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Different Socks
08-31-2009, 00:04
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.

Survivor Dave
08-31-2009, 02:24
There's carrying a little extra food, then there's insanity. I saw somone carrying 18 pounds of food to get from Springer to Neel Gap. When I was at Woody Gap doing Magic, she gave us the extra food and we put it in the hiker box at the Hiker Hostel.
She was Thru-Hiking......:o

elmotoots
08-31-2009, 03:39
One year we were doing the at thru Smokeys north to south. When we got to Mt Collins there was a huge duffle bag full of food. This bag was like half the size of a military duffle. About 2 hours later a guy walked into the campsite carrying a large external pack stuffed to the gills with cookware, cookstove, and who knows what else.
He had walked up the trail from Sugarlands visitor center. He would carry the food up the trail aways and then go back and get his pack.
I think the Rangers took him off the trail a couple off days later, anyway they were at Silers bald looking for him.

Hikes in Rain
08-31-2009, 06:25
Full sized tool kit, complete with wrenches and lineman's pliers, used in an attempt to repair a broken can opener. (I used the opener on my SAK after the attempts failed.) Big ol' full sized battery lantern. Small acetylene torch, with "small" bottles of gas and oxygen. Used to light a fire to cook the stuff from the cans.

All this, and more, came from one pack!

sixhusbands
08-31-2009, 08:27
Last year I met some guys that had carried a half keg of Coors into a shelter that was 9 miles from the nearset parking lot. Unfortunately when I got there the party was over and all that was left was the empties! What would a full one half keg weigh?

Funkmeister
08-31-2009, 09:07
I once saw some guy carrying scuba stuff to Black Mountain Pond in NH. About a four mile trek in to the shelter (which is now long gone).

Oh, wait, that was me. FYI: there's not much to see in the pond.

A half keg of beer is about 15 gallons, depending on manufacturer. A quarter keg, which is what you may have seen is about 7.5 gallons. Beer is about 8 pounds a gallon, empty keg about 15 or 25 pounds respectively.

yaduck9
08-31-2009, 10:10
I was hiking one time in the Superstitions ( AZ ) and at a trail intersection saw three guys, one was wearing some sort of snowmobile outfit with a coleman full size cooler in tow. Didn't ask any questons, the moment was too surreal already.

mister krabs
08-31-2009, 10:58
Last year I met some guys that had carried a half keg of Coors into a shelter that was 9 miles from the nearset parking lot. Unfortunately when I got there the party was over and all that was left was the empties! What would a full one half keg weigh?

125lbs :banana:banana:banana:banana:banana

Elder
08-31-2009, 11:03
Many years ago on the approach trail from Amicalola..
a boyscout, frame pack, very square look..:-?
He had six bricks in the bottom to hold his grill...:eek:

:D

Pootz
08-31-2009, 11:20
On the john Mure trail I saw a guy carriying a 2 person kayak over Bioshop Pass 11,980 feet. 6 miles up hill and then 6 miles down hill. His buddy was carring the giant pack with there gear. The goal is the Middle Fork of the Kings river.

Here is a trip report with pictures I found. Not they same people but the same trip. Scroll down to the second report.

http://southmainkayakteam.wordpress.com/stories/

Jonnycat
08-31-2009, 13:02
Several decades ago I backpacked six miles in to a lake with my girlfriend at the time. We had our backpacks on, with a two-man sevylor raft, and we used one of the oars to carry between the both of us a big icechest full of things like milk and steak and eggs. And a 10# block of ice, of course.

I still laugh when I think about that. Oddly, I eat better now on the trail than I ever could have hoped to then, and at a very small fraction of the weight.

Feral
08-31-2009, 13:12
I carried my ice axe from campo to crater lake. Just for the hell of it. Great as a tent stake and poop hole digging tool. One utralight hiker got very upset when he came power hiking by and loudly exclaimed "an ice axe in the dessert?" as he sped off. We got a good laugh that day.

