I did a quick search of the boards and didn't find anything like this, so here is my question.

What are some of the items, other than trash, that you've found in the parks, such as along portage trails and campsites.

Last year I found two pairs of eye glasses at the spot at the end of the longer of the meadows portages. Both had clearly been there a while, but found it interesting both were within 3 feet of eachother on/under the same bush.

Numerous fishing lures.
But two items stand out becasue I still have/use them.
One is a 16oz wire handle camping mug and the other is a nice rip-stop nylon fishing shirt with the vented back/arms.
Found the cup in the water at a campsite and the shirt hanging at the start/end of a portage.

I was in Woodland Caribou and had seen no other paddlers for a few weeks. Found a blue Seirra mug with warm coffee in it at a portage. It was a portage the beavers had flooded and was a    very stinky bog walk, not what you would want to repeat if you did not have too. Never did catch up to anyone so I am still hanging onto it.

While on the Tim river in Algonquin I lost my Bear spray only to find another 1lb full canister hanging in a tree the very same day.

While in Glacier I had my "grizzly preventative" mouth blown boat horn develop a hairline crack and refused to work.........the same day I found a police whistle which fit the bill nicely.

On the lighter side my pal "found" a wolf spider in his portage boot. That was freaky.........dang thing was huge.......

I have found tons of campfire grates, usually in the weeds around Q campsites. ;)

A couple of years ago, I found an outfitter's canoe on Beaverhouse which had been blown from a campsite due to the negligence of campers.  When we checked in at Atikokan, the ranger asked us to be on the lookout for a lost canoe.  I put the canoe on the shore, high and dry, and called the ranger when we got out.  The canoe had a couple of holes in it from pounding on the rocky shoreline.

On my trip this April I found a spotting scope on a portage between Robinson and Nub. On the last portage between Irene and Kahshahpiwi I found a Grey Owl paddle in immaculate condition leaned against a cedar tree at portage end. It was a long thin beaver tail design, close to 5' tall. Considered carrying it out but it must have weighed close to five pounds- set it back against the tree.

There's one or two threads in the archives but that's why they are there. Unfortunately I've not found anything of value worth mentioning lately. I still have the wire sculpture that depicts a fisherman from one of my favorite campsites on the wall in my office. Beyond that, probably the most memorable find was   (You need to Login or Register and I came back on subsequent trips to check progress:


That one new bite still makes me laugh. Beavers are not the quickest animals on land but the expert caution, the, don't bite off more than.... That display of patience has always stuck with me and will be forever associated with the BW/Q in my mind.

In 1986 while trolling through Mackenzie near the skeleton my partner Scott set his rod down to dig something out  of the pack in front of him. While distracted, boom a fish slams his lure and the rod is overboard and gone. The next day we camped at the Mackenzie  bay narrows site and discovered the previous camper had left his/her rods and reels leaning up against a tree. Scott took this to be a clear sign from God that he was not to be without fishing equipment in the Quetico. Three years later Scott and I are back in Mackenzie, trolling near the skeleton and Scott hooks some old fishing line. First pulls up a broken line end then a very slimy rod and reel on the other end that he swears is the one that went overboard 3 years prior.
Jon

Years ago guy in our party found a rod case on an island on Pickerel. It had an address, so he mailed it. Alas, never received a "thank you."

Another year a guy found a Tilley floating in Chatterton. He boiled water and scrubbed it up and wore it for a few years.

And the best: back in the late '90s, we were camping on Russell when two guys in our party went to check out the base of Chatteron falls. They found a canoe in the water, beat to hell and back. They dragged it up on shore, just to take pictures. I have a pic somewhere.

Would like to know the story behind that one.

-- kypaddler

Jon wrote on Apr 27^th, 2012 at 1:32pm:

The next day we camped at the Mackenzie  bay narrows site Jon

Must be the spot for finding stuff; we camped there the second night of my first trip. On one of the nails was a big spinner.

We've been past countless various quantities of gear at the ends of portages with nobody around. We've left it alone on the premise somebody would notice it was missing and return.

