BWCA Best Thing Found On A Portage (or campsite) Boundary Waters Gear Forum
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RaisedByBears99
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04/18/2012 03:01AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
In the 50s my father found a beautiful, and very old, brass chased stag handled Solingen hunting knife on a portage. He gave it to me. I was far too young and traded it to one of my cousins for a toy. When my father heard about it - he gave me the "You stupid kid" look. I never forgot that look.

Next time I saw my cousin, I tried to buy the knife back. He'd already traded it off to someone else.

About 15 years ago, I was at the Arena Auditorium in Duluth. I found out there was a gun show in Palucci Hall. When I went in, it was just about over - most of the sellers had left. Just a few were still around. I checked out one table - and there was my knife. One of the antler scales was very distinctive. A check later with a photo my father had taken of the knife when he found it - proved it to be the same knife.

I bought the knife for half price ($15.00) and presented it to my father. Attempting to redeem myself, I guess. He had forgotten all about it, but when reminded said, "Gave it to you - you'll get more use out of it than I will."

At the same time I bought this knife, I purchased another much like it. I gave it to my eldest son, who promptly lost it.

Stupid kid.



The blade was this style, though knife shown is much newer.
 
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04/18/2012 05:32AM  
A nice Gransfor axe on Horse.
 
Minnesotian
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04/18/2012 07:32AM  


My sanity.
 
SevenofNine
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04/18/2012 07:34AM  
Fisherman sunglasses at a campsite. Of course they didn't last long since I'm pretty tough on sunglasses.
 
04/18/2012 09:20AM  
At a site on Winchell last year I found a killer spatula (I LOVE cooking utensils), and a few years back a nice compass on what I thought was a portage (that was about a 4 hour mistake...).
 
schweady
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04/18/2012 09:59AM  
quote Frenchy19: "...a nice compass on what I thought was a portage..."

Looking forward to hearing the story of the guy who lost it...
 
billconner
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04/18/2012 10:12AM  
A decent rod and reel on Burke and a whole bunch of tent stakes.
 
LazyLefty
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04/18/2012 10:27AM  
The one year our food bag weighed a ton we found a pulley and some rope in the fork of a tree. Worked better than the carabiner that we had been using and we had to pack it out either way...
 
motdur
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04/18/2012 10:28AM  
The Original Bug Shirt. Found on the 480r Stuart River portage
 
04/18/2012 10:35AM  
A Duluth pack including a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag, on a Dore lake campsite. I left it hoping the rightfull owners would return for it later. Anthony
 
joetrain
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04/18/2012 10:44AM  
I once found 2 packs with various items in them.I was at the start of my trip so I did not pick them up in hopes of returning them. The packs contained some expensive items e.g. 2 gps units and a digital camera. They were left on a portage so hopefully the owner realized it when they went to unload their canoe. I have to admit though that I took the can of bug spray, I had forgotten mine and as I was looking through them I was being attacked.
 
04/18/2012 10:53AM  
I found a knife a few years ago. Some type of handmade designer knife from New Mexico. I could not open it and so i googled the knife to see what the trick to open was. Saw knifes from this guy sell for over $400 starting. I sold it on ebay for $275.

It was a Tommy Wano knife.
 
Lymphocytosis
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04/18/2012 11:00AM  
Mostly stakes and trash. I once found a fanny pack totally buried in the weeds on a portage that had one completely sodden copy of Catcher in the Rye and about ten bucks in quarters! Why all the quarters I have no idea.
 
Cedarboy
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04/18/2012 11:24AM  
Moose rack
 
Huntindave
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04/18/2012 12:18PM  
quote joetrain: "I once found 2 packs with various items in them.I was at the start of my trip so I did not pick them up in hopes of returning them. The packs contained some expensive items e.g. 2 gps units and a digital camera. They were left on a portage so hopefully the owner realized it when they went to unload their canoe. I have to admit though that I took the can of bug spray, I had forgotten mine and as I was looking through them I was being attacked. "


"They were left on a portage so hopefully the owner realized it when they went to unload their canoe."

