Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby peregrinator » Fri 05 Apr, 2019 3:38 pm

. . . was me, many decades ago, doing the OLT in motorcycle boots. I don't recall it being all that problematic. The weather was beautiful every day. Unlike doing the walk again later, with "proper" footwear, and experiencing horizontal rain every day. I do recall that being a little problematic.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Lophophaps » Fri 05 Apr, 2019 5:57 pm

Did the boots have a motorcycle on the walk? If you had the bike it would be easy. There are speed limits of 80 km/h near huts.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby north-north-west » Thu 11 Apr, 2019 10:55 am

Monday morning I was descending a well known and sometimes far too well used track. Had seen no-one over the last six days, and then the peace was shattered when heads began appearing below me. I quickly stepped off the track to let them pass . . . and pass . . . and pass. Obviously a tour group, all young people (late teens/early twenties) and, excluding four of the nearly twenty, not dressed for the wind, cloud, cold and snow flurries I'd walked through that morning. There were five daypacks between the group, others either had nothing or were carrying small items such as water bottles or cameras. One chap had a plastic Woolies supermarket bag suspended over his shoulder on a stick, in classic Snoopy hobo style.

I should probably add that I hope they coped OK but - no. The bush doesn't need so much cluelessness.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 11 Apr, 2019 11:32 am

peregrinator wrote:. . . was me, many decades ago, doing the OLT in motorcycle boots. I don't recall it being all that problematic. The weather was beautiful every day. Unlike doing the walk again later, with "proper" footwear, and experiencing horizontal rain every day. I do recall that being a little problematic.


My first time on the OLT I wore an Akubra hat. Nice hat - I still have it and use it. But I've never taken it on any other bushwalks.

Thankfully, on that first OLT walk, there was no wind the entire trip and it only rained once during the late evening and night. So the Akubra turned out to be the ideal hat for that trip - just by shear luck.

(I also had a french braid on that trip, so the hat stayed on all day!)
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby gatesy » Sun 02 Jun, 2019 2:28 pm

When I did the Overland a couple of years ago, I came across a fellow (I was walking North, he was walking South being September) wearing jeans just outside of Frog Flatts.
He told me how wet and cold he was, although it was a sunny day, and he was sick of all his gear being wet except quote his laptop.
He asked me if there was a fire place at Pelion, and said he intended on lighting a fire in the hut to dry his gear. Somewhere along the way he said it was about his 15th Overland trip... What a DH!

Or... Umbrella man who I saw a few years later on the Overland. Some people in Pine Valley told me he was carrying an umbrella so he didn't have to apply sunscreen. He even carried his umbrella up Mt Ossa.
When I passed him, his arms were bright red with sunburn. :lol:
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby north-north-west » Sun 02 Jun, 2019 5:13 pm

gatesy wrote:He asked me if there was a fire place at Pelion, and said he intended on lighting a fire in the hut to dry his gear. Somewhere along the way he said it was about his 15th Overland trip...


Foourteen previous trips and he dooesn't know the set-up at Pelion?
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Wollemi » Sun 02 Jun, 2019 6:57 pm

Two young Americans en-route to PNG to do missionary work, turned up late at Windy Ridge hut along the OLT - I was the only other person there. As I ate my dinner, I turned my headlight off occasionally to save battery power and/or for relief from my bright torch. It occurred to me that they were unpacking and setting up their bedding... to my light only. I did have fun with this, and turned off my torch a few more times - and they truly did stop then and there, their mad scurrying around - each time my torch was on. I offered them a loan of my headtorch - and they declined, then made jam sandwiches for dinner by my distant headtorch as I washed up, before rapidly jumping into their sleeping bags. She had a set of beautiful plush loose pyjamas... carefully unfolded, as they had been ironed.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby gatesy » Wed 05 Jun, 2019 12:41 pm

Foourteen previous trips and he dooesn't know the set-up at Pelion?[/quote]

Couldn't spot the braincell on him
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby dnaylor » Mon 15 Jul, 2019 1:32 am

not so much bushwalkers but what i would call tourists.. and often..:(
Funniest ones were a couple of young Korean men one wearing a suit and business shoes, both had a bottle of water each.. they had walked in from Loftus station through the RNP and were on the track along from Winifred falls to the Mt Bass track junction.. they were heading to wottamolla beach and were using Siri for directions..
I had come from an O'night camp at Marley swamp that morning via the little marley and bass hill tracks so knew they were not going to make it there before night and back to loftus so talked them into returning to loftus and next time hiring a car.. :)
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby wildwanderer » Sat 20 Jul, 2019 8:49 am

dnaylor wrote:not so much bushwalkers but what i would call tourists.. and often..:(
Funniest ones were a couple of young Korean men one wearing a suit and business shoes, both had a bottle of water each.. they had walked in from Loftus station through the RNP and were on the track along from Winifred falls to the Mt Bass track junction.. they were heading to wottamolla beach and were using Siri for directions..
I had come from an O'night camp at that morning via the little marley and bass hill tracks so knew they were not going to make it there before night and back to loftus so talked them into returning to loftus and next time hiring a car.. :)


I dont want anyone to come to harm but sometimes I think it would be good for some of these clueless tourists to get stuck after dark (maybe in the summer).

