found.

Driving home on the freeway later I’m in a bit of a reverie trying to figure what I could possibly have to say to this log tonight when a mustang passes me doing 90. Happens all the time, I’m not sure I noticed it at a conscious level. Abruptly, for whatever reason it fishtails sideways and I’m in a bit of a sticky situation. My mind flashes back to a recent accident my car pool buddy and I had just a month previously. A rogue tire loose on the freeway was causing people to slam on their brakes. My friend was driving and she braked sharply and it looked like we might avoid the tire entirely (bad pun) but no such luck. As we slowed it rolled towards us… as we slowed more… It rolled closer… as we bout stopped… it didn’t and hit. Hours later I theorized that if we just maintained our speed we would have passed safely by and avoided the tire. In the split second that this was going thru my mind I could see that the car careening sideways down the lane was starting to drift closer to my lane. Since it was sliding sideways it was slowing quick. Trusting my instincts I floored the pedal and shot by the car just as it entered my lane. Looking back thru the rear view I saw the car behind me unsuccesfully try to avoid the mustang, crashing into another car in a side lane as it was pushed by the mustang there were now 3 cars molded together but still moving. Cars on either side performed wild swerves to avoid the mayhem, some did, others didn’t. I was just cringing in my seat as I drove shakily on. Luckily no one was hurt, just a lot of mangled metal.

 

Two more off ramps and it was time for me to leave the freeway. I pulled off and started the last leg for home. Half a mile off the freeway I started to hear the flub flub flub of a flat tire. Oh man, its just one thing after another! I pull off to the side of the road but I seize on a silver lining. For the last several years at Christmas time the family and I have watched “A CHRISTMAS STORY”. One of the memorable scenes occurs when the family car develops a flat. Darrin McGavin eagerly goes into action striving to change his tire and score a new personal best for quickness. I decide I should treat this the same way. Noting the time as I get out of the car I set a personal goal to have that tire off and replaced in five minutes. I look at the tire as I get out and not that there are only four lug-nuts to remove. “Easy” I think to myself as I opened the trunk. I slide all the trunk detritus out of the way and pull up the false floor grabbing the spare and pulling it out in a quick motion. All my enthusiasm leaves my body as I look at the jack. It’s one inanimate piece of red rust. I can’t believe how corroded it is. I attempt a half hearted turn on the spindle but its frozen solid. This jack ain’t jacking tonight. I’ve now got black tire dust all over my hands, shirt and pants with touches of rust here and there for contrast.

 

I’m gonna have to hoof it to a phone and call the family for backup. Luckily there are softball games going on just across the road. Theres bound to be a payphone over there. Yep, I find the phone but I don’t have any change. Trying to get change from the person at the snack bar I learn that they don’t hand out change I’ll have to buy something. Forced to buy a coke, I now have means to call the homestead. “ring… ring… ring… I’m sorry… we are not home right now please leave your name and number” is intoned by my beautiful wife Whistlestick. “Pick up the phone” I announce to the ether. “hello… hello… anyone there? … hello? …. Pick up the phone…” No one wants to hear about yrium’s problems. I leave a truly pitiful message detailing my woes on the answer machine. Then I call a tow truck.

Heading back to where I left the car at the side of the road with its blinkers blinking I’m taking a little solace in the icy goodness of my forced bought Coke. As I duck under a tree branch on the side of the road I put my face directly into the center of a sticky spider web. Ahhhh! I windmill my arms sloshing the majority of the Coke over my shoulder… Dang.

An hour later, when I finally make it home, the family is acting as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, I ask them “did you guys enjoy my message?”. Whistlestick informs me “oh we just fast forwarded it when we heard it was you… I’m expecting an important call”.

Just one of those days…

 

Thanks Tuna for the interesting evening.

 

--- yrium ---


Phonecall-- 50 cents

Coke-- 55 cents

A cach story like this, PRICELESS!!!

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I was attempting my first night cache New Year's Eve. The cache was located back in the woods behind a nice park. To get back to the cache area you needed to walk through a wet muddy trail that paralleled a creek. I got to the site and the reception was lousy so I started my search up and down the hill in the ferns and dense brush. I looked for about 30 minutes and took two fixes.

 

My batteries on my flashlight were starting to give out so I decided to take one more fix. When I reached into my pocket of my jacket my Garmin V was gone. icon_eek.gif I had no idea where it had fallen out and since it was turned off there was no backlight to help me find it. I felt the bottom of my stomach fall out and began to start the futile search.

