I want my paddle back!!!!

Just a joke

My niece found a plastic tote containing a new MSR stove, fuel bottle, water bottle, Princeton Tech headlamp, sleeping bag, foam pad and a pair of hiking boots. All neatly contained in the tote, which had apparently fallen out of a pickup or off the roof of an RV, and had laid along the highway for several days until she got curiouser and curiouser and finally checked it out.
I've found all kinds of neat stuff, from tent pegs and rope to ammunition and guns, by checking around often used campsites in the USFS after summer tourist rush and again after hunting season end. I keep lesser stuff, but turn in the guns and other valuable stuff to the Sheriff's office. After a time, they often give it back to me, except the guns, if no one has claimed it.

I should have posted this before.
I keep an eye out along the first few miles of any long distance hiking trail, and the same thing after the first few regular camping spots on that trail.
It is very common for people to start out with heavier packs than they can really handle. The result is they lighten their loads as they go.
Often they stash heavier articles just off the side of the trail.
They might be intending to return for them, but they almost never do.

When we were camping and hiking in the Canadian Yukon in 1997, we found many many items from people who on the way to the gold fields had abandoned these items beside trails. These items were ~100 years old....It was very surreal picking up and examining old ax heads, shovels, parts of stoves, mining equipment etc and wondering what happened to the people who left these items behind. Did they ever make it rich or return home or die penniless? As a person who loves history, the 3 weeks spent there are still immeasurable in how fascinating this experience was.

Er, how do you know they never return for them? If you pick up the articles, how do you know they aren't coming along on the trail right behind you?

Articles of value (cameras, etc) I take to the nearest Forest Service office; trash I pack out; articles that may be cached or cast off I leave in place. Let someone else battle the ethical demons of removing someone's stuff.

Well I am glad that someone also agrees on this. I thought I might be the only one who felt this way and kept my thoughts to myself initially.

Every spring and summer, we are out hiking somewhere as we live very close to some of the greatest mountain country in NA. It is not uncommon to see gear left beside a trail when people need to lighten the load for a steep hike up a peak, lookout point etc. The unwritten rule / code of conduct is that you never mess with nor touch another persons gear without their permission...period. We have never had a problem following this nor have we ever worried that our fellow hikers may not abide by it.

The only exceptions to this if it is apparent that an item was dropped by accident. If the item is a shirt, jacket, water bottle or other small piece of gear, we pick the item up and move it to a safe but very visible spot beside the trail.

On the other hand, if the item is of any real value we will pick it up and ask people along the trail or in camps if they lost xxxxxx item then ask them to describe in detail what brand/model, possible identifying marks etc. For items that no one claims, it is turned over to the proper authorities.

No, I know the trail.
They almost never bother to return and pick up their stuff.
It is not usually really expensive gear.
I am not talking about somebody hung their camera on a branch when they stopped to relieve themselves beside the local dayhiking trail.
I specifically mention long distance hiking trails.

When you see the stuff still left in the bushes at the end of the season you understand. When you see it still there the next year you understand even better.
Most of it is the same item over and over.

This is stuff discarded.

They booked a time to hike the trail, and paid big money to an outfitter for the permit a year in advance.
Then they bought hiking gear , loaded up their pack with 65, 70 or 80 pounds of it, walked around the local park a bit and decided they could handle it.

They hiked through on a permit in season and are not allowed back without another permit, which takes a year to get, and their vacation is over anyhow.
To get back to the trailhead is a 4 hour drive from where they end up, and they want to get cleaned up and they have a plane to catch.

One spring before the season started I counted 23 umbrellas from the third mile to the 8th mile of the West Coast Trail.
Just shoved into the bushes.
They thought umbrellas would keep them dry on a 60 mile hike through the rainforest.
People start with one idea and find out that it is not a good one, so they just throw it away.
This is not somebody setting some gear down to do a side branch of the trail.
This is stuff discarded.

Heck, If I am walking down a sidewalk and see a glove or hat in the snow I put it up where it can be seen.
Whoever lost that glove will likely walk past it again tomorrow and be glad they found it again.

Are you sure you know the trail?

By your comments, I assume you are inferring this all occurred on the West Coast Trail as you mentioned this trail by name.

I have hiked this great trail 4 times over 11 years and have never seen the trail littered as you have described. The trail wardens, workers, First Nations people and the hikers do an incredible job in maintaining this trail. Perhaps I went through with blinders on....but I doubt it, as I generally keep a watchful eye at all times. Then you never know, we may of been fortunate that we hiked the trail in good years.

If year after year, you see the same item in the same location as you claim, it is quite obvious that these items have been abandoned and have no historical relevance. If this is the case, why not take develop good land stewardship and pack it out....or at the very least report it. This applies to any trail in general.

Also the WCT trail is only 47 miles at it's most extreme length...not 60 miles and trail use permits open April 1st for same season hikes only. I highly recommend this trail to any person who is in physical shape to hike it.

It maybe that too many people consider their gear disposable when it is an inconvience. If you are setting up a cache or stash then you have the responsibility to identify it as such and also include some contact information if it is not used or recovered in a reasonable time. People just get lazy and drop or toss what they are being burdened with when the going gets tough. We do not live in a society that respects other peoples property absolutly. If it is abandoned or lost then it is trash and fair game, but if it is labled then it should always be repected. To the dropee, you set it down you take your chances, that's just world in which we live. It is a hard call for others to decide what should and should not be picked up. I will not condemn any one for picking up or leaving that which appears abandoned. It is a call, you have to make and live with yourself. The resposiblity for this conumdrum, wheather through carelessness or deliberate action, belongs to the dropee and not the finder. Never the less this is not an excuse to take that which is obviuosly not yours.

And what exactly do you think the native kids are busy cleaning up?
YOUR JUNK!!!
The trail permits may open April fools day, but try getting one.
They are all bought up by the outfitters selling them advanced.

We have many such trails in Canada.
Mostly used by Japanese and American computer wizards on their vacations.

I used to travel that trail in January, February and March.

Anyway, if you are in a survival situation you will use whatever you find, and in my opinion be very welcome to it.
If you were wrecked and at such a place you should certainly use whatever keeps you alive.

The real sad joke is there is no place except the Carmanagh Valley that I can not drive to within a half hours walk of on the wet coast trail.