[mead2006]

did anyone ever get into a sticky situation / mess when you have been geocatching ???

today i did AJ;s secert catche i did i ended up down a muddy hill in a creek and then could not get out so ended up crawling back up the hill now it had been raining yesterday so not sure if this would have been easier if it was dry felt like a complete idiot geting myself into this mess in the first place it was only a terain 2 but my gps pointed that way so i thought i had to go down there what an adventure but scared the hell out of me when i could not get back out of there !!!

[GOF and Bacall]

Nope. Never had any problems when geocatching.

I once had a Buffalo cop draw her gun on me. But that was while I was geocaching.

[CanadianRockies]

mead2006, on 01 May 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

did anyone ever get into a sticky situation / mess when you have been geocatching ???

Spruce tree sap can get terribly sticky/messy, but I generally wear gloves when approaching those.

[the4dirtydogs]

Pine tree sap is fun too, especially when the dogs step in it.

[T.D.M.22]

I had a major problem the first time I tried geocatching. My buddy threw it and I failed to catch it. The Geo then landed on my foot and the foot had to be amputated. Now I just drive geo's, don't catch them anymore.

[Mr.Benchmark]

mead2006, on 01 May 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

did anyone ever get into a sticky situation / mess when you have been geocatching ???

today i did AJ;s secert catche i did i ended up down a muddy hill in a creek and then could not get out so ended up crawling back up the hill now it had been raining yesterday so not sure if this would have been easier if it was dry felt like a complete idiot geting myself into this mess in the first place it was only a terain 2 but my gps pointed that way so i thought i had to go down there what an adventure but scared the hell out of me when i could not get back out of there !!!

Sure, all the time. You almost never, especially when a creek is involved, want to follow the GPS in a straight line - always look for an easier approach. (Sometimes there isn't one.) I've nearly gotten my vehicle stuck many times. I fall down / drop stuff almost every time I go over any unpaved terrain. Fall into the creek? Sure. Mud? Yep. Face-first into the poison ivy? Yep. Disoriented in the woods, at night? Yep. Lacerated by thorns? Frequently. (My first aid kit is pretty regularly used.) One of my old caching buddies always used to photograph me because he thought my predicaments were hilarious!

An example: early last month, I logged this really easy cache in a state park. It was next to a picnic table. I couldn't believe it hadn't been muggled - but there it was. So I open it, kind of kneel on the concrete bench at the table with one knee for balance, and - it splits in half right under my knee! This startled me, and I got scraped up a bit. I was not prepared for the concrete bench to just split like that.

Hints:
1. Get a hiking stick is very helpful many times.
2. Let people know where you are going, especially if it's remote
3. Carry a good flashlight. (In fact, carry two.)
4. Carry some basic survival gear, first aid, etc.
5. If you can drop it, attach it to yourself with a lanyard, because whatever it is, it WILL go down hill into the creek. (There is a corallary to this for vehicle repair too - anything you drop on the ground while working on a car will roll underneath the car, directly under the hardest to reach location.)
6. It's always good to judge the conditions wherever you are - and if you feel the conditions aren't safe or don't feel right, bail and come back another time.

[knowschad]

T.D.M.22, on 01 May 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

I had a major problem the first time I tried geocatching. My buddy threw it and I failed to catch it. The Geo then landed on my foot and the foot had to be amputated. Now I just drive geo's, don't catch them anymore.

Maybe the problem was more with your buddy's geopitching.

[Phizy]

Yup. I did. There was a cemetery multi. I drove into the cemetery. Not strange right? Well, this was a very old cemetery without a maintained road. All I heard were sticks banging the undercarriage of my tiny Honda civic. Not too bad right? Ok. Well, when I got to the end of the leading road, there was no place to turn around. It was entirely unsafe to back it out for it was a long dirt road leading out into a very busy road. I decided to look for the cache. Couldn't find it...was too worried about getting out. I cleared an area and backed it around and drove it out.

Well, yes, the cache did say to park on the side, but I didn't feel it was a safe area, so I pulled into the road. Dumb idea. So now, it turns out, 8 months later, the access road is blocked for vehicular traffic. Wonder why.

