Imagine this scenario (which just happened in real life). You are out hiking and come across a backpack beside the trail. It looks like the pack was left there by accident, meaning someone adbandoned it for whatever reason, perhaps someone set it down and expected to come back later to pick it up or perhaps it was stolen then dumped after being rifled through for it's contents.

You being curious, check the pack and find some belongings and ID in it.

At this point, what do you do?

There a a couple of obvious answers to this and I would like to see what others here think. Hopefully after generating some replies, I'll give you the rest of the story.

BTW, I never liked Paul Harvey...

1) Make sure that there isn't anyone around who owns the pack.

2) If conditions permit, conduct a search to see if there's an injured person or even a forgetful hiker taking a nap nearby. How wide the search radius should be would depend on the terrain, conditions, and how many are in your party.

3) Carefully note the spot where the pack was found, using a map, GPS or other means to ensure that you can find the exact spot when you return. Blaze a tree, make a stack of three rocks, or something of the sort so that you can be sure it's the right spot.

4) If your cellphone works, and there's enough information to do so, call the person who owns the pack. If that isn't fruitful, call the appropriate authorities to tell them what you've found and where.

5) If your cellphone does not work, bring the pack to the authorities or to somewhere that your cellphone works. Leave a note stating that the pack was found and where you're bringing it.

1. Blow whistle to try an attract attention of pack owner.
2. Mark the spot on your map or GPS.
3. Take a picture of it.
4. Take a picture of or write down the ID information.
5. Contact the local rangers as soon as possible to let them know of the pack's location.

It's fairly common for people to set their packs down while they do a short side excursion, either of a steep slope to check out the view or to answer a call of nature. Taking a "found" pack is major bad juju on the trail. Try to find the owner if you want, but I wouldn't spend more than maybe 15-20 minutes looking. I am getting kind of crotchety in middle age...

-Blast

My answer wouldn't be any better than the one's above. I will note that Chaos said he would move that pack, while Blast didn't say he would. I'm not sure if I would move the pack. It depends...

Dumped on the trail tends to rule out that the owner is on a side-trip unless they are somewhere out of sight fertilizing the flowers.

Blowing a whistle and waiting awhile to see if the owner turns up would be the first step.

If no one shows up then it gets tougher. If I were on my way IN on my own trip I might just leave it alone and go on. If I were on my way out after my trip then there is the question of whether I could even carry the darn thing to take it to authorities.

If there were an attractive nuisance such as a falls nearby it might be worthwhile to go there and look for the owner.

Did you see -

"NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN"

Not uncommon for some people to take side trips while leaving the main pack behind. Mostly this is just an afternoon trip but it may extend, or get extended, to 24, perhaps even 48 hours.

I once took a side trip that I thought would only take a couple of hours and a thunderstorm moved in. I set up a small tarp and hunkered down. I brought my stove so I could heat soup and tea. Before the storm moved on it was dark. I think I could have safely made it back but navigating thorough a swamp at night, and across a couple of small but steep ridges that would be easy to fall on, seemed like an unnecessary risk. I was warm, dry, well fed and watered where I was. The trip back could wait.

Come the morning I was surprised to find the swamp flooded and the normally placid streams running through it to be swift and strong. I'm not sure how I would have fared crossing them at night. As it was I had to detour around the worse of the swamp I had cut across on the way out. This changed a two hour hike into a six hour ordeal. I got back to my camp worn, tired, out of food except for a small survival reserve of a couple of Cliff bars.

I wouldn't have died if someone had taken my main pack. I was only a hard day's hike away from civilization and still had access to water and food for a day or two. But it would have been rougher than I would enjoy. With little in reserve I would have been vulnerable if anything went seriously wrong. If I broke a leg, got sick, or snake bit I would have been in dire straits and in serious trouble.

Point is that you don't mess with people's stuff. If there is any chance at all that they will return you need to leave it be. They may have taken a side trip and got delayed.

I tend to cashe my gear well away from the trail and to camouflage it but one never knows. Wind, driving rain, animals, could expose it and there is a good chance anyone who knew what to look for would find it. I further try to make it clear, by wrapping the pack in a tarp and having everything neatly bundled together, that the gear has not been discarded or abandoned. A couple of times it looked like someone might have been near my cashe but it was all still there.

I can't think of a better response then Blast's.

Okay, so you come across an apparently abandoned pack.

Your role is that of a concerned citizen. If somebody is hurt or lost, you are potentially the first link in the chain of rescue.

But it may also have been abandoned by mistake or circumstances you cannot know (sudden snowstorm, change of route). People do all sorts of crazy things.

You will check around for a little while, but probably do not have the time or ability to do a thorough search of the area.

It is appropriate to check the pack for indications of the owner. Do not remove anything, or dig in too deep. But it is appropriate to check it and leave it as you found it. Make a note of what you find. If there is ID or medication, this is important as an indication that someone may be in trouble. Some backpacks have zip-off daypacks, so look for that. If there appears to be spoiled food or damage from animals, note that as well; it helps establish a timeframe of events.

Obviously, if you see any indication of foul play, you leave everything alone.

