Re: Left or Lost?
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:37 pm
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
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