Anyway, I know a spot to park and eventually I'll go back because for a cemetery multi it is quite a fascinating and historic multi to do.

That's....my story.

[AZcachemeister]

In Arizona, sticky situations come with the territory.

[ScooterDawg]

GOF and Bacall, on 01 May 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

Nope. Never had any problems when geocatching.

I once had a Buffalo cop draw her gun on me. But that was while I was geocaching.

I hope she put her gun away when you flashed her your Spelling Police badge...

[vagabond]

AZcachemeister, on 01 May 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:

In Arizona, sticky situations come with the territory.

dam cholla

This post has been edited by vagabond: 01 May 2012 - 06:59 PM

[jkettu]

Why is it always easier to climb up a cliff face than to come back down? I'd have expected it to be the other way round.

[Dr. Dragon]

Got warned by about 3 wild dogs. (Thank god for VA dog hunters) That I was in their territory. I did not listen looking for the geocache figuring they would see I was no threat. Should not have done that. The dogs tried to surround me. Mind you I was alone. I was lucky enough to figure out when I should leave before I ended up dog chow.

Dd

[popokiiti]

Goose poop, dog poop, deer poop. Add heater in car....sticky and smelly situation. Luckily most of the crap comes off when I walk in puddles or the sea. Thank goodness for waterproof hiking boots..........

[jellis]

Climbed a tree not realizing it was really covered with ants. Took me awhile to brush them off of me.

[Mr.Yuck]

GOF and Bacall, on 01 May 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

Nope. Never had any problems when geocatching.

I once had a Buffalo cop draw her gun on me. But that was while I was geocaching.

Smart aleck. If you've ever seen or heard anyone refer to Geocaching as Geocatching, or a cache as a catch, (which I have seen and heard many times), and wonder how they even find the website, type www.geocatching.com into your browser; it works.

[redsox_mark]

Worst situations I've been in so far:

1. Climbed a tree and then found myself in an awkward position and temporarily stuck trying to get down. Ended up ripping my jeans badly but no harm done.

2. Chased by cattle.. many times

[docsigma]

Reached into a hole in a tree looking for a cache. The cache wasn't there, but lots of dog poop certainly was.

[OZ2CPU]

falling down muddy hill, after a bit of rain,
got my self compleetly wrapped in brown mud !
found the cache down there, could hardly get back up,
rolled myself in a puddle to clean up the worst, cached on a few more still raining,
not it just made me happy to see more rain.
what a cool day to remember :-)

All the days where all things just go perfect, do you remember them all ?
I guess you remember those few where bad happened..

--

YA the poop thing I try often, specially when we bring the kids,
they kind of just walk in s*** all the time, and bring it all into my car,
this is just one thing I really hate..

[Straight-Cache-Homey]

Ticks. Lots and lots of ticks.

[BC & MsKitty]

docsigma, on 02 May 2012 - 06:16 AM, said:

Reached into a hole in a tree looking for a cache. The cache wasn't there, but lots of dog poop certainly was.

Raccoon poop ... and you're lucky the critter wasn't still there tending to business!

Well, not me, but once, in the winter we were entering a woodlot from the road for some caches. I saw where the trail entered the woodlot, and was heading along the road to it, when I heard MsKitty yelling. She had decided to take a shortcut into the woodlot across the perfectly level space at the side of the road ... too level, it turned out! The ditch, which must have been 7 or 8 feet deep was completely filled, and drifted over with fresh, soft snow!
She was up to her armpits, and couldn't begin to get herself out. After I could control my laughter (which I paid for later) enough, I hauled her out. No more shortcuts for her!

This post has been edited by BC & MsKitty: 02 May 2012 - 04:29 PM

[Cache Raiders]

mead2006, on 01 May 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

did anyone ever get into a sticky situation / mess when you have been geocatching ???

today i did AJ;s secert catche i did i ended up down a muddy hill in a creek and then could not get out so ended up crawling back up the hill now it had been raining yesterday so not sure if this would have been easier if it was dry felt like a complete idiot geting myself into this mess in the first place it was only a terain 2 but my gps pointed that way so i thought i had to go down there what an adventure but scared the hell out of me when i could not get back out of there !!!

I'm amazed that this is all one sentence.

