What's Your Worst Geo-injury

[CacheMonkeez]

Ever gotten hurt geocaching? Describe your worst geo-injury here.

[umc]

I guess I've been lucky as the worst for me has only been scratches from Bush Whacking.

 

I have gotten into an accident though because I was reading a cache page instead of paying attention to the road and the van in front of me though. Nobody was hurt in that incident.

[+Oat]

Not me but my GF got blood poisoning from a thorn this past summer. Got stuck and by the end of the day her thumb had swelled to twice it's normal size. By morning she had a red line half way up her arm.

 

We ended up in the ER where they fixed her up.

[+WalruZ]

Poison Oak from my wrists to my armpits. Red, swollen, oozing, itchy. I still have a little of it left. It was so cool!

[+TeamK-9]

I consider myself a safe person, but I haven't had much time to actually get injuries. I've been caching on three separate days now, and I've only managed to step in a small, mud-filled sinkhole, and nothing else...

[+T10X]

I bruised my ego once when I couldn't find a micro.

[+Eagles61]

My worst injury occurred when I was placing a cache in a park near to home. As I was taking coordinate readings from several different approaches I pushed some low branches out of the way with my left hand but they slipped out of my hand. I jerked my head back out of the way to avoid getting slapped in the face but when I did there was another branch next to me on the right and a small twig went right into my right ear and punctured my eardrum. No permanent damage, although my wife says I don't hear her when she is talking to me

[+4dingdongz]

I fell on a slippery creek crossing while caching on my lunch hour. Luckily I have clothes in my locker back at work. Be careful when crossing the creek in Whetstone Park near the Nerdy Smurf cache.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...14-6325f8abc607

My back wasn't right for weeks after.

I wasn't even going for the find on this particular trip, I was putting something in it for the owners.

[+DustyJacket]

Sprained ankle.

Cuts, bruises.

Fell 15 feet onto rock.

One case of poison ivy.

Crushed ego.

Stick poked in the eye.

[umc]

Sprained ankle.

Cuts, bruises.

Fell 15 feet onto rock.

One case of poison ivy.

Crushed ego.

Stick poked in the eye.

WoW,

 

I think I might be doing it wrong.

[Moose-Alini]

While caching, the worst iv done is jump over a fence, landing on my hip on a thin tree stump. Hurt rather badly the next day.

[+El Diablo]

The wife and I set out for a cache one Saturday morning. About a half a mile before we got to the parking lot she made a funny sound. I looked at her and asked if she was o.k? She shook her head no.

 

She was having all the signs of a heart attack minus the chest pains. I pulled into the parking pot and a Deputy sheriff was there. I asked him to call EMS, which he did. She was really having problems breathing and her hands and feet were numb.

 

While we were waiting on EMS he asked me what we were doing there. So I gave him a quick lesson on GC and the GPSr. The wife was still breathing, so all was o.k. I asked how long before EMS got there and he said about 15 minutes. The cache was only .15 miles from where we were.

 

So what the heck...let's go log it. But no...the wife was still looking like she might kick the bucket, so I stayed. I was thinking I could get it after they took her away. But no...they made me follow the amulance to the hospital.

 

Turns out she had an anxiety attack. Very common and has the same symptoms as a heart attack. We spent the entire weekend in the hospital doing every test known to mankind...and she is as healthy as a horse.

 

I should have went and got that cache. Oh well...another day.

 

El Diablo

[+SamLowrey]

The cache was only .15 miles from where we were......

 

I just KNEW where this was going.....

[+woof n lulu]

While placing a cache yesterday on the side of a hill, full of sharp rocks and baby cactus that have leaves like knives (will go through rubber soles) I had a slight slip.

Thinking...this would not be a good place to take a header...hmmmm. 80 miles from nearest hospital and out in middle of boonies, I did what every cacher knows as the cachers dance. Came down on my own shoelace, and almost lost it again...still dancing I felt a little pop in my knee and thought "Oh Chit" ! I'm gonna look like a piece of tenderized meat if I fall....this was like all in a split second/year.

Finally managed to bring myself to a halt, suck air, and thought...this coulda been a baddy...Knee is a little tender today, but would rather have tender...then tenderized.

[+clearpath]

Contracted Lyme disease in June. I lived. Its all good.

