Weather and Remoteness

[wyoexplorer]

I thought I would start a new thread to discuss the weather issues (since it snowing on me right now) and remoteness challenges of many caches in WY. How do you deal with these challenges? What precautions do you take? Any special equipment you use? Or do you throw caution to the wind and see where the adventure takes you?

[Rubiconlwb]

Most of the caches we find are in or around towns so the weather is not so much of an issue for us. If the weather looks like it could potentially be bad, we usually stay close to home (not that you can place too much confidence in what the weather forecasters say). As for the caches that are in remote location such as in the mountains, we just don't look for them until summertime. We always have extra food and gear whenever we are going to be in isolated areas, just in case. We had an experience last spring that definitely caught us off-guard. We went caching to the Wheatland/Torrington area and that evening could not find a motel room in Torrington so headed to Cheyenne and stayed the night there. The next morning, we woke up to 5 or 6 inches of snow which we were not expecting. We cached in Cheyenne much of the day and then headed home. We got to Laramie and discovered that the roads east and north were closed so we waited around as late as we could and got a room before they were all taken. We spent the night there and got up early to discover they were still closed. We kept checking and finally about 9:00 the Interstate opened so we took off. The road was not good and portions had snow and blowing snow and as you can imagine, tons of traffic, especially semis. We got to within 25 miles of home and were rear-ended by a semi going way too fast for conditions. After exchanging insurance information and heading off again, we got about a mile down the road and the traffic was at a stand-still. We found out from drivers near us that there were 10 or 12 vehicles in the ditch ahead and a semi had caught fire, blocking the highway. We sat in that traffic stoppage for over 8 hours, finally arriving home about 10:00 that night. Adventure? Yes! Fun? No!

[wyoexplorer]

Ok, Wow, how do you prepare for that? I bet people in Indiana don't get caching stories like that,lol.

[Team SCR]

I usually throw caution to the wind and head out. I carry my trusty Leatherman and if I remember my walking stick. I try to remember to mark my spot and off I go. My 8 year old is with me a lot of the times and event sometimes my wife, 6 and 3 year olds, it just depends on where were at.