Geo Caching Safety

I am new to Geo Caching, but one concern I have is safety.Today there seems to be heavy security concerns everywhere you travel. Everyone is concerned about the next terrorist attack that will happen. So my thought is what safety steps can a geo cacher take both in setting up a new cache or searching for caches to prevent against the rough "geo cache terrorist" from booby trapping a cache with something harmful? I know the majority of malicious people in the world probably would not be hiking in the back woods for the sole purpose of modifying a geo cache to be harmful, but what are some thoughts or expierences of those who have been geo caching for a while? Bad things happen and I would rather not be on the news as the unnamed geo cacher that was sent to the hospital or mourge from lack of experience or attention to safety.

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Originally Posted by Wolf207

I am new to Geo Caching, but one concern I have is safety.Today there seems to be heavy security concerns everywhere you travel. Everyone is concerned about the next terrorist attack that will happen. So my thought is what safety steps can a geo cacher take both in setting up a new cache or searching for caches to prevent against the rough "geo cache terrorist" from booby trapping a cache with something harmful? I know the majority of malicious people in the world probably would not be hiking in the back woods for the sole purpose of modifying a geo cache to be harmful, but what are some thoughts or expierences of those who have been geo caching for a while? Bad things happen and I would rather not be on the news as the unnamed geo cacher that was sent to the hospital or mourge from lack of experience or attention to safety.

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Common sense will prevail. If something seems unsafe or out of the ordinary, avoid it. When considering terrorist attacks, there is no sign that one can tell you to look for. There are no rules to follow in this case.

Things to consider though. Terrorist usually strike to cause the most amount of terror. Generally speaking, a terrorist most likely wouldn't set up a geocache as a trap as it would only effect the one person (small group) who went to it. There are always the exception to that though and not all terrorist are jihadist either. Environmental terrorist and so on.

Also, I wouldn't recommend that you put an ammo can geocache on a bridge or next to a public building. Definately don't put out containers with wires sticki9ng out of it...lol.

Goes back to what I first said, Common Sense.

The most dangerous part of geocaching is probably getting to the cache! Be careful driving: Don't get distracted with your gps!

When looking for a cache, try to think about how non-cachers will perceive your actions. Many times, a cache page will say "stealth is required". And, while no one wants to see a cache go missing because a non cacher removed it, causing alarm may also get a cache removed!

When placing a cache, be sure to mark the outside with a Geocaching sticker. In urban areas, it may be better to use a clear container rather than an ammo box.

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Originally Posted by tat

The most dangerous part of geocaching is probably getting to the cache! Be careful driving: Don't get distracted with your gps!

When looking for a cache, try to think about how non-cachers will perceive your actions. Many times, a cache page will say "stealth is required". And, while no one wants to see a cache go missing because a non cacher removed it, causing alarm may also get a cache removed!

When placing a cache, be sure to mark the outside with a Geocaching sticker. In urban areas, it may be better to use a clear container rather than an ammo box.

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I agree 100% . . . it's way too easy to get distracted by the GPSr on the way to the cache while driving.

I also agree with TAT when he says caches should be marked whenever possible . . . especially ammo cans or other similar containers.

In terms of safety, I wouldn't be too worried about booby-trapped cache containers . . . although I have heard some stories about some kids that were well. . . uh . . . leaving some rather unpleasant messes in caches -- make that disgusting messes in caches . . . but I believe this was before my time.

A real issue in terms of safety and containers is that some folks put some strange things in caches sometimes . . . things like broken glass (beats me why someone would think there is value in something like that).

Honestly, when thinking safety I think one of the biggest things to consider (other than Tat's suggestion to concentrate on driving . . . this is why I love having the Hiram Hiram along as my navigator when driving (a Hiram Hiram is kind of like a Tom Tom only it makes guttural sounds to indicate which way to turn or where to stop and it always seems to direct me to a Sports Bar and Grill of some sort) . . . is to be aware of one's limitations . . . not every cache is going to be an easy walk . . . some caches will have you scrambling along the side of steep cliffs (yes, Laughing Terry, I'm thinking of your Deathwish Cache!)

