Biggest D'oh "That Was Stupid" Moment

[peakbagger]

A friend picks me up after work in Gorham NH to drive over to the ADK's, we stop at his house and finish loading his car. We then drive to Keene and get to parking lot around 7:45 PM Friday evening for a Washington's Birthway weekend of hiking. The plan is to hike into wolfjaw shelter with headlamps to meet a group. We get out of car and start gearing up. My friend goes to get his boots from the back of the car. He picks around a bit in the back of the car and then asks " did you happen to pick up my boots and put them in the car?" I answer no.

After touring the north country on a friday night in February to try to find somewhere to rent boots, we hike in with him wearing summer boots, then hike out in the AM, rent him some boots and then climb Big Slide afterwards. One good thing that came out of it was the Scarpas he rented were a lot wider than his normal winter boots and his long term problem with Morton's Neuroma was far less of an issue.

 

[Jimmy Legs and Little D]

Great idea for a thread, Ellen.
I am one who for years was always in denial when I started with a hot spot no matter where it was on my foot. I would say to myself, "oh it's not that bad, I'll make it through the hike." Foolish me. I had some whoopers over the years; not anymore. At the first sign of a hot spot forming, on goes the moleskin.
One other occasion comes to mind. We were in Acadia and as we reached the trailhead parking lot Michael asked me "where are the hiking boots?" I asked him "didn't you pack them?" "No" he replied. Well, neither had I. We ended up hiking in our LL Bean Maine Gum Shoes, which fortunately worked out pretty well.

Donna

 

[werdigo49]

Well, I wonder about some of the above contributions. I sure wish forgetting my lunch had been my dumbest moment! I liked the story about winding up on Seymour instead of Seward, but (for d'oh-ness) I think I can top it.

After spending the night at the second leanto (Louise Brook?) along the Dix Trail from the Elk Lake parking lot in the 'dacks, I ascended the trail to The Beckhorn and Dix and then south along the ridge to pick up the "trailless" Hough, Macomb, South Dix, and East Dix. The plan was to bushwhack back down to the Dix Trail to my gear at the leanto. But I wasn't paying attention, and thought the path to East Dix was the path to Macomb... Anyway, at 4PM I was on East Dix, thinking it was Macomb. I was thoroughly confused, and headed off into the woods, starting a bushwhack that I thought was west, down to the Dix Trail, but actually turned out to be West Mill Brook.

About 8PM I started hearing Northway traffic, and came out near the southbound rest area, several miles north of North Hudson. That night I slept under the Northway in one of the vehicle tunnels, and the next morning walked down Route 9 to North Hudson, then over the Blue Ridge Road and up the Elk Lake road to my vehicle. Of course I still had to go several miles on the trail (and back) to fetch my gear from the leanto!

After that experience, my wife bought me my first GPS.

 

[NewHampshire]

The one that sticks out the most in my memory.....

My friend Mike and I are talking about what to do on one summer weekend.

Me: "Well, it's going to rain...you still want to go bushwhacking?"

Mike: "Hey, no mater what we will probably get stuck in the rain, so a whack is as good as a trail hike."

Me: "Sounds good to me"

So we decide to go do E. Spruce and Savage up North. The rain was supposed to hold out falling the longest up that way. No thundershowers (that I knew of) were forecast. So there we are out whacking in either no rain or very slight drizzle. We hit E. Spruce with little problem, and had a hell of a time getting to Savage. As we are standing on Savage we here this sort of low rumble.

Mike: "Was that what I thought it was?"

Me: "Errrr....I hope not."

We think maybe we just heard an 18 wheeler or jet rumbling along. Then all of a sudden a much louder rumble....then another even louder rumble. No denying it, we have a thunderstorm heading right for us, and QUICKLY! So we pick what we hope is a much more direct and quick route down. By now the rain has decided it has been nice enough to us and begins to POUR while thunder crashes around us in big BOOMs. Even though both of us had baseball hats on the rain began to was right around the brim, and both of us, wearing glasses, effectively become blind because the water washed all the grit, salt and slime onto our glasses. So there we are getting poured on, rattled by thunder, stumbling half blind through a nasty blowdown field. When we got back to the logging roads Mike lit up a cigarette and chain smoked all the way back to the car. We both still get a shiver down the sine when we talk about this trip.

Brian

 

[Raven]

Last Fall.

Normally, I take my car key off my ring, secure it in my pack, and lock my other keys in my trunk.

For some reason, I had a valet's key in my console. By using this instead, I could save time and fingernail stress by not having to take off my regular car key from the ring. Brilliant.

I toss my keys into the trunk, secure the valet key in my pack, hit the trail and then remember....valet keys do not open trunks....my inside trunk release lever does not work...the seat release knobs for the back seats are....in the trunk...I don't have a spare key at home just the valets...My comfortable shoes for the ride home are....yes, in the trunk.

Fortunately, valet keys will open the door and start the car so I was able to get home. I did not have a spare but quickly found out a key could be made at the dealer from my vin number for $10. It's a 2001. Who knew?

