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What is the craziest or weirdest thing you have ever brought or seen someone bring on a hiking trip? When I was hiking with 2 of my friends in the San de Decristo mountains. I surprised them on the 1st night with a small watermelon. You should have seen their faces when I took out that watermelon. We stuck it in a snow bank for about 2 hours. It was was the best melon I have ever ate.
SonrisaJo
12-29-2008, 19:48
A dictionary! (That was me. Yup.)
stumpknocker
12-29-2008, 19:57
I'm not sure why I carried this; http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=88572 :)
on my first hike in 89 I bought a toaster and a Cosmo. The toaster went the way toasters do but the guys loved the Cosmo and read it outloud.
In the mid 80's I saw a guy carrying a boom box that was almost as big as his backpack,
I was out in the superstition wilderness ( arizona ) about 10 miles from no where and my two friends and I ran into three individuals with one dragging a full size ice cooler ( it did have two small wheels built into the back ). Didnt' ask too many questions, did not want to hear those banjos start playing.
Lone Wolf
12-29-2008, 21:00
i brought a driver, some golf balls and a watermelon up katahdin one year
Every scout trip there are a few crazy things. For example, it is not enough to say bring a headlamp that takes a maximum of 3 AAA batteries. One kid brought that PLUS a 4 d-cell mag light. :rolleyes:
Slo-go'en
12-29-2008, 22:04
A quart of Ben and Jerry's ice cream up to the RMC Gray Knob cabin. I ate some and then passed it around. One guy asked how I got it up there with out it melting. I just looked at him funny until he remembered it was Presidents day weekend and about 10 degrees out side! The following year I brought up ice cream sandwitches to pass around.
mtnkngxt
12-29-2008, 22:24
It would be what I carried up Mount Rogers in October. Full cardiac Pulse Oxymetry monitor weighing close to 5 pounds to figure out whether hiking was what was killing me. Good news it was, but if I stay under 5000 feet shouldn't get me too quickly. Should have seen the guy I hike with's face when I yanked that sucker out of my pack.
Bare Bear
12-30-2008, 02:45
In 1972 I carried a canvas tent (500 miles) with wood and metal rod streachers.
I burnt the wood after a week when someone smarter than me suggested I could keep the tent up with rope a lot easier. My 'pack' was a canvas bag with hand sewn straps that would sorta fit my shoulders. I bet my gear all weighed 70 pounds. Thank God for youth to go with the stupidity.
DUH. I are smarter now.
I met a trail transient named Jute Dickle and he had a gatorade bottle of "potato water". I thought it was milk at first and I asked him why he brought milk(it was a hot day). He then shook it and then I saw the peeled potato bobbing around. He said it keeps the teeth in his head.
BumpJumper
12-30-2008, 07:33
Is Jute related to GEORGE?:D
I met a guy who carried a full sized machette and a cricket bat. Like many hikers he carried a rock from springer as well, but his weighed 7 pounds. Ironically, he seemed to be going ultra light with the exception of these items.
Six month old daughter complete with diapers and formula for a year-long cross-country backpacking trip.
Jack Tarlin
12-30-2008, 19:46
On the PCT, Jester brought along a four and a half pound bronze Magic Wizard, but I think he's the one who should properly explain this one, as I have no words for this. :eek:
On the PCT, Jester brought along a four and a half pound bronze Magic Wizard, but I think he's the one who should properly explain this one, as I have no words for this. :eek:
As I understand, it was a group effort :)
we met a guy in 94 going up macfee..he was carrying a little tv to watch the OJ trial. That was truely bizarre.
I'm not sure why I carried this; http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=88572 :)
For the record....you have great legs...:D
Hi Mowgli, any hiking plans this year ?
Hi Mowgli, any hiking plans this year ?
I donno. It's our 20th wedding anniversary, so we're taking a trip out west together. Mt. St. Helens is on the list of places to visit. I'm thinking maybe a week on the Colorado Trail or Superior Hiking Trail. I can't reallyget away for more than a week this year for a hike. :(
Hopefully - Wonderland Trail in 2010. Have you hiked that trail?
Mrs Baggins
12-31-2008, 12:51
A guy at Pine Knob shelter with a portable TV - one of those 6" screen ones.