 

After about 20 minutes of scouring where I had been I felt like sitting down and crying (yes grown men do cry. especially when they lose a toy)

 

Just before my flashlight gave out I moved back a fern I am sure I had looked at two or three times before, and there it was. Thank goodness since I had not yet figured out the story to tell my wife (she who must be obeyed). icon_razz.gif

 

On the way back I fell in one hole and got covered in mud and ripped up my shin on a stump since I had no flashlight that worked. Yes I learned a lot from that caching experience. icon_rolleyes.gif

 

KTF !!! GBWY !!!

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quote:
By the way, this park is located in a fairly affluent area of our fair town (about $150k houses...

[This message was edited by Jumpmaster on July 15, 2002 at 10:40 PM.]


Oh, please tell me where I can live in the affluent part of town for $150k. Here in Studio City, and Santa Monica, California, a fixer upper 1 bedroom house starts at $600,000. I am making better money than I ever have in my life and I am not even close to being able to affording my own house.

 

stealyourcache.jpg

Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills

One man gathers what another man spills - St. Stephen (on caching)

-Dru Morgan www.theheavenlyhost.com/dru

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quote:
Originally posted by The Heavenly Host:

quote:
By the way, this park is located in a fairly affluent area of our fair town (about $150k houses...

Oh, please tell me where I can live in the affluent part of town for $150k.


 

Yeah... I wanna know where such a place is too. I live in the Kansas City area and everyone always talks about how cheap housing is here... but still $150,000 here will just barely get you moderate new starter home way out in the suburbs.

 

And, to stay on topic, though my most embarrasing was breaking my tailbone on a 1/1, my worst geocaching encounter was with a big field of stinging nettle a few weeks ago.

 

I was placing a cache and was out hiking a trail I'd never been on before. The park itself is in a remote area and I had only seen one other person there since my arrival 2 hours earlier, and that was someone at the picnic area at the front entrance. The trail I was on was only barely maintained and was very overgrown... in some places the brush in the trail was over 10 feet tall. I lost the trail several times and would have to bushwhack anywhere from several hundred to a couple of thousand feet at a time before finding it again.

 

I finally reached where I wanted to place the cache, did so, and then began my journey back. Deciding I didn't want to go the way I came, I followed what I thought was the trail thee other direction. Eventually I came to a spot where thee trail went down a very steep embankment, I hardly believed the trail would be so steep but I began down and soon finding myself sliding down on my butt until I hit the bottom in a lush green jungle of chest-high plants.

 

It should be noted at this time that I was wearing shorts, as it was 95 degrees that day and I also have an easier time keeping the ticks off that way.

 

Before the pain set in, confirming that I was in the middle of a multi-acre patch of stinging nettle, I checked my map against my surroundings and discovered that I had not been on the trail after all, that the trail had veered off several hundred feet earlier. I was now way off course and my elevation was 300 feet lower than it should have been.

 

It was about at this time that the searing pain in my legs began.

 

I scrambled back to where I came down, but there was nothing to hold onto and it was so steep that I could not climb up and slid back down. I waded through the nettle to the other side of the valley and tried to climb up. Same result. I was stuck in a "bowl" of nettle, with all the sides too steep. I finally realized that my only way out would be to follow the valley, completely packed with nettle, for a quarter of a mile to where it would meet up with a creek, I could then follow the creek back to a trail crossing.

 

This was the most frustrated and helpless I ever felt while caching. I remember that I muttered (okay, probably shouted) a number of expletives before taking a deep breath and began the agonizing walk.

 

FORTUNATELY I only had to go a couple hundred feet before I found a spot where the slope of the wall was at an angle I could make my way up. Still, I had to grab onto things with my hands to get going, and for a while the only things available for me to grab with my hands to pull myself up was nettle.

 

I eventually made my way to the top and once the agony ended I actually had a pretty nice rest-of-the-hike.

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I grew up in a small town called Wharton, NJ. It's definately not "affluent", but it is still a cozy town. Cindy Lauper chose our town to film her video "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", because of that small-townie feeling.

 

Anyways, my parents offered to sell me their house, and at a steal for $100k. I think it would be assessed at $200k. To me, it's a large house. The only reason I turned down their offer was that they would be my tenents. I moved out for a reason, and they were that reason, why would I move back? Of course, I didn't tell them so...

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My very first geocache ever was in the milwaukee area in a nice small park by the lake. It was a tuesday I think and I just finished with the worst job interview in my life (I suck at job interviews). Anyway the park was pretty empty and I was geocaching alone. While sitting at the cache location, which was on some high ground, I could see a guy walking around on the trails below me. I didn't think much of it and said hi to him on my way out. I stopped to take some pictures of new snowdrops (the flowers) and he came up behind me asking if I was a photographer. I replied that I guess since I was taking pictures I would consider myself a photographer. Well after a bit of talking the guy asked me if I would take some nude pictures of him. I realized this was a bad situation and i was alone and no one else was in the park and I needed to get out fast. I kept trying to leave and he kept coming after me and trying to stop me but eventually I made it to my truck and drove off. I saw a cop driving through the park a few minutes later and reported the guy. People just can't let things like that go. Anyway if worse came to worse I always carry a secret weapon with me, lucky I didn't have to use it.

