So there I was, hiking in Glacier this weekend. First stop in an 18.8 mile hike(in 6.5 hours over 4 mtn passes) was breakfast at No-Name Lake. I'm enjoying my oatmeal/yogurt breakfast and a dude walks up with a suitcase(?). Nope! It was a double burner propane stove in a metal green case, complete with one of those 10 inch tall propane tanks.
Me: "Wow, you carried that all the way up here?!"
Him: In a foreign accent, "Yep, all 5 miles."
Me: "Isn't that a bit overkill".
Him: "Naw, you should have seen my pack, it weighed 80 pounds!!".
Me: "Well I'm not one to judge. To each his own. Everybody hikes their own hike".
Him: He lifts up his arm, pulls back the sleeve, and there, on the entire length of his forearm is a tattoo that says, "Don't ever judge me".
Both of us laughed. Then his buddy walks up with a 10 inch wide, 2 inch deep bowl/plate of huckleberries, offers me some and all I can say is YUM!!
Later that day, I am at the 2nd lake(Oldman), having my lunch break. I am almost 7 miles from the nearest road. After about 5 min, another dude walks by with a fully inflated, round fishing tube attached to his back.
I asked him if he carried it in to the campground and inflated it here or if he carried it inflated the whole way. He indeed carried it fully inflated all 6.8 miles from the Pray Lake trailhead!!
Now I've heard of some crazy stuff people have carried into the back country, and even read about it. But up to that day I'd never really met anyone that actually did it!
Right near the end of the hike, I passed two dudes going up to the lake and the 2nd one was carrying a massive external frame that had all sorts of creature comforts hanging from it: Classic orange trowel, camp chair, huge frying pan, assorted other gear. Really me really wonder what the hell was inside the huge pack.
So what's are some of the strange, off beat things you've seen people carry into the back country? Don't know if strange things on the AT count: 1) Shelters too close to some roads, 2)Since there are shelters, not carrying a tent is a possibility thereby allowing a hiker so carry more of other things.