Once we actually got to meet the folks that left the stuff behind. Just as we were coming into Hook Island another group was just finishing loading for their tow out. After we got unloaded and stretched a bit, we noticed a dry bag that wasn't ours. A look inside revealed the gear of a serious photographer. wasn't long until the tow boat came back!

Spare paddles; least, one hopes they were spares...

On one trip we found a very very old penny in the dirt at the end of a portage.  I forget the exact date, but I think it was 1910 or so.  I found an old Buickthat was almost that old, but couldn't haul it out.  If anyone found a very nice rain parka at Prairie Portage in late June 2007, I hope they enjoyed it.  It was brand new and I didn't realize that I had left it until that night at camp.  My brother left his PFD at an island where we ate lunch last summer.  We didn't realize it until we hit camp, about 4 miles and two portages later.  It was the first day of a 9-day trip, so we couldn't go on without it.  He and I were the strongest paddlers, so we went back and got it. Fortunately we had made camp early. 

Mostly the standard finds - fishing lures, rusted to sh$t hatchets and saws etc.  I did find a nice pair of Smart Wool socks at a campsite on Jean.  But the best (near that same campsite on Jean) was a perfect wing feather from a Bald Eagle - not so much a find, really, as a gift.

Little thing, but interesting: a button, seemed to be of lead, near old fireplace on overgrown campsite on Suzanette.  A little looking on the net suggests that this kind of button might go back to the mid 1800's.  Left it at the campsite.

---

Ripple,  your old button was cool.  Your putting it back was just as cool. I had to look twice at the picture, as my first impression had me thinking that, that button was looking right at me.

Half of a poly kayak at the bottom of one of the rapids on Basswood River.  A whole, but trashed, canoe at the top of Olifaunt portage.  Lots of fishing lures.  Several "spare" paddles; the last one on LaCroix.  A folding camp chair in camo case on Carp portage.  A nice folding canoe seat on shoreline of Saganaga.  An army type duffel with potatoes, onions, tortillas, and a 1/2 gallon (partially consumed) of Whiskey on Brule; floating on shoreline 2011.  A roach clip on portage trail in Q.  A very nice camp axe on Birch Lake.
A Timex watch under water at the bottom of Upper Basswood Falls...it worked for years after I rescued it. 

Someone has found a very long and strong tarp rope on Kashapiwi that I forgot.  Also a long sleeved shirt with $30.00 in the pocket that one of my camping partners left on Knife portage going into the Kek ponds.   :'(

Found:  Two identical kid-size folding chairs in their original carry bags - and boxes! - when stopping for lunch at the campsite on Wagosh Lake (south of Crooked Lake/Friday Bay).  They were in brand new condition; the boxes hadn't even been rained on.  This was in June 2011.  We left them there.

Lost:  8/13/08 - A collapsible pole for a two-man tent fly, at a site on the north end of Lake Agnes.  Made a replacement out of a dead spruce.

Found: 8/16/08 - The tent pole left behind three days earlier.  I still wonder what the occupants of that site thought about someone returning to retrieve a lost item.

Quote:

A folding camp chair in camo case on Carp portage.

That strikes me as being funny as hell ;D
Considering the amount of gear people leave, you'd think camo is the last color you'd want :-?

Ooooh. I found a (Jamie Marshall's) BSA Voyageur Handbook To Adventure a few years back. -still have it if she wants it.  :)

Lots of cord & tent pegs always found on every trip.  I keep 'em.  Usually found on the daily find-10-things camp clean up.

Stove in an army style satchel.  Found on a portage.  Likely forgotten after lunch.  Left it in plain view in case the owner came back for it.

4 sleeping pads found at one end of Batchewaung Bay.  Rolled up and bundled for transport.  A couple had been nibbled by critters.  No portage near.  No evidence of anyone having been around.  There had been wind storms a few days earlier.  I assumed they were lost and carried them to the Nym portage where I promptly forgot about them.

Found a map after losing mine.  I wasn't going anywhere I needed a map for.