 

[Tom Rankin]

My "moments" of stupidity probably add up to hours, but one that comes quickly to mind was on a bushwhack in VT. We got to the top and I couldn't find my Windshirt jacket or my lunch. Had I snagged my pack on something? No, upon approaching the car on our return I found my jacket, lunch, and a few other items I hadn't missed strewn on the ground. Apparently I never closed my pack (and it didn't register in my peabrain at the summit that I hadn't!). Things had fallen out during the first 50 yards of the hike! I had to take some ribbing for that one.

That reminds me, I once left my poles leaning against the car in the parking lot for several hours. Luckily, no one stole them!

 

[Tom Rankin]

Well, I wonder about some of the above contributions. I sure wish forgetting my lunch had been my dumbest moment! I liked the story about winding up on Seymour instead of Seward, but (for d'oh-ness) I think I can top it.

After spending the night at the second leanto (Louise Brook?) along the Dix Trail from the Elk Lake parking lot in the 'dacks, I ascended the trail to The Beckhorn and Dix and then south along the ridge to pick up the "trailless" Hough, Macomb, South Dix, and East Dix. The plan was to bushwhack back down to the Dix Trail to my gear at the leanto. But I wasn't paying attention, and thought the path to East Dix was the path to Macomb... Anyway, at 4PM I was on East Dix, thinking it was Macomb. I was thoroughly confused, and headed off into the woods, starting a bushwhack that I thought was west, down to the Dix Trail, but actually turned out to be West Mill Brook.

About 8PM I started hearing Northway traffic, and came out near the southbound rest area, several miles north of North Hudson. That night I slept under the Northway in one of the vehicle tunnels, and the next morning walked down Route 9 to North Hudson, then over the Blue Ridge Road and up the Elk Lake road to my vehicle. Of course I still had to go several miles on the trail (and back) to fetch my gear from the leanto!

After that experience, my wife bought me my first GPS.

Yup, that takes the cake!

I will not mention their name, but I do know someone who did a whack in the Catskills to Peak "A", and then set out for Peak "B", only to arrive at "A" an hour later!

 

[Quietman]

A picture says it all. From a Thanksgiving overnight near the top of Bond Cliff a few years back. My boots took a dunking into Black Brook on the way in. Good thing I brought the All Stars to wear in the tent! They and my cotton gym socks were all I had at 15 degrees.

 

[TEO]

Well, I wonder about some of the above contributions. I sure wish forgetting my lunch had been my dumbest moment! I liked the story about winding up on Seymour instead of Seward, but (for d'oh-ness) I think I can top it.

After spending the night at the second leanto (Louise Brook?) along the Dix Trail from the Elk Lake parking lot in the 'dacks, I ascended the trail to The Beckhorn and Dix and then south along the ridge to pick up the "trailless" Hough, Macomb, South Dix, and East Dix. The plan was to bushwhack back down to the Dix Trail to my gear at the leanto. But I wasn't paying attention, and thought the path to East Dix was the path to Macomb... Anyway, at 4PM I was on East Dix, thinking it was Macomb. I was thoroughly confused, and headed off into the woods, starting a bushwhack that I thought was west, down to the Dix Trail, but actually turned out to be West Mill Brook.

About 8PM I started hearing Northway traffic, and came out near the southbound rest area, several miles north of North Hudson. That night I slept under the Northway in one of the vehicle tunnels, and the next morning walked down Route 9 to North Hudson, then over the Blue Ridge Road and up the Elk Lake road to my vehicle. Of course I still had to go several miles on the trail (and back) to fetch my gear from the leanto!

After that experience, my wife bought me my first GPS.

I agree with TFR, the Seymour-not-Seward is good, but this is great. Perhaps, I should count myself lucky that my Doh! moment was merely returning to my car in the Spruce Lot at Stowe, only to discover that my passenger door was wide open, with the keys still in the lock. Nothing, including the several pairs of skis in the car, was missing.

 

[Raymond]

Someone somewhere (Maine’s Mount Abraham, I’m thinking) told me he and another party did one of those Bonds traverses where one party begins at Lincoln Woods and the other at Zealand Road and they exchange car keys in the middle. Well, they forgot to exchange keys.

I had a head-slapping moment two Fridays ago. I went to climb Mount Monadnock (New Hampshire’s) for the first time ever in the month of April, completing The Grid for the mountain (actually, I guess it would just be The Column or The Row). I was just about to leave the car and reached for my camera to record my start time for the hike, and ...

No camera. I’d left it at home, 75 minutes away, too far to return for or to blow off the hike until another day. I’m pretty sure it was the first hike I ever did without a camera. Naturally, the conditions were Scudder-perfect. A couple fellows on top were picking out snow on Mount Lafayette.

And there was also this.

 

[Paradox]

Two:

I once left my camera in the col as I climbed Galehead in mid March. The snow pack must have been 10' high and the 360 degree views were perfect.

I once sat less than 50' from Marchowes stoked fire.

 

[ksearl]

When we first started hiking, we decided to do Welch-Dickey (2nd hike ever, 1st was Major). We came to the first set of cliffs on Webster looking out to the east and thought we had summitted the mountain. So we spent quite a bit of time there acknowledging how quickly we made it to the top and with such little effort. It didn't take long for us to realize we weren't on the high point when we set off for what we thought was the Dickey summit...we had only made it halfway to Webster's summit! - Doh!!!

