dumb and dumber [Archive]

squeezebox

11-14-2009, 20:51

I'm a newbie and have been lurking to find out all the to do things. thanks all of you!!
I would like to hear some of the dumb stuff you have seen people bring.
I did a bicycle trip in Europe 30 years ago, and I thought the person who brought a hammer for tent pegs was dumb, until I saw the person with a 3 inch steel ball welded to a peice of gas pipe. I can't imagine how much that thing weighed.

What not to bring is also important

sheepdog

11-14-2009, 23:27

I saw a dude with a 6 volt flashlight. Must have weighed 2 lbs.

warraghiyagey

11-14-2009, 23:39

Saw a dude carry a metal hub cap. . .

Oklahoma

11-14-2009, 23:46

I saw some hiker with a come-along pulley. He said it was for tightening his hammock.The thing must have weighed 5 pounds.

sbhikes

11-15-2009, 00:44

I felt pretty dumb not carrying a big huge can of DEET through Oregon in July.

The Solemates

11-15-2009, 15:43

Ive been several times before and seen people carrying their own firewood. Like a whole backpack full and hiking in over 5 miles.

The Weasel

11-15-2009, 16:22

College graduate from Auburn, in '00 attempting a thru as his 'graduation trip', camping by us just north of Walasi-Yi, had carried - from Springer -

-- 3-4 large cans of Dinty Moore Stew
-- 3-4 cans of beef chili
-- 2 boxes of cereal (Cocoa-Puffs and something else)
-- Gallon (half gone) of milk
-- Bag (5#?) of potatoes
-- 8 rolls of TP
-- Flashlight (D cells) and 10 extra batteries
-- 3 boxes Blue Tip matches
-- Gallon (most remaining) Coleman fuel
-- Canvas (heavy) tarp as shelter
-- Steel handaxe

He asked for advice on what to do to lighten his pack. We had a pretty good feed that night.

TW

Tin Man

11-15-2009, 17:21

folding shovel, hatchet, folding chair...

... i leave them home now

gunner76

11-15-2009, 17:52

In the 70's while hiking the AT in NC for a week one of our group had 50 pounds of camera gear (assorted cameras, lens, tripods, fim ect) and maybe a sleeping bag. He did take some great photos. I used the slides he took to give a presentation at the college I was going to.

TD55

11-15-2009, 18:25

Dumbest thing I ever brought hiking with me was my wifes doberman. He was a wonderful dog but as stupid as stupid gets.

Bags4266

11-15-2009, 18:30

Saw a dude carry a metal hub cap. . .

You ever ask why?

Not Sunshine

11-15-2009, 19:26

8 rolls of TP?! wow. seriously - "wow" is the only comment i can make on such a thing.

Wise Old Owl

11-15-2009, 19:32

8 rolls of TP?! wow. seriously - "wow" is the only comment i can make on such a thing.

His name was Jack.....:rolleyes:

Not Sunshine

11-15-2009, 19:38

His name was Jack.....:rolleyes:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

was he a yankee?

Wise Old Owl

11-15-2009, 19:46

I gotta stop trolling.... its bad for my health...

YoungMoose

11-15-2009, 20:26

I was just going to start a day hike. I was about 10 minutes on the trail and i saw someone walking torwards the trail head carry a boulder. I asked why is he carrying it. He said he is re-doing his backyard and he saw this rock when he hiked by it once and now he is taking it to put it in his backyard.

gravy4601

11-15-2009, 21:10

Ive been several times before and seen people carrying their own firewood. Like a whole backpack full and hiking in over 5 miles.

now ive seen that a few times kinda makes you wonder

Elder

11-15-2009, 23:40

On the approach trail from Amicalola toward Springer...
a scout, with a nicely squared off bottom of his frame pack...
4 bricks,....
to hold the grill...
over the charcoal...
to boil water,
for freeze dried foods.

A the leaders let him carry it.

Many years ago..Scouts do better now...usually.

Feral Bill

11-15-2009, 23:44

You ever ask why?

A couple of friends and I once (long long ago) had a scheme to catch a racoon and cook int in a hubcap. Didn't happen. Still not the stupidest idea I ever had.:eek:

Maybe that was those peoples idea, too.

squeezebox

11-16-2009, 12:07

Sorry but I checked my copy of the White trash cookbook and it did not mention cooking a raccoon in a hubcap.
P.S. I'ld go for a couple of squirrels instead.

kanga

11-16-2009, 12:48

you silly people. you cook possums in hubcaps, not coons. duh.

Mags

11-16-2009, 12:53

I saw a dude with a 6 volt flashlight. Must have weighed 2 lbs.

I brought that on my first backpacking trip (along with lots of canned goods and a Rambo-style survival knife). :eek:

Damn...the mistakes I made when I started out.