[hankpixie]

Was caching a few miles North of downtown Detroit a few weeks ago in a park and as I was leaving I was immediately surrounded by 6 border patrol agents. Seems that my geocaching fit the exact description of drug drops in the park and I was being watched the entire time and I got on my phone right after I made the find. They searched my gps and wrote down the coords and went to make sure the cache wasn't a drop. One of the agents knew of geocaching but the man in charge didn't seem to be interested in what I had to say about it...nonetheless I was allowed to go on my way after a few minutes...

[Shop99er]

Slid down a creek bed---several times. I looked like I had been 4-wheeling.

Slid down a shale hill-side. Good thing I hit that tree on the way down, or I'd have gotten hurt.

Fell off a downed tree in the woods. Missed getting one of its branches in a lung by a couple of inches.

Been poked in the eye by a cedar tree---twice. Same tree each time.

[Straight-Cache-Homey]

Oh! Not me or the girlfriend but the geopup, Martin. We were looking for a cache in a local wooded park. We started off on the wrong side of the creek. There weren't too many places to cross except a couple of steep rocks. Let me also mention Martin HATES THE WATER. I hop across before everyone and Martin tries to follow. No luck. He slides right off a rock and into the water. The look of SHEER TERROR on his face was priceless. He was obviously fine but man was he wet and I think he hates water even more now.

[Flintstone5611]

In my first year it happened all the time. I ruined three pairs of shoes, tore open 2 pairs of pants, and one time I got attacked by yellow jackets. I ended up running around the nearby convention center parking lot in my underwear. I had kicked a stump that they were sleeping in as I stood on top of it. They fly up my shirt and up my pant legs. I got stung 7 times. That sucked, but the story is fun to tell. Btw, it was GC1H8GK

[Nat Sherman]

Normal pests (ticks, snakes, lizards, police, etc.). Almost knocked myself out on a ceiling beam in a covered picnic area. Lost a few pens into the river. Got lost in the woods twice, once in the rain in a swamp in bear territory without my gun or phone in order to grab a FTF only to discover 2 hours later that the CO had posted the wrong coords.

[Mr.Yuck]

Hasko Family, on 02 May 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

mead2006, on 01 May 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

did anyone ever get into a sticky situation / mess when you have been geocatching ???

today i did AJ;s secert catche i did i ended up down a muddy hill in a creek and then could not get out so ended up crawling back up the hill now it had been raining yesterday so not sure if this would have been easier if it was dry felt like a complete idiot geting myself into this mess in the first place it was only a terain 2 but my gps pointed that way so i thought i had to go down there what an adventure but scared the hell out of me when i could not get back out of there !!!

I'm amazed that this is all one sentence.

It certainly is a tough crowd around here, although I too myself made a comment about geocatching. Which really does work if you type it in.

OK, in 2004, I was detained by the entire first shift of the Clark, New Jersey Police department, with 5 or 6 squad cars, when a robbery suspect caught in the neighborhood decided to say he was "with me", as I parked my car with out of state plates on a dead-end street for a classic cache in the woods off a dead-end street. Worse yet, I was on lunch hour during an Army Reserve weekend, in full uniform. Yeah, so like some Army Sergeant from NY is driving a robbery suspect around the neighborhood. Would have been a good disguise, I suppose.

[ByronForestPreserve]

Why, just today I was hiking in a nature preserve and a big guy with a German Shepard on a very tightly held leash was walking toward me. The dog started barking furiously and pulling at the leash. I caught the look of surprise on the guy's face when the dog jerked free and I had about 5 seconds of absolute terror as the dog barked some more, lunged...and then licked my face. I wouldn't have been so scared except that the guy looked horrified that the dog got loose.

And if that's the worst thing I experience, I'll be happy (and surprised).

[Flintstone5611]

Oh yeah, last year I caught a bump on the noggin that left a mark. Here's the log.

[ohmelli]

LOL! THESE are the experiences that teach us that SOMETIMES the GPS only knows that eventually we will end up in THAT direction... but GPS does not know that there is suuuuurely an easier way to get there!!! Yes... I spent 3 HOURS bushwhacking up and down in and out of gully's and streams only to find when I got there that the cache was right ON the trail that I swore 3 hours ago didn't exist! I learned SOOOOOOOO MUCH that day!

