Lost & Found on the trail

[Gene C]

What do you do when you find a lost object on the trail?

A) Leave it where you found it: Maybe they'll will come back for it or maybe they are doing an out-and-back hike
B) Take it down the trail with you: Maybe you'll meet them at the next campsite or down the trail
C) Deliver it to a park ranger
D) Keep it
E) Other?

My wife dropped a beloved stuffed penguin and hiking mascot while doing the High Sierra Trail earlier this summer. We asked people down the trail if they'd seen it. One couple had seen it and left it behind. The next couple had seen it and taken it with them — we were surprisingly overjoyed to see the little guy again!

— Gene

[Billy Ray]

A…. if it doesn't look like it's been there a long time.

billy

[Bob Gross]

F) I find tent stakes in old campsites, probably about two per season. Take 'em.
G) I find small coins in old campsites. Take 'em.
H) I find objects of marginal value, like three feet of bright orange cord. Take 'em.
I) I find camera lens caps, never my brand. Take 'em. But I use the location to figure out where to shoot another photo.
J) I find the bottom plastic bumper for trekking poles along the trail. Take 'em.

–B.G.–

[Joe Lynch]

About 5 years ago we were on the Lost Coast trail with the boy scouts when one of the boys noticed something about 10' off the trail down a ravine. One of the boys scrambled down and found a relatively new North Face 20 degree sleeping bag. We took it with us and left a note with park headquarters in case anyone reported it missing. It went unclaimed and went to one of the boys.

Now, did anyone see my nasty backup pair of socks I left at Rae Lakes this summer by mistake?

[Ken Thompson]

Unless it is on a popular out and back trail. Then I'll leave it. If it is useful I will take it. If it is trash I will pack it out.

[Kevin Babione]

Until a hike this past May I was definitely a take it with me and hope to find the owner hiker. For valuable items this always worked:

• Found a nice Sigg bottle along the trail. Dumped the water (I didn't want the weight) and about 2 hours later came across a photographer and asked him if he had lost a water bottle. He checked his pack and found that his was missing. He was happy to have it back even if it was now empty.
• A pair of Oakley sunglasses hanging on a branch near a stream. We were hiking the Old Loggers Path in PA (a loop hike) and passed a group of guys heading the opposite direction. We found the Oakleys that night while getting water. When we got back to the trailhead the same group of guys were getting in their cars to leave…We quickly asked if any of them had lost a pair of sunglasses and I thought the guy who did was going to hug us – he was sure they were gone for good.

Here's a photo of an item I left on the trail in May for the owner to pick up:

And no – it's not a Chinese soup spoon…

[Paul Wagner]

We pack stuff out. We've kept and used a cook pot, toiletries bag, and a hiking pole. The mylar balloons, soda cans, odds and ends clothing, and micro-trash we pack out.

We did leave a very nice looking 2-man tent on the Snow Creek Falls trail in Yosemite—we figured it had been left there by some of the people who were climbing the cliffs nearby.

And we left a pair of boots (inhabited my innumerable small bugs) where we found them, along a river 17 miles from the nearest trailhead in an isolated part of Yosemite.

[David Thomas]

I pack almost everything out. Most trails in my area are out&back, so if it appears to have been recently lost, I leave it hanging prominently on a sign at the trailhead. Seems to be the common practice – I see more stuff brought to the trailhead than I do along the trail.

Stuff that was left for a while, I keep – things like tent stakes at a campsite. I should probably gather up all the steel and plastic Walmart-ish stakes and leave them with a "free" sign at a car-camping campground. When am I ever going to use them?

Because I hike on the beach a lot, the largest category by mass for me is fishing line and nets. Yeah, 20-pound and 100-pound test and spinners and hooks, but more so commercial gear – 1" ropes, lead lines, scores of floats off a float line – some of which get incorporated into monkey bridges and cargo nets between the 7 tree houses in our forest. Beyond my ability to retrieve on foot are 100-yard x 3 fathom salmon gill nets. Sometimes I cut off a section at time to haul it out. My best finds (that I kept) were a high-end Leatherman and a dual-time-zone analog/digital watch. Each had seen salt water, but except for the file on the Leatherman, everything worked well. The other source of trash is drunken parties on the beach. Beer + campfire (and/or sex) = shed clothes. I get that. What I don't get is why they wouldn't wear the clothes BACK from the beach. Maybe they can't find them after dark when the fire has died. Or they went swimming fully clothed and would rather go back in their skivvies than sopping wet sweat pants. I haul back about 10 outfits a year – shoes, socks, pants, shirts, jackets. 60% I toss in the trash. The better stuff I launder and donate to the Women's Shelter.