I really can not imagine myself taking something some one obviously left behind in error. I too would hope and expect that they would return to get their stuff, even if it was a few hours later. Any item(s) worth more than just a couple dollars would be left where the rightful owners could come back and retreive their item(s).
 
04/18/2012 12:19PM  
Ditto Cedarboy. Had to saw it off. The moose had drowned caught up in a log jam, I crawled out with my handy sven saw and liberated the only rack left, carried it for six days and now it sets in my man cave.
 
HowardSprague
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04/18/2012 12:31PM  
On the portage to Beartrack Lake, I came across a wallet. It contained $183, a few credit cards, photos of some family and of Sara Evans, and a Minnesota driver's license belonging to one Bogwalker..

Since Bogwalker was on the same trip/same group as I, I quietly slipped the driver's license into his daypack which was at the end of the portage, figuring he might need it.
 
04/18/2012 12:38PM  

"I really can not imagine myself taking something some one obviously left behind in error." Huntindave

Or left behind intentionally...A couple years ago my daughter and I stashed our tackle boxes and a landing net behind a tree well away from the landing on one of the Horse River portages. We did this as we did not plan to fish for the rest of our day trip, and we intended to retrieve our gear upon our return. When we did return, the gear was gone. I assume someone wandered into the woods to relieve her/himself, saw our gear and took it.

This bummed me out as it was obvious that the gear was intentionally stashed.

Sorry, didn't mean to jack the thread.
 
tonyyarusso
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04/18/2012 12:45PM  
Considering that stashing gear is illegal, and the Forest Service would like that stuff hauled out, I'm not surprised that gear disappers sometimes. It's hard to tell the difference between "we left this here while we go on a day trip" and "we didn't want to pack this in again when we come back next month". If you're going to stash something, I'd suggest leaving a note with the date and time you plan to return.
 
bapabear
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04/18/2012 12:51PM  
Found a bow saw on Quadga lake. Took it to our site and used it. Left it there for the next person. Found a fishing net near a fire grate on the Kawishiwi River once. Still use that.
 
04/18/2012 01:05PM  
quote tonyyarusso: "Considering that stashing gear is illegal, and the Forest Service would like that stuff hauled out, I'm not surprised that gear disappers sometimes. It's hard to tell the difference between "we left this here while we go on a day trip" and "we didn't want to pack this in again when we come back next month". If you're going to stash something, I'd suggest leaving a note with the date and time you plan to return."


Good points, but I do not think anyone is going to leave behind high end fishing gear because they don't want to pack it in again. Believe me, I learned my lesson, and I'll never do this again. That said, it was a crappy thing for someone to take our gear.
 
photoguy190
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04/18/2012 01:17PM  
quote Frenchy19: "
quote tonyyarusso: "Considering that stashing gear is illegal, and the Forest Service would like that stuff hauled out, I'm not surprised that gear disappers sometimes. It's hard to tell the difference between "we left this here while we go on a day trip" and "we didn't want to pack this in again when we come back next month". If you're going to stash something, I'd suggest leaving a note with the date and time you plan to return."



Good points, but I do not think anyone is going to leave behind high end fishing gear because they don't want to pack it in again. Believe me, I learned my lesson, and I'll never do this again. That said, it was a crappy thing for someone to take our gear."


There is probably some pissed off person that there wilderness experience was spoiled by finding "trash". They probably only took it cause it was a "crappy" thing to leave it in the woods.

Not saying its right or wrong just you should look at others perspective as well.
 
04/18/2012 01:26PM  
quote photoguy190: "
quote Frenchy19: "
quote tonyyarusso: "Considering that stashing gear is illegal, and the Forest Service would like that stuff hauled out, I'm not surprised that gear disappers sometimes. It's hard to tell the difference between "we left this here while we go on a day trip" and "we didn't want to pack this in again when we come back next month". If you're going to stash something, I'd suggest leaving a note with the date and time you plan to return."




Good points, but I do not think anyone is going to leave behind high end fishing gear because they don't want to pack it in again. Believe me, I learned my lesson, and I'll never do this again. That said, it was a crappy thing for someone to take our gear."