[Ohiosiouxfan]

I was looking for a cache yesterday in Toledo down by the muddy river. Walking on the concrete (crumbling) seawall I stepped where the concrete had eroded on the edge and fell really hard on my knee - first on the concrete and then the dirt shore. At least I didn't fall the other way - 8 feet down to the water. I had a buddy with me showing him what GCing was all about, and was wearing my office clothes; as we were doing this over lunch time. I'm still pretty sore today.

BTW, I was up on the concrete seawall because GZ showed on the water side of the seawall. Cache in question: http://www.geocachin...0-b90d39a09f05#

This post has been edited by Ohiosiouxfan: 03 May 2012 - 07:30 PM

[knowschad]

ScooterDawg, on 01 May 2012 - 05:47 PM, said:

GOF and Bacall, on 01 May 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

Nope. Never had any problems when geocatching.

I once had a Buffalo cop draw her gun on me. But that was while I was geocaching.

I hope she put her gun away when you flashed her your Spelling Police badge...

Excuse me, sir... this is the reading comprehension police. Please back away from that keyboard.

[Crow-T-Robot]

I was hiking towards Mission 9: Tunnel of Light Reclaimed and I had parked at the Annette Lake trailhead. You're supposed to follow the Annette trail until you reach the Iron Horse trail and follow that to the cache. It even says right on the cache page to ignore the old, overgrown service road that is about half-way between the Annette trail and the Iron Horse. Now, anyone who's been on the Iron Horse trail knows you could almost land a jet on it, it's so wide and smooth. When I saw the service road, I wondered why a trail like the Iron Horse would be so overgrown .

Of course, I followed the old, overgrown service road and it would've been a very nice shortcut on a very warm, humid day in the Cascades. Except for when I reached the end of the service road and stepped over some downed logs and stepped on or near a hornets nest. I think they were hornets. They were big and black and the stings felt like I had been shot. I just tore off across the meadow and I think I only stepped near the nest because there were only about a half dozen hornets that attacked.

Now, I only ended up with three stings and really no worse for the wear but as I was catching my breath I had time to reflect on how that could've been alot worse. I was about .5 mile from either of the established trails and just one hole in the ground or rock or downed tree could've put me in real peril. I felt like an idiot but then, that's nothing new for me:D .

It was still worth it when I found the cache and then hiked to the nearby Snoqualmie Tunnel and just basked in the cold air goodness that was flowing out of it.

[L0ne R]

Mr.Yuck, on 02 May 2012 - 04:34 AM, said:

GOF and Bacall, on 01 May 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

Nope. Never had any problems when geocatching.

I once had a Buffalo cop draw her gun on me. But that was while I was geocaching.

Smart aleck. If you've ever seen or heard anyone refer to Geocaching as Geocatching, or a cache as a catch, (which I have seen and heard many times), and wonder how they even find the website, type www.geocatching.com into your browser; it works.

Interesting. I also tried www.geocashing.com

[Bunganator]

I found a bison tube lodged in a small block of wood on the back of a wooden sign next to a river. I had trouble getting the cache out of the block, so I smacked it against my hand. The cache flew out and into the river. I wasn't totally sure of what to do. I notified the CO and he just laughed.

This post has been edited by Bunganator: 04 May 2012 - 10:46 AM

[Ambient_Skater]

L0ne R, on 04 May 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

Mr.Yuck, on 02 May 2012 - 04:34 AM, said:

Smart aleck. If you've ever seen or heard anyone refer to Geocaching as Geocatching, or a cache as a catch, (which I have seen and heard many times), and wonder how they even find the website, type www.geocatching.com into your browser; it works.

Interesting. I also tried www.geocashing.com

I remember someone suggesting Groundspeak register misspellings and redirect them to geocaching.com, but Moun10Bike asked why anyone would type those into their browser.

[Team Dennis]

One time I found a waterproof matchstick container that was hanging in a pine tree. The outside was covered with so much sap that the cache stuck to my ski glove. My avatar is a picture of me at GZ at that cache.

