⚠ SAFETY & WARNINGS ⚠

💥 The Short Version

In almost forty years of WCRA outings we have had zero serious injuries, and we would like to keep it that way. The site hazards at our Warren County collecting areas are typical for northern New Jersey woodland: black bears, slips and falls, stinging insects, ticks, dehydration, and the occasional unexpected thunderstorm. On a well-led dig with the right gear, the actual risk to any individual is quite low. But please read and take seriously each of the sections below — we would rather over-prepare than under-prepare.

🐻 Black Bears

Warren County is one of the most bear-dense parts of New Jersey and one of the most bear-dense areas east of the Mississippi. New Jersey is home to an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 black bears, and Warren, Sussex, Morris, and Passaic counties account for roughly 85% of that population. If you attend a WCRA outing, you should assume that there are bears within one mile of the dig site at all times, because there almost certainly are.

The good news is that New Jersey black bears are rarely aggressive toward humans. Fatal attacks in this state are vanishingly rare (one in the last 150 years), and the overwhelming majority of encounters end with the bear wandering off once it realizes a person is present. But they are still 500-600 pound wild animals with 2-inch claws, and a sow with cubs does not care that you are a polite rockhound.

WCRA bear-safety policy on every dig:

• We travel and dig in groups of at least four. Solo collecting is not permitted at Jenny Jump.
• All food must be kept in sealed containers and stored at a designated food point at least 200 feet downwind of the dig face, never in your backpack.
• We make noise. Bears will almost always leave when they hear human voices — the dig itself is loud, but if you wander off to look at something, talk or whistle as you go.
• We carry a club-issued canister of bear spray on every dig (Ed carries one, Hank carries a backup). We have never had to deploy it and we hope to keep that streak.
• If NJ Fish & Wildlife issues an active bear-activity bulletin for our zone, the dig is cancelled. See the Schedule page.

🐾 Getting Lost in the Woods

Jenny Jump State Forest is genuinely remote terrain. The ridge trails fold and switch back in ways that confuse even experienced hikers, and there is no reliable cell phone coverage anywhere on the ridge. In the last thirty years the WCRA has had two members wander off the trail and require an informal search party (both were found within a couple of hours, both were fine, one was very embarrassed). We would like to keep that number from going up.

To avoid getting lost:

• Stay within sight or earshot of at least one other digger, always.
• Before you wander off to "check out that interesting outcrop over there," tell your Field Guide. Every time.
• Carry a loud whistle on a lanyard around your neck. Three short whistle blasts is the international distress signal.
• Carry a flashlight or headlamp even on daytime digs. The ravines get dark fast in the afternoon.
• Know which way is downhill toward the road. From anywhere on the Thaw Cut side of the ridge, if you walk downhill you will eventually hit either Shades of Death Road or the state forest main access road, both of which will lead you back to people.

If you do get lost:

1. STOP. Sit down. Do not keep walking, especially not in a panic. The single most common factor in Northeastern search-and-rescue fatalities is the lost person continuing to move and going farther from their last known position.
2. Whistle three times, wait, whistle three times again. Repeat every ten minutes.
3. Stay put and stay visible. Your group will miss you within 20-30 minutes and will begin a systematic search.
4. If dusk is approaching and no help has arrived, find a sheltered spot, put on all the warm clothes you brought, and stay there for the night. Modern SAR operations will find you by the next morning at the latest. Walking around in the dark is how people fall into creek beds.

🐝 Ticks and Lyme Disease

Warren County is in the heart of New Jersey's Lyme disease belt. Every single outing, without fail, somebody on the drive home finds a tick on themselves. Usually they are harmless, but a small percentage of our deer ticks carry Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease, and a few carry babesiosis and anaplasmosis as well.

• Wear long pants, tucked into your socks. Yes, it looks ridiculous. Yes, it works.
• Light-colored clothing makes ticks easier to spot.
• DEET-based repellent (25% or higher) applied to skin, OR permethrin spray applied to clothing the day before. Permethrin is much more effective but should only touch fabric, not skin.
• Do a full-body tick check within two hours of getting home. Check scalp, behind ears, armpits, waistline, and groin. Have a partner help with the back.
• If you find an attached tick, remove it with fine-tipped tweezers, grasping as close to the skin as possible, pulling straight out with steady pressure. Save the tick in a zip-top bag in case testing is needed.
• Any unexplained rash, flu-like symptoms, or joint pain in the 2-4 weeks after a dig — see your doctor and tell them you were in a tick area. Early Lyme is very treatable. Late Lyme is not.

⚡ Weather

Spring and summer thunderstorms along the Jenny Jump ridge can develop with very little warning. The Thaw Cut is an open clearing on the ridgeline, which means you and your steel-headed tools are the tallest things around for 200 feet. If you hear thunder, the dig pauses immediately and the group retreats to the tree line and then to the main parking lot. We use the old flash-to-bang rule: if you can count fewer than 30 seconds between the lightning flash and the thunder, the storm is within six miles and you need to be inside.

💉 Minor Injuries

The field kit carried by the Senior Field Guide contains:

• Bandages, gauze, and medical tape (for the inevitable smashed thumb)
• Saline eyewash (for the inevitable chip-in-the-eye despite goggles)
• Antiseptic wipes and triple antibiotic ointment
• Benadryl tablets and an EpiPen (for severe insect sting reactions — tell us in advance if you have a known allergy!)
• A SAM splint and an elastic bandage (ankle sprains are our most common real injury)
• Basic pain relievers (ibuprofen, acetaminophen)
• A pair of fine tweezers (ticks, splinters)
• A thermal blanket

If you take any prescription medication that might be needed during the dig (inhaler, nitroglycerin, etc.), carry it on your person, and tell your Field Guide that you have it and where it is. We have had members with cardiac histories join us with no problem — but only because they gave us the information we needed up front.

📜 Liability Waiver

All diggers, members and guests alike, are asked to sign a one-page liability waiver at the start of each outing. This is not an unusual document and does not release WCRA or the landowner from the consequences of actual negligence; it simply acknowledges that mineral collecting in rough terrain involves some inherent risk. If you are not willing to sign it, you unfortunately cannot participate.