There is probably some pissed off person that there wilderness experience was spoiled by finding "trash". They probably only took it cause it was a "crappy" thing to leave it in the woods.


Not saying its right or wrong just you should look at others perspective as well. "


A couple of St. Croix rods, a landing net and a tackle box stashed well off the beaten path "spoiling" someone's wilderness experience? Come on! I get and agree with your point about others' perspectives, but I also have the right to mine. And like I said, I learned my lesson well on this one, but I would never consider taking someone's gear-especially if it were decent gear-if I stumbled across it in an area where pretty much no one ventures.
 
04/18/2012 01:36PM  
IF your going to stash,, you have to go way back. If I were to leave my Loomis and my tackle etc.,, it would be found only by me or my crew. After all, this is the most vistited wilderness in the nation. And portages have people.
 
HowardSprague
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04/18/2012 01:58PM  
This relates to other threads, regarding people who bring Shakespeare Ugly Sticks! When you stumble across a lonely St Croix or a Loomis in the woods, you take it and leave the Ugly Stick just in case the person returns and still wants to fish. :)
 
04/18/2012 02:16PM  
Ugly stick and some cheap Wal-Mart instore cranks--- I go off the portage just a little further then the pee stride...... A loomis or Croix with top end tackle = waypoint in the GPS. Sorry. If you want your gear back-- it's not like you dont have any place to hide it without being lazy.
 
04/18/2012 02:53PM  
My favorite thing to find is nothing at all. Did find a landing net though which i packed out.
 
vickieh69
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04/18/2012 03:20PM  
Peace and Serenity :)
 
04/18/2012 04:06PM  
I have found tent stakes, rope, lures, and a sleeping bag thrown back in the woods. I let my dog sleep on the bag and left it there.
 
Savage Voyageur
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04/18/2012 04:17PM  
I have found lots of junk , but he best was a Comet eight cup aluminum coffee percolator pot. I took it home and after some fine steel wool it was like new. It still had coffee grounds in it and was on the fire grate. I think the people did not want to clean it.
 
inspector13
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04/18/2012 04:32PM  

Never found anything of value in the BWCA. Great knife story though. My father has a bone handled Norwegian one with a small carving from the mid 1800's.

 
pswith5
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04/18/2012 07:17PM  
Found a nice pair of hiking shoes. Posted on lost and found here and sure enough got a response. Reunited with owner.
 
Woods Walker
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04/18/2012 07:34PM  
I have found a nice Fillet knife, that I still take every trip... one day I may forget it & someone else can enjoy it!
 
Woods Walker
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04/18/2012 07:34PM  
I have found a nice Fillet knife, that I still take every trip... one day I may forget it & someone else can enjoy it!
 
Woods Walker
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04/18/2012 07:38PM  
Oh yeah, I also found a compass on a portage from Agnes & gave it to one of the girls from another group that spent an entire rainy cold day lost in the woods behind their camp... they were lucky to be found miles away by some guys portaging on the Boulder River.
 
04/18/2012 07:45PM  
I've got quite a few decent lures snorkeling thanks to other people getting snagged near campsites. Found an old knife blade in the lake near a campsite on Clearwater. Found a mini mag light, a compass, and a whistle all within a few yards of each other on the portage to West Pike lake (I feel sorry for whoever got lost without their flashlight). Nalgene bottle on a portage off of Ashigan lake. Old paddle back in one of the campsites on Ensign. I don't think I've lost/left anything yet, and hope I never do but I'm sure it will happen eventually.
 
04/18/2012 08:40PM  
At one stop... Pauness.

- 9x9 tent
- 2 pair Keens in perfect condition
- Columbia? women's tripping shirt
- dog leash
- nylon shopping bag
- bath towel
- camp towl
- camping coffee grinder
- leftover fuel
- camping french press

We brought it to the entry point, left it for 36 hours, then retrieved it and tried to stop by the ranger station (closed). Took home, called ranger station to report and left our number. It's been a year now. My kids ALMOST fit the Keens this year. Those alone were worth the trouble. nojobro's got the shirt, we use the leash and towels, can't recall who got the french press and think I finally found a home for the tent. Whew!

