Item you left behind when you left camp

18 years ago

Ever take that last look around after you're ready to leave a campsite only to later realize that you left something back there? What have you left behind at your campsite after moving on or heading back home?

At the time, a favorite hat... I kept stewing over it and wanted to go back for it but wife talked me out of it.

one time forgot a hatchet where I was trimming down some campfire wood. I know exactly where I left it, too. Never went all the way back, though.

What about you? Ever leave something behind when heading home again? Did you drive all the way back for it?

(mothers-in-law don't count) he he

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Comments (8)

mulchlady107
18 years ago
We left a hammer once...didn't realize it until we went camping again and needed it to put up the tent. Of course, I had a flashback and remembered EXACTLY where I left it...six months prior, three states away! Thank goodness for neighbors...I think we would have been okay driving the stakes with my clogs, though. DH was livid...we have been campers for years and it he just thought that everyone would think that we were beginners since we didn't have such an essential tool...now I have three hammers...one in the tent bag, one in the mess box, and one in the van...and I think maybe, every once in awhile, I pack my "mother's toolbag" just to be sure. Too much grief to go through that again.
dalew
18 years ago
I'm bad for driving off and leaving little battery operated radios. The first was a most excellent (but inexpensive), clear as a bell, weather radio. Don't remember the brand, or for that matter exactly were it was purchased; only that I have never been able to find a replacement just like it. As I recall the incident, was maybe 100 miles down the road when I "remembered"!

The other was a small hand held AM/FM radio, not a whole lot taller than a pack of cigarettes and maybe about a thick and wide. I had bought it from Radio Shack and it was on sale; remember the clerk had said what a great reception and tone it had for such a small radio ... and it did! We had been camped right next to a river where we had been fishing and that particular morning we were going to break camp and move on over to another river maybe 50 miles away; and I was whipping up some breakfast at the picnic table, while listening to the morning news with that little radio. Had it sitting in a crook of a tree right close by. I remember it was tuned to a PBS station and after the news & weather, some classical music came on that I liked. So what I did was have breakfast, wash the dishes, break camp - which meant closing up the popup camper, all the while the little radio played on in the crook of that tree; and hitched-up the camper and driving off, too! The next morning, at the new camp site, I was wondering where I put the radio. It really did'nt come to me what I had done until in the middle of the following night when I suddenly awoke to remember the last where-abouts of that radio! Now, I've went back to Radio Shack to find a replacement, but that one was on a close-out sale and the newer replacement model was almost three times as much and the same clerk said it was'nt as good! Oh, the pain of it all!

Dale
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tplife
18 years ago
Never happens. Probably because when we're ready to leave, I go around the campsite and make sure it's cleaner than when I arrived. As a result of this habit, I've never lost even a marshmallow stick!
OklaMoni
18 years ago
Most of my camping is on self supported bicycle trips. I "can't afford" to leave anything behind. But, I still left my clothes line once. Bought a new one two days later, in a town I rode through. Hunted and hunted for it when I got in to the next camp, and emptied all my panniers. :)

I hope, I never leave anything else behind.

Moni
jen_
18 years ago
Imagine breaking down after an entire season! It takes me a few days. I had everything all packed up and ready to go home back to NJ when I remembered the dog's huge bone was in the woods by the site! He had been keeping himself busy while I packed! I went back to get it because I had not yet left the campground! Generally, I'm also really good about not leaving anything. I did get a really great dog tying line this summer when somebody left theirs behind!
josouthcarolina
18 years ago
So far I have not left anything behind because I check and recheck the site. And like tplife, I leave the site cleaner than I found it. Lots of times the campfire area is a mess when I arrive and I always clean the area and rake the leaves or pinestraw away from the firepit to prevent any potential fires. Yes I take an old yard rake with a short handle on it. I've used it many times.

And those blasted cigarette butts all round your site are disgusting!
wannadanc
18 years ago
Add my name to the list of clean camp leavers - only footprints left behind, only memories taken w/ me. Now - if the list was about things FORGOTTEN at home, that is another matter all together. When I was teaching marine biology and taking high school kids on campouts, it was just amazing what they would forget to bring and some of the things they DID bring. Best forget? ....kids camping together - one brought the tent, the other forgot the poles - now how does THAT work, pray tell - those items should have been traveling together.

grins

Vicki
Happy_Go_Lucky_Gayle
18 years ago
The only thing we leave behind is dead ants. LOL!

We pick up every cigerette butt in the area.

Item you left behind when you left camp

Comments (8)

mulchlady107

dalew

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