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What interesting gear have you found on the trail?


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Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 76 total)
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  • #1305295
    Mobile Calculator
    Spectator

    @mobile-calculator

    […]

    #2005141
    Jake D
    BPL Member

    @jakedatc

    Locale: Bristol,RI

    Found a Columbia nylon hat on the LT last year.. cleaned it up.. quite comfy. Also found a pair of cheap flip flops and since i didn't have any camp shoes they came with me the rest of the way.

    I've found a bunch of mini baskets for trekking poles.

    #2005151
    Stephen M
    BPL Member

    @stephen-m

    Locale: Way up North

    a tent, ice axe, random single gloves.

    #2005160
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    Not a backpacking story, but on our 2012 bike trip, myself and two friends had to replace a tube on my buddy's univega four times. Doing so stripped our wrench terribly. We were worried we wouldn't e able to fix it a fifth time.

    Then, we found a brand new Mini Craftsman monkey wrench on the side of the road. Worked for the rest of the tour!

    I also found a sweet L.L. Bean ranger hat.

    #2005165
    James DeGraaf
    BPL Member

    @jdegraaf

    Locale: Bay Area

    Went on a trip with my younger brother in law. It was colder than expected the first night. The second night we were expecting the same. While we gathered wood for a fire we found a heavy synthetic L.L. Bean sleeping bag and a couple of bags of Ramen. We unzipped the found bag, shared it as an overbag and ate hot Ramen. We hiked out the next day and brought the "new" bag with us.
    -James

    #2005167
    robert mckay
    Spectator

    @rahstin

    Locale: The Great Land

    Too many broken water bottles. Too much trash :( My friends found a titanium .44 mag hiking outside of Fairbanks. Checked it out with the cops, now they are the proud owners.

    #2005174
    Billy Ray
    Spectator

    @rosyfinch

    Locale: the mountains

    I have found a ton of things over the years.

    But I leave it where it is… in case the owner returns looking for it…

    b

    #2005176
    Stephen M
    BPL Member

    @stephen-m

    Locale: Way up North

    me too.

    #2005179
    Jeff M.
    BPL Member

    @catalyst

    Besides the random water bottle or bear canister one time I found a cuben duomid…just sitting there pitched…so I took it. I figured carrying the extra weight the rest of the trip would be worth it. ;)

    #2005183
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    I hope I'm not the only one, but I have never left the woods without somebody else's trash in my pack.

    #2005184
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    HA! Any BPL members lose a DuoMid when they went peak-bagging?

    #2005185
    Bob Gross
    BPL Member

    @b-g-2-2

    Locale: Silicon Valley

    1. Lots of rubber caps for trekking poles.
    2. Lots of lens caps for cameras. Mostly Nikon, oddly enough. Mostly small ones.
    3. Coins. I generally score about 25 cents per day.
    4. Ballpoint pens.
    5. Bandanas. I could go online with a used bandana store.

    –B.G.–

    #2005187
    Angus A.
    BPL Member

    @mangus7175

    Locale: http://theshadedtrail.blogspot.com

    WOW a cuben duomid? I hope that was really something that was left behind. I would hate to be that guy coming back to my camp to find out my $H17 was $%#&@ with.

    Wish I was as lucky to find something like that…only things I've found were bandanas, hats, glasses, etc. nothing major.

    #2005195
    Max Dilthey
    Spectator

    @mdilthey

    Locale: MaxTheCyclist.com

    Bob,

    I've lost two Nikon lens caps.

    -M

    #2005208
    Mike W
    BPL Member

    @skopeo

    Locale: British Columbia

    I was day hiking a fishing trail and came across a couple of young guys that had backpacked in and set up camp right on one of my favorite fishing spots. I stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes and they were planning an extended stay. When I returned a week later, their camp had been washed out by a flash flood (I knew they had set up in a poor spot but figured they knew what they were doing… apparently not). I figured they must have abandoned their stuff in the middle of the night because the entire camp was still there, soaking wet tent, sleeping bags, fishing rods etc.). I left everything as it was, thinking they would return to claim their gear. I returned a couple of times over the next month and scavengers and the river took care of the gear.

    On the flip side, I was on a backpacking trip with my kids when they were young teens and we had an apparent communication problem. I thought my son had gone and grabbed the bear bag but apparently he thought I had gotten it. We had left my bear bag up a pole and since we hiked out in one day, we didn't notice it was missing until we got home (600 miles away). I lost my stove, a gas can, my pot and some food utensils (as well as the bag). I always imagined it hanging there until the fall when nobody was around and a ranger would retrieve it.

    #2005210
    Jerry Adams
    BPL Member

    @retiredjerry

    Locale: Oregon and Washington

    I lost a Nikon. Or was it some other brand, I forget.