Feral
08-31-2009, 13:19
I met a couple on the AT in 03 named Waloppy John and his wife Squaw that had a full sized axe, car camping sized old school canvas tent, gallon of coleman fuel (which he carried in his hand as he walked) cans of Dinty More beef stew, full sized board games and multiple cartons of cigs. We joined them around the fire and at one point John stood up and stumbled as he stepped forward and then said, "oh thats my fractured foot it pops out once in a while" the crazy thing is we saw them at traildays with the same gear looking happy and healthy and later heard they had walked every mile to Damascus and were still on trail.

Blissful
08-31-2009, 13:33
My hubby met a guy in '07 onthe trail carrying a duffel bag in both arms (and he had a pack on his back to boot). When hubby asked what he was carrying, he said, "Why my food of course."

Blissful
08-31-2009, 13:34
I. We joined them around the fire and at one point John stood up and stumbled as he stepped forward and then said, "oh thats my fractured foot it pops out once in a while"

Eww that's awful. :eek:

Different Socks
08-31-2009, 19:27
I carried my ice axe from campo to crater lake. Just for the hell of it. Great as a tent stake and poop hole digging tool. One utralight hiker got very upset when he came power hiking by and loudly exclaimed "an ice axe in the dessert?" as he sped off. We got a good laugh that day.

Gotta admit, I carried my ice axe all the way from Campo to Ahsland. Don't know why I never sent it home....... I never even used it!
Still got it though.

dloome
08-31-2009, 19:29
On the JMT a couple years ago, I was taking a break at the top of a pass, forget which one. (Maybe Mather?) Anyway, on some switchbacks below, I see a guy slowly making his way up.

As he nears the top, I can make out a HUGE external frame pack... He finally gains the saddle, throws down his pack, immediately unstraps a metal folding chair from it, sets it up, and collapses into it with a deeply satisfied sigh.

"ahhh..."

Awesome.

Feral
08-31-2009, 19:59
and by dessert I mean desert although both are delicious.

beakerman
08-31-2009, 20:06
I carry one of those small three legged hunters stools and a "customized" entrenchment tool.

saimyoji
08-31-2009, 21:09
i once heard of a guy carrying the carcass of a woodchuck....:confused:

saimyoji
08-31-2009, 21:10
i once heard of a guy carrying the carcass of a woodchuck....:confused:

i think it was just in case they ran out of pork chops at a hiker feed....:-?

oreotragus
08-31-2009, 21:27
The woodchuck thing made me lol.

Partly because it might be something I would do... ("I can't wait to skin it!")

:rolleyes:

saimyoji
08-31-2009, 22:12
The woodchuck thing made me lol.

Partly because it might be something I would do... ("I can't wait to skin it!")

:rolleyes:


this is absolutely no joke. it really happened.

Canada Goose
08-31-2009, 22:14
On one of my early A.T. sections, I was hiking south from Caratunk to Stratton. My companions and I rolled into the old Horns Pond campsite area, when the twin shelters were right on the trail. Some locals had packed up the mountain a full size inflatable rubber dinghy complete with foot pump, a 16 inch cast iron fry pan, a tub of lard, a fire grate, a hatchet and mallet, and the rest of their kit, including fishing tackle. It was a real eye opener. :eek: But..the fried fish dinner sure tasted good!! :D

Monkeyboy
08-31-2009, 22:15
poo..................'nuf said

Bearpaw
09-01-2009, 09:13
i once heard of a guy carrying the carcass of a woodchuck....:confused:

I've been known to carry a Nalgene of Woodchuck. Good cider.:sun

warraghiyagey
09-01-2009, 09:24
I've been known to carry a Nalgene of Woodchuck. Good cider.:sun
agreed. . .

OldStormcrow
09-01-2009, 09:25
I got some strange looks from some Boy Scouts passing by as I lounged around in front of my tent, my hand and a half broad sword stuck in the ground, eating from my pewter dinnerware and drinking from a stainless steel hospital bed urinal (really keeps your drink cool).

