Locate lost car keys

[Philip S]

I had an interesting experience last week on a trip flying to a location and then getting a rental car.  On my first day of backpacking I had left most of my gear at a campsite and from there gathered a few items to walk a few miles to an overlook.  On my walk to the overlook I had a waist pack that contained my phone, camera and rental car key.  In my very lighweight/small backpack had some food and water.  On my way back about a mile from my campsite I had to use the bathroom so went into the woods and then back to my campsite.

An hour or so later from my campsite I realized I did not have my phone and camera so was mainly upset because I already had taken lots of photos and then would not be able to take any more photos for my other days in this new area for me which was Yosemite.  There was still an hour or so of daylight so I went back on the trail looking for was the area and did some in the woods searching but found nothing.  Later as I was laying in my tent I realized I was also missing my rental car keys.  It seems I had taken my backpack from the bathroom area but left the waist belt pack.  I was starting to mentally panic but did realize I had tracked the entire hike on my Garmin Fenix 6 watch but had never looked at a route on thae watch.  I played with the watch trying to figure out how to have it show me where I had gone into the woods but could not figure it out. I believe I have learned track back only works before ending or saving a route.

The next morning after breakfast I went looking again knowing I was in a wooded rather flat area and most of the area north of Little Yosemite Valley is rather open and hilly.  Using what I know as a basic principle of search and rescue of going in a ways and them coming directly out and moving over some and going in again and repeating this method I found the pack only after a few tries so saved my trip.

Sorry for the long story but I am commonly by myself and for future safety I wonder how could I have found my lost keys or phone in airplane mode.  Is there a way my watch could have guided me.  Is there some other device that could have guided me from a saved route.  When I got home I looked online at my route and easily saw where I entered the woods.

Also on a related subject how do others carry items such as wallet and car keys in or on their packs.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

I carry a minimal wallet in a zipped pocket in my hiking pants.

My keys go in my pack tied to a dedicated loop of cord. Typically it’s a leash in the front pocket of the pack. I like my Atom+ pack a lot and sometimes I think about selling it and ordering a custom one and I’d add their zippered pocket mostly for my keys, maybe with a sewn in mitten hook.

Phone goes in my front left pants pocket just like every day of my life. I have a tendency to check if it’s there throughout my day whether on trail or work or home… I’m disciplined about not leaving it places as I move through life. That said, I assume that it could be lost or broken at any moment and don’t rely on it but dang I would miss the photos I had taken.

I don’t have a suggestion on backtracking. Maybe if you are going to take the fanny pack off during a bathroom break it makes sense to clip it onto the shoulder strap of your pack or around your chest? I’m pretty good about not losing things and it’s not because I remember where things are, it’s because I am disciplined about where I set things down and follow routines. I realize this behavior does not work for everyone (including my spouse 😬).

[Terran Terran]

My key goes in a small zippered pocket inside my main pack. I keep no essentials with it so I don’t have to open it.

[Paul Wagner]

Yeah–My keys go in the sidebelt pocket of my backpack, along with my headlamp.

Nobody here has answered your question–sorry about that–but I do know people who leave their keys hidden near their car, and thus avoid finding themselves in this situation.  I have never done that, but have hiked with those who do.

[David Hartley]

Can’t help with the track finding on your Garmin either – but I also worry about losing keys and wallet when hiking.

I always have my keys and wallet in the zippered pocket in the top fold-over part of my gossamer gear gorilla (its not good for much else). However, on a recent solo trip I pulled them out and kept them on my person when I went away from camp for cat hole visits – because I started to worry – what if a bear wandered by and ran off with my pack while I was away? My food was secured separately from the pack, but still – the pack was unattended. I always worry when leaving my pack unattended on solo hikes.

