I agree Rick.

Metaphorically speaking, I've never run into that guy. And I don't think he really fits the description that W_D mentions. What happened to him could happen to any of us.

In my experience it's usually been the guy Pika pointed out in a recent post that demanded help. The one who tossed empty beer cans along the side of the road all the way to the trail head, and then along the trail for a couple miles before they made a camp they trashed out after getting completely lost somehwere.

At the Buffalo River NP I once had three adults float up to me on a single inner tube at 2:00 am with an empty lunch cooler and a wet towel. They were all stoned and just plain stupid. They also had three young children and a really big dog with them. The kids were starving hungry and cold, and the dog was tired, grumpy, and hungry too.

While my wife and I were getting the kids wrapped in dry towels and something to eat the "Mom" asked if we had any "Smoke" and the "Dad" asked if we had "Anymore beer, man" and the other woman sat there dazed and confused and said nothing. It took me four hours to get them back to their car and us back to our camp.

I don't know if my Karma tilted a notch towards the good or not after that. I did what I had to do and I maintained my silence and did not offer any opinions, just help.

They don't really fit W_D's description either, but my younger brother fits it to a tee. We've been on dozens of hikes together and he's never failed to bring way less than he needed or used, and it was by his design that it happened that way.

He knew I'd carry whatever he said he didn't need. I finally told him I'd only carry what I'd be using, nothing to spare. It was just a day hike and he went anyway, depending on my kindness as always.

As usual, I asked him to bring a jacket just before we started off. Again, I told him it would be cold when we were coming out, but he held pat and said the same old "I won't need it". I had heard that too many times from him, but this time I had no spare jacket with me, and when we got back I was fine, and he was pretty darn cold and damp.

I don't know if my Karma tilted a notch towards the bad or not after that either. But I know I had to do it. I had to do it for me, let the chips fall where they may.

The truth is, he would've been fine asking me to carry him on my back, and when I agreed, after he got up there and got comfortable, he would have said, "Hey man, can you carry me over to my house so I can get my boombox so I can listen to some tunes while we're hiking, and maybe you should buy some more beer, I'm already getting thirsty, we'll need some ice and a cooler too, and while we're on they way we should swing on over to the..."

Am I the only one here that attracts these kinds of people?

Maybe it's an Ozark thing, I don't know. I do know some Ozarkers wrote a famous song about them:

The Weight