A German geocacher and a Canadian geocacher walked into a geocaching event… well, they actually met at an event, and through a twist of fate, discovered they had something amazing in common.
Geocaching can lead you in many directions, and is always an adventure. You never know what you’ll find.
On Sunday, October 30th 2016, Tim Turner (Blue Meanies), Trevor Bland (Trevor and Kate), Leland Smith (swiss cheese brain), and Derek Fisher (CacheDFish), left their hotel at 8 AM to start a power trail near Benton, Washington, USA. A Power Trail is a set of consecutive caches along a route that allows cachers to find a large number of caches in a small amount of time and distance. They are usually placed right at or just over the 528 feet limitation from the previous and next cache. The difficulty and terrain levels are kept low to increase the ease of finding the containers.
What began as a routine weekend geocaching outing became an unforgettable high-stakes rescue.
It was a foggier than usual that morning. Visibility was limited to 50 feet in any direction. However, the team of cachers were not deterred away from their goal of hunting down the high elevation power trail. After signing their last log the fog broke and the team proceeded back home. This is when they saw something unusual.
“In one of the clear spots (in the fog), our driver, Tim, saw a wrecked car about 200 feet down a ravine. He pulled over and we all got out to look at it,” Bland said.
The car, a blue Ford Escape, was surrounded by paper and other debris, all too fresh and clean looking to be old. They realized the accident was recent. As the geocachers neared, they noticed dents and other damage on the sides and roof of the car—it had rolled down the cliff.
Approaching the vehicle the group hoped the car was empty, but prepared for the worst. They were elated that no one was in the front seat. Then a breeze came by and blew one of the drooping side-airbags enough for Turner to see someone’s leg and said, “Someone’s in there!”
The group was shocked. Bland looked inside and saw the woman’s arm move. He asked if she was okay. The woman said she was in a lot of pain, but could not articulate her words well. Leland took down the coordinates of where she was, and ran up to meet with Derek Fisher on top of the ravine to find cell phone coverage.
To calm the woman and keep her from moving, Leland, Turner, and Fisher kept a conversation with her and provided water until help arrived. She’d been stuck in the car for 14 hours before being found, and though the woman had no life-threatening injuries she was lifted via helicopter to the hospital.
The group’s immediate response and timing could not have been better. The doctors told the family that, had the woman been left alone in the ravine for a couple more hours, she might not have survived.
“It’s really hard to just go about your day and geocache after witnessing something like that,” Bland said. “We tried by staying in the immediate area keeping an eye on the flashing lights up on the hill, and an ear out for the helicopter, but none of us was really into playing our game. Not after witnessing someone’s life on the line. We needed to process and reset ourselves. So we went to lunch at a great Mexican restaurant that Tim knew. We ate, talked about what we had just witnessed and experienced, watched a little bit of a football game, and gave ourselves time to reboot and re-energize. We then proceeded to cache our way back home to Spokane.”
In case you find yourself in a similar situation here is some advice from the cachers:
Turner: “Assume that anything is possible and always be ready and willing to offer help. Being curious can save lives.”
Leland: “Always be prepared! Have supplies on-hand whenever you go out; First-aid kit, blankets, water or any survival gear. You never know what kind of situation is right around the next corner. Lend a helping hand if you are not involved.”
Bland: “Do the right thing. Stay safe, but do the right thing.”
Fisher: “Don’t second-guess yourself; your gut instinct is to check out the situation. You may find nothing, but you might change someone’s life.”
Thankfully, the woman is in better condition and is recovering from the incident. Those who were involved handled the situation with poise, and without missing a beat. In an interview, the geocachers were asked how it felt to be a part of saving someone and Turner summed it up best:
“It feels very rewarding. Lives are so much more important than hobbies, but this hobby helped save a life.”
http://www.playbuzz.com/geocachinghq10/15-of-the-strangest-things-people-found-while-geocaching
What’s the strangest thing you’ve found while geocaching? Tell us in the comments below and share with your friends to see what they think!
Ahoy, geocachers! When most geocachers think of T5 geocaches, they usually think of climbing to the top of a steep mountain. But some intrepid geocachers know that diving down, deep down, like, 29 meters (100 feet) down, is what T5s are really all about.
On a recent trip, I got the opportunity to fly over the Arctic Ocean. As the plane flew 36,000 feet above Greenland, I looked deeply into the ice, trying to spot a polar bear mid-traverse across an ice field. Ever since then I have been dreaming of a Greenland adventure and what amazing scenery and community I might discover there.
With a population of just over 57,000 people, Greenland is a vast landscape that has yet to be developed and is slowly increasing in annual visitors (about 40,000 in 2016). For that very reason, I have dreamed of going to Greenland to explore such a uniquely raw place and experience pristine nature. What could make a trip to Greenland even better? Perhaps finding a Multi-Cache along the Arctic Circle Trail!
As the most famous hiking trail in Greenland, the Arctic Circle Trail is a 160 km (almost 100 mile) backcountry trail between Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut. Open until mid-September for hiking, the faint trail leads you through low arctic vegetation and into rocky mountains. Along the way, there are daintily placed huts for you to overnight in or take shelter from the unpredictable arctic weather and also find geocaches along the way. If you do not have 7 or 8 days to make this trek in the summer, or if you are a brave soul, you can embark on the journey via dog sled, snowmobile, or cross country skis. Although completing the trek in the winter sounds magical, you may have some trouble finding the final geocache due to lots of snow.
Although we are featuring one Multi-Cache on the Geocache of the Week, geocache owner TriNitro was kind enough to place another one going in the opposite direction. So no matter which way you begin your journey, you can find a fun final stage. Check out Arctic Circle Trail (S –> K) if you choose to hike from West to East.
TriNitro hauled 12 days worth of supplies and the caches on his back into the backcountry with him:
In front of us, there were about 160 km of walking, 15 km of canoeing, and twelve days of unforgettable impressions in a widely remote landscape. Again, the weather was incredible and we had so much fun along the trail. And: silence! In my opinion this is one of the most impressive and precious things to experience.
TriNitro was also nice enough to host a geocaching event in Greenland for the very small, but welcoming Greenlandic geocaching community:
Before leaving for our trip to Greenland, I submitted an event in Sisimiut to meet some of the local geocachers. So we found ourselves standing in drenching rain at the old church of Sisimiut waiting for other cachers. As we left directly after the event was published, we did not know how many geocachers might join us, if any at all. Finally, the only local Sisimiut geocacher joined our very private event. Due to the weather conditions he decided to put us in his truck and gave us a sightseeing tour of Sisimiut. Not enough, he invited us to his home where we met his lovely family and joined some tasty meal after we found a geocache in his garden. All the people we met during our trip have been very polite and open minded and we were absolutely overwhelmed by this hospitality.
After reading about this geocache and viewing all the breathtaking photos, I am inspired to book a flight to Kangerlussuaq right now! It would truly be a badge of honor to have that guidebook in your home library and that find on your profile.
Thanks to TriNitro for sharing geocaching with the Greenlandic community and for sharing Greenland with all of us geocachers around the world!
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
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