High Sierra Topix

What is the craziest thing you forgot to pack or lost on the second day of a 8 or 10
day trip?
This past trip I lost my spoon which made eating dinner quite interesting to say the
least, I looked more like Fido than a human being.
Over the years I have heard some stories like people forgetting to pack there tent
which would be okay if the weather was nice, which in this case did happen.
Another individual lost there fuel canister 2 days in on a 8 day trip, now that is not
good.
What about loosing your TP on day 3 of a 10 day trip, mostly above tree line, that
is one I would not like to experience.
So let's hear your experience, or someone else's you've heard over the years.
How would you deal with loosing you fuel canister, would you have bailed, and
what about loosing the TP?

Well, watching a friends boot drift freely down a river and out of sight during a stream crossing was pretty interesting.. Looked funny with one boot and one Teva hiking for the next 3 days after that.

Now that would look funny Rlown, but quite uncomfortable for the long haul.

The ol' velcro Teva sandals aren't as uncomfortable as you might think.. Used them around Puppet last week, with the double sock action. Made walking in the water for a better cast very pleasant.

Besides, when he lost his boot, we were in our 20's.. nothing was really uncomfortable then.

I'm not really clear on how someone would lose their TP. I know sometimes an errant stop at roundtable or denny's can cause a problem where you use it up too fast, but there is always that sacrificial sock..

I did lose my hemo's at the earlier backcountry meeting, but I knew exactly where i dropped them, hiked back, and there they were.

The person said they made a pit stop, and in a rush to get to a camp
spot before night fall, left the TP on a rock.
The next morning when he noticed it was missing, hiked back, but could not find it.

This spring my ditty-bag with ALL my personal gear and first aid kit fell out of my pack to the bottom of the trunk of my car and I left for a 4-day trip in Yosemite without these essentials. What I learned.

Allergy sufferers should NEVER go in the wilderness at peak pine tree pollen without thier allergy medicine! At times my eyes were literally swollen shut and tears running down my face as I stumbled down the trail.

Unbrushed teeth are very gross!

It is scarey going several days without a first aid kit. Thankfully, no mishaps.

Teeth work well for many cutting needs. Even dirty grossed out unbrushed teeth.

Squinting works fairly well in place of sunglasses.

Man, can a broken fingernail be annoying.

Guess what else I carry in my ditty bag? - My sporke. Fingers work fairly well. But then, with my cleaning wipes missing, dinner becomes quite unappealing.

From now on I double check to be sure I have my ditty-bag!

I have a habit of putting in multiple eating utensils since I've thought I put one in and not actually done it... Fortunately the Light My Fire sporks are light.

I left my ditty bag somewhere too - miserable without the antihistamines, but I managed. Fortunately it was in the trunk when I got back to the car and not dropped on the trail.

I left a really nice pair of sunglasses on the top of my car. They were not there four days later.

Forgot my toothbrush. I agree with WD - unbrushed teeth, yuk.

Happened this year- forgot my down jacket, which is a key piece of my layering system. Thankfully it wasn't very cold/windy this year, and I simply wore everything else that I had (at once). Other years that would have been a deal-breaker.

Had a stove fail a day before the last one on a trip. But I usually carry enough extra bars to last at least one day, so it wasn't uncomfortable.

Forgot my spoon once on a 5 -day solo trip in my local backcountry. So I carved one out of a piece of creek driftwood, a bit cumbersome but worked better than my fingers.
On a climb of Mt. Shasta, my partner and I were hurrying through packing our packs in the van because it was starting to snow (this is when I was a climbing bum of sorts and we were living in a VW van for the summer) I forgot a cup and he forgot a spoon so once we had the tent set up in a howling gale we had to eat dinner sharing the spoon and passing the pot back and forth. It worked out fine since we had to spend the night holding on to the tent and poles to keep the thing from shredding in hurricane force winds so we just took turns eating and holding the tent together. We passed on breakfast as we chose to stagger off the mountain before the storm got worse

The worst was a winter trip when I brought a summer thick, 1/2 length sleeping mat - not much use when sleeping on snow. I ended up supplementing this with my backpack and on the very bottom an emergency blanket, it was still a cold night (luckily not that cold - western mountaineering makes a good bag).

On one short trip I left the windscreen to my alcohol stove at home. May not sound like much but that night I had the wind barrelling down on me like a freight train. The stove wasn't much use.

Almost lost my spoon on the first night of a 5-day trip. Somehow found it hiding in the bushes (phew), with a bunch of teeth marks in it (probably some rodent nibbling on it all night).

No mosquito repellent in peak-season ==