View Full Version : Let's list some of the most absurd items brought on the trail, just for fun.
TheLonePony
01-22-2012, 03:14
Hi all!
How about we list some of the most absurd items you have seen on the trail. For example, items such as massive stoves, full sized lawn chairs, a full set of heavy cast iron cookware, a single person with a 6 person or 8 person tent, etc..
What are some of the most impracticable items you have seen? Did you casually and discreetly tell them that the items are not necessary?
Have fun!
:D
Full size axe and bow saw
Folding table and chairs
"Solar" hot water shower
Colman Lantern
12 Pack of beer (ok - I did enjoy one of these)
Miami Joe
01-22-2012, 03:57
Camped one night in GSMNP with some college kids from Wisconsin who all had large pots and pans tied to their packs. Also, they all had fifths of peppermint schnapps, which made for interesting night.
Met a guy on the Laurel Highlands trail that was carrying a folding metal bed frame back to one of the shelters and his lady friend was carrying what looked like a ten gallon container of water. They both had huge packs and he was carrying a side arm. They didn't ask me to carry anything so it was none of my bussiness what they wanted to carry.
Jim Adams
01-22-2012, 11:38
...saw a gallon can of coleman fuel swinging from the back of a thru hikers pack going up Springer...he said that he had no room for it in the pack with the OTHER gallon in there!
geek
Oh, BTW...spare hiking shoes for when the first pair wear out....same guy...carried his tent in his arms!
Carl Calson
01-22-2012, 12:48
in GSMNP a first time hiker was wearing a pair of jeans in a torrential downpour, and the only other pants he had was another pair of jeans. he was miserable.
shI've seen is 2 hikers with hand-trucks - they pushed and pulled their backpacks and what looked like a giant gas can full of water up the trail - this was on a section of the Mountain to Sea Trail near Linville Gorge - really ingenious in a way to think of such nonsense - they made it about a mile to a campsite.
Oneofsix
01-22-2012, 13:39
I'm stretching "the trail" here a bit . . but while training to summit Mt Rainier I was taking an intense mountaineering course and we had rigorous pack checks. I got "dinged" and then won an award for the most unusual "unapproved" item.
I was carrying a hand breastpump . I had a baby and was still nursing. It got loads of laughs.
Sarcasm the elf
01-22-2012, 14:09
My favorite is seeing folks hiking up from the trailhead with price tags still swinging from each item they have, therm-a-rest still in the box and home depot tarp still in its packaging. I always wonder how far they make it.
I carried ten gallons of water three miles as a junior leader for a outdoors program. Later trips to the same campsite just brought purification. 80 pounds or 4 ounces is absurd. The adult leaders thought it was a good idea.... Duh!
swjohnsey
01-22-2012, 14:41
Little orange poopie scoops.
Little orange poopie scoops.
yeah - those are funny but not as funny as the green metal folding ones - usually then. the other side of the pack has an axe.
earlyriser26
01-22-2012, 15:26
In the smokies all these items were left at a shelter 1) full size 2 burner Coleman stove 2) Coleman lantern 3) 4 fishing poles (?????) 4) iron cookware
kevperro
01-22-2012, 17:03
Condum.... by a single guy that didn't bring someone to use them with.
mountain squid
01-22-2012, 17:52
I get to upload this photo from time to time . . .
See you on the trail,
mt squid
some observations (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?14493-observations-from-fs42-(advice-for-first-week-on-trail))
Sounds like the typical teenage fantasy. A comedian once talked about the same subject. "You just carry those around? What, is some naked lady going to jump out of the woods in front of the car and say 'take me now!'?"
kayak karl
01-22-2012, 19:05
not the AT but i hiked 25 miles with 5 liters of water down dirt road i learned later was called "Good Water Road"? there was a stream to my right i could not see which was fed by springs.
WalksInDark
01-22-2012, 19:17
A couple of years ago I found (sitting on the side of the AT trail, just before coming to a main highway in S.W. VA) an abandoned well used U.S. army backpack cloth duffel. Inside the duffel were a cheap/heavy walmart tent, a full size metal hatchet, surplus trenching tool/shovel (how is that for a cat hole digger?) & metal canteen, full size swiss army alcohol stove and mess kit, 20# bag of rice, probably 8# of spices, plus a few clothing odds and ends. Based upon receipts, it appeared that someone had started hiking with this kit over 200 miles further south, they gave up the trek.
