Don't Call the Cops — I'm UL!!

I guess it’s nice that somebody cared enough to notice!

Perhaps the other side of this would be “Don’t arrest me, Mr Ranger, I’m Ultra-Heavy”.
A couple of years ago I was discussing with a Yosemite ranger whether I could hike from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne in a day, count this as a dayhike, then pick up a backcountry permit in Tuolumne to continue on from there.   The ranger told me that I could be ticketed if I was carrying full camping & cooking gear on a “dayhike”.  She said the reason the rules were now written that way was because it was a (surprisingly) frequent occurrence for people caught backpacking without a permit to claim that they were dayhiking but in training for a thru-hike later in the year, and therefore carrying all the extra gear for practice.   Something to reflect upon if you really are in training – put rocks in your pack!

Ha, well the moral of these stories is, Whatever you do, remember to look “normal”! :^)

Bad Bob, bad Bob, what you going to do when they come for you ;-)

How wild would that be to be awakened in the middle of the night with a helicopter flying overhead with search lights, and SAR teams with dogs — and they’re looking for you?!

Ha, Bob! Who knew that horse people would be looking out for you like that? So now it’s come to the point where we maybe should check in with the sheriff before hitting the trail? Or just place a note on the dashboard that tells folks you’re a bad-ass UL dude?

Thanks for posting this – I cracked up when you emailed me this story and I’m glad you’re sharing it with a wider group.  At least you were able to get your voicemail and call them before they came looking for you.

Great story Bob!

I once had a backpacker (trad-packer) tell me he saw a guy with a very small daypack 4 days into the wilderness. He said he must have been some kind of crazy person being so far away from civilization with such a small pack, and he brings a pistol with him now just in case one of the crazies attacks.

Hmm…. Must have been a SUL hiker that started that morning, ha.

Ben

Ben, I can SO believe that! :^)

I took my nephew on his first-ever backpacking trip last fall and had enough UL gear myself to kit him out completely, even clothing. I told him we would see plenty of folks with much heavier packs — which we did — but not to worry. On our hike we crossed paths with a couple of dayhikers, a guy and his wife who actually looked pretty fit, and chatted with them very briefly, long enough to learn that they backpack regularly as well. They asked if we were camping overnight, and when we said yes the guy gave us a quizzical look and said “Wow, are you sure you have enough gear?” Absolutely golden!

Gary, when I park there next time I think I will leave a note like that, especially if it’s a multi-night trip, although I’ve done that only twice at Harriman. For multi-night trips it’s usually the Catskills or Daks.

That’s a really funny story. And annoying.

We once were on a day hike, leaving from the parking lot, and an overeager officer wanted to know what time we expected to be back so he’d know when to call SAR. We said thanks but we can call SAR ourselves if we need it. He was really persistent. It was a regularly scheduled Sierra Club hike, only about 15 miles. We’ve done it millions of times. No extreme weather, popular trail. Just too eager to be of assistance to the point of annoyance.