 

Second worst was when I was trying to place a geocache and I mistakenly thought that if a road had a road name and sign it must be driveable. I got myself stuck in the woods from 6:00pm till 2:00am before my brother managed to find me and pull me out. I had to work at 6:00am so he came just in time. The skeeters were nasty. Oh and it was the 4th of July, i could hear the fireworks but not see them.

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This is a fun topic.

 

Scariest hunt: I was not hunting a cache but rather a location. I found a trail in a nearby park. The trail is hardly used, so off I go. I'm walking on a creek trail, and I hear a noise. I stop and look around. I listen. I hear a thud about 50 ft in front of me. It sounded like a rock hitting soft mud. I focus my attention in the direction of the noise, but see nothing. All of a sudden, like a charging train, a 300 lb wild pig runs up a creek embankment toward me. A sudden wave of heat coursed through my body. Oh, sh*t! What do I do, I tell myself. But I could do nothing, my feet would not move. She stopped, looked at me. My breathing was harder. I tried not to make eye contact, that would certainly result in a challenge I knew I would lose. She snorted, and kept looking at me. I slowly looked behind me for the nearest tree. I saw one about 8 ft away. I backed up slowly. She snorted. I stopped. One more step back, she stepped forward, toward me. Then she took more steps, toward me. I knew wild pigs flee danger unless they feel threatened, and she had plenty of outs. She snorted, louder this time. My heart was racing! What was she going to do? Four little piglets ran from the creek, squealing with fright. Now was my chance. I quickly turned around, I made a dash for the tree and jumped to grab the nearest branch. As I quickly hoisted my body up on the branch, I heard more snorting, this time louder and I could tell she was approaching. After situating myself on the branch, I looked in her direction and now she was less than 10 ft away! What was I thinking? Well, what would you think? Picture time! But, my hands were shaking too much and as I fumbled with my camera, I dropped it. That startled the pig and she ran away. Whew I'm safe. After a few minutes, I got down from the tree and again approached the creek, startling another pig. Luckily this one was not up for a challenge (I woulda won this challenge as well). I thank God for my excellent hearing.

 

Funniest hunt: I was hiking and I had to go to the bathroom. So into the bushes I go. Then I hear, 'Hey, how's it going?' This startled the crap outta me, since I was under the assumption I was alone. 'Fine', I answer. The voice says, "What are you doing?'. I reply, "relieving myself". He says, "Can I come over?" Ok, I think to myself, this is too wierd! So I politely reply, 'I'd rather you not'. Then I hear, 'Hey Mark, lemme call ya back later. Some a-hole is responding to all my questions." Then he pops up from behind a nearby tree he was resting under, and gives me a dirty look. After he left I realized exactly what happened and how it must have looked from his end. I could not stop laughing. It was too funny.

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quote:
Originally posted by Jumpmaster:

While placing our most recent cache, we were accosted by a redneck family. The park rules were clearly posted and the park closed at 1am. We were out at 10:30pm (it's just too hot here to go out much during the day for me...).

 

So, we had the GPS and we were looking for a good spot. We had loaded the detailed maps for the eTrex Legend and the map showed the park boundaries. We were on park property and these idiots' back yard is adjacent to the park. They had several (at least 3-5) loud dogs in their back yard and they started barking. This woman starts yelling out her back yard and we ignore her since we weren't doing anything wrong. We couldn't find a good spot to hide the cache in that part of the park so we went back out that trail and Bubba starts over toward me and asks me "what the f@#k are you doing out here, God da@#it!? Who the h@#l are you???!!!" And I said, "Who are YOU?" And he continued toward us...I thought he was going to get really violent by his tone and posture. This went on for a while...I don't think he liked me shining my 120 lumen flashlight in his face...it probably helped to get him to calm down a bit. People aren't nearly as aggresive when they can't see anything. icon_smile.gif (I REALLY don't think he would've liked the next thing I was going to pull out if he'd continued to walk toward us, threatening us after I told him to stay put).

 

So...we have a "conversation" with Bubba and his idiot wife and kids come out to join in the fun telling me about how the park closes at 10pm (which it doesn't; it closes at 1am) and how they don't want the cops to come out to give them ANOTHER ticket for their loud dogs and how people go in the park and do nasty, evil things back there...blah, blah, blah. I advised him to be a little more careful and non-threatening next time or he might find himself in a little deeper situation than he would be equipped to handle.