Best single item though was a paddling PFD (Swamp portage, Granite River). Had a last name on it... but it was common. Ranger station listed that one too. Littlest child portaged it the rest of the trip, and we asked every group we met... it's hers now.
 
04/18/2012 09:46PM  
When I was a kid we found a pack full of camera gear. We waited around all day and when 1st found my dad made us chase down every visible boat on the lake. No luck. We packed it out and gave our information to outfitters and forest service. I think my dad may still have. We even got our packs searched the next morning at camp and passed on all the information and tried to get them to take the pack. They said to keep it. It did get me and my brother interested in photography for a while.
 
AdamXChicago
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04/18/2012 10:13PM  
Patience.

And quit bagging on Ugly Sticks ;-)

AdamX
 
mntentman
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04/18/2012 10:47PM  
We found two full leech buckets tied off next to a campsite a couple of years ago. We had no use for them, and in any case figured someone MIGHT come back for them... this was a lot of leeches and the somebody who forgot them is probably buried somewhere in the BW now.
 
04/18/2012 10:50PM  
We found a pack at a campsite. It had a stove, fuel, water filter, cook kit and more essential gear. We were setting up camp and two guys came up to retrieve their pack. It wasn't lost or forgotten it was left intentionally to HOLD the site!

Other items: prescription eye glasses, bikini (top only), PFD, lures, and the usual camp junk.
 
04/18/2012 11:02PM  
quote Kendra: "We found a pack at a campsite. It had a stove, fuel, water filter, cook kit and more essential gear. We were setting up camp and two guys came up to retrieve their pack. It wasn't lost or forgotten it was left intentionally to HOLD the site!


Other items: prescription eye glasses, bikini (top only), PFD, lures, and the usual camp junk."


Do people "hold" a site while they go look for another?
 
RaisedByBears99
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04/18/2012 11:35PM  
quote Scout64: "
quote Kendra: "We found a pack at a campsite. It had a stove, fuel, water filter, cook kit and more essential gear. We were setting up camp and two guys came up to retrieve their pack. It wasn't lost or forgotten it was left intentionally to HOLD the site!



Other items: prescription eye glasses, bikini (top only), PFD, lures, and the usual camp junk."



Do people "hold" a site while they go look for another?"


As far as I'm concerned - only if they've put up a tent - or left people.
 
04/19/2012 06:27AM  
We put in at Kawishiwi Lake and on one of the portages to Malberg we found a map. It had all kinds of fishing spots marked on it with tons of notes about campsites, portages, and other misc information. Whoever lost it put a great deal of time into it.
 
PortageKeeper
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04/19/2012 07:54AM  
quote HowardSprague: "On the portage to Beartrack Lake, I came across a wallet. It contained $183, a few credit cards, photos of some family and of Sara Evans, and a Minnesota driver's license belonging to one Bogwalker..


Since Bogwalker was on the same trip/same group as I, I quietly slipped the driver's license into his daypack which was at the end of the portage, figuring he might need it.
"

The dog photo's must have been in a 'special place' :)
 
04/19/2012 10:55AM  
quote Lymphocytosis: "Mostly stakes and trash. I once found a fanny pack totally buried in the weeds on a portage that had one completely sodden copy of Catcher in the Rye and about ten bucks in quarters! Why all the quarters I have no idea."


Well duh! they were for the pay toilets.
 
Mashuga
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04/19/2012 06:12PM  
On a trip in '90's we stopped to check a site for the night and found a thermarest mattress pad all packed up in it's bag by a tent site. On the trip last fall we found a nice pair of sunglasses which replaced the ones my son broke and a hat to replace the one that blew off my head and sank. Those last two were very timely finds. Lots of fishing lures over the years too.
 