[+carleenp]

In one day of caching, I managed to scrape up my car bumper, scrape up the whole front of my shin (that bled a lot) and get a tick. On the same day, my friend got stung by a bee and smashed her finger moving a rock that a cache was hidden behind. Regardless, it was my favorite day caching so far.

Edited January 5, 2004 by carleenp

[+Fritz_Monroe]

My worst injury occurred when I was placing a cache in a park near to home. As I was taking coordinate readings from several different approaches I pushed some low branches out of the way with my left hand but they slipped out of my hand. I jerked my head back out of the way to avoid getting slapped in the face but when I did there was another branch next to me on the right and a small twig went right into my right ear and punctured my eardrum. No permanent damage, although my wife says I don't hear her when she is talking to me

You are soooo lucky. I wish I had an excuse like that. "But honey, remember I have a punctured ear drum."

 

Maybe some day.

 

F_M

[+TresOkies]

• Multiple cases of poison ivy/oak
  
• Multiple stab wounds from bushwhacking through plum thickets, holly bushes, cedars, etc.
  
• And the number one geo-injury... sprayed by a skunk. Definitely not one of my shining moments.
  

Y'all be careful out there.

 

-E

[SBPhishy]

Once, i was caching in sandals. Wouldn't ya know it, i dropped my GPSr on my big toe. Boy did it smart.

[+9Key]

* I've kept my hometown of Portage, Michigan in the black with my constant poison ivy rash for the last two years. Portage is the former HQ of Upjohn-Pharmacia (prednisone in the US).

 

* Sprained my right knee worse than any of my previous ski injuries while caching on dew-slick rocks in Austin, TX.

 

* other stuff

[goldfishy]

I'm lucky I didn't get kind of injury at a couple of locations I was checking on. I was so busy concentrating on my GPSr and finding that cache that I all of a sudden realized I couldn't move. I attributed it to those darn prickly bushes that attach to you, only it wouldn't give way. I kept pulling and tugging, all the while still trying to find the cache. Then I realized I was tangled in a barbed wire fence! OOOPS! OUCHIE!

[Jake - Team A.I.]

My worst one happend almost a year ago now. I was doing Mini Forest when I ran into a little bit of trouble. It is surrounded by a small canal, about 3-4 feet deep. when I got there it was empty so I climbed down into it since I wasn't sure about jumping across. As I climbed out I must have lost my balance, because I slipped and bent my knee about 90 degrees off of the way it was supposed to be. As I sat there trying to figure out what happend, I realized that my leg was dislocated. I popped it back into place, and very painfully hobbled the long way around the "forest" back to my truck. Since I never got back to where the cache was actually located, I didn't leave a NF log.

 

As a side note, I got home and found out that the Shuttle Columbia accident had occured while I was out on this trip.

Edited January 5, 2004 by Jake - Team A.I.

[+gallahad]

Crashing through the brush and having a twig snap back into an eye...

Spaining an ankle and tearing all the ligaments in the lower portion of my leg in the process - two months to return to normal and counting.

Various cuts and bruises - my own fault. When I zero in on a cache I react like an ill mannered horse that has just seen the barn at the end of the ride home.

Have I earned my Purple GPSr?

[+instep_guy]

I've taken some nasty falls while bushwhacking but PTL have ended up w/ only bruises and scrapes.

 

My worst injury was going on a 6-7 mi. hike in my new christmas hiking boots w/o bothering to break them in properly. the blister on my little toe still oozes!

[+briansnat]

No major injuries thankfully, but from April thru early Oct (short wearing season), my legs are always scraped, cut and bruised.

[CacheMonkeez]

From year-around shorts caching I have constant saw-palmetto scrapes. And I once got PI from a cache in So. IL.

[+The Weasel]

Got the WORST case of stinging nettles I think humanly possibly here!! It was about .50 miles of heat, humidity and nettles the whole way!!! I was red, blistered, and itchy for a month. I would occasional "flareups" where it would get itchy a month after the fact. **Note to self, always wear something to cover your legs, and don't rub your eyes!!**

[TahoeJoe]

While hiking to a cache with a friend of mine, I stepped into a nest of yellow jackets on the side of the trail and was stung around a dozen times. I ran about 100 yards till they stopped chasing me throwing off my backpack so I could run faster and escape their anger. After I regained my sanity I had to find my GPSr which flew of my belt as I was running and bounced off some rocks. Aside from a scratch on the case, it worked fine and I was able to continue on to the cache.