    If anyone found it would you please send it back to me? : )

    #2005220
    Elliott Wolin
    BPL Member

    @ewolin

    Locale: Hampton Roads, Virginia

    Snotty industrial-strength handkerchief/bandanna. To my wife's horror I washed it and now use it.

    Baby's bib, to my kid's delight I wore it down the trail, then tied it to a post at the trailhead.

    Assorted fishing lures, often in trees near a river or lake.

    30 feet nylon parachute cord.

    Many tent stakes from many sites.

    I generally carry out any garbage I come across.

    I left food hanging once, discovered it at the trailhead, always wondered what happened to it.

    Many years ago some friends had their off-trail campsite raided while bagging a peak, they lost everything of value.

    #2005224
    M G
    BPL Member

    @drown

    Locale: Shenandoah

    You took it? How could you know it was forgotten? A pitched cuben shelter was unlikely to be forgotten. If you are not joking and trying to bait a reaction here you have questionable ethics in my book.

    #2005228
    Jim W.
    BPL Member

    @jimqpublic

    Locale: So-Cal

    Found a campsite with cheap tent, sleeping bags, and rotting food and package scraps in Yosemite near Cloud's Rest in the springtime, looking like it had overwintered. We were on the way in for a week so I just left it. All I could guess was that the owners got hit by a fall storm and left the tent and bags to let them travel light.

    Couldn't find my Timex Indiglo watch packing at home in California. Then on the trip, my wife fell partly down a cliff on the West Coast Trail in Canada. Luckily a branch caught between her back and pack stopping her. During the fall, as she was grabbing at brush she managed to grab a… Timex Indiglo watch matching mine.

    Forgot to pack my water bottle when heading for Mt. Whitney this spring. Planned to dig in the trash for a used soda bottle, but found a bike bottle in the parking lot. Then saw the same Nalgene going up, and back down the trail two days later so I snagged that.

    Lost 2 pair of gloves in different parking lots two winters ago, but found two pair of gloves under chairlifts when skiing the same year.

    Just call me even steven.

    #2005229
    Kevin @ Seek Outside
    BPL Member

    @ktimm

    Locale: Colorado (SeekOutside)

    THat wintered at 13000 feet and still worked

    #2005242
    Jerry Adams
    BPL Member

    @retiredjerry

    Locale: Oregon and Washington

    I've seen a bunch of gear a number of times – tent, sleeping bag, a few other items, fairly low quality, laying on the ground. I just leave it because it's too heavy to carry out.

    #2005248
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Yeah, flannel-lined, polyester-filled sleeping bags are the most common, large item left behind. Depending on the setting, I suspect teen-aged lovers or someone who wasn't going to camp again and didn't want to carry it back.

    Glass bottles. When left in a USFS cabin, I imagine someone rationalized it as, "Someone could use it as a drinking cup or candle holder." But really, it was heavy trash they left behind.

    Hunting camps will get things brought in but not out over the years. Some woodcraft stuff – tables and chairs from saplings, some thing flown or hiked in. There does seem be enough "pride of ownership" that they don't leave trash. And in bear country, they don't leave food waste.

    A lot of things I'll carry out. Especially if it's my last day out.

    Edited to add: walking my beach there is lots of sport and commercial fishing gear. My best finds were a Casio dual-time-zone, analog/digital wristwatch. And a Leatherman in good shape. On another beach, we found an upper-end halibut rod. In Prince William Sound we found a fiberglass kayaking paddle. We returned it to the kayak rental company who said the last renter would be happy to have the $200 charge reversed.

    #2005253
    Steve B
    BPL Member

    @geokite

    Locale: Southern California

    Rubber pole tips.

    Titanium spoon, at Guitar lake. Feels better than most, it has a place in my pack now.

    Full mountain biking gloves. They go in my kite buggy bag now.

    Steve

    #2005265
    Zach Waller
    Member

    @zach156

    ….found more trash than anything, and discarded clothing. But one time while setting up camp in what i thought was a scarcely traveled area i look down and see something shiny in the dirt below my hammock. Reached down and pulled it out and it was a mens gold wedding band. The most odd part about it was i wasn't at a campsite. I had just tied up between two trees a good bit off the trail and had to be atleast 10 miles or more from the trailhead. Made me wonder how it got there/how old it was all night…

    #2005266
    Rusty Beaver
    BPL Member

    @rustyb

    Locale: Idaho

    Speaking of which, if someone found a faded green "John Deer" hat between Redfish Lake and Flatrock Crossing, I'd love to get it back. Was trying out my new pack last year and not being used to it, forgot to buckle one of the buckles that was holding my hat in place. It's only a hat, yes….but it's a bit sentimental to me.

    A long shot, I know….but thought I'd throw it out there. Anyone?

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