I have started to think about maybe getting a light fanny pack or similar where I would keep wallet, keys, first-aid kit, toilet kit, headlamp, knife, etc. – basically a fanny pack ditty bag – where all that stuff would be together and I could easily grab it if I was going to be away from my pack – vs the various places those items are now stored. Of course – you already have this and left it at your cat hole spot – so there is that …

You also have me thinking that maybe I should turn on the navigator app on my phone and record a track when I go on toilet runs, just in case I need to find my way back to the same area (or have trouble finding camp) – especially on solo trips. I did one time have difficulty finding my way back to camp (it was dark with misty/foggy rain).

[Ray J]

I’ve lost an IPOD while hiking.  I was tired, late in the day.  I’d stopped to put on Crocs to cross the last river, switched back to shoes and started hiking.  The IPOD was on my chest strap and it came undone.  In my tiredness, it didn’t register.  About a mile later I reached the point to camp that I was aiming for.  I set up the hammock, got H2O, I even cooked and ate.  I finished setting up camp and was going to lay in the hammock as the sun faded and listen to some music.  Then it hit me.  No IPOD.  I grabbed the headlamp, secured my gear a bit and started quickly back tracking.  I found it laying next to the trail about 30 years away from the river crossing.  I reached camp just as I needed to turn on the head light.

I guess the only tip for searching is do so as soon as it is safe to do so (not in the dark).

I also had a panic attack once when, again very tired, I decided to “find” my thin wallet with my credit card, health card and cash.  Where was it!  OMG!  Search!  Dump the pack!  OMG!  I was even thinking how much diesel the truck had and figured I could make it home as I had filled it about 50 miles before the trailhead.  With the pack completely empty, I started putting stuff back.  At some point I pulled the top flap back on the main pack and then it hit me.  Something is in…..Oh……I’m an idiot.  That thin zippered pocket on the top flap, had my wallet and keys in it.   So that lesson is as others have said.  Use one place on each pack where the wallet and keys are kept.  Always.

I can open my current truck with the keypad on the door post.  I can also open it with my smart phone.  When I go to the gym, I sit at home and put my wallet and key in the console, sort of hidden.  That way no one in the gym parking lot sees me in the console.  When I get to the gym, there is a sequence to lock the truck with the keys in it and it doesn’t BEEP.  I do that and then either unlock it with the phone or the keypad.  When I go on day hikes, I wear hiking pants and the keys go in a zippered pocket, always the same one.  So even if I trip and fall, they remain in the zippered pocket.  I guess it’s just thinking about it all and then repeating it until it becomes second nature.

[Dustin V]

On our honeymoon my new wife and I borrowed gear from the hotel and went snorkeling. I was able to drive us (on the left side) to a beautiful, empty beach without incident. We started trying to snorkel, neither of us ever having done so before.

My wife’s mask didn’t fit her face and her eyes got very irritated by the salt water, so she sat frustrated on the beach and said, “You go. I’ll stay here.” After some discussion and mental gear-grinding, I chose the middle road and decided to snorkel just a little bit and then come out.

“Give me the car key,” she said. I honestly didn’t want to go near her right then, she was so visibly angry. The bloodshot eyes didn’t help.

“I’ve got the key in my pocket. It’s sealed shut.” I’m sure you can see where this story is going; the first chapter of our family lore. But alas! This story does not end with, “…and that’s how I got this scar.”

I sunk back into the warm water and made some loops, observing the coral, some fish, a discarded cigar, more fish… After what I thought was a proper amount of time, I resurfaced.

“Give me the car key,” she said again. I put my hand in the pocket and it was empty. The tiny square of velcro had not sealed the pocket. I tried to act casual, holding up the ‘one minute’ sign, and slowly sunk back onto the water, even as I saw her red eyes catch fire. I made the same loops as before but frantically, past the coral, the fish, the cigar. Over by the other fish, bobbing in the surf was the key fob, waving at me as if to say, “Over here, bonehead.”

As did you Philip, I survived. I learned that day that zippered pockets are crucial, and like Matthew, I need to put things down only in designated places so I don’t have to swim around looking for them.