Based upon the weight of the stuff that had been abandoned, the actual full pack weight had to be in the range of 75#. I was not so much surprised to find that the hiker carrying all of this heavy gear had given up ...but was amazed that he or she made it as far as they did! :eek:
a couple of years ago i found (sitting on the side of the at trail, just before coming to a main highway in s.w. Va) an abandoned well used u.s. Army backpack cloth duffel. Inside the duffel were a cheap/heavy walmart tent, a full size metal hatchet, surplus trenching tool/shovel (how is that for a cat hole digger?) & metal canteen, full size swiss army alcohol stove and mess kit, 20# bag of rice, probably 8# of spices, plus a few clothing odds and ends. Based upon receipts, it appeared that someone had started hiking with this kit over 200 miles further south, they gave up the trek.
Based upon the weight of the stuff that had been abandoned, the actual full pack weight had to be in the range of 75#. i was not so much surprised to find that the hiker carrying all of this heavy gear had given up ...but was amazed that he or she made it as far as they did! :eek:
aw dude - you found my pack!
saw some guys carrying a chainsaw a few weeks ago :(
A couple of years ago I found (sitting on the side of the AT trail, just before coming to a main highway in S.W. VA) an abandoned well used U.S. army backpack cloth duffel. Inside the duffel were a cheap/heavy walmart tent, a full size metal hatchet, surplus trenching tool/shovel (how is that for a cat hole digger?) & metal canteen, full size swiss army alcohol stove and mess kit, 20# bag of rice, probably 8# of spices, plus a few clothing odds and ends. Based upon receipts, it appeared that someone had started hiking with this kit over 200 miles further south, they gave up the trek.
Based upon the weight of the stuff that had been abandoned, the actual full pack weight had to be in the range of 75#. I was not so much surprised to find that the hiker carrying all of this heavy gear had given up ...but was amazed that he or she made it as far as they did! :eek:
I met someone fitting this description last summer in NY. He left his army mess kit out on the picnic table overnight, and the coon who camp by to check in out scared the #$!% outta me at 3 am. I don't think he even had a stove, just always cooked over a fire. And he didn't filter/treat water, just selected sources based on some little army handbook published pre WWII. I think when I ran into him he had hiked about 30 miles in a week or so. Hope he made it to his goal in Connecticut.
RWheeler
01-23-2012, 01:17
I might bring a banana costume.
BlackCloud
01-23-2012, 01:46
...saw a gallon can of coleman fuel swinging from the back of a thru hikers pack going up Springer...he said that he had no room for it in the pack with the OTHER gallon in there!
Saw the exact same thing on the AT in MD years ago. The guy was 3 weeks into a 6 week section hike & thought nothing of it.
wythekari
01-23-2012, 01:51
Not on the AT but I saw this guy with cot, five miles into a ten mile hike to a hot spring in Big Sur.
14978
Gotta love the hat! A real life Davy Crockett.
Not on the AT but I saw this guy with cot, five miles into a ten mile hike to a hot spring in Big Sur.
14978
The Cleaner
01-23-2012, 10:01
Your whole family......
Oneofsix
01-23-2012, 10:58
Your whole family......
the most absurd and impractical thing they brought on their thru hike was their whole family?? am I reading that the way you mean it?
When I went through basic training in Chilliwack BC they made us carry our full kit, two pairs of combat boots etc, which came to about 40 pounds in total. Not all that bad compared to advanced infantry carry, but hey, we were just a bunch of civies in uniform at the time. I found the 40 pounds supper light at the time because I was at least 60 pounds lighter than I am now, and 30 years younger.
Anyhow, we had this really sarcastic Naval Lieutentant for our platoons directing staff. I mean, he was brilliant. One guy got hurt so someone else had to carry his pack. So here was this guy carrying two of these packs, and feeling pretty good about himself and not feeling it too much until LT(N) Gregory comes along and pipes up with his wicked sarcastic long drawn out tone, "Two packs eh? F*********k.