I have hiked it. A gorgeous hike... a pretty tuff one too. i have done it twice and would do it again...hint hint..lol..
A group of us were at a shelter in the Smokies when we heard a funny noise. A couple had brought a battery powered pump to inflate a very large air mattress. They then complained about the woman not being able to carry much as she had recently had back surgery.
The Old Fhart
12-31-2008, 22:25
In 1987 I tented by the old Addis Gap shelter In Georgia and there was another hiker there who thought he could get some studying in and had carried an 11 pound hard cover anatomy textbook from Springer. That was the last time I saw him.;)
[quote=stumpknocker;747104]I'm not sure why I carried this; http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=88572 :)[/quote
:-?
I brought one of my viking throwing axes for my SOBO hike this past year (have 6 for competitions). They thought I was nuts, till I showed them how to throw it, and after we used it for gathering wood almost every day. While doing trail magic for the group I was with (had to leave the trail in NY) one of them said he missed the axe more than once since I left. There are so many uses for it, hammer head on one side(tent spikes), wood for fires, defence if needed, and especially for entertainment! It is a throwing axe after all, and everyone seemed to enjoy learning how to throw it. At one pound I'll be taking it for the remainder of my hike in Feb.
superman
01-01-2009, 08:46
In 99 I hiked the lower part of the LT with a guy called Banjo Man. He carried a beautiful banjo in a case from Springer.
Homer&Marje
01-01-2009, 08:57
I brought one of my viking throwing axes for my SOBO hike this past year (have 6 for competitions). They thought I was nuts, till I showed them how to throw it, and after we used it for gathering wood almost every day. While doing trail magic for the group I was with (had to leave the trail in NY) one of them said he missed the axe more than once since I left. There are so many uses for it, hammer head on one side(tent spikes), wood for fires, defence if needed, and especially for entertainment! It is a throwing axe after all, and everyone seemed to enjoy learning how to throw it. At one pound I'll be taking it for the remainder of my hike in Feb.
I too carried an axe for many years, albeit a 12 oz wooden handled hatchet. But I still caught a lot of crap for it. Although, maybe that's because I could not throw it. Now I just carry my buck knife for splitting wood, and would love to learn how to throw it:D
What is the craziest or weirdest thing you have ever brought or seen someone bring on a hiking trip? When I was hiking with 2 of my friends in the San de Decristo mountains. I surprised them on the 1st night with a small watermelon. You should have seen their faces when I took out that watermelon. We stuck it in a snow bank for about 2 hours. It was was the best melon I have ever ate.
sangre de cristo, my back yard:rolleyes:
:confused:a guy on the cdt, in the bootheel nm had a 6 pound crystal ball.:confused:
Bare Bear
01-03-2009, 02:20
Patrick from Indiana AT 06 carried a hugh knife (more like a really sharp heavy machette) with full leather case for his belt. He sent it home at Neel Gap. It weighed over 1.5 pounds! Great kid. He finished.
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine about our first AT hike 20-some years ago. I was ribbing him about insisting we needed one of these...
http://i15.ebayimg.com/04/i/001/1e/8a/f671_2.JPG
tom_alan
01-03-2009, 02:51
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine about our first AT hike 20-some years ago. I was ribbing him about insisting we needed one of these...
http://i15.ebayimg.com/04/i/001/1e/8a/f671_2.JPG
Yep, carried one of those before. Sharpened the end of the shovel and used it to cut wood until it broke. No, I didn't leave it there. I carried it until we could leave it in a trash can.
Tipi Walter
01-03-2009, 12:54
This thread gets me to thinking. In '84 when I backpacked thru the Shenandoahs I carried a B flat clarinet wrapped in a down vest. Never played it the whole time, not even in Front Royal where I could've whipped it out for some street music.
In Lost Valley I humped in two frozen pints of Haagen Daz ice cream and by the time I reached camp both were liquid and drunk in quick succession. Not recommended, too sweet.