My wife loses her phone, glasses, etc. about once a week, so I keep half an eye on where she puts things down so I can tell her, “I saw it on the counter by the dishwasher.” We recently got some AirTags to try out. They don’t work in airplane mode, but if you’re close enough for bluetooth, you can make it play a little sound. Not sure how useful this will be in the woods.

I very rarely lose anything because I put things only were I think they should be. My phone is in my left pocket, SAK and keys in the right. But mostly, I just don’t put anything down if I can help it. I’m they guy at the airport who always has his hand on his luggage like it’s one of those contests where the last person touching wins a car. Feels like I’m winning because I’m still married; haven’t lost my wife.

[Bill Budney]

I have been paranoid about losing car keys on trail, mainly because it is the one thing that would be extremely difficult to recover from.

• I have my keys on a ring with a large extended-range Tile Pro. That gives me maximum bluetooth-finding range, in addition to GPS tracking from my phone.
• I clip the ring to my pack with a retractable badge reel. Even if I drop them they are still attached.
• Then I put the keys into a pocket with a closure (zipper or drawstring, depending on which pack).
• ALWAYS THE SAME POCKET.
• I like David’s idea of a small fanny-ditty-bag that stays always attached. Maybe even a money belt sort of thing.
• In cooler weather, my shell jacket (with pockets), serves a similar duty.

[Philip S]

I mainly I wonder is there a way I could have used my watch to locate the pack in the field.  I knew if I could sync my Garmin Fenix 6 to my phone App then I could look at the route online but did not know a way to do this until home.  I had wondered about going to park personel and asking to use a computer to do this but what if I was not in a park and just out in the woods somewhere by myself.

I had looked at the route on my watch but do not see much and had never done this before and am 61 and need glasses and had a hard time enlarging and changing the location of what the recorded route was displaying.  I wonder if I should practice doing this because it can be done or is there some other device I should have such as a touch screen watch or would a Garmin In Reach or similar device allow me to use the recorded track the next day to track back.

[Philip S]

I do have a key underneath my actual car but was using a rental car.  I also carry a battery jumpstarter and jumpstarter cables becuase of having a dead battery once but so far never when I was alone

[Bill Budney]

> I wonder is there a way I could have used my watch to locate the pack in the field.

My iWatch automatically complains when I get too far away from my iPhone. Both have the “Find my…” feature to find each other and/or make them beep.

[Glen L]

If it’s a bad problem you could get some AirTags and attach them to the keys. All of my packs have a pocket that has a lanyard with a clip. That’s where the keys go. With the convoluted offtrail routes we do I don’t think we could follow them back exactly from the Garmin track. We ran into this in some very gnarly canyon country where you couldn’t go ten feet without going up, down, left, right or backwards and then do it over and over again. I thought the landscape started to breathe in a predatory way a few times.

No longer carry a wallet since the phone buys just about anything now and Arizona lets you add your state ID to the phone wallet. Yeah I keep a couple hundred in 20s stashed just in case like I’ve done for decades.

[David Thomas]

I hide the keys on the car before a hike so 1) I can’t lose the key on the trail and 2) if I end up exiting a different trailhead, someone else can drive it home.  I also have $100 cash in each of the cars so if I forget my wallet heading out of the house, I can still complete most errands or buy more fuel.

I also hide the keys on the car at airport parking in case my itinerary changes or, during my trip, I learn someone is passing through Anchorage and could use my car (saving them rental car costs and me the parking fees).

When the rental car keys are a huge bundle of keys and fobs and ID tag, I go through a hardware store or Walmart and use a pair of wire cutters to clip the wire holding them together (I travel with a split ring or screw-together cable that I get 10 / $2 on eBay).  Then I don’t have a massive jumble to carry in my pocket and my wife can take the other key if we’re heading in different directions.