Foyt20
09-01-2009, 09:44
What? Hahahaha... I lol'd a bit there Stormcrow.

babbage
09-01-2009, 09:50
My old hiking partner pulled out a two liter bottle of wine - temps were hovering in the teens all day. It was a strange thing to carry up a mountain in my opinion - and things got even stranger before the night was over.
Others strange things - snow shoes in the Smokies - snow not expected. Dude said he got caught in the "big one" and had to be rescued. He said he never hiked the Smokies in winter without them. Okay...
Found a sack of food at a fire tower once- there was a 5 pound canned ham amoung other heavy items.
Did not see the person that carried it, but there was a hospital type egg crate foam mattress at a 4000' campsite once - it was water logged like a giant sponge.

Rocket Jones
09-01-2009, 12:20
I got some strange looks from some Boy Scouts passing by as I lounged around in front of my tent, my hand and a half broad sword stuck in the ground, eating from my pewter dinnerware and drinking from a stainless steel hospital bed urinal (really keeps your drink cool).

I wonder if the hospital bed urinal comes in titanium? :D

rpenczek
09-01-2009, 12:34
Not one, but two of my wayward Boy Scouts carried two 2 liter bottles of Mt. Dew and some mentos. They were not drinking the Mt. Dew, they wanted to do some sort of exploding pop bottle thing they saw on Myth Busters (mentos in the soda bottle and it explodes).

If was really fun to not allow them to do the explosion thing and have them carry the 2 liter bottles out of the woods (full) after a full weekend of backpacking.

They follow my suggested pack list now.

mandolin22
09-01-2009, 12:44
A friend of mine that I took hiking on the AT near Harper's Ferry a few years ago had bought a solar shower along with him up to the ED Garvey shelter. He really thought he needed a shower after 2 nights of hiking. We laughed about it all the way up there until we noticed that the water source was .4 mi. back down the mountain. We filled our Nalgenes and the solar shower and boiled the water for dinner. HE laughed at us all the way back down the mountain (and has continued laughing to this day)...though he never did get his shower.

Pootz
09-01-2009, 15:25
My hubby met a guy in '07 onthe trail carrying a duffel bag in both arms (and he had a pack on his back to boot). When hubby asked what he was carrying, he said, "Why my food of course."

The hiker you are refering sounds like a thru hiker named Tabasco. Not sure how far he made it, last time I saw him was in Pearisburg. I am supprised he was able to carry all of that stuff from Springer.

Chaco Taco
09-01-2009, 20:45
2 words

Bad Wizard

Jester????? Care to share on this one??

Hooch
09-01-2009, 20:52
I've been known to carry a Nalgene of Woodchuck. Good cider.:sunIt is good cider and I hate you for getting me started on it. Well, not really. And I'm still not talking to "that bear" of yours. :rolleyes:

Chaco Taco
09-01-2009, 20:54
It is good cider and I hate you for getting me started on it. Well, not really. And I'm still not talking to "that bear" of yours. :rolleyes:

Did you guys do something that youd like to share, huh??? :D

Wise Old Owl
09-01-2009, 20:54
poo..................'nuf said


Aparently dehydrated poo.

Cool AT Breeze
09-01-2009, 21:00
2 words

Bad Wizard

Jester????? Care to share on this one??
I have a picture of The Wizzard.

Monkeyboy
09-01-2009, 22:23
Aparently dehydrated poo.

On a stick.

beakerman
09-01-2009, 22:47
I've been known to carry a Nalgene of Woodchuck. Good cider.:sun
hornsby's is better but to each his own some folks like blondes too ehh

turtle fast
09-01-2009, 23:01
On our o8' thru hike we ran into an English guy named Charlie who had a full sized cricket bat with him. At Standing Bear Farm he and Curtis went to Lowes to find a "suitable brick" to carry just to say he could...didn't find one he liked. They went to the river and got a large rounded river rock at least 5 lbs and he hiked out with the rock!

Graywolf
09-02-2009, 02:21
Once on the Colorado Trail I saw a guy with a raft, mile from anywhere. I asked him how did he get it there, he said he carried it ten miles from the trail head. I then asked him why. "For fishing of course".