Most annoying to me is the trash that people rationalize leaving behind. Most commonly in USFS rental cabins. A wine bottle converted into a candleholder?!? No, you should have packed it out, as I will be doing. Weird soup mixes that of course they didn't use, because no one ever would. Etc. I do leave some stuff behind, but it is always in the Alaska tradition that a cabin should be ready to warm up quickly if someone is in a survival situation. So I'll leave a bundle of very dry tinder, in a range of sizes, plus wax paper, so anyone could get a fire going quickly.

[Anthony Analetto]

Small trash and other useful items I will pack out. I have found many items however that are to bulky or heavy to even think about packing out. Mile 10 of 50 on the Greenstone ridgeline on Isle Royal I found not one but 2 sets of Chest Waders in OR dry bags. These together weighed more than everything I was carrying. These were placed in a more obvious spot for the trail crew I knew was coming from the other direction. I also found a full cook set with an obviously broken white gas stove on the same trip. That was taken out and disposed of.

[Larry De La Briandais]

I'm never sure, but this thread has given me some ideas. On the trail new half dome I left some nicely stacked gear that had probably been forgotten (we were some of the last people coming down). I debated with my wife whether to take it or not, but didn't want someone coming back for it and not finding it.

Trash I always take. I have a boonie hat my wife found on the mist trail. The hang it on the trailhead sign sounds like a good comprise for out and back trails.

[Frank T]

Like others have said, it depends on what it is and whether or not it looks like it was meant to be there.

A few years ago in the Big Sur area, I spotted a large red fabric object tucked into a rock cave above the creek. I waded over and scrambled up the rocks, and discovered it was a sleeping bag, partially torn apart by varmints. I was pretty hesitant to go in to retrieve it — was there a body in it? — but I crawled in and got a closer look. It was empty. There was also one of those old-style 10-qt. aluminum cook pots and some other small stuff in there. It didn't look like anyone was coming back for it, but I didn't have room to pack it out.

I do have one L&F "trophy," a very nice Swiss Army knife that I found in Tehipite Valley. We never saw another soul on that hike. I wasn't going to leave it at the TH with a note. We did try to stop at the ranger station on the drive out but it was late and the station was closed.

Now for some thread drift…

My daughter left her retainer somewhere in the Desolation Wilderness this past summer. It cost me $270 to replace it. Maybe I'll write our phone number on the new one with a sharpie.

[Jim H]

We packed out two rusted cans and a 1.5ftx1.5ft rusted metal grate that was about 5 pounds. All were found about a half mile above the lake in some rocks near where we camped.

I still can't imagine why the metal grate was up there. Did I remove someone's cached grill? Sorry.

[Bill Law]

A few years back, we found a bear canister at our campsite along the JMT, just north of the climb up to Evolution Valley.

We couldn't see any option except to leave it, in case the owner came back for it.

I wonder if it is still there, as probably everybody since has decided to do the same thing.

[Owen McMurrey]

I mostly just find wrappers from candy or granola bars, but did find a R1 hoody at Red Rock in NV a few years ago that someone threw into the bushes after it got a ~2.5×1" tear.
Not my size, but I washed it, had it repaired, and gave it to someone it would fit.

Found one of those Happy Birthday balloons near the back of a finger canyon at Kolob. Apparently those things can go a long way!

[Bob Moulder]

Around 1987 I left a fairly new Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens on a rock at Notch Lake on Rt 214 near Tannersville in the Catskills. I lived in NYC and didn't figure it out until I got home. Contacted Tannersville police but nobody had brought it in. I still wince over that one… loved that lens!

I have found all manner of small clothing items, most recently a bright orange synthetic knit ski hat with a "Hamptons Marathon" logo on it. Quite a few cotton bandanas.

Once in the late '90's on the Devil's Path in the Catskills I found a brand new Swiss Army knife (one with many tools that nobody here would carry!) on the trail between Devil's Acre leanto and Diamond Notch Falls. It was lying there as if someone had carefully placed it in that position, without even the slightest dent or scratch to indicate it had been dropped. When I got to the falls there was a group of about 5 guys there, all of them with mostly brand new gear. I asked if anyone was missing anything and one guy felt his pockets and said his SAK was missing! He had the hole in his pocket to prove it – must've slipped right down his pant leg, hence no damage. So he got it back and was happy.

[Steven Hanlon]

i have found plenty of stuff over the years… even money. never once has someone claimed any of the objects i have found. most were donated to the local scout troop. even found a tent!

the money goes to offset my trip. one trip i found several dollars, my buddy couldn't believe my luck when about 2 hours later on a very different trail i found a twenty. post trip lunch/pie was on the trail angel.

[James White]

I find money on every outdoor trip I go on. Strangely, I don't find as much in more civilized, busy areas.

It's always been change, and I never return it, because I have no idea who it came from.

[Mike W]

I found a smart phone on the trail this year and learned a valuable lesson from the find.

The phone was dead so when I got back from my trip I plugged it in and fired it up, expecting to get a lock screen. To my surprise, the owner didn't lock their phone!