While on the topic of wallets/cash, the most UL bit of kit, anywhere, is a $20 bill leaving the South Rim of GCNP.  It weighs 1 gram but can be converted to two lemonades, 3 granola bars and a Snickers at Phantom Ranch.

[Dan]

I don’t know how you would have used technology to find misplaced items, but I am pretty paranoid about leaving anything anywhere in the wilderness. Ideally, I keep everything right on my person, unless I’ve set up camp and I’m very certain I can’t lose track of where it is. Even then, I will mark a waypoint on my phone and take it with me if I step away from my campsite.

I keep my car key in my hip belt pocket, but I sewed in a dedicated clip for it so it is basically inseparable from my pack. Pretty much the only way I’d lose my car key would be if I lost my pack, in which case the missing key might be the least of my problems. If I’m with someone else, I always remind them where the key is when we start the hike, my wife rolls her eyes when I do this. I do leave an extra key with the car. As Matthew said, my phone is always in my pocket.

 

[Kevin Babione]

This reminds me of a funny, but related, story.  I was hiking a section of the AT in Pennsylvania and we stayed at a shelter where there were two other guys.  They too were section hiking and were knocking out a chunk of the AT.  They parked one car at their end point and then took their other car to where they were starting.  The owner of the “end point” car carefully and deliberately left his car key IN THE CAR so it would be safe and he wouldn’t lose it!  It hit him on the second night (of four) on the trail so they simply turned around and retraced their steps.

The funniest thing though was their response when we asked the inevitable AT question when we first met them…

“Which way are you headed?”

“Apparently both”

And then we got the explanation – and it seemed like they remained friends.  We offered to help, but at that point they were about 10 miles from their car and couldn’t do much.  It was the second night they had at that shelter (nights 1 & 3) on their trip.

[jscott]

“but I do know people who leave their keys hidden near their car…”

Or in a magnetic hide-a key under the car. I will bring cash with me if appropriate (a through hike rather than a circle or in and out) in a dedicated zipped pocket that I never unzip. Possibly a credit card. I hide my wallet in the car. And since I don’t bring my i-phone, all of the other options and disasters are avoided.

I’m absent minded! but I know it and so minimize the potential of leaving something essential behind when on a hike. Simple is good! (edit, essential in terms of getting back into my car and driving home with my wallet and license, etc.)

Bringing a second car key with you on the hike, as well as leaving one on or near the car itself, would make sense, for us oc spectrum folks.

Of course, longer hikes that require going into and out of towns are another story.

[moggie]

I’m wondering about the wisdom of taking both a small backpack and a waist pack. It seems like carrying only one item would reduce the opportunities for leaving it behind. If my stuff was pretty light, I’d opt for carrying a sling pack so it can be spun around for easy access to contents without removing the pack. Maybe put keys and small things into a dedicated pocket or clip a little pouch inside the pack so it can’t fall out.

I try to be disciplined about checking that I have everything and all the zippers, etc. are closed before leaving any location, even at home in the city. For me, saying something out loud while I do it reinforces that habit; I remember words a lot more reliably than I remember actions. Sure, people probably think I’m crazy. Maybe they’re right.

[Roger Caffin]

As many of you know, I make my own frame packs. Every one of them has at least one zipped internal security pocket with an internal clip. Most of them have two of these pockets.

The corollary is that we (Sue and I) NEVER leave our packs behind. They are of course UL, so taking them with us is both mandatory and easy.

Cheers

[Terran Terran]

My moms car was gone. I asked her where her keys were. She said in the car and asked for me to go get them. I said , “I can’t.”

[Matthew / BPL]

@moggie I see your point and agree with it but I’ve tried a fanny pack at times and like it. You can carry some essentials in it and keep those on you even when you drop your pack. Also when carrying a frameless pack with no hipbelt it feels better to me to have 13# in the pack and 2# in a fanny pack rather than 15# in the pack. That said, it’s not my main way of carrying gear.

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