High Sierra Topix

.....Sorry, that was FOUND. It was what someone ELSE lost.

Not something I lost, but I sure hope whoever left their pants at the intersection of the JMT and the trail to Ireland Lake found them. It looked like they had the keys to an entire subdivision tied on the belt loop. We left the pants draped over the sign so they'd see 'em better.

I have never lost my pants. Every once in a while I'll drop something off the pack - a sock that's drying, my hat, or a croc - never take off my pants! At least not until I'm in camp.

And I have a buff, but I've managed to lose it somewhere here at home, despite its being red. That's rather upsetting, I used it for so many things!

The FOUND part of this thread is almost more fun than the lost. AT, I think you win -- how someone could forget their pants is hard to fathom. Last weekend, I found a stick of deodorant at Mulkey Pass. I hope whoever lost it was hiking solo.

Last year I lost my sleeping bag. I had an old bungy that lost its "bungy" and my sleeping bag fell out when I put my pack back on after a break. The sinking feeling of realizing I lost my bag was dreadful. However, survival instinct set in and I kicked out a trough in the needles in a tight stand of lodgepoles where I spent the night. I made a blanket of elephant grass with my rain poncho to help keep me warm. [
The next day I retraced my steps and within 45 minutes I found my bag and was able to continue my trip.

Whoa...... Resourceful, Dude!

Before we were married, my husband and I did a hike into Iva belle. We had his tent, and I had the rainfly.
I lost the rainfly on the trail, never to be found again.
He married me anyway.

Last weekend in Yosemite was not a good one for my wife.

She lost her favorite bandana somewhere on the trail to Dewey Point, and left her closed cell foam sit pad at Lukens Lake.

Neither is irreplaceable...but she felt bad about leaving stuff where other people would find it...

oldranger wrote: 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.
The good news is that I am never lost and I have never forgotten the 151!
Mike

Ah this reminds me of two more. I did a early season trip planned for Italy Pass etc.(think this was spring 1980). I was staying in the dorms in Berkeley and when we carried my stuff out to my friend's car we left my boots in the gutter (fortunately for the long term situation, a classmate found them, knew they were mine and kept them for me). On that trip it was solid snow above Upper Pine Lake. Kicking steps in snow with basketball shoes is no fun. I struggled to the top of Italy Pass, looked over into the totally white basin and decided to stay on the east side. After a talus hop up Julius Caesar we turned around and headed back to Upper Pine.

Then there was my very first backpack trip with Judy in 1986 to Little Lakes Valley. We hadn't done a good job of putting the 151 bottle in the car. We had sort of just thrown it in there (and I planned to decant it when I reached the trailhead). In any case, I don't know how things shifted during the drive, but I when I opened the rear door of our car the bottle rolled out and shattered in the parking lot-----tragic. In spite of such inauspicious beginnings, Judy did end up marrying me two years later.

On my recent solo to Ten Lakes I seemed to be blessed with finding all kinds of things that others had left behind -- a bandana, a little pocket knife (Swiss Army style with "Ace Beverage Co." printed on it in case anybody here is missing it), a bag of GORP, etc. It seems like every time I stopped to rest at a suitable boulder for easing the pack off my back I'd find something that somebody had left.

Each time I thought, "Man, I've got to be careful and police up my area when I get ready to resume hiking." I thought I was doing well, even being somewhat prideful about it.

Then, two thirds of the way through my five days I discovered that the little Zip lock with my Wilderness Permit had somehow slipped out of my pack's lid pocket during a rest break. Egads, can you imagine me telling a ranger, "Yes, I've got my Wilderness Permit, but I lost it"? Sure, right!

Only thing I had going for me was I had got "carded" the previous day, and it's likely if I saw a ranger it would probably be the same one who wouldn't have any need to ask me for it again.

Dave

I've sometimes wondered about a lost permit too. Consistent with my respect for the permitting process, I not only don't make any special effort to protect them, I just stuff them wherever and they often end up mangled, spilled upon, inside the dirty socks, etc.

I imagine if you lost it, you could give the ranger your name, vehicle description, etc. and he/she could just check with the permitting office. At least I hope!

I may have even written this up before on a TR but last year my wife arrived at the trailhead with two similar looking walking shoes but each were for the left foot (which left her wide open for some serious kidding). She made the trip, though, wearing light running shoes that she brought for camp shoes.

Mike