Uncoolest Find While Hiking

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mtree
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by mtree »

Parents pushing their 3-4 year old daughter up the final summit pitch of Quandary...her screaming and crying. Such a happy, healthy, hiking family. All in the name of Facebook, I guess.

Some guy pulling by leash his 3-legged little dog over some boulders on Bierstadt. Dog rolling on its sides exhausted. C'mon, stud. Chicks aren't digging it.

A bunch of guys spitting and tossing pistachio seeds all over the summit. Biodegradable? Yes. When, is the question. Same with orange peels.
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Oman
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by Oman »

Four pages and no mention of the 12 dead cattle that turned Conundrum Hot Springs into meatball stew?

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/conundr ... carcasses/
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Dan_Suitor
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by Dan_Suitor »

When I hike and see trash, I’ll pick it up and pack it out (when feasible). Most of my hikes/climbs are more remote, so typically it’s stuff that accidentally gets dropped (ex. hiking pole baskets). However, my hikes up Pikes Peak from Crags Campground I came across so many cigarette butts I gave up. It’s not as gross as a dead cow, but way un-cool because it’s intentional. Feel free to pollute your lungs, but don’t trash the trails.
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painless4u2
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by painless4u2 »

Oman wrote:Four pages and no mention of the 12 dead cattle that turned Conundrum Hot Springs into meatball stew?
Well, in fairness, not really the springs themselves, just the little cabin near it. But still gross, yes. :barf:
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highpilgrim
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by highpilgrim »

Wentzl wrote:

But come on, A crow (or perhaps a raven) followed me, watched my need and provided for me. That was pretty cool.
Cool you had that happen!

Corvids are amazing; Crows, ravens, blackbirds, blue jays...really smart critters. If ravens see you messing with a dead one, they've been known to buzz and harass the person doing it.

Both the attachments are highly recommended! The article from the Atlantic is recent and very interesting, on the subject of animal awareness.
corvids are cool.jpg
corvids are cool.jpg (31.4 KiB) Viewed 5067 times
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ws/580726/
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billycox
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by billycox »

Corvids are amazing
Yes! I recently read a study where some crows were able to infer whether an object was light or heavy based on the way the object moved in the breeze. Humans can't do that until age 5, and chimpanzees can't do that at all. Then there was another experiment where they painted a small dot onto a magpie's neck where it couldn't see the dot. Then they put a mirror into its cage and when the magpie saw it, it tried to get the dot off. The dang thing understood its own reflection!

Edit- Ha I just noticed the Atlantic article is the same one I read last PM. It has the magpie story.
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719BR
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by 719BR »

mtree wrote: Some guy pulling by leash his 3-legged little dog over some boulders on Bierstadt. Dog rolling on its sides exhausted.
ohhhhh this reminds me of an owner/dog combo i ran into on rainier, the poor thing slip-sliding down the snowfield below the muir hut, leaving a trail of bloody paw smears in its wake, whimpering the whole way. first time i've actually yelled at a dog owner. :evil: ](*,)
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by timisimaginary »

justiner wrote:
cougar wrote:I was told that if someone is watching you pee, you're not the one with the problem
Who was watching? I was ambushed.

I had to wonder if this is what this guy does for every peak he summits.


Maybe he'll put out a coffee table book, I hear those are popular.
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by timisimaginary »

poop. not deer or bear or other wild animal poop (no problem with those), and not human poop (thankfully), but dog poop and my biggest personal peeve, horse poop. it's bad enough on designated horse trails, which are typically wide enough to get around it, but a big steaming pile on a narrow hiking trail where there shouldn't be horses to begin with is not pleasant. i have to clean up after my dog when he poops on the trail, so why don't horse owners have to clean up after theirs? i've heard the excuses: "it's just undigested grass". ok, so if i become a vegetarian i can poop on the trail and leave it there also? i mean, it's just undigested plant matter too. "it doesn't smell as bad as dog/human poop". yeah but what it lacks in smell (a matter of opinion, btw; some of these horse owners have gone smell blind to it) it makes up for in size. it's just as gross to step in it as any other poop and just as hard to scrape off your boots. "it's too big/difficult to pick up and take out". i've seen responsible horse owners with bags to catch the poop. they exist, and if i have to carry bags and personally pick up and carry out my dog's poop, you should be able to buy and attach a bag, let your horse carry out his own poop and deal with the (supposedly clean and nice-smelling) poop at the end of your ride too. and bonus, now you get to take home all that healthy, non-environmentally-destructive, nice smelling manure home and use it on your garden instead!

once while hiking a section of the AT, i came across a bandana lying on the ground. figuring it was just somebody's bandana they dropped, i picked it up before realizing it was covered in yellow stains. apparently some through hiker had lost her pee rag on the trail. pee rags are a good and necessary item for female through hikers, i just wish i hadn't picked someone's up. i had planned to take it back to the trailhead, but when i realized what it was, i hung it off a nearby branch instead and rationalized it by telling myself maybe she'd come back for it.
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James Dziezynski
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by James Dziezynski »

There was (and maybe still is) a putrid cattle graveyard right on Flatirons Mesa in Boulder. If you follow the Dowdy Draw Trail up the switchbacks to the intersection of the Flatirons Vista North trail, the boneyard is close by. Go north off-trail along the fence and eventually there is a gully with at least 15 decomposing cattle. Ick. My guess is the ranchers who use the public land didn't want to report the deaths and just dumped them in a semi-hard to find place. I assume the bones are still there.
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by Trotter »

dead cows and horses. An animal that big reaaaally stinks
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Re: Uncoolest Find While Hiking

Post by cougar »

In Bandelier about 10 years ago the trail was full of dead cows. They wandered up into the canyon and got stuck there somehow, running out of grazing. I've seen random cows and other carcasses frequently, even a dead eyeless bobcat once, along with bone piles. Usually just the hide and bones remain.
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