Left or Lost?

[gary c.]

I did pretty much the same thing with a roll of TP. I went to sit it down and it tipped over the edge of the rock and it was all down hill from there. By the time I rolled (gathered) it all back up it was the size of a micro-wave. My hiking partners got a heck of a good laugh as I returned to camp.

[cvr]

This is not "lost' story, but on a trip a few years back, a newbie friend of mine wanted to dry his boots near the fire. He did not pay close enough attention to how close he put them to the heat of the fire. By the time he checked on them, the soles had melted so badly the boots were completely useless. He ended up walking about 8 miles out with rubber flip flops. It made for a very slow hike and the looks we got from people we passed were priceless.

Last Friday AM at Puppet L., I lost my hemostats somewhere near the main bend on the southern shore. The reason for the loss still pains me. I will describe what happened in a trip report next week. I ended up having to use a tiny pair nail clippers when releasing fish the rest of the trip.

[BSquared]

Keys to the car that was so carefully shuttled from South Lake to North Lake! About half way to Bishop Pass (well, probably not, but it makes a better story) I just casually asked the shuttle-car's driver if he had his car keys, and he said, "No, of course not, why would I.... oh..... <the rest is not for a family newspaper>". He went all the way back down [keys were in the car we left at S Lake, luckily] and made it up in time to meet us for dinner in Dusy Basin, so nothing horrible was lost. Imagine, though how unpopular he'd be if we hadn't noticed until after spending the day hiking down from Lamarck Col!

[markskor]

At Bernice fishing, just over from Voglesang....third day of a 12 day trip.
Fishing the far bank -
(FYI), two deep holes there but a snowfield/talus edge makes things a little dicey.

Anyway, I put down my fly box on a large refrigerator-sized block and promptly kicked it down a deep chute. I could see it 8 feet down below but agonizingly unreachable...I know I tried for hours, almost had it too. Little disheartening to finally have it snagged and watch it pop off - and be gone.

Had to walk the shoreline and snag gear from trees...made flies from thread, down, and whatever.

[quentinc]

Sunglasses by the dozen. Two of the most memorable casualties:

Last year, on day 1 of a 6 day trip into the Kaweah Basin, an hour into the hike I was crossing a stream with my sunglasses hooked onto my shirt. I stumbled slightly on a rock, the glasses flew off and momentum carried my other foot directly on top of the glasses. Smash and no sunglasses for the next 5-1/2 days.

Once, going bear Bear Lakes Basin to Feather Pass, one lens popped out and feel deep into a chasm between some rocks. This was particularly bad because I was crossing numerous snowfields, which is really unpleasant without sunglasses. Wearing sunglasses with one lens just doesn't work, unless you're a pirate

[dave54]

Matches. No big deal, I used a flint stick.

My most memorable booboo was ......food!

I left it in the cooler in the car at the trailhead. I was a mile or so up the trail before I remembered. :retard:

[paul]

I once forgot the pump for my MSR stove on a 3-night trip. I had the fuel bottle, the fuel, the stove, but no pump. I did have a lantern, since this was an October trip in the days before LED headlamps and I wanted to read after it got dark. The lantern had a flat metal top on it, so I thought maybe I could cook on it. Well, about a half hour later I had a nice lukewarm pot of ramen. I gave up on that idea. Fortunately, my breakfasts were all cold cereal, so I just had to stretch my lunches out to be lunch and dinner.

[giantbrookie]

I've forgotten a spoon before. I tried to whittle one out of wood and this was only semi successful. The most tragic loss was leaving my lure box behind at Treasure Lakes (LLV) in 1981. I had some lures I had purchased in Montana that I have never seen since. Of course, I would have long since snagged them off, but to lose 70 plus lures at once is pretty tough. It wasn't lost of the first day of the trip, though. I recall forgetting my stove once, but fortunately we were camping in a campfire legal area.

On day 2 of 7 my favorite all time trip (Dumbbells) I launched my rod tip into Dusy 11393 and the line broke (the rod tip occasionally gets launched, but this is the only time the line snapped, too). My tip section sank in 20 plus feet of deep blue ice-fringed water. My whole trip depended on the retrieval effort but no way was I going swimming in that cold. I tied two Z-Rays onto the end of my line and cast with my stubby rod. Over and over I attempted to thread the needle and snag that tip section. After some nerve wracking and frustrating efforts I rescued the rod tip and my trip was saved.

TP? Never forgot it, but I have run out before. Lupines. Not as good as Charmin, but...

[oldranger]

The list gets longer every year.

First major "forget" was a few years into backcountry rangering. I generally started my season on Memorial day weekend. Typically I would drive to the park pick up my gear and pack the night before I hiked in. In the repacking I neglected to put in my long underwear bottoms. This left me with a pair of Gortex side zip pants as my only long pants. Usually this would not be a significant problem but this was one of those years where it not only snowed but was really cold--didn't get above freezing during the day! Necessity being the mother of invention I spent a good deal of time in my sleeping bag and visiting w/ backpackers who built nice fires!

A couple of years ago my oldest daughter and did a fairly impromptu 4th of july trip to the Eagle Cap wilderness. When I set up to cook dinner--no pot or pan to cook in! The last day I took out the freezed dryed scrambled eggs to discover I had mistakenly packed a dessert! Later that summer on a trip with my wife I set down my new titanium spoon--yes another spoon story--and it walked away. I spent over an hour looking for it before guiltily giving up. oh I bought the outrageously expensive spoon after two plastic sporks broke early on previous backpacking trips. Using a spoon with a 1/2" handle really sucks!

On two occasions I have washed my socks in the afternoon and left the following day with my dry socks on and the damp ones hanging on a bush (haven't done that for a couple of years).

This year on a trip with my son I opened up my fishing gear bag and my lure box was missing. This was not critical because I had stocked my son's lure box quite well. This was not entirely my fault as a few days earlier markskor had asked if he could steal a fly or two before we headed different directions. Emptying my fishing gear bag to get to my fly box I took out my lure box and, distracted by Mark drooling over my collection of flies, neglected to return the box to the bag. As soon as I was out of the backcountry I called rlown (who was also present when I left the box) and he knew what I was calling about before I asked and kindly shipped the lure box to me.

Finally, during the 80's when I was a backcountry ranger I left a pair of addidas running shoes that I wore when fording streams (long before crocs) at creek crossing after putting my boots back on. I returned a couple of weeks later and someone must have recycled them.

Oh jeez, one more thing lost. On a horse packing trip my old Fenwick Voyager spin/fly combination rod slipped out of the rod case that I had tied on behind my saddle. The next day I came down with a UTI and was barely able to ride out a couple of days later so I was never able to go back and look for the rod.

The good news is that I am never lost and I have never forgotten the 151!

Mike

[rlown]

Starting to sound like we're misplacing a garbage dump out there, one at a time. One of my friends left a cache of clothing near Barney Lk in '79. Pack was heavy, so he ditched some pendeltons, etc, and couldn't find it on our way out..

Mike, some of that is sounding like senility. No pots or dessert for breakfast? Older people love sweets.. maybe it was a sign..