When you forget something

“I forgot my spoon and had no eating utensils.”

I’ve never forgotten my spoon, but did lose one on a trip once. Since I always use commercial freeze dried meals, after reconstituting I cut the bag down a few inches and used the cut off piece as a spoon. Worked well enough.

I forgot my spoon and had no eating utensils.
Yeah, that’s bad.
But I did worse one trip. I forgot my spoon and my wife’s spoon! Very embarrassing.
I found some throw-away plastic spoons in a hut next day. Very UL!

Cheers

A friend forgot his wallet somewhere on Isle Royale and had a tough time getting home. Apparently it IS possible to fly without an ID (for some people, at least). Amazingly, someone found and returned it a few weeks later.

Someone mailed my fishing license to me once. I hadn’t even realized it was missing.

I forgot my trail runners on an overnight last summer- a great opportunity to test my hiking sandals!

I forgot my spoon on the last trip, thus this:

(oh, and it’s 2.3 0z.)

I remember reading in Ray Jardine’s book “If I’ve forgotten something…why, I don’t really need it!”. Hmmm. That depends.

Still, I appreciate the sentiment. Out for a few days, who needs a pot for cooking? Or hiking shoes? Tennis shoes will do!  Out for a longer trip…maybe not, Ray.

I remember running into a fast packer on the JMT. He wasn’t carrying a stove. He simply reconstituted his freeze dried food in cold water. After he took off, I realized he was cadging for a boil. I regret not picking up on this even now.

That “spoon” is a great souvenir!

Cadging for a boil … hmphf!

Cadging for a boil … hmphf!

Yeah, that was my response at the time. I’ve also run into ultra light hikers who were asking for any extra food even while bragging about their low weight packs. Sorry! I brought just enough.

For most trips I have a unique trip gear list in lighterpack.com.  I also have some generic trip gear lists for each season for the region in which I live.  Then, I check off each item as I pack my pack.  This way I usually don’t leave anything behind…at home.  I have, unfortunately, left a few things behind in the woods, including my stake bag and my fanny pack.

Back in the days when I hung food I once forgot to take the rocks out of a counterweight bag before packing it up. It was my last day out and so I didn’t have too much extra weight. Still. I found out when I got home.

(maybe I’m oversharing here…)

Back in the days when I hung food I once forgot to take the rocks out of a counterweight bag before packing it up. It was my last day out and so I didn’t have too much extra weight. Still. I found out when I got home.

Did you build a cairn in your garden?  (Sorry, wrong thread.)

I totally can relate. I obsess just prior to any trip I take, about having all the items. Last trip to the Sierra I forgot my puffy jacket. I felt like a real bozo. Luckily temps were high that week and I didn’t need it. Makes me wonder why I fret so much-what good is it doing?

I’ve forgotten a utensil (carved one from a stick), tree straps for the hammock (slept on the ground) but on the last trip, I forgot coffee! Barely made it out alive.

@Dustin Ha! I brought what looked like an insane amount of coffee for 2 people, 3 days. I didn’t even count them as it was a bulging baggy. Got to the last morning and was panicked when I realized I only had 2 packets left-normally need 6. Luckily had a Celcius packet and some caffeinated True Lemon packets in my first aid bag.

Many years back I was zooming up to the Scottish Highlands most weekends after work during the ice-climbing season. I’m chronically disorganised, so it was basically grab my pack and hit the road. It usually worked out well enough.

Except for that one weekend when I forgot I was airing my sleeping bag. The very same weekend that the Cairngorms experienced a record frost south of -30C.

Luckily my mate and I both had high-altitude down jackets we had snagged from an Everest expedition. After donning every stitch of clothing I had, I wore mine up top and pulled the other over my waist with my legs down the arms.

Amazingly, I had a great night’s sleep. Ah – what it is to be young!

A different twist on forgetting to do something (or maybe this should be in a neglecting to do something post).  I have twice not tested a white gas stove prior to setting out.  First time was in 1990.  I tossed my Svea 123 in the pack as I had for the previous dozen years.  This time when it got hot and pressurized the relief valve blew and the entire cup of fuel burned in an amazing fireball.  I returned home without eyebrows.

Second time was 2004 and I didn’t test my Optimus Nova before setting out.  The result wasn’t quite as thrilling, but the fuel filter clogged and the stove spit and sputtered and sooted the entire hike (until I got home and rebuilt it).

I haven’t failed a third time; I inspect, test, put fresh batteries in non-rechargeable electronics, check expiration dates on meds, etc. before anything goes in the pack.

My preferred MO is to go over all my gear in the week after we get home.
Clothing will have been washed the day after we get home, so any repairs can be done quickly.
I will most likely have already noted any gear repairs needed during the walk, and I can have a nice relaxing few days attending to that.

Cheers

>”Apparently it IS possible to fly without an ID (for some people, at least).”

Yup.  It is.  My wife and I parked at my work, walked to the local airport, hopped on the puddle-jumper twin-prop and got to Anchorage for a flight to Hawaii.  Where my wife realized she didn’t have her wallet with her.

GET TO TSA EARLY.  It will take a while.  Bone up on every place you’ve ever lived (address, etc) and every car you own (make, model, year, etc).  Once they start interviewing you, you can’t refer to your phone, talk to your traveling companion, and they ignore the companion who’s trying to point out that you look exactly like the doctor you’re claiming to be, on the hospital’s website.  They’re only interested in you confirming info they can access through certain governmental sources (but not get creative like the State’s Professional License search function, or what her DEA number is), although her vaccine card did help a bit.

You can go the DMV and claim you lost your driver’s license and get a new one.  Now you’ve got an extra one to hide in your usual carry-on bag.

Post-9/11, I went to the DMV and got a state ID for $10.  Looks like a driver’s license and it works the same for getting through TSA (although not with the rental car agency).

I forgot my ID a few years ago and flew from AK to Calif. At the Fairbanks airport, it was no problem getting through TSA. They did search me thoroughly and all my stuff, but then i just got on and that was it! Easy peasy. I was able to get a temporary driver’s license off the web, so I could drive in CA. Like everything with TSA, what you need with you probably depends on who’s working and whether they like you or not. Or some other thing you can’t even know about. Makes me feel so secure!

My drivers license expired on my birthday. I didn’t notice. A few weeks later I flew from Maine to Puerto Rico. A few months later I flew back. A few months after that I went to a pot shop in Colorado and they immediately said I had to leave the store. I went and got my passport. Makes me feel so secure!

I think my worst “forget” has been my mug…which is kind of a catch-all vessel for me.  It’s like leaving a cup, bowl, plate, shot glass, bucket, etc, all at once.  And it’s one of my favorite pieces of gear, too, so that made it especially stupid of me.