[walkin with jesus]

My friend TNIXON on his very first cache by himself it just so happened down the road a store got robbed and the police seen him in the woods they drew there guns on him and made him come out He later told me "man you guys take this geocaching way to serious"

[gustav129]

So this one geocache I did years ago whne I first started geocaching, the clue said it was under a small tree. So I dove under the small tree. There it was, a used condom 6 inches from my face, next to the cache container. It was bad enough, but it could have gotten alot stickier...

I'll never just dive under a tree ever again.

[Lady Loki]

I had two instances recently. The first one, we were trying to get to where we thought the cache was, but there was a ditch full of water from the excessive rain we've been having. But hey! There's logs right there, perfectly positioned to cross the ditch! So, being brave, I was the first one out there... and the log rolled and I got wet to the ankles. Later it turned out the cache wasn't even where we thought it was.

The second wasn't actually a problem, but it could have been. To explain, my partners and I already look a little odd; I have purple hair, SAzrael has aqua hair, Swordsage is a black guy with dreads, and BenBen S. is four and has no sense of propriety. We were caching in a Catholic cemetery, and apparently they were setting up for bingo in the hall across the street. We got a few odd looks and a very disapproving, suspicious look from one older lady. I just cheerfully waved and said hi, and she muttered something and hurried away.

[MerseysideCache]

England is covered in nettles. Geocaches are always in nettles. I went geocaching one day and was stung so bad by nettles that it didn't go away for four days. I took antihistamines, rubbed witch hazel, put baking soda paste on my hands...nothing worked...it was really tingly and painful. (don't give me the who-ha about the duck leaves...Ive heard it all before)

[The Jester]

Does sitting on 'top' of the side of a van in the middle of a river count as a "sticky situation"? I had that happen to me a little over a month ago on the way to meeting some others to go on a snowshoe cache hike.

[Mitragorz]

The Jester, on 09 May 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Does sitting on 'top' of the side of a van in the middle of a river count as a "sticky situation"? I had that happen to me a little over a month ago on the way to meeting some others to go on a snowshoe cache hike.

I want to hear that story!

[Chief301]

The Jester, on 09 May 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Does sitting on 'top' of the side of a van in the middle of a river count as a "sticky situation"? I had that happen to me a little over a month ago on the way to meeting some others to go on a snowshoe cache hike.

Dingdingdingding We have a winner!

[B+L]

The Jester, on 09 May 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Does sitting on 'top' of the side of a van in the middle of a river count as a "sticky situation"? I had that happen to me a little over a month ago on the way to meeting some others to go on a snowshoe cache hike.

Use trails and roads when available, bushwhacking may give inconsistent results.

[The Jester]

Mitragorz, on 09 May 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

The Jester, on 09 May 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Does sitting on 'top' of the side of a van in the middle of a river count as a "sticky situation"? I had that happen to me a little over a month ago on the way to meeting some others to go on a snowshoe cache hike.

I want to hear that story!

Sorry, I forgot the link to the full story: It starts here and about 6 posts down.

[Mitragorz]

The Jester, on 09 May 2012 - 05:59 PM, said:

Sorry, I forgot the link to the full story: It starts here and about 6 posts down.

That's a hell of a ride, brother. Glad you made it out alright!

[GEOvloger]

GEOvloger Facebook
@GEOvloger
GEOvloger tumbler

LOL besides run ins with the police, i would say the biggest sticky situation i have been in is when i was doing a tunnel cache by myself. I was shooting an episode for my Geocaching youtube channel - GEOvloger so crawling was already hard enough because i had to carry a camera IN MY MOUTH! Then half way through the longest stretch of tunnel my flashlight broke.... I was in total darkness but luckly my camera had IR night vision, so i mustered on and finished the cache anyways. All and all it was very entertaining.

You can see that episode below and check out the rest of my videos at:
GEOvloger - YouTube Channel - subscribe for content updates!

[ll JK ll]

A couple weeks ago I went after Very Sketchy (GC1TT4Z) and to say the terrain was treacherous is an understatement. One false move and it's a long tumble down with plenty of boulders to break bones on. I was extremely cautious and almost decided to abandon my search because of the potential to fall but luckily I found the cache in time.

It was worth the risk, by far my favorite cache find and it's a very memorable location. Check my log photo to get an idea of the beautiful view.