OT Lost and Found

When we go out in the field our main objective is to bring back some great images. However, I usually find something that I find interesting enough to put in my pack or pocket and bring home with me. I've found a well used topo map of the lost creek wilderness tucked under a rock next to the creek in a dry bag. A pair of binoculars. A few fossils, a very old beer can, a few feathers and alot of rocks. And alot of trash.

I thought it might be interesting to hear what others have found and brought home. I know I can't be the only one that does this.

I found a point and shoot camera at Mesa Arch. I went to the ranger station and told them what I found and was gonna give them my address if anyone inquired. They informed me that I had to turn it in since it was on federal property so I couldn't bring it home. I think I've lost more than I've found to be honest.

batteries, candy wrappers, empty water bottles, cigarette butts.... Sheesh!

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com

Found: point and shoot camera at West Fork of Oak Creek (turned into USFS),
Lost: lens cap

I've found sunglasses that fit me perfectly, and a pair of reader glasses in my exact strength (+1.5). Also, a Jeep radio/CD player, looked like a tackle box on the side of the road, turned out to be a pretty cool little portable boom box. I think I gave it to someone here on the forum. I'm sure there's other stuff if I think long enough.

I don't usually find a lot of stuff out there but did once find a really nice lowe pro case for a point and shoot at Bosque. BTW, if you find a lens cap out there it's probably mine.

Just follow me around and you'll do well.
Joe Rogers

Sadly, I've lost far more than I've found, including a Gitzo tripod (still don't know how I lost that).

I once dropped a lens cap through a small hole in the bridge at Zion where everyone photographs the Watchman. I went down to recover it and never could find it, but I did find a nice gradauated ND Galen Rowell filter that, remarkably, was only a little scratched and still usable. So it wasn't a bad trade!

I also just found a very nice North Face winter glove, though I'm also the person who lost it. . When I realized I lost it, it was getting dark and I didn't want to hike back through rough terrain to get it. So I returned a week later and was able to find the prickly bush that grabbed my glove and stole it out of my pocket.

Lost: a water bottle on Mt Audubon where we camped at about 12300 ft on a particularly balmy November--went back for it a week later. Almost: my Nikon FM2 which slow-motion rolled and bounced about 60 feet down talus on Mt Yale, looking like it would stop every two feet, then finding just enough energy to keep rolling. No damage done!

Found: a few lens caps, one mud encrusted UV filter, and more garbage from hunters'/outfitters' camps (most of it packed out by me) than I care to think about. Also one can of Budweiser, ancient, bleached, out in the NM sun for who knows how long. It went into the cooler with all the other Buds as a joke, then the next morning, it was empty with the others--no one knows (or fessed up) to who drank it.

I've never found anything worth keeping, mostly just junk people throw out in the desert as if it's some kind of junkyard. I, like many, have lost lens caps before. Luckily I found them about a week later. Maybe I just need to look around more while I'm out and I'll find some new gear.

"Just follow me around and you'll do well."

Heh heh...roger that!

I found a Canon point and shoot right off of the trail to landscape arch. There were 7 or 8 other cars in the lot and I left them all a little note that if they lost a camera to check with the HQ building at the front of the park. I turned it in on my way out.

Now that I think about it. One of the coolest things I ever came across was an old abandoned campground. As it turns out, it was one of the first campgrounds in the country built by the U.S. forest service back around 1919 in the San Isabel national forest. It was washed away by a flood in 1947 and never rebuilt. It's really kind of cool because the old outhouse is still there but has fallen into the pit and some other things are still there. It's called the squirrel creek campground and is located below the Davenport campground.

My favorite "finds" when I'm out and about are usually created by nature... heart-shaped rocks, bones, antlers, feathers and other special treasures! Though I have lost a lens cap & a polarizing filter.

Does a DSLR dropped into Lake Marie count as a lost item even though I fished it out?