 

THEN, we hid the cache and headed back to the vehicle. And then I called the police and advised them of Bubba's verbal (and almost physical) assault on us. They were very concerned about this and sent an officer out to meet us. We explained everything that happened to the officer, including how they didn't want "another" ticket from "the cops" about their "loud dogs".

 

The policeman said, "Oh, so he probably doesn't like the police then...hmm...where exactly did you go? Which house was it? I think I'll take a walk back there and let him run out and see if he has anything to say to ME." And after reassuring us that we'd done absolutely nothing wrong, off he went into the park to find this moron...

 

I never heard anything back, but I would've loved to have seen Bubba's face when he ran out into the park and said, "What the f@#k are you doing back out here??! I thought I told you to get the f@#k out of -- oh...hi, officer."

 

icon_smile.gif

 

So, hopefully Bubba won't bother any others going out there...the cache isn't anywhere near his place and I posted a note on that cache page warning others of his belligerent behavior and to call the police promptly if he harasses anyone else...I'm sure they've probably had a few calls on these yo-yos already.

 

By the way, this park is located in a fairly affluent area of our fair town (about $150k houses), which goes to show you that there is not a direct relationship between income level and intelligence and that just because you don't live in a mobile home doesn't mean you're not "trailer trash ala Jerry Springer"...it's apparently a state of mind -- one which Bubba and his family seem to enjoy a great deal.

 

JM-99

 

[This message was edited by Jumpmaster on July 15, 2002 at 10:40 PM.]


 

I think cachers should have more respect for property owners whose land is adjacent to public land. Common sense and respect seemed abscent from both parties in this incident. Jumpmaster's comments insinuate (to me) that he had a weapon. Why take a weapon on a geocache? I am sure there were a lot of mitigating circumstances to this problem. I could have and should have been avoided.

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quote:
Originally posted by solohiker:

quote:
Originally posted by Jumpmaster:

While placing our most recent cache, we were accosted by a redneck family. The park rules were clearly posted and the park closed at 1am. We were out at 10:30pm (it's just too hot here to go out much during the day for me...).

 

So, we had the GPS and we were looking for a good spot. We had loaded the detailed maps for the eTrex Legend and the map showed the park boundaries. We were on park property and these idiots' back yard is adjacent to the park. They had several (at least 3-5) loud dogs in their back yard and they started barking. This woman starts yelling out her back yard and we ignore her since we weren't doing anything wrong. We couldn't find a good spot to hide the cache in that part of the park so we went back out that trail and Bubba starts over toward me and asks me "what the f@#k are you doing out here, God da@#it!? Who the h@#l are you???!!!" And I said, "Who are YOU?" And he continued toward us...I thought he was going to get really violent by his tone and posture. This went on for a while...I don't think he liked me shining my 120 lumen flashlight in his face...it probably helped to get him to calm down a bit. People aren't nearly as aggresive when they can't see anything. icon_smile.gif (I REALLY don't think he would've liked the next thing I was going to pull out if he'd continued to walk toward us, threatening us after I told him to stay put).

 

So...we have a "conversation" with Bubba and his idiot wife and kids come out to join in the fun telling me about how the park closes at 10pm (which it doesn't; it closes at 1am) and how they don't want the cops to come out to give them ANOTHER ticket for their loud dogs and how people go in the park and do nasty, evil things back there...blah, blah, blah. I advised him to be a little more careful and non-threatening next time or he might find himself in a little deeper situation than he would be equipped to handle.

 

THEN, we hid the cache and headed back to the vehicle. And then I called the police and advised them of Bubba's verbal (and almost physical) assault on us. They were very concerned about this and sent an officer out to meet us. We explained everything that happened to the officer, including how they didn't want "another" ticket from "the cops" about their "loud dogs".

 

The policeman said, "Oh, so he probably doesn't like the police then...hmm...where exactly did you go? Which house was it? I think I'll take a walk back there and let him run out and see if he has anything to say to ME." And after reassuring us that we'd done absolutely nothing wrong, off he went into the park to find this moron...

 

I never heard anything back, but I would've loved to have seen Bubba's face when he ran out into the park and said, "What the f@#k are you doing back out here??! I thought I told you to get the f@#k out of -- oh...hi, officer."

 

icon_smile.gif

 

So, hopefully Bubba won't bother any others going out there...the cache isn't anywhere near his place and I posted a note on that cache page warning others of his belligerent behavior and to call the police promptly if he harasses anyone else...I'm sure they've probably had a few calls on these yo-yos already.

 

By the way, this park is located in a fairly affluent area of our fair town (about $150k houses), which goes to show you that there is not a direct relationship between income level and intelligence and that just because you don't live in a mobile home doesn't mean you're not "trailer trash ala Jerry Springer"...it's apparently a state of mind -- one which Bubba and his family seem to enjoy a great deal.