Not in the lost category so much as the inadvertantly-taken category: We once saw a guy paddling a canoe with a stick.  He stopped and asked if we had seen another party pass (we had).  Turns out, they had loaded and taken his paddle at a portage they were both crossing.  This guy was not in the best of moods; would have liked to have heard the conversation, when he finally caught up with that other group (we had no spare paddles on that trip, or would have given him one).

Once I found an awesome Gransfors Bruks axe, I beleive it was the American Felling axe at a campsite we were investigating.  Unfortuantely after about 5 minutes, the owner, who was set up in the adjacent camp site, came to claim it.  ;D

ripple wrote on Apr 30^th, 2012 at 7:04pm:

Not in the lost category so much as the inadvertantly-taken category: We once saw a guy paddling a canoe with a stick. ).

Portage pirates. I once had a motley bunch throw my nice pack in the bottom of their canoe then cover it with gear.  I caught them just before they shoved off.

An old weather worn Sawyer paddle coming out of the Man chain.  It was floating near the shoreline and had obviously been wandering around the wilderness for a good while.  Very heavy compared to today's paddles....could be ash.  It made it's way into my paddle case and came home for a life of leisure.

pd

I have a similar story to Gavia's about losing something then finding it again. My dad and I were doing the S chain about 5 years ago when we packed up and hit the lakes for a day. After about an hour he noticed he didn't have his glasses. He was annoyed but figured no big deal, he brings those particular ones because hes camping and they can get beat up etc and he doesn't have to read any roadsigns in the woods. That afternoon when we reached our destination we set up the tent and there they were, tucked neatly into the side pocket where he left them the night before, not broken or anything! we still share a laugh about that one.

I stopped to pick up someone's discarded worm container (one of my least favorite things to carry out for someone else) and there was a beautiful Browning lockblade knife underneath it.  Karma!  Somewhere on the end of a portage up near Kawnipi, I think.  For some reason, I find abandoned sandals often.

I lost my pocket knife at work one day.  The next day on my way out to the parking lot there laid a nice knife similar but a better brand than the one I lost.  I lost that knife on a Quetico trip and the next year I crawled into my hammock and there it was. I still carry that knife but I do not take it on camping trips.
MagicPaddler

In the Wabikimi Park, on a wood plaque attached to a tree at a lunch site at the bottom of a long rapids, commemorating the life and death of a young man who drowned in the rapids. 

Written by his mom.

prouboy

Puckster wrote on May 6^th, 2012 at 3:07am:

In the Wabikimi Park, on a wood plaque attached to a tree at a lunch site at the bottom of a long rapids, commemorating the life and death of a young man who drowned in the rapids.  Written by his mom. prouboy

Similar theme on island on east end of Sturgeon lk close to Lonely creek portage.

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In areas with more invasive human history I've found old walls/fences, cars, buildings, equipment - the remnants of homesteading, logging, and mining.

Anybody ever taken a look at the old Buick on the Canadian side of crooked right before you get to basswood. Its on a island on the left paddling east. Pretty neat. Bill

Not as cool as an old Buick, but there's an old bedframe at one of the campsites on the far eastern edge of Quetico Lake.  Growing inside of the frame are 4 red pines that are each close to a foot in diameter.  That frame has been there for a while.

I just tried to reply with a photo of the Buick, but my post was rejected because the image was too large.  Not sure how to compress it so I can post it.

There is also a car back in the pine trees at the BH/Quetico portage - Quetico side.

Jim wrote on May 11^th, 2012 at 7:07pm:

I just tried to reply with a photo of the Buick, but my post was rejected because the image was too large.  Not sure how to compress it so I can post it.

Hi Jim.......

I had that very same problem. Now I put my photos on Photo Bucket and then copy the code and paste it into my post. works great. There are 3 differing choices of code. I think it is the last one. Give it a try, it is easy. If you have any trouble PM me and I will be glad to help you. When it comes to cyber space I have to be spoon fed but I have this figured out.

MT

Buick.....   (You need to Login or Register


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