Leave the pack with a note giving an approximate timeframe when authorities will be notified. It would take some pretty extreme indications to abort a multi-day trip, but you go with your best judgement. And you do report location and gathered information to the authorities.

You do not, ever, remove the pack from its location. Not only does that put you on dicey legal ground, it may put someone in jeopardy.

Some many yrs. ago,Some friends & I were on our way back out from a 3 dayer,burnt out & Exhausted & Weak!About 2/3 of the way back to our Trucks,we stopped for a break,I had to poop,so I broke away from our rest site,down a varmint trail about 100yds or so,& Stumbled over a raised chunk of earth.It was someones Backpack,deliberately stashed,when I came to investigate,I pulled it completely out of the ground,& Poof! A Huge flash,& My shirt was on fire,I reached out to brush the fire off,& Realized I was about 15 ft. away,laying down looking up to the sky,& My friends were there throwing water on my boots,& had their guns out.It turned out,whoever stashed the pack,Booby-Trapped it,They heard the explosion,& saw the smoke & came to my aid,Asap,There wasn't much left to the pack,but there was debris of paper & Plastic of somekind,& The frame of the pack,which was Steel.It turned out I was OK,We gathered all the debris,& Hiked our butts out,Fast! Took the stuff to the Sheriff station,They said" Here's another one!It had happened to someone else,they weren't as lucky as I was,they were in the Hospital,with Severe burns& Shrapnel skids.The deputies pointed to an area on a Huge wall map,It turned out to be Real close to my incident,That area was a Claim for Gold Miners,I was Mad!They investigated,but heard nothing else for a longtime,So I enquired further,& found the case had been closed,& they couldn't help me!The moral to this story is:If it doesn't belong to you,Don't mess with it!

Back to reality for me, I agree with Richlacal. I'll refer us back to Blast's post. His advice includes neither touching nor moving.

Context is everything. If it's off the beaten path and stashed or hidden, or in a camp, then leave it be. If it's on the trail or thrown to the side carelessly, then a little investigation is probably in order.

It is really, really bad to mess with equipment that someone else is depending on.

Dont touch, don't mess with it, but take a picture and write down the coordinates. And have a little look around to make sure someone wasn't stuck in a particular bad spot while locating water or fertilizing.


As always, there are exceptions. A lot of people will dump their big packs with tents and stuff at the foot of a mountian and go up to the top with a small daypack or nothing at all. At popular "day hike" mountain tops I've counted perphaps 30 day packs in a very small area.

I would look around, search the area for a while silently, then signal with whistle, mark the location in map etc., tell about it authorities later, but probably never touch the backpack thinking it might be some kind of trap. You never know.



I agree that Blast's suggestion is very good. But as far as not touching the backpack he wrote: "4. Take a picture of or write down the ID information." How do you find out ID information without touching/opening the backpack?

+1 Blasts response.

my first thought = crime scene. i won't put my fingerprints on that bag, nor would i hang around. i would take a few pix, note the location, notify the jurisdictional authorities when possible.

To me this represents a real or potential lost person, which is a law enforcement function.

- Based upon this I would try to locate the owner (whistle, calling, etc.) to see if they are injured or require assistance.

- I would avoid approaching the pack allowing any existing footprints and scent to remain undisturbed.

- I would mark the location with flagging tape, medical tape or any other highly visible means.

- Mark the location on a Map/GPS.

- Photograph from a distance if possible.

- If there is more than one in our group, leave someone to monitor the pack and/or make contact with returning owner and send one or more to contact authorities.

Pete

I'm used to people writing their names on their packs with a Sharpie.
-Blast

Aha, interesting. I have never seen that.

Based on the context, I got the sense that he was clearly avoiding touching. Some ID's are visible from the outside. EDIT: Yes, that was the intent.

It's common in Big Bend for people to drop their main packs while doing quick ascents of peaks. Due to a problem with bears raiding these packs the rangers installed bear-proof lockers common pack-stashing areas. People still hide their packs though, I'm guessing to avoid thieves.

As for writing your name on the pack, that was something we did in Boy Scouts. I still see it these days, though usually on the side towards the body. It can only be read when it's off the person.

-Blast

p.s. someone mentioned not tramping around too much so as to not cover up tracks. That makes a lot of sense, too.

But would you leave it sitting on the main trail in plain sight, or take it off aways, and hide it under something?

Wow, some very interesting responses and thoughts I had not previously considered.

Like several here have written, leaving a pack beside the trail (whether it is hidden or in plain sight) is a very common practice that 1000's of others including myself have been doing for years, and recently as this past Saturday while we out hiking in the local area and I did not to hump a large pack over a large rock scramble then up to a peak when a stripped down pack of the essentials is all that is required.

In the summer months on many of the summits around here, it is not uncommon to see anywhere from 1 to 30+ packs and related gear worth thousands of dollars sitting beside a summit trail. In all the years, I have never heard of theft being a problem which can be attributed to the usual pinhead thieves not wanting to walk miles and climb hundreds, if not thousands of feet just to steal a backpack. Also around here, the mountaineering and hiking community, though large, can also be very small and it would not take many thefts for the community to start noticing and weeding out the perpatrators in their midst.