[+Geo Ho]

My worst caching injury . . . hmmm . . . well, here's how it went down.

 

Mopar and I went out caching off trail on our bicycles. So, there we were peddling along . . . peddle, peddle, peddle . . . and this HUGE rock (boulder?) pops out of the trail from nowhere (I swear!) . . . and I hit it . . . fell over . . . banged my knee on the "rock", my thigh on the ground, and I'm pretty sure I hit my head but I can't remember . The worst of the injury was not to my body, which got very nicely bruise, but my pride. Mopar asked if I was okay, then once it was determined that I was not injured too badly he proceeded to laugh at me and WORSE asked where the camera was so he could take a picture of me sprawled on the ground with the bike on top of me. Sheesh! Nice boyfriend, huh?? Thankfully, I was in posession of said camera so I managed to retain some of my dignity.

 

Wounded pride . . . that was my worst injury.

 

Happy caching and stuff!

[+sbell111]

Some really interesting replies can be found here.

[+Mopar]

Ticks are so common in the areas I usually cache, we don't even consider them a hazzard or injury. Just part of the game (How many ticks you got? 3? HA! I got FIVE, and one's dug in real good!).

Besides bruising my ego on many occasions, and a cache where I sunk in muck up to my crotch and was afraid I wouldn't get out before the tide came in, I think the worst thing thats ever happened caching was getting smacked in the eye with a branch that popped my contact lens out. Had to drive home 25 miles with only one eye. And yes, I did try to finish the cache, it was a multi, but I wasn't doing very well finding the stages and ran out of light first.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Mopar and I went out caching off trail on our bicycles. So, there we were peddling along . . . peddle, peddle, peddle . . . and this HUGE rock (boulder?) pops out of the trail from nowhere (I swear!) . . . and I hit it . . . fell over . . . banged my knee on the "rock", my thigh on the ground, and I'm pretty sure I hit my head but I can't remember...

The wife did something like that when mountain biking one day, I'm not sure which one of us is lucky I didn't have the camera...

 

My worst caching injury is discovering Chiggers for the first time. I knew to look out for ticks, but not microscopic bugs, too! It took 2 months or so to heal (where the bites weren't noticeable without looking).

[TahoeJoe]

Once while geocaching, I slipped off a rock and fell on my finger bending it in a direction it was not meant to bend and it took close to a year to heal.

Edited January 5, 2004 by TahoeJoe

[+Renegade Knight]

Someone in my group gets hurt on every caching trip. Blood will aways be involved. It's a rule. We will also harm at least one piece of equipment.

 

Until someone broke some ribs and had to hump out about 2 miles in some very rough terrain the worst was scrapes.

[+Divine]

Nothing major happened for me either. I ended up with broken sandal and bloody ankle in Thailand, which is nothing compared to health problems I've heard some people get there.

[+bthomas]

Last March I ripped a band of calf muscles sprinting up a steep ramp of brick pavers on a trail at GC3907. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gallery.asp...1f-0acdc6128ab8

It was 2 days after a 40-plus caching day through a dozen towns, with 400 miles of driving and clutching. Blew out the left calf, and so I iced it and didn't cache that week. Limped through drive-ups and 0.1 mile foot drags for a few weeks, but was back at 100 per month form in about 4 weeks. The treking pole really helped me think about walking form after that.

[+rusty_tlc]

I think my cache log sums it up (from Chocolate Peak GCF1DF 6/26/03);

 

This was more of an adventure than I had planned. All went well til I was within a few feet of the top. There I ran into a swarm of flying black ants. Since I was taller than the rock they were on they decided to swarm around me. Since they are more annoying than anythig else I headed on up to the top. Then I found out why they were lower down, there was a swarm of flying Red ants on the very top. In the process of beating a hasty retreat I took a tumble, luckly I landed practicaly looking straight at the cache. I signed the log, then took stock of my condition. Bandaids and anticeptic swabs, followed by a short period of crying like a little girl, then I was ready for lunch. Thats when the flies showed up...................

rusty_tlc

[Prof. Y. Lupardi]

The worst injury I had last year was with bumps on my head like marbles. Some kind of stinging horse-fly did it.

