Oh hell! Where's the.....?

[mikethepike]

It could be interesting to hear of some of the 'essential' items that people have forgotten to pack or have left behind or lost while out on extended walks. It might also help some of us feel better to learn that we aren't the only ones having incompetent moments.
Last autumn, and in the late afternoon on about the halfway mark of an 8 day walk in the Mt Howitt-The Viking area, I opened my pack to set up camp only to find that my tent was missing! Believe me, the increasing realization that it was missing and that I must have left it somewhere, didn't make me feel very comfortable. Even trying to think matters over became difficult. I remembered that I unpacked it to hang out to dry during a mid morning break but that was ages ago and before a big climb. Surely not! I went to our leader to discuss the matter and, the only time that I've ever found one to actually be of any use, he remembered that I had hung it out again during our late lunch stop about 4 km back. Oh yes, so I did and I'd tied it to a tree so it couldn't blow away. Greatly relieved and with extra pace in my steps, I was able to retrieve the thing and get back before dark. I was very thankful that I was out voted 2 to 1 on out camp site location - I had wanted to go on for another 1.5 km before stopping. There was no moon and even with a torch, that would have the retrieval trip none too easy.

[Birdie Claws]

Toilet paper.

Now I always pack it first.

[ninjapuppet]

Toilet paper? Real men use sandpaper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b5m7161dZg

Ive forgotten batteries a few times, or have taken along half used batteries (thinking they were new). Its not too bad without light, GPS and MP3 players. just slightly less convenient.

[weetbix456]

many early mornings i've had to turn back for home coz i forgot my boots!!

[DaveNoble]

A friend of mine actually forgot his whole pack. He was going with a group of walkers and apparently failed to put his pack in the boot of the car when they left on a Friday evening. When they got to the campsite, it was far too far away to go back for it, so he made do by borrowing all the warm clothing to wear to sleep in, and during the day - he took turns to carry fellow walkers packs. They were happy for a break from carrying their own pack! For meals he bludged food from others in party and did OK.

Dave

[north-north-west]

I somehow went on a weekend walk last month without a stove.
I'd left the stove on the sink to be properly washed out and the empty canister replaced, and somehow packed everything else without noticing it wasn't there. Usually it stays in the pack in between walks.

Sometimes I wish I could forget the camera - it just weighs too much.

[Dale]

This makes me feel so much better. My 'goldfish' attention span has had me worried lately Forgot trekking poles, which shouldn't be a big deal except they double as my tent poles... luckily there are branches in the bush...

On a recent walk did some off track walking in thick forest, decided this was actually a place where the GPS could be useful and of course died as it resolved the co-ordinates and I remembered the spare batteries were at home...

[eddie the eagle]

toilet paper.

First overnight walk for my young fella, his job was to carry the toilet trowel and toilet paper as part of the group kit.

I watched it go into his pack, then finished packing mine. When my back was turned, he decided that the toilet paper and trowel didn't really fit too well, so he put it back in the storage tub.

Let's just say: "not happy Jan" when we got to the campsite. Luckily it had a long drop toilet that NPWS had stocked with paper the week before.

[Ever since then, however, he's been a lot better at organising himself. I think the realisation struck home.]

Cheers,

eddie

[wobbly]

My sleeping bag on a canoeing trip- even i would have noticed it not being in my backpack

[Stibb]

Nothing too serious (for me) but last week I forgot mr Stibbs inner soles for his boots. Yes, it is my job to get everything organized and packed. I had just waterproofed them for him and just didn't put the stupid things back in. He was not happy as his feet got very sore but he didn't want to wait in the car while I walked up to Hartz peak. A foot massage placated him back home.

[Son of a Beach]

In my late teens I took two American girls camping down at Loongana. We only had to walk about 10 minutes from the car, so had canned food, and were going to be cooking on a fire (I had no fuel stove back then anyhow).

I forgot toilet paper, fire starting paper, can opener, matches, lighters, and found that the person I'd last lent my tent to had broken both of the poles.

I made poles from dogwood (just the right flex to slide into the tunnel-tent sleeves and bend just right - a bit lopsided though).

Bashed the cans open with rocks. A bit messy.

Syphoned petrol out of the car using the radiator overflow hose to start the fire, and burped petrol fumes for the rest of the night. We drove to the nearest house where we braved the rotweilers and asked if they could give us some matches. They gave us two or three boxes.

It was after this nearly disastrous camping trip that I wrote a computer based bushwalk planning system using a spreadsheet, which has been through several iterations, the latest of which is now the PHP/MySQL based system at http://bushwalk.com/inventory , and I've never forgotten anything essential since. True story!

[north-north-west]

I bet the girls were impressed.