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(a Hiram Hiram is kind of like a Tom Tom only it makes guttural sounds to indicate which way to turn or where to stop and it always seems to direct me to a Sports Bar and Grill of some sort)

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Yeah liking pointing left in front of my face and yelling. Right! Right! As we approach an intersection.:D:D

My words of wisdom come from experience. When you get ready to hike into the woods, remember. Even though the GPS says it is only 2.1 miles. That is "as the crow flies" miles. The real distance may not be in a straight line and a lot longer than you had anticipated. Be prepared. I like to use a day pack with things like a small first aid kit, flashlight, and I can always find a power bar buried somewhere in there.

Welcome to the site and a very addicting sport. We hope you enjoy this as much as we have.

[quote=Team2hunt;42036]My words of wisdom come from experience. When you get ready to hike into the woods, remember. Even though the GPS says it is only 2.1 miles. That is "as the crow flies" miles.

When using the HIRAM HIRAM, it's as the Parrot flies.:cool::rolleyes::cool:

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Originally Posted by Team2hunt

My words of wisdom come from experience. When you get ready to hike into the woods, remember. Even though the GPS says it is only 2.1 miles. That is "as the crow flies" miles. The real distance may not be in a straight line and a lot longer than you had anticipated. Be prepared. I like to use a day pack with things like a small first aid kit, flashlight, and I can always find a power bar buried somewhere in there.

Welcome to the site and a very addicting sport. We hope you enjoy this as much as we have.

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We also carry and Epi Pen for a severe bee sting allergy. I read a horrible story about a caching family (from the Brunswick area I think) that had a very bad encounter with ground wasps. Our new found "glad we have that" is hiking poles for those downhill knee killers. :eek:

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Originally Posted by pjpreb

We also carry and Epi Pen for a severe bee sting allergy. I read a horrible story about a caching family (from the Brunswick area I think) that had a very bad encounter with ground wasps. Our new found "glad we have that" is hiking poles for those downhill knee killers. :eek:

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when you complain about the downhill as much as the uphill climb. :p

I think there is a thread that talks about..."what do you take caching with you". I couldn't find it.........DAVE1976!!! ( he finds everything ):rolleyes:

My suggestions to take along on the hike; The girls and I learned some of this the hard way on the first cache hike at Shakford Head in Eastport, Maine.

of course this depends on how far it is from your truck. And it seems like every one carries a cell phone everywhere.

Take a reading of where you park your truck this is helpful so that if necessary you may bushwack back if you lose a trail.

Items that we find are good to take along:
Flashlight, Water, Flagging tape, pencils or pens, fly spray, small first aid kit, jack knife, extra batteries, zip-loc bags, some other things that I can not think of now.

Keep an old backpack loaded and ready to go. Replace items after each hike to make it easy for the next hike.

another safety concern that I had come up last year.
My daughter and I drove 2 miles back in the woods to go to a cache and when we got to the parking area there was a pick-up parked there. Well then I think gee we don't have a clue what that person might be like and it was also during bear hunting season. I drove down the woods road a ways and sat until I saw the owner of the pick-up come out of the woods. It was a young man with 3 little boys. Did we ever laugh about being concerned then.
BUT it is something to think about.

As for "every one carries a cell phone everywhere". That is true, but don't depend on it when you have never been to an area. Two things have happened to me over the last few years.

First, I left the car (with great cell signal) and did a hike to a cache which was about 3/4 mile the hard way up a mountain (yes, found the right trail later). When we got to the top we laughed about calling for a lift down. Looked at the cells and there was zero service.

Cache Maine and I had an encounter with a drunk driver last year down East. We had had service most of the weekend. When we had this experience we went to call 911 and again, no service.

Cell phones are nice but be prepared if they don't work.