In Pisgah NF I humped in a full watermelon for two miles which was placed on the very top of my external framed pack. The trail was on the high side of Upper Creek and with a steep fall-off to the left. Going in the melon slipped off the pack and dropped like a depth-charge down the hillside and burst hitting a series of rhodo trunks. I was bringing in the melon for a big cluster-muck gathering of fellow campers but failed. I depacked quickly and rushed down the hillside eating as much as I could. When I got into camp they asked me about the watermelon and I showed them one small chunk.
Also in Pisgah during a big solstice gathering I humped in a full canvas tipi and found dead wood in camp for the poles.
The only way to reach my NC ridgetop Tipi was on foot on a one mile trail climbing about 800-1000 feet in elevation. Everything I lived with was eventually humped up the mountain, including:
a 140 pound woodstove and a lot of stove pipe
rugs
a few cow skulls
a wheel barrow
rakes, mauls, post-hole diggers
sheep skins and deer hides
Aladdin lamps and gallons of kerosene
chainsaws and gasoline
a sheet of plexiglas/plywood
books/food/blankets/clothing/candles/pans/batteries/tarps/several plastic trash cans, etc etc
Wise Old Owl
01-03-2009, 13:02
Six month old daughter complete with diapers and formula for a year-long cross-country backpacking trip.
I wish I could find the picture of my son in the backpack at age two, I was hiking up one of the volcano's in Hawaii, won't do that again.
The Boy Scouts insisted I carry that stupid shovel, Tin Man. I never saw them use it once. And I secrety swapped it for one that was a pound lighter and nobody noticed.
Three guys with external packs near the Pinnicle with this sticking out of it:
http://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/prodimg/G0350003.jpg
tom_alan
01-04-2009, 00:33
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Greenhorn_001.jpg
Not only was I over weight when I did this but I packed my one and a half year old to over twelve thousand feet. Yes, diapers and all. I did it again when I had lost about 30 pounds and he was a little over two years old. Much easier with my weight loss but at that altitude I was still sucking for O’s with him on my back.
i remember a time hiking in the 'dacks where we ran into a man and his 8-year old son. i said something about they looked like they packed smart and light. the father said, 'yeah real smart. i left his sleeping bag in the car, 7 miles back. guess i won't be needing that tonight.'
fancyfeet
01-04-2009, 03:02
Tom,
That is too cute!
saimyoji
01-04-2009, 09:56
Three guys with external packs near the Pinnicle with this sticking out of it:
are you the brainiac who grafitied this?
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12785&catid=member&orderby=title&direction=ASC&imageuser=3920&cutoffdate=-1
I met 2 guys at Hawk Mtn Shelter with folding stools, axes, and much much more (70lbs worth--each!). They sent a majority of it home in Suches.
I also hiked with a guy that a very large woodwind insturment. It was pretty cool to hear at camp with the other guys carrying guitars.
At Mt Collins a couple of guys had hiked in with a hatchet and a box of Snuggles fabric softner sheets (to use as kindling/firestarter). Needless to say they hiked out with trail names...Hatchet and Snuggles.
tom_alan
01-04-2009, 21:43
Tom,
That is too cute!
Thanks FancyFeet ~ Here are some more pictures of my son and I.
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Mt. Evans.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Mt. Evans 1.jpg
The two above were taken at around 12,000 feet. The red is the line we took to go to the top.
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Mt. Evans 2.jpg
This one was at over 14,000 Feet. Although we didn't go to the summit we had a good day out. I needed to get my son out of the weather. We had a car waiting for us at the parking lot about 300 feet below the summit.
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Max First Pack.jpg
https://home.comcast.net/~smith_brothers/images/Best-Tom-Max.jpg
The above two are from my son Max's first backpack trip. We packed in about two miles and set up camp. He had a ball. So did Dad and Grampa.
Edit: I carried in a lot of my son's and a lot of my dad's gear ~ that is why my pack looks over stuffed ~ it was.
fancyfeet
01-05-2009, 00:10
That's awesome! If I ever have a little tyke, you can bet I'll have shots like that. In the meantime, I'll just envy your experiences.
