Isn't That Part Of The Game

[dead_white_man]

I found this in the log of a cache near me. It is from yesterday march 3rd. I found a picture from the same cache on march 1st. How can you get over 200 finds if you are afraid of a little mud. I did not include the cachers name or other info because this is not meant to pick on anyone, just wondering if other people really expect to stay clean while caching in the forrest. (this is miles from any urban area)

 

 

Tried to find this one and took Road 9-D as well....But the parking are and the trail were so full of mud...there was no way I would attempt this one in the rainy season. Can't believe anyone would try this time of year.

 

the pic:

http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/log/displ...c31cf3b9fa2.jpg]http://img.Groundspeak.com/cache/log/displ...c31cf3b9fa2.jpg

Edited March 4, 2004 by dead_white_man

[WH]

Ive had clothes and shoes ruined by mud, briars, rocks, branches and numerous other woodland hazards. Does this mean Im gonna change my caching tactics or avoid certain ones out of fear of getting dirty, of course not.

 

Anyone who has an aversion to dirt, bugs, or getting funny looks from muggles should find a new hobby becasue this one isnt for you.

[+briansnat]

There are all kinds of geocachers ranging from Nike clad outdoors newcomers, to veteran hikers, hunters and other experienced outdoorspeople. I can see some of Nike crowd not wanting to get their pants, or sneakers muddy. But for most of us, that's half the fun. You should have seen me after I placed a cache in a mine on Tue. I had to crawl on my belly through mud and slide down an icy shaft on my tush. I stopped in a store on the way home and the guy behind the counter said "what happened to you?".

Edited March 4, 2004 by briansnat

[+bigredmed]

I was going to the Point of Beginning cache and ran into a trail of greasy mud that was so thick, it trapped my boots. I ended up falling forward and hyperflexing my ankle. Yeah, that hurts. Two weeks before the ankle stopped hurting. Now I have a little more understanding of mudphobia.

 

Still would have climbed that bluff to get to the point, and yes, I would still try again if I had too.

[+The Weasel]

"Nothing like the feel of mud in the moring, smells like VICTORY"

[+Sparky-Watts]

Since I bought my Jeep, I welcome the mud!!!!!

[+carleenp]

I don't mind mud, but I don't seek it out either. Like bigredmed, I also discovered last weekend just how hard it is to navigate steep hills in it. Still, I doubt I would let a little mud deter me. Regardless, to each his or her own. If someone doesn't want to search in the mud that is OK. Noting it on the cache page is OK with me too, because then it saves other mudphobes the trip out when they might not want to get muddy.

[+Criminal]

I took a picture of Patch, I looked similar. Patch still can't work the camera.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2004 by Criminal

[+Ed Rad]

When I played baseball as a kid and thru high school I felt if I went come clean, I must not have played hard enough. The same goes for geocaching. If I go home without a little dirt/mud then I guess i didn't really cache hard enough.

 

Of course there times (very few) where I have planned an afternoon of park and urban micros because I didn't feel up to the regular types of caches. I call it caching-light.

You can dress in shorts and a t-shirt and not have to carry anything but a pen and a GPSr.

 

Cache hard... get dirty... earn that find baby!!

[+flask]

you know it's been a good day when you come home covered with mud, smelling bad and bleeding a little.

 

bleeding a lot is not a good day. just thought i'd clarify that.

[+Gazza&Girls]

Depends on what we're prepared for. I would bet they were not expecting what they found and were not even close to prepared.

Did one last spring that was in an area recently flooded. Walked over 200 yards in ankle deep, sticky, silty mud to get to the cache and 200 yards back out. We didn't expect that but dealt with it. Put everything in a garbage bag back at the car and drove home barefoot. (The kids were pantsless.) Spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning everything.

Went out last weekend to the same approximate area ready for anything. No silt, just muddy trails and a couple creek crossings. Didn't even bother to try to find a dry route across. With the right mindset going in, it's still a nuisance but fun. The cleaning afterward wasn't such a drag this time.

[dead_white_man]

Depends on what we're prepared for. I would bet they were not expecting what they found and were not even close to prepared.

Did one last spring that was in an area recently flooded. Walked over 200 yards in ankle deep, sticky, silty mud to get to the cache and 200 yards back out. We didn't expect that but dealt with it. Put everything in a garbage bag back at the car and drove home barefoot. (The kids were pantsless.) Spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning everything.

