Funniest Moments

[Downunda]

On a less serious note there must be many instances where hikers experienced something really funny during their hike. I'm sure I have more than this but the two that come to mind are: 1)

1) Something happened to me last year at a privy near Mt Rogers that got me thinking what's the worst thing that can happen to a hiker? I came up with two things:
To discover you have left an important piece of equipment back at the last shelter ten miles away, and (2) to drop your roll of toilet paper into the privy. Unfortunately that's what I did and it almost brought me to tears, as my next visit to the store was 3 or 4 days away. So not wanting to use leaves as some do, I "borrowed" a few pages from the shelter register. I figured that's the intended secondary purpose of them anyway. I worried about the situation all afternoon until I ran into a group of day hikers who struck up a conversation with me. Well, I told them my tale of woe and fortunately they gave me a handful of T.P. I then mooched TP from other hikers until I reached the next store.

2) In '02 I left Hanover NH hiking north. It was about 7:00am and it was going to be a stinking hot day. I had been hiking for about 2.5 hours and met a section hiker coming the other way.

I couldn't believe it when he said are you heading for Hanover??? It took quite a bit of talking to convince me that I was hiking south and only about 15 minutes from Hanover.

It wasn't funny then but I can see the funny side now. I still can't believe I missed all of the pointers that would indicate I had somehow done a 180. Has any of you wasted more than 2 hours hiking in a circle?

Please share your funniest moments with me.

[Blue Jay]

I was hiking with another thru. We had both been out for months. His brother had met us to hike a few days. We had a good day and made it to a shelter. We were just about to fall asleep when his brother yelled out "Is that a frog?" I know that does not sound that funny, but it was the way he said it. Like "Is that a vampire?" with all the fear a voice can muster. We started laughing and could not stop.

[chknfngrs]

I used to be part of a scout troop and we hiked the White Mtns. We took a weekend trip with about a group of 5 scouts to Greenleaf area on Franconia Ridge. We had one little tenderfoot threaten to sue us if we didn't A) stop and B) give him water. We did neither and he lost his voice from so much blabbering. If any of you were on the mtn that day I do apologize for any inconvenience and interrupting your wilderness experience. I will never forget how much that kid could talk and how he much wanted to "sue the pants" off me.

[EarlyRiser]

Two summers back hiking in SNP we took a side trail down to a parking lot to resuply, there was a fork in the trail and we were suposed to take the left trail and head north. so we did. about an hour and a half two hours latter we ended up several miles south of where whe had started, and almost eight miles south of the resuply where we were expected. the funny thing was that two or three tiems wed stoped and taken out compases to check on our progress and we were heading north acording to them! i still dont know how that happened.

[Haiku]

A few weeks ago on my JMT hike I hiked three hours down the wrong trail, so had to turn around and hike three miles back. I wouldn't call that funny. What was funny was that I'd forded a creek to above my knees in rapid water, and I had to re-ford it on the way back.

But by far the funniest trail moment I've had was in the Adirondacks once backpacking with my girlfriend at the time. We were coming down a path beside a stream and I wasn't looking where I was going. I stumbled, and tripped amongst some large boulders, and ended up falling headfirst into a perfect hole formed by three boulders, so I was upside down in a hole up to my thighs. My backpack (a heavy pack at the time) was buckled at the waist, and I couldn't unbuckle it because both my hands were above (below) my head keeping me from smashing my head into the ground, and I couldn't get out because the pack was holding me down and I couldn't get leverage because I was in the hole past my waist. I was laughing so hard that my girlfriend thought I was crying. I finally was able to unbuckle my waist belt and let the pack fall over my head and off my shoulders, and I wriggled out of the hole.

Haiku.

[Kerosene]

So Haiku, were you wearing your kilt while upside down? If so, it's a good thing she was your girlfriend!