Take care,
Fancy Feet
CrumbSnatcher
01-05-2009, 00:25
A tuba.met sobo thruhiker tubaman on Mt. washington. he jammed out for the crowd. that was pretty cool. TOM ALAN, cool pitcures helps inspire me. can't wait to get my daughter out on the trail.
in 05 we had the cyclehiker....yes, he had a bike on his back. I think he ditched it up north though..
paradoxb3
01-05-2009, 13:56
theres a steel/iron foundry i occasionally visit to do computer work. in their main lobby they have an anvil sitting in the floor -- a *balsa wood* anvil, painted and detailed, and looks like the real deal. it weighs maybe a pound total. i wish i could convince them to make me one. i'd love to strap that to the outside of my pack and take it along for a week hike just to get people's reactions. :D
Plodderman
01-05-2009, 14:16
Can not remember the names of the shelters North of Damascus but man they are filled with unnecessary hiking equipment. From sleeping bags that would take up your whole backpack to cans of waterproof boot spray. Pots, pans just about anything else they could carry. We came from Atkins to Damascus but the shelter nearest Damsacus that has a pretty good uphill climb from Damascus was filled with junk.
I saw a guy pull a #12 cast iron lid from a dutch oven out of his pack to cook on. He also had a 5th of crown royal and a bong in there.
Mother's Finest
01-05-2009, 16:23
I saw a guy pull a #12 cast iron lid from a dutch oven out of his pack to cook on. He also had a 5th of crown royal and a bong in there.
sans the dutch oven, that is the only way to travel
peace
mf
TrippinBTM
01-05-2009, 16:46
haha, that kid's sleeping pad is twice as wide as he is! :)
tom_alan
01-05-2009, 21:20
haha, that kid's sleeping pad is twice as wide as he is! :)
The pad is just right for him now. He is still using it but it's a little worn and torn in places. :cool:
I was at REI recently, using a gift card I got for xmas. I was over in the pack section just browsing and this guy asked a clerk for something that he could fit about 70lbs of gear in. I have no idea what he was carrying, but I'd say at least 35lbs of it was crazy :) .
I was at REI recently, using a gift card I got for xmas. I was over in the pack section just browsing and this guy asked a clerk for something that he could fit about 70lbs of gear in. I have no idea what he was carrying, but I'd say at least 35lbs of it was crazy :) .
you should have asked him for his ebay id
mtbmatty
01-07-2009, 16:21
i stayed at the lake of the clouds hut last summer in the whites. there was a guy who in the morning came out in a black and white flowered skirt, (yes a man in a skirt):eek: button down shirt and a red white and blue terry cloth sweatband. among his gear he had a discman CD player w/ these oversized headphones. one of those right angle flashlights. what looked like a small drawstring laundry bag for a pack. the best was this small flag he was carrying up to mt. washington, on one side the stars and bars the other the chinese/ bejing flag ( in honor of the olympics) and below that on the pole was a spiderman flag (what else) the only thing i heard out of him was when he asked a scout leader where they were from. when the guy replied the group was from detroit, he took a long pause and then said something about how the celtics had beat the pistons. you had to be there...it was priceless
Nicksaari
01-07-2009, 17:40
carried a cooler with wheels, complete with ice and a case of Sierra Nevada, frozen block of chili w/ cornbread for dinner into the St Mary's Wilderness. my roommate, laughing upon my arrival at the trailhead, told me there was no need to bring in ice/cooler, that the river would chill my beer at just the right consumption temperature, esp for a pale ale.
well, i lugged it in. and he was right about the river.
this guy has no idea how to backpack. when i got to the campsite, only about a mile up river, i came upon a mess in a beautiful setting. plastic bags, empty tin cans of whatever they ate the night before. i cleaned it up, hung the food, which was sitting the same place it was the night before in his tent- right at his head. when he got back i showed him how and told him why to hang food, and he said: yeah, that food stayed by my head all night and this morning something big came through the campsite and pissed on the tent, right over top of the food. dumbass.
a bobcat sprayed telling the rest of his brethren that the food was here and plentiful.
sorry for the drawn out story. had to tell someone
Downhill Trucker
05-10-2009, 16:00
I carried a dutch oven with cans of fruit filling for cobbler on a weekend hike once. It's a lot easier when you are just out for a few days.
On my last section hike we carried a pan of jiffy pop the whole way to eat on the last night. That was a lot lighter though!