What can separate us from our gear?

Water crossings. On deep water crossings, I frequently take my pack off and lay it across my shoulders. If I go down, I don't want to be clipped in, and if it's deep, I don't want my gear getting wet.

Water gathering. I'm "just" going down to the stream to fetch a pot of water. My that stream bank is really sliiiiiiiiiiiiipery!

Nature calls as alluded to earlier.

Stargazing. You laugh, but how many people carry their pack to go out in the middle of the meadow to look up?

Wood gathering for a campfire. Whoa! A perfect pile of wood is just down this "little" drop offffffffffffff... [thud]

Bear bagging. You're supposed to go 100 yards away from camp, right? Well, who's going to carry their gear for "only" 100 yards. What could happen?

With respect to those last several, basically any little camp errand where you believe you'll "only be gone a minute," particularly at night. I've had trouble getting back to my camp after gathering water. The one smart thing I did was put a retroreflective strip on the top compartment of my pack. I couldn't find my camp, but then my headlamp hit the reflective strip, and I was home free. Phew!

HJ