Pony

11-16-2009, 16:02

I stayed with a few people at Stover Creek, and being everyone's first night on the trail there was a lot of extra stuff. A football, one guy with a 75lb pack was carrying 13 lbs of food and 12lbs of water, another had two sleeping bags, you know for when the weather warmed up. I initially felt bad about my 46lb pack until I met these clowns. I thought about politely explaining that they didn't need to carry all that stuff, but after they were done telling me how stupid I was for not breaking in my shoes better or that my homemade stove was way inferior to thier jetboils I just decided to let them go. Never saw those people again.

mountain squid

11-16-2009, 20:47

See you on the trail,
mt squid

Mango

11-16-2009, 21:16

In Smokies in late March '06, we met a section hiker going sobo with a honest-to-gosh saber tucked in his belt. He said if a bear charged him, he would stab it in the eye. I usually pull for the people instead of the bears, but in this case I made an exception.

Pickleodeon

11-17-2009, 17:52

one of the guys that hiked with me for a little while (unfortunately) carried one of those folding shovel/pick things, a folding little camp stool- not the aluminum ones, the steel ones, a gun- you will never ever need a gun on the trail, he had one of those coleman stoves where you put gas in the bottom- it doesn't have a detatchable fuel cannister, but he forgot to fill the gas before he left so he ran out of fuel the first day and cooked over his cotton socks and extra clothing which we told him he didn't need, so he burned it.

IceAge

11-17-2009, 18:09

-- 3-4 large cans of Dinty Moore Stew

I've been known to carry a can of DM Beef Stew for a day or two, but agree that 4 cans is probably too many.

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/6/8/6/8/014_12a_thumb.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=26667&c=member&imageuser=16868)

^ - A can of stew with my broken spoon in Minnesota

JonnyWalker

11-17-2009, 18:19

I ran into 3 kids from Radford in Virginia on the mountain across from the priest. They had run out of water so decided to drink their 1/2 of aristocrat instead. I saw them again the next morning and apparently one of them had attempted to take a crap off a cliff, was forcibly put into his tent, and woke up the next morning with a huge gash on the back of his head with no recolection of how he got it.

geckobunny

11-17-2009, 18:22

I hiked with a guy once who was so proud of his long oil skin trench coat that he brought it along. He said he could use it when it rained...and if it didn't rain, he could use it as a pillow.

And I'm thinking to myself...you brought along an EIGHT POUND PILLOW?!?!?!

gungho

11-17-2009, 21:00

I saw this guy named emerson carrying a 20lb anvil up shuckstack:eek:

saimyoji

11-17-2009, 21:14

See you on the trail,
mt squid

damn....you hauled that big ass boulder around? :eek:

Railroad King

11-19-2009, 01:46

Did that dolly go up the trail?

Trailweaver

11-19-2009, 04:11

The night I stayed at the Hawk Mt. Shelter a father and son hiked in and proceeded to set up camp: a six man tent you could stand up in, a grill (and they made a new fire pit 25 feet from the established pit, burning the nearby tree canopy), camp stools, and other assorted heavy gear. They grilled huge steaks they couldn't finish, and left them on the ground with cans and other litter the next morning. (I hiked it out, so I know.)

I met them later on, going home after only the one day/night. Strangely, they were complaining that their "legs were sore due to the heavy packs" and they were cutting their trip short. I could have felt sorry for them except for the fact that I'd hiked out their garbage, and when I'd asked them to not build a fire where they did, they had done it anyway.

Plodderman

11-19-2009, 10:54

Eight rolls of TP, yep that should do it.

Grampie

11-19-2009, 11:57

How about all those orange poop scopers people have hanging off their packs.
See a lot in the begining.

mountain squid

11-22-2009, 19:55

damn....you hauled that big ass boulder around? :eek:Only as far as the parking area.......and then it cracked....DOH!

Did that dolly go up the trail?It made it a couple of hundred yards from the parking area heading up Springer. The hiker quickly realized it wasn't gonna work (but not quick enough)...

See you on the trail,
mt squid

Symbol

11-24-2009, 22:57

JoshStover

11-24-2009, 23:05

I saw a guy once with a HUGE external frame and he a folding lawn chair lashed to it. Crazy thing is he cut the webbing off the bottom and used woodscrews and zipties to fasten a toilet seat on it. I asked him why he was carrying it and he said he didnt want to get poison ivy on his butt. Didnt make to much since to me...

slugger

11-25-2009, 23:42

12 cans of soup, two sets of army camos, an three layer army sleeping bag/bivy sack army folding shovel, huge medical pack with an 8oz bottle of medical saline....... Welcome to my first 5 day backpacking trip... it was on the AT in skyline drive. my pack was a 45$ pack of eBay and weighed over 80 LB.... by the end of the trip the pack was broken beyond repair and i even had to TIE the waist belt around my hips....

TOW

11-26-2009, 06:05

A couple of friends and I once (long long ago) had a scheme to catch a racoon and cook int in a hubcap. Didn't happen. Still not the stupidest idea I ever had.:eek:

Maybe that was those peoples idea, too.
How much more red can one get?

Dumbest thisng I ever saw was a guy back in 2000 with a lap top hooked into a satellite phone......half of his weight of seventy or so pounds were rechargeable batteries as he hiked the GSMNP.....

HYOH

11-26-2009, 15:26

Definitely the dumbest things I've seen were all orange. SPOT transmitters, Campmor pooper scoopers, and an eight pound pumpkin at Abington shelter carried from all the way from Hampton. Damn that thing was heavy.