2021-12-24, 10:19 PM
Discovering a second surprising site of rotting in the sun and elements, abandoned high end hiking, backpacking, climbing, canyoneering gear out in Death Valley really got me wondering if you folks have had the same eerie experiences?
First, shortly after discovering Death Valley and hiking up Telescope Peak for the first time and in the winter no less, on the trail about a mile below the summit and half buried in the snow I noticed a gray thing protruding from the snow about ten feet above the trail on the slope. Brushing it off I discovered a fully packed outfitted high end gray fabric internal frame back pack stuffed with gear, trail food, camp stove, Garmin GPS Device, maps, deck of playing cards, but no sleeping bag, tent, or pad. It had obviously been laying there for some time and other hikers had not seen it or had ignored it.
I continued on up to summit Telescope Peak puzzling over the situation and decided that it had been abandoned rather than cached. There was no ID anywhere to be found. Figuring it would eventually become trash or an eyesore so I packed it all the way down to Mahogany Flat Campground. I never took any photos of it which I regret. I figured I'd turn it in at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center but got sidetracked with other adventures and eventually headed home forgetting to check it in at the VC.
The pack was certainly not lost or forgotten but rather abandoned by someone who did not see the need to carry it out or was not able to carry it out due to fatigue or possibly injury. You might think that they would have left a note of explanation inside the pack? I still have the pack but the Garmin never worked and I don't need a stove.
On another hike up Telescope a few years later in the summer I came across a water cache of two plastic gallon jugs of water that was obviously aging out but still holding the liquid. It would not have been safe to drink water from weather exposed plastic jugs but I left it there just in case. I have not rechecked that location on subsequent hikes.
Now last week in DEVA hiking south from The Devil's Cornfield to Tucki Mountain's northeast side to explore a no-name canyon two canyons north of Trellis Canyon I stumbled across two gear packs of rock climber gear on a small ridge out on the alluvial fan about three miles from the highway. This was a peculiar place to leave gear because it was about a mile or two from the nearest canyon as well as three miles from the highway. I wondered which canyon they had explored or intended to explore as I continued my own exploration of one of the canyons. The likely canyon they had targeted was probably the same one in line from my own car park, the gear, and the canyon mouth. The canyon walled out in about a mile or so with a high gorgeous dry fall with the only bypass being a rather technical climb up a huge flat slab of hard rock of about 65 degrees. This would appeal to climbers with rope and safety gear as it was not vertical but highly risky and way over my ability to try a free climb. An experienced rock climber with gear would have enjoyed a 76 to 100 foot long crack climb up the right side of this slab or climbing along a crack-fissure cross the slab face from right to left leading to the top of the dry fall and a possible by pass. Unfortunately I some how deleted my detailed raw video footage I took of the area to demonstrate the probable goal of the two people who left their gear behind. So, no trip report on this canyon exploration.
However, I retained the footage of the abandoned gear which you can see below this post. I re-bagged the gear and left it just as I found it because no way was I going to lug that stuff over the miserable alluvial fan terrain back to my car park. Hauling this gear out there in the first place would have taken considerable effort on these two climbers' parts. Besides, the climbing ropes were sun bleached and no longer safe, the two helmets looks sun bleached as well as the packs. A black plastic bag tied tightly had been blown to shreds or rotted off in the sun. The two bladders of water still held their contents inside of the packs. No identification was located. I also never returned to the Visitor Center during regular hours after this discovery.
What would the approximate value of this gear be? So why do people like this leave their gear behind? Should I have made better efforts to report it to rangers? Would the NPS staff even care? Have you had similar experiences locating gear or abandoning your own gear? FYI - I've never left any gear behind and I hope I never have to.
First, shortly after discovering Death Valley and hiking up Telescope Peak for the first time and in the winter no less, on the trail about a mile below the summit and half buried in the snow I noticed a gray thing protruding from the snow about ten feet above the trail on the slope. Brushing it off I discovered a fully packed outfitted high end gray fabric internal frame back pack stuffed with gear, trail food, camp stove, Garmin GPS Device, maps, deck of playing cards, but no sleeping bag, tent, or pad. It had obviously been laying there for some time and other hikers had not seen it or had ignored it.
I continued on up to summit Telescope Peak puzzling over the situation and decided that it had been abandoned rather than cached. There was no ID anywhere to be found. Figuring it would eventually become trash or an eyesore so I packed it all the way down to Mahogany Flat Campground. I never took any photos of it which I regret. I figured I'd turn it in at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center but got sidetracked with other adventures and eventually headed home forgetting to check it in at the VC.
The pack was certainly not lost or forgotten but rather abandoned by someone who did not see the need to carry it out or was not able to carry it out due to fatigue or possibly injury. You might think that they would have left a note of explanation inside the pack? I still have the pack but the Garmin never worked and I don't need a stove.
On another hike up Telescope a few years later in the summer I came across a water cache of two plastic gallon jugs of water that was obviously aging out but still holding the liquid. It would not have been safe to drink water from weather exposed plastic jugs but I left it there just in case. I have not rechecked that location on subsequent hikes.
Now last week in DEVA hiking south from The Devil's Cornfield to Tucki Mountain's northeast side to explore a no-name canyon two canyons north of Trellis Canyon I stumbled across two gear packs of rock climber gear on a small ridge out on the alluvial fan about three miles from the highway. This was a peculiar place to leave gear because it was about a mile or two from the nearest canyon as well as three miles from the highway. I wondered which canyon they had explored or intended to explore as I continued my own exploration of one of the canyons. The likely canyon they had targeted was probably the same one in line from my own car park, the gear, and the canyon mouth. The canyon walled out in about a mile or so with a high gorgeous dry fall with the only bypass being a rather technical climb up a huge flat slab of hard rock of about 65 degrees. This would appeal to climbers with rope and safety gear as it was not vertical but highly risky and way over my ability to try a free climb. An experienced rock climber with gear would have enjoyed a 76 to 100 foot long crack climb up the right side of this slab or climbing along a crack-fissure cross the slab face from right to left leading to the top of the dry fall and a possible by pass. Unfortunately I some how deleted my detailed raw video footage I took of the area to demonstrate the probable goal of the two people who left their gear behind. So, no trip report on this canyon exploration.
However, I retained the footage of the abandoned gear which you can see below this post. I re-bagged the gear and left it just as I found it because no way was I going to lug that stuff over the miserable alluvial fan terrain back to my car park. Hauling this gear out there in the first place would have taken considerable effort on these two climbers' parts. Besides, the climbing ropes were sun bleached and no longer safe, the two helmets looks sun bleached as well as the packs. A black plastic bag tied tightly had been blown to shreds or rotted off in the sun. The two bladders of water still held their contents inside of the packs. No identification was located. I also never returned to the Visitor Center during regular hours after this discovery.
What would the approximate value of this gear be? So why do people like this leave their gear behind? Should I have made better efforts to report it to rangers? Would the NPS staff even care? Have you had similar experiences locating gear or abandoning your own gear? FYI - I've never left any gear behind and I hope I never have to.
Life begins in Death Valley