LOST ITEM: Long Lake - Platypus filter

[shawnterustic]

Hey, y'all. I had a really lovely, mellow trip around the Long Lake / Ruwau / Chocolate Lakes area last weekend. And just now, as I wondered where it was, realize that I left half of my Platypus gravity filter setup (6L Gravityworks) - the important half (filter & dirty bag) - hanging off of a snag at my campsite.

I feel shame! And sadness! And general disappointment! Totally scoped camp before heading out as I always do a sweep, but the filter was hanging away from my tent area, on the far side of the snag, and I was focused on scanning the ground.

I was camped in a very well-hidden, but obviously previously used campsite between the trail and lake, just a few minutes before the Ruwau junction, in a foresty area right near a meadowy area. The bag was hanging on a small snag located adjacent to a small campsite with flat rock "tables" that is adjacent to 3 larger campsites. Here's the approximate location (green icon):

https://caltopo.com/m/8C35

Screen Shot 2021-07-09 at 10.04.07 AM.png (506.52 KiB) Viewed 137 times

I won't be back in the area for 3 weeks - and by then, I'm sure some lucky person will have already gone home with an almost-brand-new 6L gravity filter setup So if anyone is heading up the trail before then and feels like having a quick poke around, I would be eternally grateful!!!

Sigh....

[rlown]

How does one lose gear. I usually find gear. Everything in its place.

[bobby49]

Each of my backpacking gear items goes into a specific spot in my backpack. If I lost something, there would be a hole there when I packed up.

My "water kit" items are each rolled up and stored inside a cut-down 1L Platypus, which goes into the rear pocket on my backpack. If I lost a big Platypus, I could tell that something was missing.

[c9h13no3]

I feel shame! And sadness!

As you should. The laws of booty are very clear on this matter. Once you abandon gear, it becomes litter. Whoever picks it up is cleaning the wilderness of an abandoned foreign object.

Furthermore, begging for your gear back brings further shame upon your house. If someone offers you your gear back, the only proper response is "You keep it, you earned it." Maybe if you offer to repay them with beer, it would be less shameful. Maybe.

[shawnterustic]

Tough crowd! Tough crowd!

Thing is, I'm generally exceptionally uptight about wrangling my gear *and* leaving a spotless camp - was anyone here? Not I! My buddy and I both surveyed the land, as it were, before leaving...but we forgot to look behind that dang tree. I've been dealing with several figurative fires upon my return and then realized...wait...how did I not pull my filter out of my backpack when I unloaded everything else after returning? OH MY GOSH BECAUSE I LEFT IT ON THAT DANG SNAG!!!

Sigh...to the finder go the spoils, I suppose. I guess this offering makes up for all of the times I claimed booty on trail and on the rock! (But if it's still there when I'm back up later this month, I will consider it a small miracle and will immediately purchase a lottery ticket).

[Harlen]

Tough crowd! Tough crowd!

Tough crowd indeed... what's that biblical deal? "Let he without sin cast the first piece of granite?"

I feel your pain Shawn. I wish I had half of my left behind stuff back. Highlights are small binoculars, a nice thermos, sunglasses (*always cheap), and many, many spinning lures!

My simple rule is to haul out more than you leave in, and I am many pounds ahead of the game on that score. My last day- if it's downhill, is the cleanup run. I feel for you Shawn, you and I do not share that "perfection gene" with the others.

I will add my own snide suggestion though: Why on earth do people still filter Sierra water? The only water I won't drink is water with horse or cow manure floating in it!

[rlown]

Not a tough crowd. Maybe just ADHD or OCD. Mental checklist as I Pack. Learned my packing decades ago and as bobby49 states, everything is in its place.
Sorry for your loss. If you're missing something it might bite you later.

I've had friends had stoves die, filters clog, reels lose a screw, etc. I pretty much double up on stuff or spread gear around.

[rlown]

Harlen,

Filter is in case you end up in a swampy mess. I've seen it a few times.

[Harlen]

Russ,

I'd open a vein and drink my own blood before I'd filter water!

[rlown]

ok.. I'll watch and suture.