Biggest D'oh "That Was Stupid" Moment

[buddy]

make shift waders

Would have worked if I hadn't taken the time to pose for a picture. Three rounds of water bottles filled with boiling water almost dried them out. Camping and hiking in the winter for three days with damp boots was not so bad. Similiar to not wearing vapor barriers.

 

[Trainwreck]

My husband and I had hiked up Baxter, the Knife Edge, and were on Pamola.
We wanted a different route back to Chimney Pond, and asked a guy coming up the Dudley how it was. "Great trail, a walk in the woods" I guess he was kidding because I arrived at the bottom missing the seat of my pants. "Walk in the woods" NOT.
Sandy

 

[Stan]

My husband and I had hiked up Baxter, the Knife Edge, and were on Pamola.
We wanted a different route back to Chimney Pond, and asked a guy coming up the Dudley how it was. "Great trail, a walk in the woods" I guess he was kidding because I arrived at the bottom missing the seat of my pants. "Walk in the woods" NOT.
Sandy

It's all in the eyes of the beholder and this certainly sounds like something for the eyes to behold!

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

My husband and I had hiked up Baxter, the Knife Edge, and were on Pamola.
We wanted a different route back to Chimney Pond, and asked a guy coming up the Dudley how it was. "Great trail, a walk in the woods" I guess he was kidding because I arrived at the bottom missing the seat of my pants. "Walk in the woods" NOT.
Sandy

Sandy, the two of you were sand-bagged, to borrow an expression from the rock climbing community.

 

[sierra]

My husband and I had hiked up Baxter, the Knife Edge, and were on Pamola.
We wanted a different route back to Chimney Pond, and asked a guy coming up the Dudley how it was. "Great trail, a walk in the woods" I guess he was kidding because I arrived at the bottom missing the seat of my pants. "Walk in the woods" NOT.
Sandy

Reminds me of the time I was descending the tuckerman ravine trail. I ran into a group of women who had not yet reached the branch off for the hunnington ravine trail . One really sweaty and tired looking woman asked me with a straight face mind you '' Are we close to the summit" sometimes a good sandbag just cannot be passed up, so I replied " definetly, right around the bend" to which she replied " thank god".

 

[RoySwkr]

not the biggest but the most recent...

I decided to take a rest in an area that had recently been selection cut, my thought was that trees newly exposed might be subject to windfall but as it wasn't that windy I plopped down at the base of a tree. As I was finally getting ready to leave, I decided to investigate the creaking noise I'd been hearing and looked up to see a widow-maker hanging above.

 

[MadRiver]

My husband and I had hiked up Baxter, the Knife Edge, and were on Pamola.
We wanted a different route back to Chimney Pond, and asked a guy coming up the Dudley how it was. "Great trail, a walk in the woods" I guess he was kidding because I arrived at the bottom missing the seat of my pants. "Walk in the woods" NOT.
Sandy

When we got to Pamola the wind was too high to cross the Knife Edge so we hiked down Dudley. I was in the throes of Plantar Fasciitis at the time and could barely make it back to camp. Not a nice trail!!

 

[skiguy]

...always roll out your sleeping bag and air it out after a hike. If not you might find the pound of bacon you put there so it would'nt freeze two months later

 

[Little Rickie]

Beware of leaving a trail for a low impact pit stop ... make sure you're past the switchbacks ... it is not considered low impact to bushwhack between switchbacks and it could be embarrassing. I observed this possibility once when, after the pit stop and return to the trail, I saw further up the trail a very familiar log about 10 feet from the trail

I stepped a fair distance off the trail, turned my back to the trail to pea and a couple came walking buy 10 yards in front of me.

 

[Brian Wood]

Went to do a solo hike of Passaconway. At trail head had everything ready... pack on, snacks, camera, hiking poles, pack adjusted started walking and realized I left my water bottles back in Kennebunk. Also there was the long drive to do a three day traverse of the Presidentials. Went to put on my boots and realized that I had 50% of a pair of LLBean Crestas and 50% of a pair of Merrills.

 

[erugs]

Brian's post reminds me: I had been teasing him for not replacing a cracked plastic buckle on the waist belt of his pack. As I was doing so I noticed that my buckle was not only cracked, but pieces were missing. My fix was to use a climbing biner as a closer and not tease my good-hearted friend anymore.

 

[The Hikers]

Drove 100 miles to the trailhead at Glencliffe. When I reached back to get my boots I found I had my right Rocky and Joyce's left Asolo. The difference between size 12 and nine was too great so I pounded the car seats and threw a fit for awhile. We saved the day by going back into Plymouth and getting a cheap pair of boots at Wal-Mart.
Actually it turns out the cheap pair are more comfortable and warmer than the Rocky's !!

 

[Raven]

I can't remember if it was Rangely Lake or Mooselookmeguntic, but I camped at a hike-in site on the lake. I carried my kayak to the site then saw that the two halves of my paddle (it's made in two pieces), were not the matching halves. I have two identical paddles but had brought two halves that could not fit together. The equivalent of two left boots.

I was fortunate to find a place to borrow one for the weekend.

 

[erugs]

It rained yesterday (what? you didn't know that?) My phone was in a pouch on my pack that I thought was water resistent. When I arrived home, and received a call, the volume was so low I could barely hear.

I figured it might be damp inside the works so I brought it into the bathroom and turned on the small plug in wall heater. I placed the phone nearby at the same level, shut the door to keep the heat in the room and went in every 20 minutes or so to move the angle of the phone. An hour later the phone was hot and dry and working.

 

[DougPaul]

It rained yesterday (what? you didn't know that?) My phone was in a pouch on my pack that I thought was water resistent. When I arrived home, and received a call, the volume was so low I could barely hear.

I figured it might be damp inside the works so I brought it into the bathroom and turned on the small plug in wall heater. I placed the phone nearby at the same level, shut the door to keep the heat in the room and went in every 20 minutes or so to move the angle of the phone. An hour later the phone was hot and dry and working.

Cell phones should not be considered to be water proof (or even water resistant...). I carry mine in a ziplock with a paper towel. One might also include a desiccant packet.

Most electronics will not be damaged by a short exposure to clean fresh water* if you turn it off and remove the battery. Dry it gently (mild heat, airflow etc) for up to several days and reinstall the battery.

* If immersed in salt water, get the battery out and rinse with fresh water ASAP. Then proceed as above.

Doug

 

[peakbagger]

Casio makes a line of "waterproof" cell phones. I use one for business and although not state of the art phones, they do hold up to a lot of abuse and are water resistant as mine has been tested a couple of times.

 

[erugs]

* If immersed in salt water, get the battery out and rinse with fresh water ASAP. Then proceed as above.

Doug

Doug - That's good advise. I left the cell phone that had been thrown overboard by a pirate left for an artifact study sometime in the distant future were it sank in Penobscott Bay, Maine.