HikeArizona.COM

OK, we have all seen some pretty goofy hikers. More than we can remember. What are yours?

Today, we saw some kid hiking with a Game Boy two inches from his face. Luckily he was on the Bell Rock Pathway and was in no danger of walking over a cliff. He was so funny looking it was hard not to laugh out loud. His parents were ignoring him.

We will always remember the guy hiking with a 5-gallon pickle bucket strapped to his back. At Indians Gardens. Classic!

We've always liked those tourists who use plastic grocery bags as packs. How innovative!

Or the people who try to "bum" water from you when they are less than a half mile from the TH.

I'd give anything if I would have kept a written log of all the goofy hikers we've seen over the years. It sure would be fun to recount them in their original "glory."

We're certain our "goofy hiker" stories pale in comparison to those lurking in the minds of HAZ-ites everywhere. We hope you find time to share your stories here. In the meantime, we will continue to dredge the depths of our memory for more "goofy hiker" stories.

Meanwhile, we are trying to be a goofy hiker ourselves! Another HAZ member and we are exploring the possibility of outfitting us in high heels just to take "gag" pictures in various places high heels would never go. But we really, honestly DO see high heels on a fairly regular basis in Sedona. Sometimes even stilletto heels. Guess we're goofy, too, eh?


j

Neat to hear everyones stories

Reminds me of this time I was exploring part of the Dragoon Mountains... no particular trail, just exploring a bit. This wild woman (and believe me she was!) with hair to her butt that looks like it hadn't been washed or combed in a while, clothes that looked like she literally rolled around in everything for days since they'd been washed... came running up to me from outta no where. Scared the crap outta me, and said "If your looking for that box under the sticks, your not gonna find it. I took it far away from here." Before I could say anything, she climbed the boulders in front of me to the very top, like some kind of animal, I swear... she climbed those things so fast, she kind of hopped and bounced the whole way up. She then proceeded to watch me between the cracks of the rocks. Everytime I would look at her, she hid. I wasn't fazed by her wierdness... afterall I can be a bit wierd myself sometimes She was harmless, so I continued to explore. About 15 mintues later she comes walking up to me again and askes "What are you doing here?" I said "Just looking around." She said, "Okay, but only for a little while." Then ran off again...

I stayed only ten or so minutes longer and moved on. Interesting person indeed

Crystal

Interesting!?! Thats an understatement, Crystal!! That loco woman would have freaked me out!! I too can certainly self-apply the term weird, but that lady holds the patent. Wow!

Since we went from goofy to weird..I met a whole group of strange ones on a recent hike in the Sups. They seemed straight out of Deliverance, except they weren't packin' banjos or bows, but rather 357s. Which itself isn't that weird, however, these guns were stuck in waistbands LA style. and they had enough gear for a week out there. And were completely lost. When I tried to explain that they needed to backtrack and head north toward their destination, one guy said in low menancing voice, "well, MY directions said to turn left, not right". Okey dokey smokey. Gotta go. Have a nice hike.

I usually don't mind meeting strange people on the trail, after all, I am one. But, I didn't like picking up these particular people's garbage all the way to the trailhead. That pisses me off.

Crystal, that sounds like something out of an old kung fu movie.

I guess I spend too much time in more remote areas and am missing out on the best show Arizona has to offer.
The worst I've ever seen was three geriatric women (one with a cane) starting up the first hill on the Dutchman Trail at about 11:30am in April or May.

Fortunately, one had a 20oz. water bottle...

I saw a college-aged guy about half way down Bright Angel Trail a year or so ago that had no water but was carrying a bandilero (sp) of beer cans.
Also...we were hiking the Peralta Trail when one of our "senior" members fell. Later we found she had broken her ankle.
We were nursing her down when a young hiker came by, said he was in weight training mode and offered to carry her down. She hoped up on his back and we neve saw him again. He troted down the trail faster than we could hike. When we got to the TH she was safe and sound in her car waiting for us. A big thanks to that unknown person. :thanx:

rhills1 wrote:I saw a college-aged guy about half way down Bright Angel Trail a year or so ago that had no water but was carrying a bandilero (sp) of beer cans.

now there's an idea...

last time I did BA coming up there was enough water (when the faucets are on) that I didn't carry more than a 20oz gatorade bottle.. was VERY nice for a change.

It's funny that no one posting on this site has ever admitted to actually BEING one of those people!

Time to come clean!

In response to azbackpackr:
Oh I'd fully do the beer bandolier!

edit: if I could tolerate the particular brew warm

This guy is kinda goofy http://www.hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=116361

azbackpackr wrote:It's funny that no one posting on this site has ever admitted to actually BEING one of those people!