 

JM-99

 

[This message was edited by Jumpmaster on July 15, 2002 at 10:40 PM.]


 

I think cachers should have more respect for property owners whose land is adjacent to public land. Common sense and respect seemed abscent from both parties in this incident. Jumpmaster's comments insinuate (to me) that he had a weapon. Why take a weapon on a geocache? I am sure there were a lot of mitigating circumstances to this problem. I could have and should have been avoided.


 

Whats wrong with protecting yourself. I would always rather to have a weapon and not need it, than need a weapon than not have it. I'm not saying bring a whole army arsonal, but I always carry a knife cutting rope and stuff like that, but you never know what you will come up against in the woods.

It's a proven fact that your more likely to be hurt by another hiker than you will be by any animal in the wilderness.

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quote:
Originally posted by The Weasel:

 

It's a proven fact that your more likely to be hurt by another hiker than you will be by any animal in the wilderness.


 

Where is it proven? I suspect most backcountry injures are self inflicted accidents. This situtuation wasn't in the wilderness anyway it was in a suburb.

 

I own weapons, I just don't carry them for self defense.

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quote:
Originally posted by solohiker:

I think cachers should have more respect for property owners whose land is adjacent to public land.


 

Sorry, but I'm going to have zero respect for anyone that approaches me at a high rate of speed with an extremely threatening tone on PUBLIC PROPERTY when I wasn't breaking any rules. Anyone stupid enough to jump out at us yelling, "what the f@#k are you doing out here, God da@#it!?" is not worthy of immediate respect.

 

quote:
Common sense and respect seemed abscent from both parties in this incident. Jumpmaster's comments insinuate (to me) that he had a weapon. Why take a weapon on a geocache?

 

A. Weasel took the words right out of my mouth...It's better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.

 

B. Because the State of Texas says I legally can.

 

quote:
I am sure there were a lot of mitigating circumstances to this problem. I could have and should have been avoided.

 

Yeah, the mitigating circumstances were this guy was a flippin' idiot that should have probably not run out into the park to start trouble. Maybe they ran out of Lithium at the pharmacy?

 

The way to have avoided it would have been if this moron TRULY had any concerns (instead of an ego problem and just wanting to harass people), he should have STAYED IN HIS HOUSE and called the police on us...and after they got finished laughing at the guy, they would tell him the park curfew is 1am and not to call them any more.

 

If he doesn't like where he lives, he has some choices. He can either move or he can get a petition together to reduce the park curfew to some time he feels is suitable. Either way, this situation was NOT my fault.

 

quote:
Originally posted by The Weasel:

Whats wrong with protecting yourself.


 

Agreed, Weasel...this blithering drool factory of a human could have had any number of weapons at his disposal in his comfy home to bring out into the park. You never know what kind of freaks (like Bubba) will try to come out and start trouble. God only knows how many weapons of their own they'll have and whether or not they'll happen to be sober before they grab them and run blissfully ignorant into the park.

 

JM-99

 

[This message was edited by Jumpmaster on July 18, 2002 at 11:08 PM.]

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One where I slipped and went waist deep in the creek. Later someone mentioned a nearby snake.

 

Another where ticks were crawing all over me while hiding a cache. Later finding out that someone was concerned about a man (me) might be hiding in the woods off the trail waiting to attack someone. Honest I'm just hiding a metal ammo box. Wouldn't hurt a flea. Maybe those ticks, however. icon_wink.gif

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I think JumpMaster is in his right mind to be upset with the situation he encountered. I know I would have been. He was walking in a public park, and a person with an ego problem gave him flack. What did JumpMaster do wrong? Nothing.

 

In fact, JumpMaster resolved the problem the right way. Your brain is a better weapon (unless you throw it icon_smile.gif ) than a gun. Even though JumpMaster might have had a weapon, he chose to talk his way out of the situation. My wife worked for the Sheriff's department and learned a lot about resolving conflict without force. It is amazing how easy it is to calm a person down using "reverse-psychology" on them. Sometimes it's even funny. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Also, I don't see anything wrong with taking a weapon (legally) while hiking alone at night. Twice I have been hiking and have had a bear within 50 yards of me. Luckily, both times the bear must have just eaten another geocacher, or I must have smelled bad, cause they both ran away from me.

 

I also think JumpMaster did the right thing by reporting it to the police. Now they know about this wierdo causing problems. Hopefully if he does it again, they'll do something about it. Think of it this way... How would you feel if it was your wife or a young girl, or your kids, that got approached by this guy??? It only takes one loser to mess up something you & your family like for a long time. (My neighbor was "verbally-abused" by a drunk outside her house, and now she's afraid to go outside when her husband is not around...)

 

Anyways, Cache On!

