strangers on the trail?

[balzaccom]

I thought I’d start a new thread here about strange people on the trail—those folks we remember years later for one reason or the other. And it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t get the ball rolling with a couple of tales of my own.
My all-time favorite was meeting two young (mid 20’s or so) who were hiking in Illiloutte Canyon about 3:30 in the afternoon, a good five-seven miles up canyon from Glacier Point. They had a very small day pack and a single bottle of water that they were sharing. When we met them, they had just started hiking back down the canyon…and asked my wife and me if we could show them on the map where they were.
Something felt a little odd about this, so I asked them where they thought they were. They thought they were pretty darn close to Half Dome…but had missed the trail somehow and were up around Merced Lake. I showed them where they were –actually off the map by a couple of inches—and told them that if they didn’t take any MORE wrong turns, they still had about 9 miles to go to get back to Happy Isles. They assured me that they weren’t worried---as they had flashlights.
I could only imagine how lost they might get in the dark, if they got that lost in broad daylight.

The second group was a couple hiking up the Snow Creek Falls trail in mid-October during a snow flurry. It was cold, and they were in shorts…with maybe a light fleece on top. We were on our way down from a day hike to the top, and they were packing in for a few days. We chatted with them and while we chatted the young woman went from being slightly cold to whole-body involuntary shivering. Both my wife and I expressed concern—and were sorry that we couldn’t offer any more clothing to her. Her boyfriend/husband told us that they were fine---no problem. Which meant that he was fine. She was in full blown hypothermia, as near as we could tell. He basically told us to mind our own business….and we did. I am still bothered by it. Sigh.

Finally, on a lighter note, at about 12 miles us a trailhead in Yosemite, we ran into a group of three—an older woman, about 70-75? And a middle-aged man (maybe 45? And his son. She had done the same route 55 years ago when she graduated from high school, and had taken her son on that same trip when he graduated.
Yep—the young man was her grandson, and they were hiking the trail one more time. We still smile about that family, and the wonderful times they must have had together.

So what about the people YOU have met on the trail?

[bill-e-g]

The best one I got is many years ago coming out from Slide Canyon...

Old Hillbilly dude has a dog and about 5 goats in tow (or other way around!)
I ask him where he is going and he says Matterhorn Canyon.
I say to him "um... yo bro... pets are not allowed in Yosemite"
he responds "it's not a pet ... it's a guard dog"
At that point I just give up... hoping the Cavalry Ghosts come or
a Mountain Lion hits paydirt (the goats)...
Argh!

[Heybooboo]

I'll chime in with a couple of stories:

A few years ago while going up Half Dome cables, there was this huge back-up caused by a 20ish woman who was having trouble on the boards with her 2" heels!

20+ years ago in LYV while preparing for bed my wife and I warned a neighboring group of beginner backpackers from a Rec. class from Cal (yea, like they're real smart) about bears and not to leave anything in their packs and to leave all zippers open. Next morning, you guessed it, one of the bright boys wakes up the whole valley with a grads degree of profanity about his missing backpack. He left an apple ("well it wasn't opened yet") in his upper pouch, zipped shut. Mr. Black Bear found his pack and shredded the brand new JanSport, $160, for a 30 cent apple. By the way, how do you open an apple?

OK, someone elses turn.

[bill-e-g]

I got another one.

Ok. So I've made a few "cat can" / "pepsi can" stoves...
And I gave one to my hiking buddy. We both used them on a trip
or two...
On one trip it was him, my wife, and himself.
I had my MSR Dragonfly... he had the alcohol stove...
Well, we're at Peeler Lake on Day 1 and he goes to light his stove
and it just doesn't light. Keeps trying... keeps trying...
Match goes out... hmm... what's up?

Well... turns out he cleaned out his plastic fuel bottle with good ol'
H20. Ooopsie... Guess water doesn't burn like alcohol.

Luckily I had plenty of fuel in the 22 oz. bottle for all 3 of us to cook
on the Dragonfly for this 6 day trip...


And, yes, he hears about this one from me frequently...

[balzaccom]

This one really got me....

After four days in the Emigrant Wilderness without seeing a soul, our last couple of miles back to the trailhead seemed like Grand Central Station. But one young man really stood out. He was hiking out from the trailhead, with no backpack, and only a bottle of water in one hand.

"Where are you headed?" I asked.

"Back to my campsite," he replied. "I just had to hike out to my car to charge my phone, so I had something to wake me up tomorrow morning on time."

The nearest campsites were about four miles up the trail...

[centurycyclist]

I know some of you dyed-in-the-wool backpackers are not big fans of the HS Camps....but here's a story that MIGHT change your mind.Last summer, as I was leaving Sunrise HSC with my son and his friend (both 17) where we had spent the night.....we met an elderly man and a woman, who were moving quite slowly (but steadily) along the trail on the way out to Tuolumne. We had seen them at dinner the night before, but had not spoken to them. This time, we chatted for a bit---turns out, this was the man's daughter---she was about 50-something, he was proud to say that he was 80-something. (I think 88 sticks in my mind). They told us that hiking the HS camps was something that they had always done as a family, and now since his wife has passed, he wanted to keep up the family tradition. They had come from Tuolumne to Vogelsang to Merced to Sunrise. I'd say that is admirable for someone that age, would you not? I hope to be that 80 year old some day, hiking with my kids.

[hotrod4x5]

I was hiking out to Taft Pt for the sunset, and I passed this young Asian couple heading back to the parking lot. This was about 2 hours before sunset. I stayed till the sun had set, maybe 30 minutes past and then began hiking back.

This was in October and it was chilly at night up there. I ran into that same Asian couple on the way back, they were headed to Taft, trying to find the parking lot! They had been lost for over 2 hours and could not find their way.

I told them to follow me and within 15 mins we were at the parking lot. It was now probably 8 or 9 and they still had to drive back to SF. They were very grateful for my help. If I had not been there, I don't know how they would have found their way. There was no one else with me at Taft, I was the last one out.