Embarrassing but true...we're a bit more knowledgeable now

 

[Chip]

"D'OH !!!" Moment = Reading the trail intersection sign and realizing the only place I could possibly be was 100 yards from the trailhead I had left 2 hours earlier .

9/30/06: My plan was to get to Roaring Kill Rd and Trail Head by 5:30 friday night, hike the short distance up Mink Hollow Trail to the Mink Hollow Lean-To and meet Jay H there. His plan was to be about 1/2 hour ahead of me. I was alone at the trail head at 5:30 and got hiking by 5:45. I did not know the trail and knew I had limited light. Jay H was either late or had parked elsewhere. Either way, he knew the area better than me, so I figured I'd better get going.

An hour into the hike was sunset. I had, apparently, miscalculated the distance to the lean-to. I came to the top of a rise in the trail and a Right-Turn trail marker that appeared to send me down a split rock cliff scramble. I knew I wanted to decend but decided the cliffy scramble probably wasn't correct so combed the area for the correct trail. I eventually re-located it and headed down. A half hour or so later and it was dark and I knew this was further than the lean-to should be. I began looking for trail intersections or a place to set up my tent. Soon I came to the "D'OH !!!" Moment.

At the Right-Turn this trail actually doubles back on itself briefly and heads parallel and then northwest into a ravine. In the dusk, I had re-located the trail from whence I had come and headed north back down it.

So the "D'OH !!!" was the result of several mistakes: Too late a start on an unfamiliar trail, poor communication with Jay H regarding exactly where he was parking (the correct trailhead was a bit further west on the same road and was a short, clean hike to the lean-to) and not reviewing properly the maps for the trail and trailhead(s) ahead of time. All avoidable and any one would have prevented or quickly corrected the error.

 

[Little Rickie]

Camping at Blueberry L/T, we rose early to spend a leisurely day doing
Seward 1st, then Donaldson, then Emmons,returning the same way.
Got to the top of the first Mountain and the summit sign said Seymour.

You can say what you want about him but ya gotta admit he's honest.

How about the Marcy story? That's the one that scared me or was it the one where you popped your dislocated shoulder back into place?

 

[Hikes4fun]

August--90 degrees, muggy...Windham HP..Over and up Blackhead...water gone and I'm parched..no water sources....took the wrong turn..went down the Escarpment Trail..didn't realize it til I was climbing AZ Mt....longest reclimb ever!...Made it back up..close to heat stroke. and back down the right way...Lay down in the first trickle of water I found til I cooled off...Had wobbly legs the rest of the way back to the car. Turned on the car A/C full blast...threw up

 

[Trainwreck]

Hiked into a beautiful back country spot in the ADKs. It started to rain, so we threw down and went about to set up the tent. No poles. Had left them at home!! Forgot to put them back in the sack after airing out the tent form the last hike.
That was a LONG wet night, sagging tent walls held up by string and a sloppy smelly wet dog to boot.

 

[TCD]

Yay! for no tent poles!!! I did the same thing 25 years ago on a climbing trip to NH. Car camping at Blackberry on the Kanc, realized I had left the poles in the other bag. Fortunately we had the car to sleep in...big old station wagon...

 

[Fisher Cat]

Gosh, it seems as if it could be an endless reservoir of material. Most recently however, last June amidst that crazy heat ( and I do blame that for the failed synapse connection). Michele and I had come up from Galehead, done both Twins, set up at Guyot, did the Bonds, then retreated to camp as the caretaker was leaving to find a heatstroke victim. As we were finishing dinner, a member of a teenage outing group asked if there was any reason to fear bears. I said no, but the mice have caused problems in the past. I told them if they were concerned about their food, they could always do a "bear bag". " What's that?" they asked. " Well, instead of describing, allow me to show you a makeshift version."

I took some 1/8 rope and noosed it to my tent bag ( I filled it with food for the proper technique, this coincidentally is about where I lost my mind) I started to swing the bag in circles like Hopalong Cassidy so I could throw the bag over a branch about 20 feet up. That's when my wife interjected and said "Wouldn't it be easier to just throw the rope end over instead?"

"Oh yea, you could do that too. Just make sure you tie it down That's even more important. And, kids, don't forget to brush your teeth."

D'oh

 

[Little Rickie]

Left my hiking boots at home. Left my tent at home.

Then there is my first mountain as an adult and didn't have any idea what I was getting into for a 3.5 mile hike up and over Mt Mansfield with a 60lb pack. I thought it would only take 2 hours. Once over the top then down a glacier filled trail called Profanity (well named) to a hut and back the next day.

I got introduced to spruce traps and post holes, no snow shoes, crampons or gaiters. So sore I couldn't walk to the parking lot from the campsite the next day.

I had a great time!

 

[ADKJack]

Drove my truck up an old jeep road as far as it went and then started a bushwhack. Had no problem making it to the top, but it would have been a good idea to way-point the truck. Took me a while to find it