 

Brad

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I have a tale similar to the Hevenly Host. I was hunting a cache in some fairly heavy tree cover with open patches of weeds and raspberry thrown in. I had parked about 1/2 mile away from the cache location and bushwacked my way in. My GPS continued to point me toward a fallen tree after a couple of triangulation runs. I looked around in the general area of the tree for about a half hour and could not find it. I was about to give up. The heat and bugs where terrible. I sat down on the suspect log and had a drink of water. Suddenly my GPS did an about face and pointed 50 feet in a new direction. I walked over and found the cache. I then left, bushwacking on a slightly different path than I took on the way in. When I got to the car, I reached for my cell phone to call my wife and let her know I was OK and heading for home. At my waist hung the empty case for my cell phone. Argh!!!

 

I thought about driving to a pay phone and having my wife call the cell every five minutes until I found it. Then I decided I could just use the GPS to back track my route and look for the phone. I followed my same route in, looked in the cache area for another 1/2 hour and then followed my route back out.

 

I finally found the phone about 200 feet from the car under a tangle of rasberry vines. The battery had fallen out when the phone struck the ground, so it would not have rung even if the wife had called. I now keep the phone in my pack when caching.

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Our worst experience was about 120 feet from a cache. We pulled into a county park, and this goup of elderly women stopped their conversation and started staring. Well, we weren't too bothered by that. We decided we could drive down into an area near the river that ran through the park, and get closer to the cache area.

 

When we rounded the bend in the road, there was a large group of people camping near the road. They too started with the hard stares. T refused to get out of the truck, and when I got out to grab my boots, it was obvious we were not welcomed here.

 

As I was tying up my boots, we had a quiet, quick conversation, and pulled the &TG)#U#(*Y#(*y out of there.

 

We don't carry weapons while Geocaching, but that was one of those times where we were not going out to find the cache without something to protect us.

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quote:
Originally posted by sbell111:

+ fairly severe knee sprain+ brown recluse bite+ attack from colony of angry chiggers


 

SBell111,

 

I have never met someone that ACTUALLY had been bitten by a brown reclluse. I would love to hear the story.

 

Can you share details, as I have always been fascinated with this spider!

 

--majicman

 

(Always trade UP in both quantity and quality and Geocaches will be both self-sustaining and self-improving!)

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quote:
Originally posted by justincredible76:

This is a fun topic.

 

Scariest hunt: I was not hunting a cache but rather a location. I found a trail in a nearby park. The trail is hardly used, so off I go. I'm walking on a creek trail, and I hear a noise. I stop and look around. I listen. I hear a thud about 50 ft in front of me. It sounded like a rock hitting soft mud. I focus my attention in the direction of the noise, but see nothing. All of a sudden, like a charging train, a 300 lb wild pig runs up a creek embankment toward me. A sudden wave of heat coursed through my body. Oh, sh*t! What do I do, I tell myself. But I could do nothing, my feet would not move. She stopped, looked at me. My breathing was harder. I tried not to make eye contact, that would certainly result in a challenge I knew I would lose. She snorted, and kept looking at me. I slowly looked behind me for the nearest tree. I saw one about 8 ft away. I backed up slowly. She snorted. I stopped. One more step back, she stepped forward, toward me. Then she took more steps, toward me. I knew wild pigs flee danger unless they feel threatened, and she had plenty of outs. She snorted, louder this time. My heart was racing! What was she going to do? Four little piglets ran from the creek, squealing with fright. Now was my chance. I quickly turned around, I made a dash for the tree and jumped to grab the nearest branch. As I quickly hoisted my body up on the branch, I heard more snorting, this time louder and I could tell she was approaching. After situating myself on the branch, I looked in her direction and now she was less than 10 ft away! What was I thinking? Well, what would you think? Picture time! But, my hands were shaking too much and as I fumbled with my camera, I dropped it. That startled the pig and she ran away. Whew I'm safe. After a few minutes, I got down from the tree and again approached the creek, startling another pig. Luckily this one was not up for a challenge (I woulda won this challenge as well). I thank God for my excellent hearing.

 

Funniest hunt: I was hiking and I had to go to the bathroom. So into the bushes I go. Then I hear, 'Hey, how's it going?' This startled the crap outta me, since I was under the assumption I was alone. 'Fine', I answer. The voice says, "What are you doing?'. I reply, "relieving myself". He says, "Can I come over?" Ok, I think to myself, this is too wierd! So I politely reply, 'I'd rather you not'. Then I hear, 'Hey Mark, lemme call ya back later. Some a-hole is responding to all my questions." Then he pops up from behind a nearby tree he was resting under, and gives me a dirty look. After he left I realized exactly what happened and how it must have looked from his end. I could not stop laughing. It was too funny.


 

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Both stories were great. I sat and laughed for the longest time on your funnies story. Had to bring some co-workers over to read it. They all had a good laugh too.

