Porter traverse Trip Report

[alavigne]

Last Sunday six of us did a traverse of Porter (originally supposed to be Porter and Cascade but we had to skip Cascade), from Marcy Field to the Cascade trailhead on Rte 73. We had a fairly eventful trip (for several reasons), as you will see, if you have a look at the Trip Report.

...Andrew

[Kevin]

Well that sux, go all that way with decent views and then get to the top to be stuck in a cloud. :/
How anyone could forget their keys is beyond me. First thing I do when stepping out of the truck is to stick my keys in my coat pocket or in the backpack. In certain situations (longer thru-hikes) this could have spelled hitchhiking your way back to the vehicle.

[Rik]

Well that sux, go all that way with decent views and then get to the top to be stuck in a cloud. :/
How anyone could forget their keys is beyond me. First thing I do when stepping out of the truck is to stick my keys in my coat pocket or in the backpack. In certain situations (longer thru-hikes) this could have spelled hitchhiking your way back to the vehicle.

I've done it. Spotted a car and then left the keys in the car at the start. Ended up doing an out and back.

[Neil]

I know a guy that left his lights on and then went and hiked Allen. Lucky for him he wasn't solo.

After carefully preparing for a hike I tend to get scatterbrained once I'm at the TH and have to be real careful not to forget something. I bet you could get a funny thread going on the dumb stuff people have done at the trailhead.

Once on a winter camping trip we forgot a bottle of scotch in the car. Luckily we had only gone a few miles so it was no big deal to go back and get it.

(J.K. it was only a few hundred yards )

[Rik]

I know a guy that left his lights on and then went and hiked Allen. Lucky for him he wasn't solo.

After carefully preparing for a hike I tend to get scatterbrained once I'm at the TH and have to be real careful not to forget something. I bet you could get a funny thread going on the dumb stuff people have done at the trailhead.

Once on a winter camping trip we forgot a bottle of scotch in the car. Luckily we had only gone a few miles so it was no big deal to go back and get it.

(J.K. it was only a few hundred yards )

One time a buddy and I were staying at the Slide Brook lean-to. In the morning another friend was going to hike in and meet us for a climb in the Dix Range. In the morning we realized we didn't have butter for our pancakes cuz it was in the car. When our third friend arrived at the trailhead we were cooking breakfast in the parking area. Nice hike with full bellies that day!

[NukedRocket]

How anyone could forget their keys is beyond me.

Personally I would much rather have locked the keys in the car, or left them behind than have lost them at some point 4 miles up the trail!

[runswithscissors]

TR Kudos

BYW Andrew, your trip reports, photographs and website are among the best I've ever read! The information, pictures and interactive mapping help the reader experience the trip as if he or she is traveling with you. Well done!

Pete Hogan

[Kevin]

Personally I would much rather have locked the keys in the car, or left them behind than have lost them at some point 4 miles up the trail!

That's true! Sometimes I'll joke with my hiking partner when we get back that I can't find my keys that were in my coat pocket... and must be on top.

Neil/Rik, I'm afraid that my contributions to the 'whoopsie' thread are not all that great: 1 -- forgot my camera a few times, 2 -- Brought the wrong topo map for the area we were hiking (used the GPS built-in maps instead), 3 -- got lost taking the wrong trail (horse trail) to the Ward Brook lean-to, 4 -- went unprepared solo hiking up the Santanonis with only nylon pants and a techwick shirt pushing through dew covered spruce in 40F temps...

Never forgot anything overly important. Maybe I've jinx'd myself now, or maybe it just takes a lot of time/hikes to increase the odds of making mistakes. Or MAYBE I'm perfect. <-- Nope, just checked with Val and she agrees that I'm far from that.

[alavigne]

Thanks... anyone familiar with the person who drove me around?

BYW Andrew, your trip reports, photographs and website are among the best I've ever read! The information, pictures and interactive mapping help the reader experience the trip as if he or she is traveling with you. Well done!

Pete Hogan

Thanks, Pete. Glad to hear that you like my writeups!

BTW, anyone know anything about the person who picked me up and gave me a lift back to Marcy Field? Her name is Mary Brandt. I really got the sense that she was a well-known, well-connected person in the local communities. Too bad I don't have her e-mail address, or I would send her a thank-you note.

...Andrew

[Rik]

Don't know her Andrew, sorry. But I will take the opportunity to continue the threadjack! Once I was going up the night before a Great Range traverse and realized I didn't have my boots! Luckily I was only a half hour into the drive when I realized so going back only cost about an hour.

[alavigne]

The funny thing about this whole forgetting-the-key thing is that my friend Brian had done EXACTLY THE SAME THING the last time we did a traverse together.

I think he has a car-key mental block... or maybe he wants it to happen...I'll have to ask him about that.

...Andrew

[Gray Ghost]

Great trip report. I like the design of your site, Andrew. As for mishaps, my biggest came on Memorial Day weekend '05 during an ascent of Big Slide. My trip report is in the archives somewhere. Personally, I am always paranoid about losing keys, so that has never happened, luckily.