Maybe then they would post on their social feeds about their 'nightmare trip' and it could serve as a warning to others. Everyone ignores the offical warnings/signs so perhaps seeing their friends/countrymen social posts would have more effect.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Heremeahappy1 » Wed 07 Aug, 2019 12:40 pm

Wildwanderer, what an intetesting perspective. You could of course jump on the fake news bandwagon and fabricate a series of these types of 'nightmare' posts for dissemination. They say the problem forms the solution. If, for every insta-famous post and activevwear hero selfie, there was an equal opposite post... could be a good campaign. Educate the idiots out of the bush using their own social media tools.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby CaptainC » Tue 20 Aug, 2019 8:37 pm

Haven't seen it myself but Parks Victoria rangers stationed at the beginning of the Razorback walk from Mt Hotham to Mt Feathertop told me they are always having to turn back tourists wanting to set off with thongs and a tiny pack with only a little water bottle, no raincoat or map etc.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Moondog55 » Wed 21 Aug, 2019 5:21 pm

In 30+ years I have never seen anybody from PV stationed there, when was this? I think it is a great idea but I wonder where the money is coming from?
Ve are too soon old und too late schmart
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby jindydiver » Thu 22 Aug, 2019 10:37 am

My wife and I were doing a cycle tour of Namadgi NP and were struggling with foot deep snow near Ginini. It was a tough arvo getting us and the bikes to Pryors hut but we managed and settled in making dinner and resting up for the difficult start to our day the next morning. Sometime well after dark the door burst open and in stormed 5 frozen "walkers". 2 local guys had conned 3 female Euro tourists into what they believed might be a romantic overnight trip up the Stockyard spur to the hut for the night. They were all in jeans and the guys had runners on while the ladies were a mix of footwear more appropriate to the nightclubs in town (one had heels well over 2 inches high). There camping gear consisted of a mixture of quilts and kids sleeping bags, snack foods, cheap wine and a guitar.
When we got on our way the next morning just after dawn, on a pretty overcast and freezing day, there was a fair bit of grumbling going on and we figured the walk back down the spur (especially in those heels) was going to be the highlight of the young ladies adventure LOL
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby jobell » Fri 30 Aug, 2019 8:30 pm

Coming down off Harris Saddle on the Routeburn Track in NZ in sleeting rain, howling winds, snow on the ground and I pass a couple of “tourists” headed the other way wearing jeans and those disposable $2 ponchos... the super light ones. I am in full thermals, mid layers, full goretex, beanie, gloves etc and was just okay as long as I kept moving. The girl didn’t look great, but they were only a few hundred metres from that little shelter on the saddle and headed that way so I stayed quiet and kept moving. The rangers must have been distracted when these two snuck through....


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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby alanoutgear » Sat 31 Aug, 2019 7:51 pm

1. Two Chinese girls lost on the OLT in sleet near the Barn Bluff track turn off. They were saturated and dressed in shorts and T shirts with light sandals and were about at the ends of their tethers. We dressed them in whatever warm clothing we could spare and used tent flys to protect us from the sleet and rain as we walked them to Waterfall Valley.
2. Met a bloke walking in thongs on the OLT near the Pine Valley track junction. He was a big bloke probably around 140kg or more and he'd bought a new pair of boots to walk in but hadn't used them before his first OLT step a few days previously. He had multiple large blisters on both feet when we saw him.
3. Young blokes with very heavy gear at Pine Valley hut. One dragged out an unopened 1kg jar of peanut butter for his dinner.
4. Many years ago we camped near a school group from Wang at Federation Hut. I had a Salewa tent at the time (heavy but bulletproof) and they all had school quality tents. Overnight we had a gale with about 10 inches of rain and in the morning they were all cowering under their collapsed tents while their teachers had stayed in the hut. My daughter and I packed up and raced the flood down the mountain only just getting across the Ovens in rapidly rising flood. Benalla had one of it's biggest floods ever a few days later.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Huntsman247 » Sun 01 Sep, 2019 9:00 am

alanoutgear wrote:One dragged out an unopened 1kg jar of peanut butter for his dinner.


I bet he watched some YouTube video about how many calories are in peanut butter before that trip. Lol
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby slparker » Tue 03 Sep, 2019 6:26 pm

When I first walked the OLT in 1993 I came across a hippie in bare feet and, from memory, a sheepskin. He had no food and relied on the largesse of fellow walkers.
I had an Irish mate who, thinking it was like the catered and equipped huts in Europe, took cans of spam on the OLT. He had no can opener and was so embarrassed he crept away from the huts at nigh5 to bang the cans open with rocks.
I forgot to take a hat once up to Ben Lomond in summer. Ended up wearing a beanie with a synthetic towel stuffed under it to make a legionnaires beanie.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Mutley » Tue 03 Sep, 2019 8:25 pm

Absolutely has to be the guy camped at Fed hut, having carted all his gear across the Razorback in a 2 wheeled “vic market” trolley. Why ? To bring along his bread and sausages to cook on his “campomatic” $20 butane can stove and CAST IRON frying pan.