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the worst times oddly enough have all been in indiana. and all on the same day no less

 

First (least worst) A cache we were hunting on was not far from a new houseing development. the cloest entry point was the end of a dead end street it lead into a forested area. No 'No tresspassing' signs so off we went. there were peopl in thier garags watching us park and enter but no one said anything execpt a guy who was bulldozing a plot about 400 ft from the cache. when we came out he was talking to my wife who was tring to explain to him the concept of geocaching. when My brother and I emerged with the cache. he spun on me asking mhat I was doing? Why I was doing it? Who gave me permission? Every time I tried to explain my self he would just wave his arm about and say 'I Own all this!' I finally calmed him down enough and proved to him we wernt on his land just cutting through a undeveloped part. Apoligized and said we could remove the cache. after all that he said 'Naw, as long as you ain't doin nuthin wrong like drugs and stuff'

 

Next

 

Out at Indiana dunes we were going to hunt 2 caches the first one was about 3/4 mile from the nearest parking. Now mind you we were still fairly new to caching at this point. The gps said 3/4 mile that way so off we went! Over the largest sand dunes we had ever encountered. Up Down up down up then up some more the down a little then back up then down a little more. the cache was veeeerrrrrryyyyy ssssllllooooowwwwlllyyy getting closer. finialy after almost 1.5 hours of climbing and sweating with 3yrd old in tow we finially decied to walk along the beach. (which we should of done in the first place) we finally reached the point where we could dive in only to encounter MORE sand dunes. Just as we reached the cache it started to rain. and rain and rain!!! Now we had a 1 mile of beach to walk down carrying a very tired 3 yr old. did I mention we were on sand, wearing sweat soaked hiking gear, carring 40 pounds of dead weight in the rain!

 

Finally, after a luch of hotdogs and a new shirt for the daughter. The rain eased up we closed on the final cache for the day. the cloest paring spot for this one was one mile. No mind you we have already had a long day we were tired and as I said before were still new to caching. We jumped out of the car grabbed the walkies and headed off. the wife opted to stay in the car with the child. she asked 'how long will it take?'

Not thinking I glanced at the eta on the GPS and said 'it says about 5 mintues to target 10 to find and 5 back about 30 minutes.' I failed to relize the ETA was still taking driving spead into account. Well we started walking about 1/3 mile in guess what. It started raining. execpt now we where on a 1/2 mile long moss couvered wooded board walk in hiking boots. that means no traction!! and as a topper to that My brothers friend kept calling us via cell phone to annoy us with hair-brained schemes to open a night club. When we finally reach the cache site the rain was in major down pour. GPS reception was spotty at best. after an 45 miute walk out here we searched for 35 miutes in a monsoon. only to come up empty handed. we headed back over the slip and slide(at least the phone calls stopped)and the rain dogged us till we were less the 1/3 mile from the car. the wife only said 'Guys you said 30 minutes it's been 2.5 hours' we grumped and headed home. We e-mailed the hider he assured us the cache existed. because he just removed it and archived it.

 

Cache On!!

 

James

"Big Dog"

-Clan Ferguson

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I never thought I'd tell this story but since it's been almost a year since it happened the pain has dulled a bit so I feel like I can tell it now.

 

On my very first cache I chose one located in a local park centered around a marsh. After arriving and finding a parking spot I turned on my etrex and determined the cache was .3 miles to the west. So off I went. I came to a well paved trail but the arrow pointed straight across a field of tall reeds and grass so I decided to trust the unit. About a tenth of a mile later I found myself in ankle deep water surrounded by cattails.

 

Now it occured to me I should probably return to the trail and walk AROUND the marsh but I decided I was already wet so why not continue on? So I trudged onward. Little by little the water got deeper and the muck underneath began to pull at my shoes. At one point I lost a shoe completely in the muck. As I bent over trying to find it I got my other foot stuck and down I went in the brackish smelly water. After finally retrieving my shoes I got a reading again and found I was still .10 miles away from the cache. I figured it couldn't get any worse so I pushed on.

 

Then things got really bad. The muck beneath suddenly dropped away. I was now up to my belly button in water pushing through the cat tails. I was miserable, exhausted and covered with mud head to toe. By the time I hit shore I collapsed and tried to catch my breath.

 

Unfortunately that nice 'trail' I chose not to take before apparently followed the edge of the marsh and ended up being only ten feet or so from where I lay. I heard some noise and looked up to see a family of four walking their dog and looking at me as though I had fallen from the sky.

 

"Are you okay?" asked the mother as she herded her children behind her for protection.

 

I don't recall my answer. After they had departed the area I found the cache and then hit the trail to head back to the parking lot. I must have passed a half dozen people who were obviously startled to see a large muddy man covered with cat tail spores, wet grass an reeds heading toward them.