[Stibb]

Too bad you didn't forget your sleeping bag

[Major Icehole]

I took a friend who was less than experienced (read: city slicker) On a road trip with a stop at the Grand Canyon for an overnight camp. Picked out a campsite and started unloading the boot and found that I'd packed the tyvek ground cloth but left the tent at home. After a brief cursing session, I quickly boy scouted us a nice shelter out of the groud cloth and we were good to go. Until of course about 1 am when a late spring snow/sleet storm brewed up and thrashed my temp shelter. (truth be told, if it was just me, I probably could have ridden it out, but two of us were just too wide). Worst night ever, only time in my life I ever retreated to the car. Now I use a checklist.

[hikingoz]

I forgot my compass. Left it in Canberra and flew, sailed, drove and walked all the way to south picton saddle before i reached into my pack for it fortunately the small portion of forrest of a couple of hundred metres was the only part of the eastern arthurs track where i needed to know which way north was.

[mikethepike]

A friend of mine actually forgot his whole pack. He was going with a group of walkers and apparently failed to put his pack in the boot of the car when they left on a Friday evening. When they got to the campsite, it was far too far away to go back for it, so he made do by borrowing all the warm clothing to wear to sleep in, and during the day - he took turns to carry fellow walkers packs. They were happy for a break from carrying their own pack! For meals he bludged food from others in party and did OK.

Dave

As far as stories go about leaving things behind, that one must just about take the cake. I mean, what more is there to forget to bring? As far as campfire discussion topics go, I think you just killed that one Dave. Or can someone up it?? .

[north-north-west]

Or can someone up it?? .

I frequently leave my mind behind . . .

[kaite]

he did not leave it behind but a friend of mine recently lost his wallet on a day walk.We walked cross off track over a chain of 5 hills. in two cyclones during the last two years had brought down masses of timber and during a very wet summer it all got overgrown with a mass of tangled greenery. underneath the the hills are pretty much nothing but huge piles of rubble. for every step you needed to lift your feet up as high as your chin,also it was very steep and we slithered and crawled. Finally back at the car he noticed that his wallet was not in the back pocket of his shorts...and ups he had a lot of money in it since he had just been to the bank and was going to pay a bill later on... ah well we picked on him! but decided to go looking for it the following weekend and 3 others joined us, though not the wallet looser, he had no faith. We decided to try in opposite direction since we thought he might have lost it at some rocks where we had a break and he was lying sort of upside down and they were less than half way starting from the end. but we only walked for half an hour when my friend P. put her hand almost directly on it! We walked on to a lookout though but returned soon as we were so excited and wanted to let him know. before we were back another friend lost his brand new top of the line GPS! so we went back and found it too in deep scrub as well as his secateurs which he didn't know he had lost. The wallet man bought us lottery tickets as reward and would you believe it we won 40 dollars each!

[mikethepike]

Hi Kaite. What an amazing lost and found story! Look, if you ever in future happen to walk the Never Never Track, could you keep an eye out for my Kovea Titanium stove and please let me know if you find it. Its safe return is worth a lotto ticket! It fell out of my bumbag in March 2007. I was heading south at the time and last used it for a tea break next to Lake Adelaide.

[kaite]

will do! You just never know...

[pazzar]

A friend of mine left is iPhone at the bottom of Mt Sarah Jane, just before we started crossing the Anne River plains. He went back in the following day, found it exactly where he thought he left it, and despite a night of heavy rain, it was still in perfect working order.

[stepbystep]

Scrub gloves, only on scrubby walks First aid kit on the only walk I've hurt myself
Lost my camera, but refound it several weeks later Anyone that wants an ipood, there's one up on the New Harbour Range, just don't dig around where I lost it

[abowen]

Left my boots at home on a daywalk - fortunately remembered this shortly after crossing the Tasman Bridge near home and returned for them; have had a cap blown off my noggin only to find it again very close to the track 8 weeks later - not one of those caps I wanted to find again mind you; have lost a map of the Overland track at Pelion Hut only to have it returned to me at Windy Ridge - someone else thought it was their map until they discovered they had two (not happy); have walked with someone who technically left a boot behind at a hut- this person managed to walk in odd boots (completely different brands!) for two days without thinking about it (did complain that something was wrong with one boot but didn't pay too much attention to it). The odd boots had a happy ending though. A walker in another party finally caught up with us and they were wearing odd boots, but not by choice (they were not happy).
Is there a thread on the good stuff that has been found on bushwalks? I have plenty of those to share as well - beanies, caps, headlamps, money, tent pegs, etc.

[mikethepike]

will do! You just never know...

Nice offer Kaite. Thanks.
Looking for things you've lost can be very vexing. My wife always tells me not to spend time looking but just leave it and it will turn up eventually. That's fine as long as you didn't need it yesterday. The opposite of this is finding something you didn't know you'd lost. A few years ago we went to a busy city beach and I commented in humorous vein about a pair of fairly daggy looking shorts left hanging on a post next to the pavement. 'They're yours, you idiot!' came the response. And so they were. I'd left them on the sand two weeks earlier! And no, there was never anything in the pockets.