Then there was the time I had to carry this hoochie, because someone left it behind. They were made of two ground sheets zipped together, and two wooden sticks for tent poles, and all these hemp twine cords with 4" nails, all rolled up in a bundle but for the stray 4" nails on cords flailing around. So I was dumb enough to volunteer to carry it even though it wasn't mine, BUT YOU CAN'T SAY THAT. So all the directing staff, INCLUDING THE PADRE, the old bastard, would delight in routinely coming by on the 20km night march and give me a really hard time. "Hey, keep that noise down.... Idiot!" "Forgot to load you hooch eh.... Idiot!" "That will teach you... Idiot!"
Good times. Way better than the Boy Scouts.
pyroman53
01-23-2012, 11:36
A group of guys from Ohio, hike for a week every year. They take turns cooking the dinner meal on the trip. The guy who was in charge of dinner on the 3rd day of their 4 day Smoky's trip...broke out a dozen eskimo pies!! Started out with 15 pounds of dry ice to keep them cold for 3 days. The pies were still good!! Offered me one but I just figured he worked too hard - he deserved to enjoy. All this because his trail name is ESKIMO PIE! Then they proceeded to cook up brats with onions and peppers for dinner. The sound of them sizzling and the smell was awesome - especially as I forced down a Mt House freeze dried meal. I was waiting for him to break out the beers, but I guess there's a limit.
MoodyBluer
01-23-2012, 11:37
Last year was a dude who had a cello AND amplifier who started at Springer...last I heard he had bailed out near NC line...
Your whole family......
the most absurd and impractical thing they brought on their thru hike was their whole family?? am I reading that the way you mean it?Depends on what some of your relatives are like, and if you have to carry them all in your backpack.
max patch
01-23-2012, 12:00
One of those plastic yard decoration pink flamingos to "guard their tent".
max patch
01-23-2012, 12:03
Condum.... by a single guy that didn't bring someone to use them with.
Better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.
Better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.Do you mean the condom or the girlfriend?
I was searching for the "pretty good time in vegas" quote, but Peter Sellers is absolutely brilliant in this scene so it's going to have to do...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesXUFOlWC0
Actually that link is quite appropriate now that I think about it, and carrying them with you, just in case, isn't really all that absurd, although admittedly the ten women might have a differet view on the matter.
Sailing_Faith
01-23-2012, 12:23
One of those plastic yard decoration pink flamingos to "guard their tent".
Better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it.
.... that is what I was thinking...
.... that is what I was thinking...Still, better to go with the real deal. Some bear might call your bluff, then where would you be?
Still, better to go with the real deal. Some bear might call your bluff, then where would you be?
I guess if worse came to worse you could always try to beat the bear to death with the plastic flamingo.
--louis
If you did want to pack a real pink flamingo, not just some plastic toy, is it difficult to get a licence to carry if you are a foreigner? Can you conceal them. Mine like to wear dark sunglasses, which is why I'm asking.
Plodderman
01-23-2012, 14:01
The bigggest black sleeping bag I have ever seen.
The bigggest black sleeping bag I have ever seen.
The kind you store in a hole in the ground or submerge in cement?
Wow. If I ever have a sleeping bag, remind me to wake it up.
Wow. If I ever have a sleeping bag, remind me to wake it up.
Don't you know to let sleeping bags lie?
--louis
kevperro
01-23-2012, 22:08
Sounds like the typical teenage fantasy. A comedian once talked about the same subject. "You just carry those around? What, is some naked lady going to jump out of the woods in front of the car and say 'take me now!'?"
You know the sad thing is my hiking partner found one at some bar in MA. She resembled the local livestock but based upon the noises coming from his Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight he could have used one.
TJ aka Teej
01-23-2012, 22:46
I've been lucky enough to spend the start of the southbound season up Katahdin for about 20 years or more,
Between KSC and Hurd Brook: Axes, Eskimo goggles, two boxes of .45 ammo, antique snowshoes, Icelandic sweaters, dozens of pairs of jeans, a bagfull D batteries, many bottles of propane, full bottles of single malts, hard cover books, knives, dive masks and snorkels, knee braces, tents, sleeping bags and pads, tackle boxes, several of those carved souvenir hiking poles, bras, hoodies, canned food, fry pans, cake pans, bottles of cooking oil, dog food... for several years a hike in to Hurd "looking for stuff" was a Spring highlight for my kids.
