Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Poles & Small Black Pack Bag On Way to Vagabond Peak

On Saturday, we hiked up the Green Lake Trail up the pass to Vagabond Peak. While trekking straight up from the trail marker (on the plateau) straight to Vagabond (due South), came across 2 trekking poles standing straight up, with a very faded pink bandana on one. Next to them was a small black bag, approx 8x10", which looked fairly new. There was no discloration yet from being out in the sun. I did not move them, but did waypoint them & took pics, which I can post later. We did not see anyone else on the trail that day ahead of us. One couple with two dogs were behind us up to Brown Lake. There were faint footsteps on the trail up to the pass that may have been there in the previous 1-3 days, but definitely after last weeks rain. Being new to higher elevation hiking, I wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was in terms of gathering someone's items. We did look around in case there was someone injured? We saw no other obvious signs of someone being up there recently. Another hiker was up there on July 17th from Peakbagger list. I am aware of someone heading up to Cloudripper in the next few weeks if these items need to possibly be retrieved but I hope there isnt someone around there that belongs to those items. Advise pls. Thanks!

The owner might have left them there intending to return later after a climb. It is possible the owner forgot where he/she left them and continued on out to the trail head; I think that is the most likely reason. Did you open the bag to see if there was any personal identification? Alternatively, you could have brought them out and left them at the Bishop Police station. The faded bandana seems to indicate that they had been there a long time. As far as proper etiquette, I don't know. Things get left in the mountains all the time with the owners never intending to return to search for them.

I lost a nice pair of Austrian wool mitts at the start of the Moby Dick route at the base of El Capitan; hopefully, another climber found them later and had use for them. I found a pair of ladies Icelandic mitts and a Swiss Army knife, that had melted out from under the snow below Blue Lake, above Lake Sabrina; probably lost before the Winter snows began.

Here is a similar personal story from Summer 2012: I still have a black, Patagonia fleece pull-over sweater, men's size large, and a beany cap, that I found near the South side of Morgan pass out of Little Lakes Valley. Both items were very dirty and weathered. They were not there when I went over the pass the previous day to camp at Morgan lakes, but I found them neatly folded up on a rock below the south side of the pass when I hiked out the following day. I suspect that a large family of hikers, that I saw that day at Morgan Lakes, had found them and left them where I found them, hoping the owner would find them. I yelled and waited, in case they belonged to someone nearby, but got no response. I took the items home and washed them. If they belong to anyone on this forum, let me know and I'll send them to you.

Well maybe if someone heads out there again they can see if they are still there and collect them. There very well could have been a hiker ahead of us that maybe we couldnt see that was coming back for them. The bag showed no signs of even being out there for a few days. I also didnt want to prematurely collect items if in fact there was someone ahead of us. The poles were upright and stoutly placed. If the poles were tossed about & bag weathered, I would have collected them & brought them back. Thanks!

It is always odd to find abandoned gear in the mountains. People should understand that the chances of their returning to exactly the same spot are often slim, unless it is at a well-defined trail junction or some prominent landmark.

It often ends up like this: LOST: backpack near Cirque Peak on 6/8/13

I once found a sweatshirt near the top of Giant Kaweah. It smelled bad--some sort of weather/environment/chemical change. I packed it all the way out, a day and a half. Even after washing it, it had that awful smell. So I threw it away.

Gee whiz, it happened again today. While returning from a hike to Donkey Lake, above Lake Sabrina, I found an older Spot Messenger sitting on a boulder along-side the trail, about a half-mile from the trailhead. After pressing OK, hoping to send an email to the owner, I turned off the power.

Arriving at the trailhead I found a note from the owner, asking if anyone had found it, as it had been lost half way between the trailhead and Blue Lake...this morning.

I called the number given on the note and left a message for "Toby," in area code 805. If Toby wants his Spot back, he'll have to return to Lake Sabrina and hike back the half mile and see if it is still there. Several other hikers said they noticed to Spot sitting there today, but also left it there.

Here's the deal: no one can know whether the owner of any lost and found item is actually still in the mountains or on their way back home. The moral of the story is: hang on to your stuff!

Especially with a SPOT unit, you should carry it out. There is no reason for the owner to set one down. Usually they set it down as part of reorganizing their pack, or put set it down to send out a signal. But then they will forget it and walk away.

After my SPOT came unhooked from my pack and tumbled down a steep slope in Yosemite, I have attached it to my pack strap with two independent ties. If one fails, the other holds. And I almost never detach it from my pack -- or the above will likely occur sometime.

You should carry the spot out, contact the SPOT people, and they can find the owner via the serial number inside the battery compartment.