View Full Version : Memorable finds from a hiker box?
Auntie Mame
02-25-2008, 04:21
Any stories out there about practical or timely gear/food/supplies found in hiker boxes?:sun
fiddlehead
02-25-2008, 06:11
Found a grey cotton t-shirt once that i ended up using as my favorite shirt for about 5 years until it really wore out.
Timely find: once when i was hiking along and had no baseball cap, it started to rain and i said out loud: "sure could use a hat" Turned the corner and there was a GA Bulldogs hat setting on a fencepost. Wore that hat for a while too. (sorry that wasn't hiker box related but the timing was incredible)
My husband and I found two wool sweaters in baggies. It was cooler than we expected, and we wore them that night in camp and hiked off in them in the morning. Ended up being one of the coldest hikes we ever hiked and those sweaters really appeared to come from an angel by the end of that hike :)
I mis-judged how much tea I would use. I used my last bag AM just before getting to Fontana. As I was waiting to sign in at the Fontana Motel (Now the "Hike Inn") I looked in the hiker box: a zip lock with about 8 Earl Gray tea bags, my favorite tea.
Next hike, didn't take any olive oil, I just forgot to put it in the pack. At the end of day 2, I walked into Standing Bear hostel, there was a 3oz bottle of olive oil in the box, right on top!! I was having Pesto that night, which is ok without olive oil, but so much better with.
Both finds made my day, NO, they made my hike!
How do you make pesto without olive oil?
Found a grey cotton t-shirt once that i ended up using as my favorite shirt for about 5 years until it really wore out.
Timely find: once when i was hiking along and had no baseball cap, it started to rain and i said out loud: "sure could use a hat" Turned the corner and there was a GA Bulldogs hat setting on a fencepost. Wore that hat for a while too. (sorry that wasn't hiker box related but the timing was incredible)
Trail Magic! I have a similar "sure could use" story.
2001 was a dry year for thru-hikers in southern - central VA in early June. No rain for over 23 days.
I had started the day early near dragons tooth with the intent of a 16 mile day. Map and guide showed reliable water at 8 miles, 11 miles and 15 miles. By 10 am the temperature was in the 90's and stiffening, trail is loamy sand with scrub pine and dry, dry, dry, it even looked hot. I was out of water by 10:30 and 8 miles. No available water. No problem, just 3 miles to next available water, hike on. At about 12 pm I found the next "reliable" water dry. Ug.
Two hours without water temperatures now near 100, not an emergency but I could feel the affects caused. listless, defeatist attitude. Whatever, hike on. After about a mile, I was overheating and decided that shade and a long nap till dusk was a wise move. Under a slash pine I dropped the pack, laid back and watched the sun make its slow lazy journey across the sky. Hot, the sound of heat is the cricket like creatures that incessantly buzz and drive the heat beep into the brain. I rolled in despair to my side and Amazement! Partially visible beneath the dry pine needles was a boyscout canteen. Could it be? I stared at it for an eternity thinking no way! It was full, the sweetest water I have ever had.
Cheers
ATSeamstress
02-25-2008, 07:51
I was trying to save weight and left my Thermarest at home, which I was regretting. I stopped at Rainbow Springs where a couple of hikers were getting off the trail. One offered to loan me his Thermarest if I would mail it back to him when I was done. Overhearing the conversation, Jensine handed me a perfectly good Thermarest that someone had left in the bunkhouse weeks earlier and never come back to retrieve.
How do you make pesto without olive oil?
Just add water, still has the taste.
Kirby
Timely find: once when i was hiking along and had no baseball cap, it started to rain and i said out loud: "sure could use a hat" Turned the corner and there was a GA Bulldogs hat setting on a fencepost. Wore that hat for a while too... the timing was incredible)
THAT is Trail Magic!!!!!!!
My husband and I found two wool sweaters in baggies. It was cooler than we expected, and we wore them that night in camp and hiked off in them in the morning. Ended up being one of the coldest hikes we ever hiked and those sweaters really appeared to come from an angel by the end of that hike :)
So cool! ...more Trail Magic!
Kerosene
02-25-2008, 11:12
SOBO on the Long Trail, August 14, 1979: After hitting 94F climbing Jay Peak on August 5th, the weather had quickly turned cold, culminating in freezing rain, sleet, and snow with 45 mph winds going through Smugglers Notch. A few days later the nighttime temp dropped below freezing at Gorham Lodge atop Camel's Hump (which has since fallen down). Someone had left a ratty cotton sweatshirt which helped me stay warm enough to get some sleep that night. I ended up carrying it the rest of the way to Massachusetts.