Lost or Found?

We’ve found a lot of things on the trail over the years, from little bits of trash to some pretty expensive equipment. And we don’t always know what to do about it.

The trash is easy. If it is small enough and not a bio-hazard, we’ll just pick up and pack it out. And swear a small curse on the person who left it there. We always get back to the trailhead with some extra trash.

Sometimes the trash is too big to carry, so we have no choice. The curse still holds.

But what if it isn’t trash?

We once found a perfectly packed and very expensive small tent on the side of the trail, half-way up Snow Creek in Yosemite. We were on a day hike, and we left it there on our way up. And it was still there on our way down. We discussed taking back down and turning it in to the lost and found department at the visitor center. That way it might have found its way back to its owners.

But we also considered that someone had left that tent on the trail intentionally, and were planning to come back for it later. There are a lot of climbers in this area, and rock climbers don’t like carrying tent up cliffs unless they have to. So we left it there.

(If it had been us, we would have left it in a more discreet location...so that others wouldn't see it or be confused.)

And last summer we found a very nice sandal on the trail up to second recess above Edison Lake.It was just one sandal, and we once again considered taking it back to the ferry, so that whoever lost it might find it again. In the end, we decided that it was more likely that a hiker would find it by backtracking and checking the trail, rather than the resort on the other side of the lake.So we left the sandal in the middle of the trail, where it was impossible to miss.

And a fellow passenger on the ferry commiserated with us about the fact that she had lost a sandal on that trail.We were able to tell her exactly where it was---but she wasn’t going to go back.

And on the first day of our hike on that same trail, my wife lost her hat.(It was my fault, because he had wedged it into the back of her pack, and it had fallen out.)So on the way back out, we looked everywhere for it.It was a big hat, and hard to miss.But someone had clearly found it, and picked it up.

Now my wife needs a new hat. So if you know anyone who found one in that area...

It's too bad that lost items don't come with instructions for how to reunite them with their owners. I can't imagine your coming up with more reasonable solutions to these dilemmas. There is never an obviously right answer in these cases, only a best guess.

Of the items you mentioned, the expensive tent beside the trail is the prickliest. It is because I have been in your position as the 'finder' of such stuff that, if I ever leave something by the trail that I want to retrieve later, I find a place that is easy to memorize and return to, where I hide the item from view.

But 99.9% of the time I do not leave anything behind deliberately! I take it all with me, as the safest, best, most foolproof way to deal with not losing things. I recommend that approach to others, too.

Still using the great pair of merina wool hiking socks I found at a campsite in a very remote location (obviously left drying on a bush). The original owner didn't return for two days so I took them.

I see posts on VFTT every so often for lost items. If I remember right, I've seen posts about lost cameras, snowshoes (usually just one), jackets, plus a few found items. Sometimes they get returned when people recognize the item. It works there because so many of the members hike in the same area.

If I came across a tent, I would leave it. I left mine up in a camp site in NZ while I hiked into a hut for a day or two. I think that was pretty common in that particular park. Didn't think to leave a note, but not a bad idea.

Sometimes you see stories about lost cameras where someone posts the pictures on Facebook and after a while someone recognizes someone in the pictures. A while back there was a website in NYC with pictures of lost gloves and mittens, not sure if it is still up.

I found a blackberry in the Wind Rivers on the way to the Cirque of Towers... Decided the best thing to do with it was stick it behind the plastic shield over the sign in sheet.

Funny story.... after returning from that climbing trip and heading back out to the fort, I dropped my own phone in the damn toilet! So much for good karma!

Let's not forget my Christmas hiking miracle .

Out for a hike I found a Megamid, packed and lying by the trail. I thought, "How nice" and took it home. Looking at it there, I noticed the initials "OVS" in one corner (Ojai Valley School." so I did the right thing, contacted the school, and returned it.

I lost a Minox camera somewhere around Atascosa Peak,Arizona, a few years ago. Did anyone find that?