High Sierra Topix

1976 How about a floating flaming boot down the kern. My buddy got his boots wet and set them by the fire to dry It caught fire and he hoisted it up and into the creek with my hatchet to douse it. It fell off and floated on fire for a good 100 feet. Was dark and in the hubbub didn't have a flashlight handy. Couldn't find it in the morning.
Last year scrubbed a backpack out of Virginia Lakes b/c of smoke rolling over the ridge from an unknown origin. In the confusion I left my new poles on the side of the car when I drove away. Back in the dispersed camp about 10 miles away I was heartbroken that I left them. I came back to the parking lot the next day and there they were! Someone had left them on the dirt berm right in the same parking spot I occupied the day before!

Last summer in Yosemite we lost trail for a bit and during the scrambling off trail for a period, I kept pulling Iphone in and out of pocket to check GPS. Guess at one point wasn't paying close attention to zipping pocket and I lost it.

This summer, Deadman Canyon in SEKI, Day 3 we awoke to rainy breakfast so a bit distracted as we headed out of camp, I wound up leaving my titanium spoon behind at Roaring River. When we got to camp below Elizabeth Pass, realized my mistake. My buddy decided it was a good time to work on his wood carving skills. He found a nearby stick and whittled me a spoon I was able to use for next 2+ days. It definitely got the job done.

Left my lower retainer at a camp by the Goddard Canyon/JMT trail junction. I don't imagine anyone is getting any use out of that. Should decompose in about 50 millennia.

This thread I can really relate to!

I leave stuff all the time, and not just when I go backpacking. Last year, at an unnamed lake in the Kern basin, I stuffed my Patagonia UL down vest into it's sack but it never got into my backpack. For some reason that really bugged me so I just had to go back to see if it was still there, so last week over Shepard's Pass I went to visit the same lake and camp at the same spot, but alas it was gone... no surprise. The fishing at this lake was just as good as last year, so now my mind is at ease and it turned out to be a great excuse to get into some great High Sierra venues.

But thats not the end of the story, on the same trip I just completed, a sudden howling whirlwind went through my camp and carried my Z lite sleeping pad away with it but thats a whole other story and I'm not going back over Shepard's for that!

Thankfully, I have only lost small stuff so far.
I lost one wool glove early on during my JMT trip in 74. Sent out the orphan with the guys who brought in our food drop.
Lost the lens cap for one of my OM1 lenses when it feel into a stream as it missed my pocket prior to taking a photo.
Had one of the lenses fall out of a pair of (expensive) sunglasses into a stream during a 17 day trip in the late 70s.
Finally, left a favorite Mountain Hardwear hiking shirt on a bush to dry overnight. Left it the next morning as it was away from the campsite.
Can't recall anything else. I too am very fussy about a place for everything and everything in its place. Probably has helped keep gear loss down as I get older.

freestone wrote: But thats not the end of the story, on the same trip I just completed, a sudden howling whirlwind went through my camp and carried my Z lite sleeping pad away with it but thats a whole other story and I'm not going back over Shepard's for that!

I was at Hanging Basket looking down at our camp near Townsley.. There was this angry fruit salad of sort near our camp. (cowboy camped) The angry fruit salad was my friends gear swirling around in one of those whirlwinds.

We got back to camp where my friends went on the easter egg hunt for their pads and sleeping bags. After they retrieved the gear, I pointed out the two large rocks put on my sleeping bag over the pad; One at the head and one at the toe. Didn't even move an inch.