Oops! I forgot the ...

[illabelle]

We're home from an abbreviated Thanksgiving trek in the GA/NC mountains. There was a dusting of snow over the upper elevations, persisting on the north slopes and shady areas. Got to the trailhead late Thursday, too late for the 4.5 miles we had planned, so went only a mile to a trailside campsite on a semi-exposed ridge. Got supper going and set up the tent. Getting dark, getting cold. Finished our meal, made our last trips to empty our bladders, and got in the tent to arrange our gear. Then my normally reliable husband says, "Oops, I forgot my sleeping bag." Uh-oh.

Our daughter is with us, so we have two sleeping bags, one a Big Agnes of the type with no insulation on the bottom, but too short for his height. Night 1 was FRIGID. Daughter and I wore our down jackets and used his jacket to cover our hips/thighs, and the Big Agnes as a blanket. I had the non-insulated half. It wasn't good. Water bottles were half-frozen in the morning. My best guess is around 20*. Night 2 was a little warmer in a more sheltered locale, though at 1400' higher elevation. This time he used the Big Agnes, while she and I huddled under the fully insulated North Face bag. Actually got too hot after a while and took off our jackets. We learned that all three of us can fit on two sleeping pads, at least in cold family-snuggle weather.

Mornings were awful cold and we didn't want to get up. Daylight hours were too short for the miles we had planned, and we were already behind schedule. Just didn't seem like this trip was going to work out, so we bailed and came home.

Anybody else have a tale about something critical that was forgotten? How'd you cope? Improvise? Bail out?

[Damn Yankee]

Toilet paper. I won't even get into the story. Use your imagination.

[Rocket Jones]

Nothing critical, but on our last trip my hiking buddy was just tickled that I'd forgotten something. I'm a big checklist guy, so usually it's the other guys that have forgotten something.

[squeezebox]

I've forgotten things at most every Contra dance weekends I've gone to. Can you imagine what's it's like getting to dance weekend and realize you don't have your dance shoes? I'm glad most dance places don't have a cliff to jump off of.
But seriously!! You probably have a pack list done up on your computer, (or make one) print out a copy, check your list to make sure you didn't forget anything.
Helps a lot.

[takethisbread]

My stove once. I ate ramen by just soaking them in my gator ade bottle. Toilet paper a million times. Ibuprofen a bunch of times.


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[elmotoots]

The wife, two of our sons, and myself got a shuttle, and started at Davenport Gap. We were headed to Fontana Dam.

We were almost at our first stop when I realized I had left our cookware in the Suburban at Fontana Dam.

We meet a nice man and his daughter at Cosby shelter, they were from California.

The next morning as they were leaving I was able to buy his very used, and much loved set for the very low price of twenty bucks.

Gave him my address and told him if he got to regretting it to much, I would send them back to him.

[Leanthree]

Forgot spoons for myself and the girlfriend. I whittled a stick into a padle shape for myself and the girlfriend used the lid on the case of her birth control. Made for a fun couple meals.

[MuddyWaters]

Have never forgotten anything but a spoon. That was remedied by tearing off corner of ziplock and squeezing into mouth like a pastry bag. Liked the method so much, I do it all the time. Easy, no mess.

Brought wrong camera charger once. The li-ion camera battery fit in it, but didnt touch the electrodes and so didnt charge. Discovered at trailhead we wouldnt have a camera.

Thought I forgot several items once, so I paid $25 for a taxi driver to drive me to walmart and wait, etc. So I could get a couple things. Turned out I mailed them to myself with my first food supply that I didnt want to carry on the planes. I just forgot after ~ 2 weeks had passed I had done so.

[Malto]

Left my only long sleeve base layer in the car on my October Wonderland trail hike that included rain snow and everything in between. I learned I can hike in short sleeves and a rain jacket and stay warm even in snow and high winds. Who would have thunk?

[No Directions]

He forgot the sleeping bag and you slept under the uninsulated part of the bag? Such a gentleman. Check lists are your friend.