[Streamweaver]

LOL Now thats what is known as a Kodak moment!!! LOL Streamweaver

[Haiku]

Originally posted by Kerosene
So Haiku, were you wearing your kilt while upside down? If so, it's a good thing she was your girlfriend!

If she hadn't been, maybe after that she would be!

No, I wasn't wearing a kilt at that time. That would have made it even funnier.

Haiku.

[ga>me>ak]

Somewhere in the SMNP we stopped mid day to rest and goof off for the rest of the day. Being a pyro, I started looking for firewood. There was none around so I took a short walk to find some. I found a dead tree that was leaning at a 45 degree angle against a limb in another tree. To large to move but just the right size if you cut it half way up, let it fall, and drag the rest of it back to camp. There was also a tree next to it with some long branches(weeping willow I think) down to the ground where the dead tree was. I had a plan( yeh, I know,scary words). I did a test run. I climbed up the dead tree(15-20) feet up, branch in hand, and swung down to the ground. It worked great!So the plan was, climb up and saw the tree, when it started to give, using the branch in hand, gently swing down to the ground and drag my wood back to the shelter. So that's what I did. However, at the same time, there were 2 guys coming up the trail with their wives on their first AT trip. They finally decided to try a trip after being assured by their husbands that they would be safe and not get eaten by a bear.
Just as the limb started to break, I grabbed the branch, and NO, I did not swing gently to the ground. Non- gracefully, I bounced off a tree and swung through some bushes with all kinds of thorns and briars. Of course, it was at this same moment that these couples were rounding the bend in the trail. The women heard my muffled yelling and saw the bushes moving and just knew they were about to be eaten by a bear. Of course they were yelling and screaming and took off RUNNING up the trail . The husbands said I had to go retrieve them since I caused the incident. Man, they were ghost white and had the fear of GOD in their eyes. It was hilarious at the time (not to them I'm sure). Even the husbands were laughing their a$$es off.
Oh the things we do on the trail when we are bored.

[mindlessmariachi]

through hikes are filled with funny moments. i stayed one night at west mountain shelter, near Bear Mountain in New York. It's a great shelter actually; it has a view of the Manhattan skyline.

When I arrived there was a Manhattan-dwelling couple in their 30s up there already with a tent. After a moment or two of conversation they told me that they were about to spend the first night of their entire lives outdoors. They seemed flabbergasted and somewhat intrigued at the notion that someone would LIVE outside for months on end.

Anyway, during a lull in conversation, the woman asked, quite seriously. "Are we doing it right?"

"Doing what?" I responded.

"You know, this. Camping," she said, gesturing at their tent.

"I don't know. Are you having fun?"

They put their heads together and talked it over. Then they decided they were indeed having fun.

"Then you're doing it just right!" I told them.

They seemed very relieved!

[Streamweaver]

Oh yeah thats just what I want from a Backpacking experience, a veiw of the Manhattan skyline LOL Now thats funny!! All I can say is thanks for the warning!!!!!!!!!! Streamweaver

[rickb]

As was the custom in '83, I thru hiked without once getting a haircut or shaving. Upon reaching GA, I was fortunate to be met by my parents for the ride home to Rochester.

At a roadside restaraunt on the way home a waitress asked my folks in a very concerned tone if I was with them, even though we were all seated at the same table. Still not completely sure what that was all about, but it was funny at the time.

Rick B

[rickb]

Not sure if its the kind of funny you are going for, but...

Had a funny experience in Rocky Mountain National Park. For something different, my wife had bought some plastic recorders to fool around with on the trip. Specifically, we were working on mastering Pop Goes the Weasel.

The next day we started a 3-day trip at a very popular spot (there was paving around the small lake) and were greated by the first and only weasel we have ever seen in the wild, not a hundred feet from the huge parking lot. It was as comfortable around people a chipmonk.

We didn't think fast enough to get out the recorders and play a tune, though.

Rick B

[Uncle Wayne]

These are good stories. Someone else started a thread like this a year or so ago. Do a search for Funniest Trail Stories to find the thread.