Now that’s committment.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Xplora » Wed 04 Sep, 2019 2:52 am

I've seen a 3 burner lpg stove, complete with 3kg gas bottle and stove stand carried up to Cooyoyo Creek from Long Gully, a couple of Russian girls turning up to Federation Hut in jeans and joggers during winter with nothing more than a kids school (infants) back pack and a bottle of Sambuca. Their sleeping bags would have been a +10 at best. Countless bucket chairs strapped to packs (most of which end up left behind or put in the fire and then left behind) and a double inflatable canvas air bed (also left behind) on the Cox's River. One bloke with a 5 person dome tent and enough tin food to get you through a nuclear winter just for a 2 day walk. He used to be in the Army though and was used to carry heavy loads.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby slparker » Wed 04 Sep, 2019 7:56 am

forgot to add - my brother in law and his walking cronies took a barrel of boags up to mt ossa, complete with tap and gas. I didn't believe it until I saw the photo.

I am not sure if that makes you worst equipped or best equipped.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Petew » Wed 04 Sep, 2019 9:00 am

Definitely best equipped! I hope they took proper pint glasses too.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby ChrisJHC » Wed 04 Sep, 2019 4:26 pm

What about the guy in the news overnight that carried a rowing machine up Mont Blanc for a social media stunt then left it up there?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/ ... mont-blanc
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby scroggin » Thu 05 Sep, 2019 12:02 pm

CaptainC wrote:Haven't seen it myself but Parks Victoria rangers stationed at the beginning of the Razorback walk from Mt Hotham to Mt Feathertop told me they are always having to turn back tourists wanting to set off with thongs and a tiny pack with only a little water bottle, no raincoat or map etc.

I've seen the opposite on that very track we were both heading south away from Federation Hut. He was struggling with what was probably a 90 litre pack full to the brim all looking brand new with a 3 pole stool tied to the side. I cant remember seeing him at the hut the night before and doubt he came up Diamatina Spur. My guess is that he turned back due to the weight, Hope he just dumped half his stuff and finished his walk.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby rcaffin » Thu 05 Sep, 2019 8:04 pm

KNP: we missed meeting the people, but we found where their tent had been pitched below Blue Lake. It had snowed rather well overnight, and we found fruit, vegetables etc and babies nappies scattered around. I assume they retreated to Charlottes Pass.

Going down from the Hydro M towards the 6' track we found some gear by the track - including a cheap sleeping bag. We still have it. Wonder how cold he/she was that night?

Many other incidents over the years. These days we try to avoid going where other people are.

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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby north-north-west » Wed 25 Sep, 2019 8:32 am

I'm thinking about starting a "Most Over-Equipped Walker" thread - unless there is one already.

Can recall one visit to Wilpena many (OK, maybe 10 or 12) years ago, after doing the St Mary-Pound loop barefoot and off to climb Ohlssen Bagge (barefoot) for the sunset (that was a mistake - it got very cold once the sun went down), seeing one threesome of older women (actually about my age at the time, but they seemed older...) heading off with fly-netted hats, trekking poles, leather boots and gaiters, rain jackets (hadn't been a cloud in sight for days), and 60L packs that were bulging at the seams . . . for an evening walk to the Homestead and back . . .
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Zapruda » Wed 25 Sep, 2019 8:55 am

north-north-west wrote:I'm thinking about starting a "Most Over-Equipped Walker" thread - unless there is one already.


Please do! I never get tired of seeing people with 90L packs on wide unobstructed management trails who are going to stay the night in a hut.

Oh, and that guy on the Main Range this summer carrying what appeared to be a huge and full army duffle in has hand while ascending Carruthers.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Lamont » Wed 25 Sep, 2019 9:11 am

Zapruda wrote:
north-north-west wrote:I'm thinking about starting a "Most Over-Equipped Walker" thread - unless there is one already.


Please do! I never get tired of seeing people with 90L packs on wide unobstructed management trails who are going to stay the night in a hut.

Oh, and that guy on the Main Range this summer carrying what appeared to be a huge and full army duffle in has hand while ascending Carruthers.

Was the duffle full of tinnies?
Yep I reckon start one up too. Heavy raincoats worn when there is/was no rain (just in case?)was my last. My latest is-full length down coats in about 5 degrees. The owners were clearly steamed but not enough to take them off. Counted six recently.
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby north-north-west » Wed 25 Sep, 2019 9:51 am

Lamont wrote: My latest is-full length down coats in about 5 degrees. The owners were clearly steamed but not enough to take them off. Counted six recently.


Yes! Couldn't believe this. People in down jackets and beanies and woollen mittens in Port Augusta or the Alice, when it's 30 in the shade! Do they live in a *&%$#! furnace?
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Re: Worst equipped bushwalker you have encountered

Postby Zapruda » Wed 25 Sep, 2019 12:25 pm

A little bit of cleanup on the last few posts. Thanks to both Wildwanderer and Lamont for the level heads.
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