Bad encounters

[EMSDanel]

My scariest moment was one I caused all on my own. I went in the winter time to "Don't Quarry, Be Happy" (GCM460). I hadn't been caching that long and was still very gung-ho about finding caches on my day off. I got all the way up the steep access road in thigh-high snow and found myself at the entrance to a quarry carved into a mountain top. I could see where the cache had to be.....up on the top of the quarry to my left. To get there I would have to climb up onto granite shelves that looked like a large staircase cut into the rock....each level being waist level higher than the last. I'd have to climb up, traverse horizontally for a few feet, then climb up to the next level. The problem was, it had rained and the entire surface was glare ice! After getting all the way in there, and not wanting to turn away without the find, I decided to go for it. I pulled out my set of house/car keys, took off two of them, and started to use them as ice picks to keep myself from slipping as I made my climb and traversing the horizontal sections. It was when I was about three stories up that I looked down, and fully realized that I was on glare ice being held in place by two house keys that I had jammed into the ice. I was near the top and decided to go on, but I also realized that I had to descend the same way I had come up, and that if I slipped and fell chances were very slim that I would be found before spring. I was a new cacher and had taken a very foolish chance. I vowed never to be that foolish again, and after finding the cache made my way very slowly and cautiously down the face of the granite. I was SO relieved to get back to my car. Trust me on this one, I learned my lesson..... I will not take such a foolish risk again.

[Katadin Goddess]

where is the fitz cache, trying to place where it is in my head.

I dont like being greated by a loose dog that is barking in an unfriendly way, seen this before while out caching.

[Sabby]

The Fitz cache was at a rest area outside Elsworth.

I stopped there and decided that I was not going to get out of the car and just moved on.

I just felt "uneasy" and decided the cache was not worth it.

[vicbiker]

Dan's story is all to similar to my own worst adventure.Mine was also in the winter on my second week of being a new cacher. Foolishly on a Saturday morning I found myself at Laughing Terry's "Death wish #1".There was still a foot or more of snow in the woods, although was crusty enough to walk on. Also ribbons of thick ice ran through the crusty snow, these disappearing over the edge of a cliff. These icy spots were so slippery I could barely stand on them , having to hold on to trees for support. Approaching the point where the ice ran over the edge I could hear the roar of the water as it poured over a falls fifty feet below where I was standing clutching a young tree. The sight of this raging white water rushing down through an icy canyon, coupled with the name death wish, should have been plenty of deterrent not to go any further. Especially for someone my age with the experience and training that I've had in outdoor survival. The lure of finding the cache and the thrill of the hunt were just to much. So just like Dan I also was foolish enough to risk my life to win at the game. Back at home were my mountaineering boots, ice climbing crampons, trekking poles, rope, and evidently all my common sense. With me I had none of the above. Even so by sliding down to a root, a rock or a hand hold on something that looked as though it might hold I was able to make my way down to the bottom of the canyon. Once down it became all the more apparent how foolish this was. The ice at the bottom covered in spray from the boiling white water, the shear height of the canyon walls,and the realization that I haven't told anyone where I was going all added to heart pounding excitement. The cache wasn't to be found that day and I obviously did make it out. The next day armed with with my sidekick Number Seven, some basic equipment and an email reply from the man himself Laughing Terry we successfully completed Death Wish # 1.

The moral of the story, well you all know what it is, never cache alone, or at least let someone know where you're going. We all do foolish things and usually we get away with them, but not always. Remember Gulf Hagas a few winters ago?

[firefighterjake]

So that was you guys I saw there!!!

For my story... Fitz Cache... nuf said...

Ditto.