04/19/2012 08:27PM  
 
Den97
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04/19/2012 08:40PM  
snorkeling on Alton last july two golf balls, i intact brown glass beer bottle, prescription glasses, one knee high pink rubber boot, 2 whole raw eggs, 2 t-shirts, lots of lures and hooks
rangers happened by our site and offered to take our finds and thanked us for helping to keep the bwcaw clean alton is a great snorkeling lake
 
joetrain
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04/20/2012 10:39AM  
I have found various items through the years things like lures, towels, kitchen tools, etc. The best thing found was as I was driving to start my trip I pulled over somewhere ouside of Virginia, Mn. and when I stepped out of my vehicle I almost stepped on a small change purse that had $230 in it. There was no i.d. Needless to say we ate surf and turf that night.
 
Beaverjack
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04/20/2012 07:29PM  
I found a trash bag full of dirty, but very expensive technical clothes on a portage. Left it set, figured the owner might return. Besides, who needs a bag of someone else's offal to pack around for a week?
 
04/20/2012 11:35PM  
I've found binoculars on the Burke Lake/North bay portage. On the trip I did last week I found a decent spotting scope, two different boots (did not pack them out because I was just beginning a week long trip) and on the last portage between Irene and Kahshahpiwi a nearly unmarred 5' Grey Owl paddle ( with a long thin beaver tail blade) still leaning on a cedar tree. I considered carrying it out but it weighed so much I put it back against the tree.
 
PaddleAway
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04/21/2012 08:16PM  
Last spring I went up with my paddling partner through Mudro & were halfway up Gun Lake when the wind kicked up & I put on my PFD...& my buddy realized he'd forgotten his, not in the car, but at home.

Well, we decided to just keep going (his call, & probably not the brightest one, but hey). We wander across the 300 rod portage to Wagosh & hanging back off the trail a bit is a very weathered...PFD. Looked like it had been there for a long time.

My friend picked it up & wore it the rest of the trip.
 
04/21/2012 09:07PM  
quote Lymphocytosis: "Mostly stakes and trash. I once found a fanny pack totally buried in the weeds on a portage that had one completely sodden copy of Catcher in the Rye and about ten bucks in quarters! Why all the quarters I have no idea."


Maybe someone told them you had to pay tolls to use the good portages :)
 
Maverick
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04/21/2012 10:12PM  
52" bending branches bent shaft, which just so happened to be exactly the same paddle that I used at the time, so I let my trip partner have it, he's still using too.
 
04/22/2012 12:16AM  
a tackle box on the beartrap river. filled with antique wood lures in as new condition.
 
04/22/2012 12:27AM  
a loaded USFS portage pack at a portage landing on the way to knife. still there 3 days later. notified the ranger station upon exit.
 
04/22/2012 07:53AM  
A deer rack/skull displayed on a stump at a campsite. The rest of the sleleton was just off the shore in the water. As far as I know, it is still there. It was just a few feet from the firegrate. We name him Wilson. Other than that it's been some old rusty lures,jigs, and a big brown poly tarp stashed in a crevice near shore.
 
04/22/2012 01:34PM  
Found a SWISS Army knife on Ensign and a weather balloon on South.
 
OBX2Kayak
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04/22/2012 05:32PM  
Wild blueberries.
 
billsta
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04/22/2012 07:26PM  
Really nice pair of stainless steel forceps/line cutter.
I'm not sure who found them, but after using them for over 30 years, I left them at the portage entering Agnes after tying on a new lure.
 
04/26/2012 06:28PM  
Just this past week alone on a loop out of LIS North:

- "Neptune Cocktail" guitar pick on portage between Upper and Lower Pauness.
- Berkley sunglasses on "portage" between Fat and Slim.
- Mattock at landing on Little Loon side of portage from Slim.

This is in addition to a "Cedar Valley Resort" t-shirt at the west campsite on Ge-be-on-e-quet, a pocket knife at a campsite on Hustler, and a fishing lure floating around also on Hustler.

I also lost a silver carabiner on either the portage between Rocky and Green or Green and Ge-be-on-e-quet - can't remember which one (it was snowing hard and I was in a hurry). So I like to give back too.

If any of this stuff is yours, just let me know. I left the t-shirt and mattock behind. The shirt was starting to get eaten by mice, and I didn't want to lug around the mattock.
 