I hike with beer all the time. I usually bring vodka or scotch on my longer weight-restrictive hikes/backpacking trips. But I always have water with me unless I'm within view of my car/camp/cabin/lake/stream, etc.

I cannot admit to being college-aged a year ago though...

In response to rlrjamy:

koo koo kachoo!

A can vouch for Randall being a beer hauler on hikes - and boy are they tasty down in the canyon miles from the trailhead. Mmm...
As for myself, I carry the rum on the trip.

I've got a crazy Kaibab story about a guy named Lloyd that I'll have to take the time to type out later...

I will carry all the weight in the world if at the end of my day (day hike or backpacking) i can have a couple refreshing beers! Te-Wa will attest to this..

When I was a kid I saw a guy dressed as Santa Claus walking through the Phx Mountain Preserve a few days after Thanksgiving. I was only about 15 or so at the time, but I think he was making his way home from an early Christmas party.
I've encountered a few people singing folk songs in the Preserve before as well. That was great.

In early 2004 i was hiking the western supes. i think was going north on the whiskey spring trail when I passed a camp where the campers had just awoken. some guy with a heavy Irish accent was singing a song at the top of his lungs about his "dead brothers in the IRA". I just kept walking.

rlrjamy wrote:This guy is kinda goofy http://www.hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=116361

I can think of at least three pictures of Bartels from the late '90s that are goofy at best.
Here's a good one: http://www.hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=856

One morning out hiking for about an hour before daylight we came upon a saddle. At the saddle we saw a man standing about ten yards over. Bob yells out GOODMORNING! in a loud stern voice. The guy didn't flinch. We shake it off and kept on hiking. Within a few feet we found ourselves in the middle of a camp of about four others SLEEPING. Maybe two tents and two others in bivy at our feet... way to go goofy

azbackpackr wrote:It's funny that no one posting on this site has ever admitted to actually BEING one of those people!

Time to come clean!

Last April I backpacked into Tanque Verde Falls. I camped near the main falls, and the following morning at about 3:30 AM I woke up and hiked back to a smaller waterfall to photograph for sunrise, probably about halfway between the trailhead and the main falls. During my nighttime hike to the lower falls I started thinking about past news stories about mountain lion attacks in the mountains near Tucson. I was freaking myself out, so I started singing, at the top of my lungs, whatever was playing on my ipod (which just so happened to be rap), in order to scare off any large predators. Keep in mind I'm as white, blond and awkward the day is long. Before I knew it, in the midst of my white-boy rap, I was walking in between two people sleeping in nothing but sleeping bags (probably not sleeping at this point). No tent or even bivy to muffle my embarrassing babbling. Needless to say, I abruptly stopped "singing" when I saw them, but I'm sure they could hear the echo of my voice for at least 5 minutes before I finally tramped through their campsite.

Anyhow, if they were on this site, I'm sure they would be telling this same story, only from a different perspective.

Once after a week in the San Juans, I felt the need to rinse out my clothes before the last day. A late afternoon shower prevented their drying, so I tried to fight back with body heat. I was wearing a rut into the trail near camp, walking back and forth in wet clothes and shivering a fair bit. Suddenly two women appeared in my path, their expression signaling suspicion that their worst fears had just come to life. I gave a friendly greeting to allay their fears, but not having spoken in a week, all that came out was a weak sort of croak. I explained that I was just drying my clothes, but that seemed to make it even worse.

joe bartels wrote:One morning out hiking for about an hour before daylight we came upon a saddle. At the saddle we saw a man standing about ten yards over. Bob yells out GOODMORNING! in a loud stern voice. The guy didn't flinch. We shake it off and kept on hiking. Within a few feet we found ourselves in the middle of a camp of about four others SLEEPING. Maybe two tents and two others in bivy at our feet... way to go goofy

Nobody believes you...next thing you'll say is Goofys' friend Pluto isn't real. ;)

big_load wrote:Once after a week in the San Juans, I felt the need to rinse out my clothes before the last day. A late afternoon shower prevented their drying, so I tried to fight back with body heat. I was wearing a rut into the trail near camp, walking back and forth in wet clothes and shivering a fair bit. Suddenly two women appeared in my path, their expression signaling suspicion that their worst fears had just come to life. I gave a friendly greeting to allay their fears, but not having spoken in a week, all that came out was a weak sort of croak. I explained that I was just drying my clothes, but that seemed to make it even worse.