[MockingJay]

Wasn't a backpacking trip but once on an overnight canoe trip I overslept and was in a rush to get to the river. 5 miles downstream, I looked in the bottom of the canoe and realized I ran out of the house and forgot the tent for the 4 of us and it was forecast to rain overnight. Fortunately, I had brought a tarp that we used to rig up a makeshift shelter and we stayed warm and dry. Somehow those are always the times that make the best stories.

[illabelle]

He forgot the sleeping bag and you slept under the uninsulated part of the bag? Such a gentleman. Check lists are your friend.

We tried a few other options that didn't work well, including him under the unsinulated part. Cold-brain logic for you. Corrected that the next night.
You're right about the checklist, of course. We used to use them, but we've become "so experienced" that we didn't think we needed them so much.
One thing I've been thinking about is how much help it is to share body heat. Most of the time we sleep on separate pads in separate bags experiencing separately the shivering/warming process. Body to body makes for instant heat. Of course, I understand it would be weird to cuddle with strangers, and I like room to move as much as anybody. But if I'm ever in survival mode, I'm gonna get close.

[illabelle]

Toilet paper. I won't even get into the story. Use your imagination.

Funny how the things that are so cheap and easy to get can be so essential!

[illabelle]

Forgot spoons for myself and the girlfriend. I whittled a stick into a padle shape for myself and the girlfriend used the lid on the case of her birth control. Made for a fun couple meals.

That was definitely improvising!
Thanks for all the stories, folks.

[Furlough]

Sleeping Pad. I am a side sleeper and at the time had a insul-mat inflating pad. As I was driving out to start my thru of the SNP I had a nagging feeling I had forgotten something. I went through the mental check-list and remembered taking out the insul-mat to see if I could locate and fix a very slow leak. I found and fixed it, rolled and stowed the mat in the foot locker I store some hiking stuff in and left it there. I stopped along the way and bought a cheap CCF pad and did my thru.

[Old Hiker]

First day of my thru attempt: 29 Feb 2012. Looked like rain, started to sprinkle. Tried to find my poncho, found I had left it in the shuttle van!

Never rained, poncho caught up to me with the help of other hikers, but it was worrisome. Decided to switch to rain pants and jacket for weight.

[Bronk]

What's even worse than forgetting to bring something on a camping trip is losing something important while you are out there. I once took a canoe trip and got to my take out point where I had my truck parked and realized that I didn't have my keys. They were on the river bank where I had camped the night before, about 5 miles upriver. I had packed up in a hurry because it was raining...I figure they fell out of my pocket while I was sleeping...I had cowboy camped and used my unzipped sleeping bag as a blanket, so when it started raining I packed up and left quickly at just about dawn. I went to a canoe rental in the area and explained the situation and there were two guys who were just leaving to float the same section and were familiar with the gravel bar I had camped on...so I got my keys back by the end of the day...but it was not the best way to end a trip.

[squeezebox]

I just checked, both of my packs have a loop with a hook on the ends in the lid. some hiking clothes do, some don't. Very easy to sew a loop somewhere and those little S-hooks look good. Might sew one in my hip belt pocket. My nylon zip lock wallet has a loop on it. My point? Find somewhere, make somewhere to clip your essentials in.

[Offshore]

Microspikes - just because the snow melted in the driveway doesn't mean the trail (70 miles north of the driveway) isn't icy...

[2015 Lady Thru-Hiker]

On my first overnight with someone else, that person left their cigarettes on the hood of their vehicle. They realized it about 1/2 mile into the hike but decided they could live without. Of course, the rest of the hike I heard "you know what would taste good right now? A cigarette" Worse than that though - I forgot my car keys in their vehicle, which we left at the starting point of our hike, with plans to drive my vehicle, which we had left at the end point of our hike, back to the starting point. Didn't realize it until we were well into our hike, so no going back. Since we were coming out at Rockfish Gap we felt confident we could get a hitch back to Reeds Gap and we did pretty quickly, which beat about a 12 mile walk back, so all ended well