Mashuga
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04/26/2012 08:20PM  
quote UncleMoose: "Just this past week alone on a loop out of LIS North:


- "Neptune Cocktail" guitar pick on portage between Upper and Lower Pauness.
- Berkley sunglasses on "portage" between Fat and Slim.
- Mattock at landing on Little Loon side of portage from Slim.

If any of this stuff is yours, just let me know. I left the t-shirt and mattock behind. The shirt was starting to get eaten by mice, and I didn't want to lug around the mattock.
"


That must be the same mattock I saw in late October last year. It was stamped with USFS. I didn't feel like lugging it out either.
 
04/26/2012 11:28PM  
Photo of said mattock.


 
RaisedByBears99
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04/27/2012 12:50AM  
quote UncleMoose: "Photo of said mattock.



"


The name for that item is the Pulaski tool, or Pulaski axe.

 
04/27/2012 01:18AM  
quote RaisedByBears99: "The name for that item is the Pulaski tool, or Pulaski axe."


Isn't the Pulaski more of a true half axe?
 
04/27/2012 08:47PM  
Discovered an old dump back in the woods behind a campsite on Elk Lake in the Q. Found a rusty beaver trap, a bunch of Mason jars and this "Virginia Dare" wine bottle-

 
lundojam
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04/28/2012 02:37PM  
I found three needlenose pliers in three separate spots last year. On Trillium, at the end of the lake, a wolf-killed moose skeleton. Bones tossed and dragged around a bit, but still identifiable. In their midst was a lone canine tooth, unmistakably wolf. Pretty cool.
 
REG
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04/29/2012 01:44PM  
We were on Basswood, when we saw a flash and glint of metal in the Merriam Bay region. Thinking it was an overturned canoe, we went over to assist.

It was a pony keg of Falstaff Beer.

I was not a fan of Falstaff, but for some reason, the stuff in the keg was really good.
 
kyleyewongster
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05/03/2012 08:47PM  
Last Spring a buddy of mine found some "morels" on the first portage into the moose river north. Then he found the latrine...
 
RaisedByBears99
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05/04/2012 08:45AM  
quote UncleMoose: "
quote RaisedByBears99: "The name for that item is the Pulaski tool, or Pulaski axe."



Isn't the Pulaski more of a true half axe?
"


Not an expert. Introduced to them age 15 fightning forest fire on Nina Moose River -- south of Echo Trail . USFS was calling it a Pulaski then.

 
HammerII
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05/04/2012 09:55AM  
On a canoe trip in Maine we found the mother of all stashes hidden in a hole behind some rocks at a campsite. We dated it based on the few items that we could still ID as around the early 30's. It appears to be a food/equipment stash. We found 20 cans wrapped in the remains of a oilskin a few labels remained(not really paper more like painted on the cans)that were for tomatos and another for peaches. A huge hank of rotted rope, the remains of a short handle axe, a rusted out cooking pot and a chunk of bee's wax covering a wad of matches.(Nope they didn't light either)What might have clothing and or blankets. From the signs my guess is that this stuff had been there forever. We repacked everything back in the hole as found and continued our trip wondering the who what and why..........
 
wetcanoedog
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05/04/2012 12:06PM  
found this bottle on top of a fire grate with a note on birch bark that said it had a 1970 date on the bottom,it did.
it was some sort of whiskey.
 
packslight9410
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05/04/2012 03:40PM  
One of the best things I have found is another group in the campsite we were planning on staying in. I've met some really cool people who were invading the camp I wanted! At least you know everybody you meet in the woods has one thing in common.....body odor. :)
 
HammerII
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05/04/2012 04:01PM  
quote packslight9410: "One of the best things I have found is another group in the campsite we were planning on staying in. I've met some really cool people who were invading the camp I wanted! At least you know everybody you meet in the woods has one thing in common.....body odor. :)"


I had a group of campers once come in on the James River, gather our stuff and move it out of the way, they then set up their own camp. They thought we had left the stuff and weren't coming back. In their thought process they decided that everyone paddled down stream and no one would paddle back up stream miles to refish a section. Of course they passed us fishing in the afternoon and never said hello as they passed either.
 