English Stu
01-24-2012, 07:41
When I was on the trail in 2004 there I heard about a guy from Israel with a toilet seat on the back of his pack. Said he used it in the woods because he couldn't squat.
I've been lucky enough to spend the start of the southbound season up Katahdin for about 20 years or more,
Between KSC and Hurd Brook: Axes, Eskimo goggles, two boxes of .45 ammo, antique snowshoes, Icelandic sweaters, dozens of pairs of jeans, a bagfull D batteries, many bottles of propane, full bottles of single malts, hard cover books, knives, dive masks and snorkels, knee braces, tents, sleeping bags and pads, tackle boxes, several of those carved souvenir hiking poles, bras, hoodies, canned food, fry pans, cake pans, bottles of cooking oil, dog food... for several years a hike in to Hurd "looking for stuff" was a Spring highlight for my kids.
this pretty much covers the waterfront I'd say
RWheeler
01-24-2012, 09:11
Still, better to go with the real deal. Some bear might call your bluff, then where would you be?
Well, at least you could hang your pack from the guardmingo. Keep the bottom of it dry.
Sometimes I think its my water filter instead of a tube full of bleach. But I kinda like the taste of fresh water.
Miami Joe
01-25-2012, 14:25
A couple of years ago I found (sitting on the side of the AT trail, just before coming to a main highway in S.W. VA) an abandoned well used U.S. army backpack cloth duffel. Inside the duffel were a cheap/heavy walmart tent, a full size metal hatchet, surplus trenching tool/shovel (how is that for a cat hole digger?) & metal canteen, full size swiss army alcohol stove and mess kit, 20# bag of rice, probably 8# of spices, plus a few clothing odds and ends. Based upon receipts, it appeared that someone had started hiking with this kit over 200 miles further south, they gave up the trek.
Based upon the weight of the stuff that had been abandoned, the actual full pack weight had to be in the range of 75#. I was not so much surprised to find that the hiker carrying all of this heavy gear had given up ...but was amazed that he or she made it as far as they did! :eek:
I guess the 10-pound bag of ice had already melted. Seriously, though, I'd been thinking about bringing something crazy on my next hike just for the fun of it. I like the pink flamingo idea. That could easily be strapped to the back of my pack. Maybe a flag pole, but of course that might conduct lightning. Mini lava lamp for the shelter? Small disco ball. Fuzzy dice. President Obama Chia Pet.
Seatbelt
01-25-2012, 15:53
Little orange poopie scoops.
C'mon ecucate me...I don't see the absurdity in this one.....the color maybe?? or are you refering to the doggie scoops or ??? I always carry a small scoop to bury "you-know-what", didn't realize it was absurd.
I saw one girl with a whole make-up kit box in her pack. She did her make-up every morning. Maybe she was looking around for the guy with the condom.
Same girl was trying to get a ceramic mug in the pack. I told her to leave it.
Her friend brought a down comforter for sleeping. One of those heavy ones. She didn't think a sleeping bag would keep her warm enough.
I've been lucky enough to spend the start of the southbound season up Katahdin for about 20 years or more,
Between KSC and Hurd Brook: Axes, Eskimo goggles, two boxes of .45 ammo, antique snowshoes, Icelandic sweaters, dozens of pairs of jeans, a bagfull D batteries, many bottles of propane, full bottles of single malts, hard cover books, knives, dive masks and snorkels, knee braces, tents, sleeping bags and pads, tackle boxes, several of those carved souvenir hiking poles, bras, hoodies, canned food, fry pans, cake pans, bottles of cooking oil, dog food... for several years a hike in to Hurd "looking for stuff" was a Spring highlight for my kids.Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in The Klondike with all that stuff.
jakedatc
01-26-2012, 12:17
C'mon ecucate me...I don't see the absurdity in this one.....the color maybe?? or are you refering to the doggie scoops or ??? I always carry a small scoop to bury "you-know-what", didn't realize it was absurd.
sticks or tent stakes work just as well and weigh less.
turtle fast
01-26-2012, 18:24
I saw a British hiker with a cricket bat in 08' . That same hiker preceded to get a large river stone at least 5 pounds from the river by Standing Bear Farm and was going to lug that on the trail just because it was useless.