In this particular real life scenario, Dougwalkabout was right on target with his statement of "Your role is that of a concerned citizen. If somebody is hurt or lost, you are potentially the first link in the chain of rescue."

So here is the rest of the story which was posted on a local forum and I also received some emails on.

On Saturday, a hiker mentioned in the forum that on the day (Friday) before, he and unspecified others were heading up to summit a local peak and met someone who had found a pack on the trail. A short discussion ensued and they surmised that whomever had left the pack had done so deliberately and went up the summit with a light pack. When this first hiker and his friends later descended the summit, the pack was still there and they did not recall seeing anyone other people on the summit or on the descent which was now late in the day. This hiker had posted the above expressing his concern about the lone backpack and the possibility of stranded people up on the mountain. The following info was posted by others.

By this time on Friday, another hiker had seen the same backpack by the trail and removed the wallet from the pack. Before removing the wallet, the hiker left a note (details unknown) in the pack then proceeded down the mountain which by this time of day, it was near dark. The hiker then turned the wallet in at the base of the mountain (popular ski resort).

The ski resort called the police who in turn contacted SAR and an immediate search was launched.

A SAR member has since verified that they found the owner of the pack along with a companion up on the mountain in the dark and with miserable weather surrounding them. SAR reports the hikers certainly would ran into serious difficulty had they tried to make their descent under those conditions.

Had it not been for the foresight of the hiker who turned in the wallet, the outcome could of been much worse..

A few things quickly come to mind about this incident...and I also gleaned some very useful info from the responses here.

- Would it had been better to just leave the pack as is and report it or do what the hiker did and search the pack? See my next points below.

- I don't neccessarily agree with removing the wallet. I may of left the wallet there and made note of the person's name and DL number as the LEO's could identify the person based on the DL number itself. That said, the hiker did the right thing by turning in the wallet and possibly saved these people's lives.

- No matter how trusting I am, I would never leave my wallet in any pack anywhere. Instead, if you leave your pack at the base of a summit, take your wallet with you but leave a note in it with details of your party, route, expected ETA etc. This is something that I will be doing from this point forward. I also like Blast's idea of writing your name on the outside of the pack with a Sharpie

- In relation to the point above, it goes without saying, leave a detailed itinerary with family/friends.

- Don't start too late in the day for the summit, especially this time of year when darkness is coming earlier with each passing

- Never given much thought about a backpack beside the trail being a crime scene...Then again in this day and age, you just never know and the less disturbance of the pack and immediate area, the better.

Photo of the mountain where the 2 hikers were found by SAR.

in my hiking area - los padres national forest - marijuana gardens are constantly being discovered. the forest service et al took out over 28,000 plants from just one location in august 2010.

the 'garden guards' carry automatic weapons. imagine being caught looking through his backpack when that 'garden guard' returns from a nature call...

on the other hand, at the junction of the main mt. whitney trail and the john muir trail, just a short slog from the mt. whitney summit, it's not uncommon to find 10+ backpacks left behind while the summitteers summit.

i still wouldn't touch a pack, but i would contact authorities as soon as possible.

situationally dependent.

As lukus said, "Context is everything."

A.k.a., "situationally dependent."

In my mountains, cautious and respectful intervention would in certain circumstances be appropriate.

In other parts of the world, such action could place *me* in a survival situation.

I can tell you that if I were a tourist/trekker in a foreign land, I wouldn't go near another person's gear. Simply put: I don't know the rules, and therefore I mind my own business. Kinda sad, but there it is.

When I wrote this I was assuming that the pack wasn't cached deliberately, an assumption I shouldn't have made. I'm changing my answer: I'd leave the pack and proceed as Blast says.

I'd be turning it in as found property. Honesty is the best policy, and I believe in karma.

I once found a backpack beside the road, in a not very remote area of the UK.
Funny place to leave one, in relatively flat country, and very exposed to theft. It appeared undamaged, so I presumed that it had not fallen from a vehicle.
I observed for about ten minutes in case the owner was nearby, then called the police.
They arrived promptly and opened the pack which contained two large batteries and some cables, no camping or hiking gear.

I never heard how it came to be there, absent minded film crew ?
Stolen and then abandoned, perhaps after removal of other contents?

An acquaintance has a story about finding a backpack that had clearly been ripped to shreds by a bear. Her suspicion is that some hikers got chased by a bear and someone slipped their pack to run faster and/or provide the bear with a distraction. She also drew the conclusion that the tactic must have worked because there were no mauled bodies or pools of blood around.

Another interpretation is that it was a failed attempt at setting up a hang-bag for food. Bears can be quite adept at defeating installations that fall short of perfect. Possible. Probably more probable than the story about a close escape from a bear.

But the story about harried hikers dropping the pack in desperation is the better story. Between the two I know which one will be told around a campfire.

Like many such scenarios, there is not really an adequate amount of information presented to make a rational decision.

IMO, unless there is some convincing reason for me to believe otherwise, I would assume the pack was left there by the owner on purpose and the owner is coming back to get it, and would just leave it be.

I might well take a picture of it, and record the location, but it's someone else's property and I am not going to mess with it, absent some very good reason to do so.