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Originally Posted by hollora

As for "every one carries a cell phone everywhere". That is true,

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I don't have a cell phone... :p

and I don't get lost, I just sometimes find myself somewhere where I'm unsure of where I'm at, in which case I just wander until I do find somewhere where I am. :D

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Originally Posted by Hiram357

I don't have a cell phone... :p

and I don't get lost, I just sometimes find myself somewhere where I'm unsure of where I'm at, in which case I just wander until I do find somewhere where I am. :D

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You sound like a Megellan user, it's O.K., you can come out of the closet, you are amongt friends...:D:D:D:D:D

If I'm going to cache by myself, which I do most of the time, I alway let Dianne know where I'm headed. While I don't always give her a list of the caches I intend to do, she knows the general area. Like Lois Ann (hollora) said, we can't always depend on cell phones.

While I have always been fairly "good" in the woods, geocaching is a differnt cat and if you walk down a well defined trail and then wander off a 100 or 200 feet when you get to ground zero to locate the cache, it is VERY easy to get turned around and wonder where the trail is. Has this happened to you? It's happened to me several times! Now I mark the spot where I venture off the trail as a waypoint. Find the cache, return to the mark and head 'er on home!

I know it may seem like everyone has a cell phone when you are trying to peacefully see a movie at the theatre or have someone on a phone in a car pull out in front of you, but a few of us still don't have one. When we took the snowmobile trip to Millinocket this winter, we went over 100 miles with the 3 of us on one snowmobile. No one knew where we were and on one trail we never passed another machine. Stupid? Yes. But what can you do. We have no friends or family so if you want to be able to go out and have fun, you have to take the chances. Will we someday be stabbed like the person in Lewiston yesterday a few yards from a cache? Maybe. Will be stop caching because of it. No. Spend whatever time you have, enjoying life. Don't spend too much time worrying "what if".

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Originally Posted by TRF

You sound like a Megellan user, it's O.K., you can come out of the closet, you are amongt friends...:D:D:D:D:D

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ohh, no, these are times without the GPS, when I have my garmin with me it takes all the fun out of it because it takes me from point A to point B without any troubles.... :rolleyes::p:D

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Originally Posted by darterkitfox

Will we someday be stabbed like the person in Lewiston yesterday a few yards from a cache?

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was this person a cacher or were they just near a cache??? :confused:

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Originally Posted by TRF

You sound like a Megellan user, it's O.K., you can come out of the closet, you are amongt friends...:D:D:D:D:D

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:D:D:D:D That's pretty funny stuff right there.

As far as I know Hiram isn't a Magellan user . . . just some of his good friends are. :D

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Originally Posted by dubord207

If I'm going to cache by myself, which I do most of the time, I alway let Dianne know where I'm headed. While I don't always give her a list of the caches I intend to do, she knows the general area. Like Lois Ann (hollora) said, we can't always depend on cell phones.

While I have always been fairly "good" in the woods, geocaching is a differnt cat and if you walk down a well defined trail and then wander off a 100 or 200 feet when you get to ground zero to locate the cache, it is VERY easy to get turned around and wonder where the trail is. Has this happened to you? It's happened to me several times! Now I mark the spot where I venture off the trail as a waypoint. Find the cache, return to the mark and head 'er on home!

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I have to admit I'm pretty bad . . . I often geocache alone and often don't tell my wife or anyone else where I'm going to be other than a general, vague description (i.e. I'll be camping and geocaching downeast) . . . and I must admit that sometimes I end up in some unsavory spots . . . but I guess I just trust in my good looks and commonsense to get me out of any potential trouble . . . boy, am I trouble! ;):D:eek:

As far as getting lost in the woods . . . for some reason I've always been pretty good at knowing where I am and which direction to head while hiking and geocaching . . . but if you get me in a City I'll get turned around wicked easy.

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Originally Posted by darterkitfox

I know it may seem like everyone has a cell phone when you are trying to peacefully see a movie at the theatre or have someone on a phone in a car pull out in front of you, but a few of us still don't have one. When we took the snowmobile trip to Millinocket this winter, we went over 100 miles with the 3 of us on one snowmobile. No one knew where we were and on one trail we never passed another machine. Stupid? Yes. But what can you do. We have no friends or family so if you want to be able to go out and have fun, you have to take the chances. Will we someday be stabbed like the person in Lewiston yesterday a few yards from a cache? Maybe. Will be stop caching because of it. No. Spend whatever time you have, enjoying life. Don't spend too much time worrying "what if".