 

I learned several lessons that day. Sometimes the shortcut isn't always the best route. icon_wink.gif

 

Jolly R. Blackburn

http://kenzerco.com

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quote:
Jolly B Good stated,,, I never thought I'd tell this story but since it's been almost a year since it happened the pain has dulled a bit so I feel like I can tell it now.

 

On my very first cache I chose one located in a local park centered around a marsh. After arriving and finding a parking spot I turned on my etrex and determined the cache was .3 miles to the west. So off I went. I came to a well paved trail but the arrow pointed straight across a field of tall reeds and grass so I decided to trust the unit. About a tenth of a mile later I found myself in ankle deep water surrounded by cattails.

 

Now it occured to me I should probably return to the trail and walk AROUND the marsh but I decided I was already wet so why not continue on? So I trudged onward. Little by little the water got deeper and the muck underneath began to pull at my shoes. At one point I lost a shoe completely in the muck. As I bent over trying to find it I got my other foot stuck and down I went in the brackish smelly water. After finally retrieving my shoes I got a reading again and found I was still .10 miles away from the cache. I figured it couldn't get any worse so I pushed on.

 

Then things got really bad. The muck beneath suddenly dropped away. I was now up to my belly button in water pushing through the cat tails. I was miserable, exhausted and covered with mud head to toe. By the time I hit shore I collapsed and tried to catch my breath.

 


 

Sounds like something i would do. icon_rolleyes.gif Chicken just rolls her eyes when i try finding shortcuts. Guesstimating here, but i would say that they may actually pan out about 10% of the time,,,,lol. Our last trip wasnt too bad when i tried shortcutting, found that we had to turn back after about a quarter mile. That was ok, the bad was that we ended up itching with redbug bites for the next few days. Of course the trail ended up going to within 50 foot of the cache. I guess i'll learn one of these days!!

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I was looking for the cache staring at my GPS unit.. counting down the feet... 4...3.. 2.5 BAM!!

I walked right into a branch right in the middle of my forehead. I jumped back and stumbled over and fell. Picked myself up, was saying a few choice words to myself and continued on to find the cache next to the tree in front of me. Now thats natures way of saying..."Look idiot its behind me"!! Also puts another meaning into "REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE"... on natures behalf. icon_razz.gif

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How about walking towards a trailhead and hearing some rather excited moaning coming from the woods? icon_redface.gif We knew it was not an animal and figured that if it were a couple that they would be in the woods, so we entered the trail, only to find a couple who were rather engaged RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAIL. icon_eek.gif Oops! We figured modesty would have placed them deeper in the woods. Well, we were already there within 10 yards, so we walked right past them without breaking stride and saying only "excuse us" as we passed. Guess they thought the trail was remote enuff. icon_wink.gif We were THAT determined to find the cache.

 

The worst part was spending an hour in the woods and NOT finding it.

 

Bear & Ting

 

I thought I was a little off, then I looked at my GPS and discovered I accurate to 12 ft.

 

Geocachers don't NEED to ask for directions!

 

[This message was edited by Bear & Ting on August 09, 2002 at 11:11 AM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by yrium:

My friend was driving and she braked sharply and it looked like we might avoid the tire entirely (bad pun) but no such luck. As we slowed it rolled towards us… as we slowed more… It rolled closer… as we bout stopped… it didn’t and hit. Hours later I theorized that if we just maintained our speed we would have passed safely by and avoided the tire. In the split second that this was going thru my mind I could see that the car careening sideways down the lane was starting to drift closer to my lane. Since it was sliding sideways it was slowing quick. Trusting my instincts I floored the pedal and shot by the car just as it entered my lane.


 

I'm going to have to send up a flag on this one, when did you have time to change seats with the driver?

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quote:
Originally posted by cachew nut:

quote:
Originally posted by yrium:

My friend was driving and she braked sharply and it looked like we might avoid the tire entirely (bad pun) but no such luck. As we slowed it rolled towards us… as we slowed more… It rolled closer… as we bout stopped… it didn’t and hit. Hours later I theorized that if we just maintained our speed we would have passed safely by and avoided the tire. In the split second that this was going thru my mind I could see that the car careening sideways down the lane was starting to drift closer to my lane. Since it was sliding sideways it was slowing quick. Trusting my instincts I floored the pedal and shot by the car just as it entered my lane.


 

I'm going to have to send up a flag on this one, when did you have time to change seats with the driver?


 

You missed a sentence right before the quoted passage.

 

My mind flashes back to a recent accident my car pool buddy and I had just a month previously.

 

I had the flashback of the previous traffic accident in the moments between seeing the car fishtail and deciding my best response was to floor it.

 

--- yrium ---

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