But may I mention about other people in the Netherlands: some cases of Lyme disease, and one person in anafylactic shock after being stung by many musquito gnats. Read about it (in Dutch) here.

He managed to get an ambulance quickly and landed in the hospital for a day.

Then there is the more recent story (last week) of a Belgium Geocacher that broke his leg during caching, the rescue services came into action and he had to be operated upon.

Read about it in Dutch here.

[+Squealy]

Check out my avatar - Jan. 1, 2004 - four stitches.

 

Like an idiot.

[+clearpath]

Check out my avatar - Jan. 1, 2004 - four stitches.

 

Like an idiot.

At least it was your finger and not your, err, well lets just say, at least it wasn't your... carrot.

[+ChrisCindy]

Sprained ankle.

Cuts, bruises.

Fell 15 feet onto rock.

One case of poison ivy.

Crushed ego.

Stick poked in the eye.

I have had worse places on my eyeball.

[+CycleGuy]

Mopar and I went out caching off trail on our bicycles.  So, there we were peddling along . . .  peddle, peddle, peddle . . . and this HUGE rock (boulder?) pops out of the trail from nowhere (I swear!) . . . and I hit it . . . fell over . . . banged my knee on the "rock", my thigh on the ground, and I'm pretty sure I hit my head but I can't remember...

The wife did something like that when mountain biking one day, I'm not sure which one of us is lucky I didn't have the camera...

 

My worst caching injury is discovering Chiggers for the first time. I knew to look out for ticks, but not microscopic bugs, too! It took 2 months or so to heal (where the bites weren't noticeable without looking).

For the treatment of Chiggers:

 

Clear Nail Polish brushed on in massive quantities kills those little b@sT@*Ds. It takes about two weeks but leaving them alone takes longer. Also it relieves the itch without putting you to sleep like benadryl (sp?).

 

Looks funny if your coworker catches you applying it in the bathroom at work...

 

CG

[+maleki]

Blisters - not on the feet though...

 

I posted this in another thread this AM but it seems to apply here too.

 

Don't carry your extra batteries in your pocket with loose change.

 

When everything magically lines up correctly - as I recently had it happen - it can make for a BLISTERING hand(and leg) warmer.

 

I was quite an amusing site to others along as I jumped around trying to get the superhot batteries and change out of my pocket. Really did end up blistering my fingers cause it was soooooo hot! Took several minutes for stuff to cool down enough to pick it up.

 

I've carried batteries in pocket dozens of times as a last minute add-on and never had it happen. Really should have know better. Learned the hard(or amusing) way.

[+evergreenhiker!]

dadgum near poked my eye out a time or two bushwacking or as I was searching for a box in the bushes.

 

No serious injuries...just scrapes.

 

A geocaching friend, Rickie of LucyandRickie, got some sort of a insect bite during the Spokane Cache machine and it caused his leg to swell up and he had ot go to the hospital. He's fine now.

[compass_bearing_north]

Little owie on my arm.

[+JMBella]

My knee pops in and out in a regular basis. This happens once and a while during geocaching. Other than that nothing more than some cuts, scraps, bumps and bruises.

[+Tprints]

I'm another that got Lyme disease this past summer. Caught it quick enough that it was't too bad. I actually felt relieved that it turned out to be Lyme disease as I originally thought I was getting hit hard with arthritus all of a sudden.

[+KiltCacher]

I had a dead tree fall on me while caching. It was a mature tree over a foot across, and was broken at the base from strong winds, leaning just slightly. It fell over while I was hanging on to one of the branches to catch myself from falling. It hit my shoulder and pinned me to the ground. Luckily it was mostly hollow so it wasn't nearly as heavy as it could have been. I grabbed a branch and used it as a lever so I could crawl out. Lots of cuts and scrapes, not to mention I may need surgery for my rotator cuff. Didn't stop me from getting the cache!

[+ADKcachers]

No bee stings? My son & I stumbled onto a nest of yellow jackets. They got underneath the clothing & stung away.

[+Insp Gadget]

I thought I had broken my leg while caching in Nova Scotia last summer. I had to hobble about 2km back to the car. It reminded me to let someone know where I was going in case something happened next time!