Have you forgotten something big before a long hike?

[Tractor]

I'm sure this has been covered before but I thought I would toss it out again. Have you ever forgotten something BIG just as you were setting out for a long hike? Paying the next rent for instance? Your stove (I did that one)? Boots perhaps? Antifreeze in your ride (winter hike a-coming)? Insurance payment? That hot sauce you had on the kitchen table....that you had sooo wanted to use about every meal....

Whatever it was, how did you handle it?

[Lone Wolf]

Nope . Never. I'm very organized. It's a Marine thing.

[general]

i forget my leki poles all the time. it's a short term memory thing.

[jlb2012]

forgot water bottles once, spoon twice, straps for hammock once - thats about all I can think of - all easily taken care of

[Blissful]

Well it wasn't big but this past weekend's hike, forgot to pack any utensils at all. No lexan spoons, etc. The first night we ate potatoes using tortillas as scoops. The next night we were able to get some plastic spoons from the Blackburn trail center caretakers.

[Skidsteer]

Forgot a spoon once. I made a replacement by cutting up a soda bottle(my wife's idea). It worked fine.

[jlb2012]

good idea Skidsteer

[Dances with Mice]

I sat at Bryson Gap on the Benton Mac/Duncan Ridge Trail once waiting for my iodine water treatment to work and whittled a pair of chopsticks from a Hemlock tree (Note: not Socrate's hemlock, that's an herb) because my Lexan spoon was at home carefully nestled inside my dishwasher. I didn't lose an undue amount of weight on the trip, so I guess they worked pretty well.

Once I forgot my pocketknife and realized I didn't really use it all that much anyway. But that time I had my spoon.

[Doctari]

Probably. I just don't remember



Lets see: Hat in my car, 80 trail miles from my start point. Sleeping bag liner on a very cold trip, safely in the clothes dryer. etc etc etc.


Doctari.

[Skidsteer]

good idea Skidsteer

I thought so too and immediately praised my bride for her good sense.

Now here's the 'rest of the story':

The soda bottle in question contained precisely 20 ounces of common box-wine Burgundy. Being frugal by nature I insisted on making use of the contents prior to surgery and persisted until the task was complete.

Then I set to work making spoons with a small, cheap, non-locking-blade multi-tool I used to carry.

It's one of the few times I've actually used my first-aid kit.

[trlhiker]

My warm fleece jacket once, luckily we had 2 mild nights.

[Alligator]

My boots on a winter trip. I used my sneakers.

The tarp for my new hammock. I kept my rain gear handy and hoped for the best. The next night I made sure to reach the shelter. I bought a cheapie in town on the third day.

[Ewker]

My boots on a winter trip.

whew, glad I am not the only one

[littlelaurel59]

On a car camping trip when my son was a cub scout I forgot to pack the rain fly for our tent. Fortunately we had fair weather. Potential disaster, though.

I can't recall any "big" (that is, "important") items forgotten on a BP trip.

[Just Jeff]

I forgot my spoon once. I carved one from a stick while my food soaked.

Forgot my sit pad on a winter trip and wouldn't even consider using my insulated mat out there like a sit pad, so I did without. Got kinda cold sitting on the snow like that, but no big deal.

I used my bearbag cord as a clothesline once and left it at that campsite. 30' of 550 cord - I was pretty irritated, but no way was I hiking back to get it. That's about the time I quit bearbagging.

But nothing big, I guess. The sit pad was probably the biggest inconvenience.

[RAT]

Nope . Never. I'm very organized. Comes from hanging around Lone Wolf ;-)

RAT

[Alligator]

...

I used my bearbag cord as a clothesline once and left it at that campsite. 30' of 550 cord - I was pretty irritated, but no way was I hiking back to get it. That's about the time I quit bearbagging.

...

I got pretty good at forgetting clothes lines so I discontinued using them for quite a long time. Then this past summer I used my bear bag line for a clothes line and (of course) I left it . Oh well, it was heavy line anyway, a good excuse to lighten up a little.

[neo]

whew, glad I am not the only one

your girl friend forgot her sleeping bag that time in the smokies neo

[Just Jeff]

Yeah, but I saw them later on the trail and gave it back. He never knew a thing...

[Mother Nature]

I was so excited to head out in 2004 that I headed out to Maine wearing my bedroom slippers. I glanced down and couldn't believe my eyes. I had left my boots on the front porch. Thankfully we live in GA and I took the ride back home very red faced.

Mother Nature