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I don't carry a cell phone either and I routinely ride sleds/ATVs, hike/geocache, etc. . . . figure I haven't needed one until this point so I probably don't need one now.

As far as sledding . . . don't worry . . . if you run into trouble you should just ditch the sled, leave your gear behind, start walking in any old direction and start tearing up your trail map to leave as a "bread crumb" trail despite the wind . . . and yes I am being facetious . . . this is what a snowmobiler who got lost and ran into mechanical problems did this past winter . . . pretty much did everything wrong.

[quote=was this person a cacher or were they just near a cache??? :confused:[/quote]

Police are still investigating but it sounds like the spot where the person and the cache happen to be, isn't the safest place at night. Probably a lot of caches are placed where it isn't as safe at night.

I am paranoid about vicious dogs so I have a small spray can of pepper spray duct-taped to my hiking stick. I don't know if it would deter a rabid animal or a bad dog, and I hope I never find out!

Steve and I have a system for when I'm caching and he's not. There is a way to call our voicemail without making the phone ring. Just before I head into the woods I call with the time, the waypoint name and the co-ords. When I come out, I call to clear. Then I head to the next cache, call just before I head in, and so on. That way if I fall and knock myself out or whatever, he knows where to send the rescuers. The system only works if there is cellphone reception where I am caching.

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Originally Posted by Kacky

I am paranoid about vicious dogs so I have a small spray can of pepper spray duct-taped to my hiking stick. I don't know if it would deter a rabid animal or a bad dog, and I hope I never find out!

Steve and I have a system for when I'm caching and he's not. There is a way to call our voicemail without making the phone ring. Just before I head into the woods I call with the time, the waypoint name and the co-ords. When I come out, I call to clear. Then I head to the next cache, call just before I head in, and so on. That way if I fall and knock myself out or whatever, he knows where to send the rescuers. The system only works if there is cellphone reception where I am caching.

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Great suggestions!!

Another good way to scare animals is the canned airhorn,,,beside scaring animals inside-out they are good to signal for help. Pepper spray will stop an animal, no question, but if you have bad luck like me the wind will end up blowing i back into your face and it will make you cry....:D. It's still a great idea though

Had an incident today while caching. Doing a cache in Lewiston where the last person there was more than a month ago, right at the site of the cache down in the woods, we found a large plastic shelter fashioned like a tent. The roof had much flora on it to camoflage it. There was a lot of equipment inside indicating regular residence and lots of beer cans lying around outside. Within a few feet of where the cache was supposed to be we found lots of used toilet paper and an indication that it was the outdoor toilet. We did not stick around. I have no idea what type of a person was staying there but I don't believe they would have liked us nosing around. Makes you think!

Might want to inform the owner of the cache of the area as well just in case you might have kids going to do the cache as well.

it has come to the attention to us that at one of our caches had what we call a squatter camping right next to it. this time of year you do have to watch out for people who are not so fortunate to have a roof because they will perch anywhere they can to survive.the one that was at our cache is now gone but it makes you wonder why they would choose that spot. well i would say a safe secure out of the way spot.

So are we to say the unfortunate person has moved on and the cache location is now without a resident nearby?

I visited a cache in Waterville a few years ago much like this. A walk along a nice stream trail = only to find what appeared to be a street, tent, residence near the cache. I was not personally concerned about my safety but rather the integrety and safety of the cache.

Don't think that one was ever archived either. Just have never been back.

The Unfortunate One Has Moved On And The Cache Is Still There. My Next Question Woould Be Did He Sign The Cache Log.

The one I mentioned in Lewiston the other day has been archived by the owner until they check it out. I hope they don't go alone.

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Originally Posted by TRF

Great suggestions!!

Another good way to scare animals is the canned airhorn,,,beside scaring animals inside-out they are good to signal for help. Pepper spray will stop an animal, no question, but if you have bad luck like me the wind will end up blowing i back into your face and it will make you cry....:D. It's still a great idea though

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You know, that's an even better idea. I might replace the spray with a small airhorn. At least I won't have to worry about where to aim it.