Gear lost while backpacking.

Jettisoned my Steripen out of my Ohm side pocket. Which is not the place where I usually keep it. Lazy and payed the price.

"Jettisoned my Steripen out of my Ohm side pocket."

Jettison implies you got rid of cargo to reduce weight. Sounded like a good strategy to me, other than the LNT implications.

Left my Steripen Adventurer at a watering hole in the nearby Spring Mountains just outside of 'Vegas.

But now I have a new "Opti" version that works even better.

I never take my wedding ring backpacking. Too much chafing when using hiking poles so no worry there.

"I never take my wedding ring backpacking. Too much chafing when using hiking poles so no worry there."

I almost never take hiking poles, so no worry about chaffing with a ring. Plus the ring is much lighter than hiking poles :)

Last week I found a moderately expensive item on the winter route from lost lake (AK)(Do we have a "Lost and Found" thread?) Describe it and it's yours.
Yesterday I found a wallet loaded to the hilt but containing nothing with a phone number so I'll express mail it tomorrow- likely after the owner had the unpleasant task of cancelling all credit cards completed.
Knock on wood, I haven't lost anything in recent memory.

Last weekend I lost my new Silva Explorer Pro compass in Disneyland (Desolation) Wilderness. It's either in the forest somewhere between Lost Lake and the PCT or, next most likely, by an unnamed creek along the PCT where I ate lunch. Not horrible, just annoying.

On one outing just after finishing a sunrise landscape photography shooting session in a very photogenic mountain cirque – I realized I had dropped an expensive photo filter encased in it's leather-like protective pouch. I combed the bushwack trail that I used to access my shooting sites, back & forth several times – NOTHING! Went back to camp to packed up and leave – still disappointed that I had actually lost this filter – needing that tool but not wanting to purchase another.

Then it dawned on me – I had a German Shepard with me. He was just a PuP – 6-7 months or so, but I had been working with him on "search" with his dog-toys & such. Showed him another filter from the same filter brand pouch – he excitedly mouthed it thinking it was a frisbee or something – and we re-walked the bushwack trail.

After 10 minutes or so, I had lost interest & even forgot why/what are we doing – then the PuP darted and stuck his head way down into the thicket, obviously interested in something, all I could see was his butt & tail – and came out with that filter pouch in his mouth and gave it to me!!

Whhooo! Such a good dog! Needless to said he got the "you're a good dog" treatment for a week! OK, well, maybe longer…..

Nick I think you need to seriously invest in a chain that can not slip off your head, and attach your wedding ring on there Frodo Baggins style before any excursion. Blessed or not, it seems like that ring, and its predecessor, have been actively trying to escape.

Smart dog. You don't think the whole thing was a setup? Sounds a little fishy he was able to find the filter case like that… If he is smart enough to find it, he might be smart enough to hide it. How many snacks did he score??

I temporarily lost car keys.
On a short walk, really, so not a big deal..

I had been sitting beside a river taking pictures. I pulled my pack over and heard a 'tink' sound. I wrote it off to a side release or something tapping a rock. There was no 'jangle'.

I got back to the car… I pretty much remembered where I had been sitting and went right back to them. The worry I had was that they had fallen down between large rocks to a point I couldn't reach. Easy reach, though.

Anyway, they keys weren't where I regularly put them. That was the problem.

As far as rings, I wonder if a wrap or two of tape a knuckle up from the ring might prevent it slipping off. Would have to remember to not forget to do that… Putting the ring on a key chain wouldn't be a good plan for me. Keeping it in a filter case might help.

> …that ring, and its predecessor, have been actively trying to escape

That is how Gollum lost him ring. It wasn't his fault; the ring left him.