carmike
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05/04/2012 10:15PM  
Interesting thread. I think my best luck, not having found any gear worth mentioning, would have been when a buddy and I initially were angry to see a bunch of plastic bottles around the fire pit as we first walked into the camp. Turns out they were all full...and the guys either didn't want to carry them anymore, or had had their fill the night before. Either way, I'll take free beer any time. :)
 
RaisedByBears99
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05/05/2012 12:16AM  

My kids were out about five years ago. They found a campsite on Lady Boot Bay in LLC well away from the water on some very high ground which gave whoever camped there a very good view of the surrounding waters. The site was very secluded and hard to locate. They said it seemed to be a very long term campsite with one very old tent in tatters and another newer one pitched alongside. They said the area gave them the creeps like someone was watching them.

I checked the site the following year and only found the older tent. The newer one had been removed. I'd agree with the "long term." Lots of trash. Removed as much as I could pack out. Nothing interesting, just trash.

 
05/07/2012 10:42AM  
I've found a nice minnow trap once. I also, the best find of course would be a Bear Ransacked XL Duluth Pack. Probly a season or two in the woods. Had mold growing on the outside of it, it was half burried. I pulled it out and soaked it for a few days, washed it off via rock as a scrub board. Dried it in the sun and packed it out. (Another guy in our party actually found it and did not want to mess with it) I jumped on it immediately thinking of future uses. Great find. Has anyone caught my stringer of walleye in Boulder Bay yet? Or my 550 cord with 4 swivel stringer hooks on it from the Island on the North side of Horse Lake yet? Keep them, you deserve them if you packed them out.
 
Humdinger
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05/07/2012 12:37PM  
On a Boy Scout trip, we found a outfitters bending branches paddle at a campsite and did the honest boy scout thing and left it behind. Later that day, one of our adults broke a paddle and we decided to go back and see if it was there so we could have a spare and it was gone. I'm sure someone not trying to be such a honest example would have grabbed it.

Now if anyone admits to picking up small green trager day pack with a cup, water bottle, binoculars, and rain gear... thats mine that I lost on my first trip in! I have avoided using green packs ever since then because they blend in too well.
 
05/08/2012 08:43AM  
Twenty years ago we found an outfitters version of the 4-person Timberline tent at the campsite we stayed at. We base-camped for 4 days and nobody ever came for it, so we packed it out when we left. Still use it today for car-camping.

 
05/09/2012 05:10PM  
quote HammerII: "On a canoe trip in Maine we found the mother of all stashes hidden in a hole behind some rocks at a campsite. We dated it based on the few items that we could still ID as around the early 30's. It appears to be a food/equipment stash. We found 20 cans wrapped in the remains of a oilskin a few labels remained(not really paper more like painted on the cans)that were for tomatos and another for peaches. A huge hank of rotted rope, the remains of a short handle axe, a rusted out cooking pot and a chunk of bee's wax covering a wad of matches.(Nope they didn't light either)What might have clothing and or blankets. From the signs my guess is that this stuff had been there forever. We repacked everything back in the hole as found and continued our trip wondering the who what and why..........
"

Wow, cool.
 
05/09/2012 05:11PM  
quote RaisedByBears99: "
My kids were out about five years ago. They found a campsite on Lady Boot Bay in LLC well away from the water on some very high ground which gave whoever camped there a very good view of the surrounding waters. The site was very secluded and hard to locate. They said it seemed to be a very long term campsite with one very old tent in tatters and another newer one pitched alongside. They said the area gave them the creeps like someone was watching them.


I checked the site the following year and only found the older tent. The newer one had been removed. I'd agree with the "long term." Lots of trash. Removed as much as I could pack out. Nothing interesting, just trash."

freaky
 
yellowcanoe
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05/09/2012 05:20PM  
Not on a portage or a campsite but flooded in a swamp on the Edisto River near the I 95 overpass.

An entire camp..tent. Sleeping bag. Plate utensils still in WalMart bags. Cans of sausage and spam. And a pretty good frypan and some bobbers.

All covered in mud.
 
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