Went out last weekend to the same approximate area ready for anything. No silt, just muddy trails and a couple creek crossings. Didn't even bother to try to find a dry route across. With the right mindset going in, it's still a nuisance but fun. The cleaning afterward wasn't such a drag this time.

Incidentally, I have done this cache, it is 400 feet above river level on a high hill. It is a little muddy in Ohio in march, but this is really not a very wet spring yet. I think the biggest part of the problem on more careful examination is thet the seeker is from Arizona. He is only accustomed to rain once a year.

[+Mustard Devil]

Geocaching just wouldn't be the same without mud, bugs, thorns, reptiles and all the other "nice" things you find or in some cases run into or fall into etc...

This thought was running thru my mind as I logged GCHTVH

[+Geo Ho]

I have scrambled up rocks falls, picked my way through sticker bushes, slopped through mud, splashed through streams, slid over ice, trudgeed through snow, scooted down embankments . . .

 

How cool is that?

 

I guess I'm a big kid . . . but I LOVE to get all mucked up . . . I've been somewhere and done something and got the scratches and stains to prove it!

 

Whoop-dee-doo!!!

 

Happy caching and stuff!

[+yumitori]

There doesn't seem to be very much mud in the image. But I can see situations when the road might be so muddy that driving on it will create huge ruts and mudholes. When that's the case it might be better to return after the road has firmed up a bit.

[+Sparky-Watts]

When that's the case it might be better to return after the road has firmed up a bit.

Where's the fun in that?

[+Ox]

You might want to stay out of the mud and rocks, Sparky.

<-------See Avatar

[+Team BlackZ]

Is that pic suppose to be of the mud they feared? Geez, come on you call that mud. That's nothing. Muddy hillsides are tough now, but that wouldn't stop me.

[+Sparky-Watts]

You might want to stay out of the mud and rocks, Sparky.

<-------See Avatar

I've spent the better half of my life driving in mud and over rocks in 4-wheelers.....it's second-nature to me!

[+Shawn&Holly]

My avatar shows what I think of a little water on the road

Since caching, I have discovered stinging nettles, become afraid of thorn trees, watched my sister step on a hornets nest (run away, run away!), put my truck into the frame in mud,clay and sand (nasty combination, especially since someone dumped a truck load of convenience store prepared food in the spot months before ) altho 4X4ing is not out of character or just confined to a Geocaching outing, found out I have nasty reactions to this weird huge green fly we have here, found a cache in the dark without the GPS by looked for a green glow by the tree (doh, left the GPS at the cache, you would be surprised what 100 meters in the dark will do to returning to where you had just been in the woods) and the last thing that stung/bite me was at a cache I returned to for a TB on my little toe hurts alot. Now thinking about this, the only time I get in trouble is when I am not with my wife, only when out alone (including when she stays behind in the vehicle) or caching with my sister. Here's hoping to another adventure filled caching year!

[+carleenp]

I took a picture of Patch, I looked similar. Patch still can't work the camera.

 

I hope it was warm enough to give him a bath before you brought him in the house!

[+Criminal]

I took a picture of Patch, I looked similar. Patch still can't work the camera.

 

I hope it was warm enough to give him a bath before you brought him in the house!

No, but he dried out after the hour drive in the bed of the Ranger truck.

 

The tub looked like a swamp during his bath.

[+Ltljon]

My driveway looks worse than the image he posted. Even worse is the walk to the chickenhouse!

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

My driveway looks worse than the image he posted. Even worse is the walk to the chickenhouse!

Just a guess but I bet the chickencoup smells worse too.

 

Don't hide one in there.

[+The Weasel]

But mud is a good way to remove a bee stinger

[+W7WT]

I live about 4 miles south of where Patch was standing in the mud. I am not as tough as most of the Geocachers around here. If it is raining, and it is most of the time, I wear Karhartt overalls, Alaska tenna runners (rubber boots) and my waterproof flyfishing jacket with a hood and lots of big pockets. I even protect my waterproof 76S with a ziplock bag slipped over the top of it. Now it I can just keep my wife from washing everything. Dick, W7WT

[KimAndMollie]

This was the most fun I've ever had at a cache! We slithered through the mud, and ended up in this really cool cave..it was so worth getting dirty!!

 

Rotten Little Grotto

 

[+PILTY]

Take a rope, a flashlight, a winch, a pocketknife and a gun if ya must but, get out there and enjoy!

[+cache_us_if_you_can]

Mud just adds to the fun!