What would you do if you found abandoned gear?

“So you come to a shelter or campsite, and there is a bunch of gear. You camp there or nearby overnight, and when you pass by again the gear is still there, its owner nowhere to be found. What would you do?”

“If it looks like a whole setup (sleeping bag, etc.) I would call the park ranger. Might be a missing hiker's gear.

Single item, I'd leave a note with my number and take it with me.”

“Leave it there and tell the relevant people depending on where you are I guess. Of course rummaging through it to see if there's anything good first.”

“Seen that many times. Kinda freaky too.

I contact the rangers when I get out and express my concerns.”

“I'm guessing it's a little more common on the AT during thru-hiker season. I've found little stuff abandonded at shelters myself.

Then there's the story you get from people who tried backpacking and didn't like it: "I just took my pack off and dropped it. I didn't care anymore because I wasn't going to do it again and I sure as heck wasn't carrying that crap back out."”

“maybe they are out dayhiking”

“I'd blow it up! It may be a bomb or something! :)
last edited: 4/12/05 3:22:16 PM”

“All night long?”

“maybe they got lucky ;-)”

“You carry dynamite in your pack just for that express purpose, right treebeard?
last edited: 4/12/05 3:25:10 PM”

“I once found a tent that someone left in a lean-to.

The first thing I always do when I find items in a shelter is read the log book if there is one. The tent I found was left there by someone who didn't want to carry it out after they broke one of the poles. Unfortunately I could carry it out either because I was in the middle of a thru hike and the next road crossing was more than a day away.
Unfortuntely I could carry it out either because I was in the middle of a thruhike and the next road crossing was more than a day away.”

“5 M-80's would do it!”

“So Bit, do you want your gear back?”

“lol...I haven't purposely abandoned anything yet. I just read a thread over on Whiteblaze and thought it would be an interesting question.”

“At Gooch Mountain shelter a few weeks ago there was a guy who said he was leaving his tent ( abrand new msr, not sure what kind, but had to be expensive). Before I could chime in, his new hiking partner said he would carry it. I think they decided that the one dude would carry it, they would both share it if neccessary, but the guy carrying it would keep it when the hike was over.”

“Damn, I thought I was gonna die during that stretch and I didn't leave any gear.”

“Gizmo, the overworked ridge runner, hauled so much crap from those shelters that he could have started a crappy gear store.

I didn't leave anything that I know of.”

“They should post signs in those shelters that say "Pack it in, pack it out, means your gear too".”

“How come no one said, "Hey that gear is better than mine! I'll swap! j/k”

“because most crap left in teh shelter is just that - crap. Fatigues, jeans, etc.”

“I saw a bunch of car camping gear left at CS 29 in the Smokies. It was 2 foldout canvas type chairs, a tent with a lot of fly fishing gear, a cooler and a poncho.The tent was spread out in the grass with all the fishing gear inside.
No one showed up that night or the next morning to claim it. We told the rangers once we got down Snake Den Ridge Trail. I can't imagine anyone would haul that up that trail.”

“Oh, well it's obvious those people got et by the bears.”

“I thought of that...lol”

“Tarpy abandoned some nice new expensive gear at a shelter once, b/c he stole it from a store and felt guilty, lol. but he left a note saying it was free for the taking, so people wouldn't wonder what the heck it was doing there and if someone was dead or something.”

“Cousin and I found an abandonded cooler (the big kind) at a campsite this past fall at Mammoth Cave National Park. The site was about 9 miles in on trail, but very near the river. We guessed that someone paddled in and humped it up to the site and had cold beer all night. We counted 21 cans inside, plus a number in the fire ring. The cooler had all sorts of other garbage in it that made it difficult to carry, probably about 30 pounds total. We were thinking about carring it out but decided we probably wouldn't make it. We allerted the park when we left.”

“Would depend on circumstance.

See it fairly often, and always a judgment call.

If it looks like someone is just off for a day hike, leave it alone.

If it looks like no one has been there for a while, report to Rangers.

If it is garbage, carry out what I can.

If someone in my party was in trouble we would use it for survival.”

“when we were at some of the parks in Alaska, the bear proof food cabinets had "free items" shelves-- with shoes or pots and pans and other goodies that people didn't feel like hauling out... :-)”

“I hide the bodies.”

“I have found a bunch of free gear on the trail..usally smack in the middle of the freaking trail.....I take it, lash it on, take it home and clean it up...and sell it on Craigslist in Seattle :-D Hehheh!!!!
Another guy I hike with found a sweet North Face tent in the trail once, and never saw anyone for miles.

But yeah, I have seen the abandonded gear in camp settings, covered in leaves..usually in early spring, you can see it was left in late fall. Weird and very creepy. That I stay away from.”

“we found 3-4 pairs of chaco's coming in and out of the sipsey a few months back....what was up with that guys????”

“I picked up a pretty nice Bibler I-tent once.

It was far off the trail and a small tree had fallen on it. It looked like it had been there for a long time. There was no other gear there. I figured someone went off for a dayhike with all their gear (just in case), the tree fell on the tent and when they came back, they couldn't spot it.

I took it home, cleaned it up and sold it on eBay.”

“Found a tent that had been there a while once. Hadn't heard about any missing hikers, so just left it there. Later, on the same trip, my dad "abandoned" his sleeping bag while hiking ahead and didn't notice. I packed it down and demanded beer for the service!”

“I lost a sleeping bag on a trail on a 104-degree day when I was damn near dead. Did not go back to look for it but, due to circumstances, I had "pull." Reported it lost two places. It was a fairly popular horsey area, so an official had some people look for it on horseback a couple days later, cuz they were riding anyway. They found it and it was returned to me.

Had some holes I repaired from little gnawing animals, but still good to go.

And on another, more sinister note, watch out if it looks like a METH LAB!!!!”

“the whoohoo, new gear thread was just right above the "What would you do if you found abandoned gear?" . Pretty funny, well, too me anyway.”

“>eek!<
I'm glad I don't hike where you people do...

One trip a pack towel fell off my friends pack and I left my sunglasses on a rock...four days later, on our way out the same route, we found both items.”

“Actually I do hike where you do twigeater.

The sunglasses didn't fit and the towel was filthy.
last edited: 4/13/05 12:39:28 PM”

“lol @ V”

“The Georgia stretch of the AT would be knee-deep in abandoned gear if we didn't steal remove it.”

“The sunglasses didn't fit and the towel was filthy.
last edited: 4/13/05 1:39:28 PM”
VioLiN
1:36:33 PM
4/13/05

cute! :)”

“My motto is "Take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but gear I can use."

Most of the stuff I've ever found has been inconsequential and not worth the cost of mailing it somewhere if I knew where to mail it.”

“BTW....best thread ever on finding abandoned gear”