Coolest Find While Hiking

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Navigaiter
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by Navigaiter »

I'm going to say this story qualifies, though it wasn't me that did the finding.

Back in 2002, three of us were on a week-long climbing trip in the San Juans. On day 4, after having climbed Sunshine, Redcloud, and Handies, and after having driven from there to the Matterhorn creek trailhead, we planned to attempt both Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn in a day.

We almost made it. After a successful morning summit of Uncompahgre, we backtracked and started up Wetterhorn. Unfortunately, at about 13,000 feet, weather moved in, and we had to bail. We ran across the tundra in the basin below Wetterhorn as we were pelted with hail. My buddy's favorite hat flew off in the gail.

He was pretty bummed. That hat had been with him on every climb.

The next day, we made plans to re-attempt Wetterhorn. On the way up, my buddy decided to head down off the trail a bit to see if he could run into his hat. I figured there was no way he'd ever find it, since we were ascending a different route than the one where we ran down the basin.

Somehow, in that gigantic basin, he found it, even though it was green and well camouflaged. Unfortunately, marmots had already chewed up the salt-stained brim, but I'll always remember him randomly finding his hat again, against all odds, as one of the coolest moments in my climbing life.
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NM_Hiker
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by NM_Hiker »

serenity :)
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wrxpilot
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by wrxpilot »

10 years ago I was hiking around down in Mt Vernon Canyon, just outside of Golden. Mt Vernon is the canyon paralleling I-70. I'm not really sure why I decided to hike down there, I was just bored that day I guess.

Anyway, I came across a wrecked Ford Explorer that was completely crushed and on its roof. I was wondering how long it had been down there, and was surprised the CSP or whoever just left it. As I approached the driver side, I noticed a mummified hand sticking out what was left of the driver side window. Yep, the driver's body was still in there. Turns out he was a Denver Post executive returning from a night in Central City (Hwy 6 was closed for construction at the time). Somehow he lost control on EB I-70, hit the guard rail, and flipped into the canyon. He had been missing for about three months before I found the wreckage. That was definitely a weird day.
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Rollie Free
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by Rollie Free »

Winter time revival of a great thread.

Mid 90's I was exploring Fish And Owl Creek Canyons in Utah. Off trail, if there was a trail, I am walking on a wide cliff ledge. I come upon a scattering of rock I immediately identify as petrified wood. Then I realize most of the colored rock is encased in stone I am walking on. Aside from a few small pieces that chipped out I am looking at the image of a small petrified tree with root and branches. Reminded me of a brain scan where you see a layer at a time. Like it was cut down the middle and laid out.
Utah's canyon country always produced odd and delightful images. Sometimes, later on, you wondered if it was an illusion or hallucinations. 1,000 year old artwork in pottery shards or painted on walls, ancient dwellings etc.
Back then, not much Internet information. I'd read up on things in old library books or whatever I could find. Of course there was Abbey, who's descriptions made the area come alive. My closest brush with death was out there.
"Quicker than I can tell it, my hands failed to hold, my feet slipped, and down I went with almost an arrow’s rapidity. An eternity of thought, of life, of death, wife, and home concentrated on my mind in those two seconds. Fortunately for me, I threw my right arm around a projecting boulder which stood above the icy plain some two or three feet." Rev. Elijah Lamb
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Alpine Guy
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by Alpine Guy »

I hiked a lot in the Smokies area while in college in the 80's and ran across a few memorable things. One was Horace Kephart's memorial in a dark, lonely spot called Deep Creek near Bryson City NC. He was an early booster for the national park and I vaguely recognized the name - read more about his life later. On a backpacking trip on the north side of the GSMNP near Cosby we wandered into a rare section of old-growth timber named Albright's Grove for Horace Albright, 2nd Director of the NPS - no relation but we share the same last name and it was cool to run across "my grove" by accident.
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by IntrepidXJ »

I've found a lot of cool stuff over the years on the Colorado Plateau, but my absolute coolest find was earlier this year.

Image
The Langstraat Mug by Randy Langstraat, on Flickr

Image
Effigy Mug Scale by Randy Langstraat, on Flickr

There's a little more info and photos at the bottom of this trip report: http://adventr.co/2018/01/coyote-buttes-south-2/

...any while I believe in the 'outdoor museum' and leaving things where I find them, this particular mug was close to a popular trailhead and easy to carry off, so I felt it would be best to report it to the BLM archaeologist. It's supposed to be on display at the BLM Visitor Center in St. George at some point, although it wasn't out yet when I stopped by in early November.
Randy Langstraat | ADVENTR.co
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by markf »

In the summer of 1989 I was going up the NE Ridge of Mt Moran, in Grand Teton NP. Not too far above tree line, I found a pile of scrap metal that I eventually figured out was an airplane wreck. One radial engine was pretty intact, but rusty as hell. I could see pieces of seat cushion and what looked like clothing jammed down into the rocks around the site, and I could still read the writing on the dials on what I think was the plane's radio. Looking over the edge to the snowfield below, I could see a few more pieces of the fuselage. When I asked the GTNP rangers about it, I learned that a DC-3 had crashed there in 1950, killing all 21 people aboard.
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by Plugugly »

Off trail somewhere above Ouray, came to the top of a drop of several hundred feet. Right at the edge were a pair of Ziess binos. Crawled to the edge hoping not to see the owner below.

In town, went to the outdoor shop and put up a sign. No one called in the next three days so they became mine.
Rudy can't fail.
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by jerseybrian »

Myself.
When I get out I feel more alive - Doug Coombs
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by justiner »

Beer.
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by Chicago Transplant »

I found a weather balloon once, it was tangled in a tree while I was bushwhacking off a 13er. The data box was attached and indicated to send it to the weather service, so I collected the balloon with its box, and mailed the box to Grand Junction. I guess it was a short flight as I was in the Sawatch, but I thought it was pretty cool to run across none the less!
"We want the unpopular challenge. We want to test our intellect!" - Snapcase
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LURE
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Re: Coolest Find While Hiking

Post by LURE »

I found some trekking poles off the west side of red mountain pass once. That's about as neat as it gets for me. That was about 4 1/2 years ago. Pretty nice, in decent condition. Made for a solid back up pair.

Never sought out the owners by posting on here though. Did anyone lose trekking poles in the forest north of 823 like 5 years ago?
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