[pct-l] Billy Goat's lost poles

[Timothy Nye]

I came down the trail from the ridge as well.  I and others assumed that the
owner was taking care of business. Met the deputy after the faucet and tried
to pin point the location on the trail for him.  I later met the hiker that
left the pack, he had previously undergone a helicopter rescue for lack of
water the first day out of Campo.

I think the lesson is that rather than "booty", the lost gear could be an
indication of someone in trouble.  Poles, for example.  There is no way a
hiker is going to forget or voluntarily abandon hiking poles.  Even if you
were to leave your pack, your still going to take your poles. Poles on the
trail indicate the owner is nearby.

In '06 I lost my hat in the morning on the section from Echo to Donner.  I
gave up on it, only tp have Johnny Walker catch up with me 15 miles later.
 He was wearing three hats; he'd found two, the top one of which was mine
which he cheerfully restored.

In my opinion claiming ownership of gear found on the trail violates the
spirit of the trail.  After I had to get off the trail last year, I trail
angeled up through Ashland.  The whole concept of giving assistance without
expecting anything in return seems violated to me.  I helped people while
hiking if could and while I was off the trail if I could.  II I thought that
the concept of 'salvage rights' existed on the trail and that people were
out only for themselves I wouldn't be trying to help.

Gourmet

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 12:54 PM, David Thibault <dthibaul07 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Brian wrote:
>
> >
> > There is one obvious exception to this: when the "item" is
> > an entire pack. It would be rarer than hen's teeth for a
> > hiker, whether day hiker or backpacker, to walk away
> > from their pack unawares.
> >
>
> Kind of funny thread.  Last year, just a couple of hours after meeting
> Billy
> Goat on the trail, I was below Fuller ridge on the "decent from hell" when
> I
> ran into an entire new full pack abandoned on the trail.  I did a quick
> search around the area as it is very open terrain and very exposed and no
> one was around.  I left it, as it would have been very difficult to take
> anyway.  Next morning I was passed by other hikers and I asked if it was
> still there.  They said yes.  Got down hill and ran into a guy (a guard of
> some such near the water fountain).  I asked him to call the local sheriff
> and report it as no hiker would abandon a pack - something was obviously
> wrong.
>
> I later found out it was abandoned by a very inexperienced PCT thru hiker
> when he ran out of water.  I was later told this hiker came back to
> retrieve
> the pack several days later.
>
>
> On the AT in '07 ran into a complete campsite up on a ridge.  It looked
> like
> it had been semi abandoned for weeks.  My first thought was I might find a
> dead body in the tent etc.  Looked around and couldn't see a thing that
> indicated anyone was in trouble.  I later found out it was a campsite
> abandoned by a weekend hiker in bad weather.  They just left everything and
> went home. -- Go figure.
>
> Day-Late
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>