I looked up one of the contacts on her phone and called her from my phone (her service had been stopped). I told the woman that I had found her friends phone. The woman on the other end yelled out "OMG, somebody found your phone!" The woman that lost the phone happened to be staying with the person I had called (lucky choice on my part). They came immediately to reclaim the phone.

The lesson learned was that if you lock your phone it's a good idea to have something on the lock screen that allows somebody to contact you. My lock screen picture now has my email address on the bottom of the lock screen picture.

[Elliott Wolin]

It's rare for me to return from a trip without some new tent stakes, usually Al, I'm waiting to find Ti stakes. I have quite a collection!

[Bob Bankhead]

I do not feel a responsibility to haul someone else's trash out of the woods. If I have space and am willing to carry the weight for the rest of my trek, I will do so. My response depends on the following:

(1) Am I near the beginning or the end of my hike? I'm more willing to pack out trash and lost gear if I'm near the end. If I'm on a loop hike, I'll leave it and get it on the return leg, if it's still there.

(2) How heavy or bulky is it? Returning to the car from one trip, I found and packed out (all from one campsite)- a soaking wet sleeping bag, a soaking wet Walmart-style dome tent, a cheap blue tarp, and a 4 quart aluminum pot. Can you say P-I-G-S? From the next campsite along the same creek, I retrieved an unopened 12 ounce can of SPAM and a full 12 ounce beer (Karma). I drank the beer so as to reduce the weight. After all, this is BPL.

(3) How valuable is it? I once found a $200 water filter at a bridge crossing along the JMT but left it there, assuming the owner would definitely back-track to try to retrieve it.

(4) How full is my own trash bag; is there room? If so, see above.

As an aside, I have been on the other side of that coin. My dear wife lost one of my LT4 carbon fiber trekking poles on the TRT. Fortunately, I had taped one of my return address labels to the shaft. The finder called me to confirm my address and then sent the pole back to me. I sent him $20. Karma repaid.

[Jeffs Eleven]

We were hiking up a mtn and found an ice ax that the guy in front of us dropped. We took it back to him.

Later, while descending we saw the same ax dropped again. We took it the second time.

[Earl Gilbert]

I found an 11 oz. MSR fuel bottle that was about 3/4 full on the AT on Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. It was standing up, in a very steep part of the trail, so someone must have found it before us and left it, hoping someone would come back to claim it. The group of guys that passed us earlier said it wasn't theirs, so I kept it and bought an MSR multi-fuel stove to match up with it. I still haven't used the fuel in it.

I usually pick up trash I find on the trail, candy wrappers, stuff like that. My GF picked up a bicycle chain this past weekend and hauled it out.

[Kodiak Firesmith]

I frequently pack out trash, cursing people and wishing them all the worst the trail has to offer while doing so.

What really kills me is all of the stuff I find while kayaking. I spend probably an hour for every day of kayaking along river banks cutting down line from lazy fishers who don't mind torturing and killing local heron with their cut lines. Oh well it keeps my tetanus boosters current :/

[Alexander S]

On the Jackita Ridge loop we ran into a lady who asked us to look out for her camera left behind somewhere and gave us her number. We did indeed find it later.

We then ran into a team of young ladies who were heading in the same direction the camera owner was. They appeared to be heading to the same camp that night and offered to turn it over if feaible so we gave it to them along with the phone number.

But not before we all crammed into a happy group shot with her camera.

[J Dos]

Like others, if it seems reasonable to, I will leave what I found on trail for the person who lost it.

I experienced a weird 6-month period in which I found over $150 in cash on trail. This is over several trips on different trails. When it comes to cash I figure if somebody asks me if I found any cash on trail, I would definitely hand it over. However, I'm not going to go around asking every hiker I encounter if they did.

One time I found a new leatherman (the type that has about 1,000 attachments and seems great, but I never end up using), and since I hike at a pretty good clip, I asked every hiker I passed on trail if they had lost anything. A few people said no, and I came to an older gentleman hiking solo and when I asked him if he lost anything, he searched his bag and realized he was missing his tool, so we knew it was his.

Probably the best experience I had was a hike in Laos. While hiking some hills outside of Luang Prabang, I found a Korean passport on the trail. When I got back to town 2 days later, with nothing planned that day, I decided to visit every hostel in town (it's not a particularly big town) and ask around. Eventually, after almost giving up and deciding the guy must have gone back to the capital (Vientianne), I talked to a hostel owner and she confirmed her guest had lost his passport. The guy was so stoked when I handed it over to him. He didn't speak much English, but kept saying 'thank you.'

To this day I'm still not sure how he found out where I was staying, but the next day I came downstairs to the lobby and the lady at the desk told me I had a package. The guy had left me a bag of muffins, cookies, and bagels from the awesome French bakery down the street. That story still counts as one of my favorite travel experiences.

As for trash, if I can possibly pack it out, I do.

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