Ok.

There is an equipment list in the "Appalachian Thru-hikers Work Book", that lists a Pink Flamingo.:banana

Bearpaw
09-02-2009, 18:36
It is good cider and I hate you for getting me started on it. Well, not really. And I'm still not talking to "that bear" of yours. :rolleyes:

Hey, speaking of "that bear" and cider, what happened to that photo of him passed out on the cooler? Dewey wants that for his Myspace. :banana

jjohn06
09-02-2009, 20:02
In the Smokies, I saw a guy who brought high-altitude sickness pills. That gave us a laugh.

Nasty Dog Virus
09-02-2009, 20:16
I guess its kinda strange...but I sometimes carry an emergency strobe light from my military days...

http://www.prc68.com/I/MS2000M.shtml (http://www.prc68.com/I/MS2000M.shtml)

It can be seen for miles at night...

The helos in NH will have no problem finding me :D

Doctari
09-02-2009, 22:20
In the Smokies, I saw a guy who brought high-altitude sickness pills. That gave us a laugh.

I would have thought that funny a few years ago, , but there have been several times I wish I had them. I'm a flatlander, & the jump from 500 feet to 2645 (Blackrock Hut, the last time I got it bad) in a few short hours is sometimes,,,,,, rough. I get massive flue like symptoms, that pass as soon as I get down to "Normal" altitude, OR if I tough it out a few days on the trail. Dosn't happen as often as it used to, but annoying none the less.

garlic08
09-03-2009, 10:48
A motorcycle helmet.

Kerosene
09-03-2009, 11:56
A large, bright yellow Tonka dumptruck.

Different Socks
09-03-2009, 23:13
A large, bright yellow Tonka dumptruck.

To haul the dirt that I excavated with my brand spankin new orange trowel.

earlyriser26
09-04-2009, 06:34
At one of the shelters in the smokies I found a 2 burner Coleman stove, Coleman lamp, fishing poles, and cast iron cookware.

Also, a guy I didn't know came on a 3 day trip with us and he brought a kite, swim suit, fishing pole, and a medical kit that could be used for open heart surgery. By the way it was winter and there was no water.

Symbol
09-05-2009, 00:18
I was section hiking in VA when some southbounders came into camp... they had just recently been in town and bought a toy crossbow. We had fun in camp that night having target practice!

Good times.......

ed bell
09-05-2009, 01:47
I've been known to carry a Nalgene of Woodchuck. Good cider.:sun Keeps great in a screw top bottle. GrannySmith

seabrookhiker
09-05-2009, 12:29
I took a friend on a shakedown hike before he tackled an AT section, and he had a two liter bottle of Coke in his pack. Lucky for me he shared. :)

I've seen firecrackers, a tuba, various dolls, a week's worth of cotton clothing in a huge duffel bag carried inside a pack, a full size ax, medium size speakers, a bow and arrows, (the last two were the same guy - somehow the speakers don't seem to go with the bow and arrow), a regular bed pillow, and a guy carrying a decorated hockey stick to use as a hiking pole.

Ran into a fellow with a full-on sheepskin between him and his pack. He's had bad chafing problems and it was the best solution he'd found.

traildust
09-05-2009, 12:32
My hubby met a guy in '07 onthe trail carrying a duffel bag in both arms (and he had a pack on his back to boot). When hubby asked what he was carrying, he said, "Why my food of course."


Yep. Met him also on the trail south of Blood Mountain.

drastic_quench
09-05-2009, 12:57
Ran into a fellow with a full-on sheepskin between him and his pack. He's had bad chafing problems and it was the best solution he'd found.
That's awesome.

drastic_quench
09-05-2009, 13:00
Yep. Met him also on the trail south of Blood Mountain.
You know, you have to wonder what these multi-pack duffel bag-toting folks think about the 95% of other hikers they come across.

"You guys are stupid. There's no way you can fit six months of food in there. You're all going to starve."