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

I walked down off Finger Rock once with duct tape wrapped around my foot after my worthless Teva sandal came completely apart on me. I got quite a few looks and questions. One lady who identified herself as a nurse offered to help me with my "Broken foot." I was much, much younger and less refined in life back then and she got a rather undignified response...

In response to rlrjamy:
Okay, okay it was me. I feel pretty good about it now too after reading azpride's radical rap

I was doing an early morning trail run up Finger Rock trail one winter, and reaching a point where the trail was entirely snow covered and colder, I decided to switch out of my soaked shirt and shorts, and put on winter garb for the remainder of the hike... I moved off trail about 5 yards and stripped, only to hear at that moment the crunching of snow coming from below, and immediately thereafter a female hiker rapidly approaching. Back then, hikers on that trail were rare, and I was always wanting to connect with others, but in this moment I simply stood with my back to the trail until she had passed by. I could not for the life of me think of a good and easy explanation for standing there naked in the snow. Would be interesting to hear her perspective...

Ah - but the things that we hikers think are perfectly normal are extremely odd or even hilarious to people who aren't as trail-beaten... Such as:

• Trekking Umbrellas
• Toe Socks
• Sleeping in Hammocks
• Using "ski poles" for hiking (my mom finally got over that one this year)
• Shorts in knee-deep snow
• Wag Bags / TP Bags
• Mid-hike yoga
• Bivies
• Flying Squirrels in Five fingers...

writelots wrote:Ah - but the things that we hikers think are perfectly normal are extremely odd or even hilarious to people who aren't as trail-beaten... Such as:

• Trekking Umbrellas
• Toe Socks
• Sleeping in Hammocks
• Using "ski poles" for hiking (my mom finally got over that one this year)
• Shorts in knee-deep snow
• Wag Bags / TP Bags
• Mid-hike yoga
• Bivies
• Flying Squirrels in Five fingers...

Someone asked me if I was scared of "Suffocating to death" in my bivy bag, once...

I was backpacking with my dad and sister a couple years ago, and as we all lie down to fall asleep my sister who is freaking herself out about bears and mountain lions asks if she can sleep with the mighty .22 ruger lol... (much good that would do against a bear) then she proceeds to ask and i quote "dad, will this gun hoot thru mosquito netting?" in a scared little girl voice (mind you shes 20 yrs old) me and my dad just laid there laughing our faces off for a good ten minutes.. So the next day knowing i can take advantage of her gullibilness (sp) she asks if its ok to rinse her face off with some water outta the little creek which wasnt flowing heavily, but there was moving water for sure.. i said ya of course, and right after i said now lick your shirt!!! she starts frantically licking her shirt sleeve thinking this will remove any parasites etc... again me and my dad just sat and laughed until we nearly started crying... poor girl will never live this trip down...

That is funny! But it also makes me glad I took my daughter camping at an early age, and backpacking by 8 years old.

Thats the worst part!!!! shes grown up camping and hiking with me and my dad since she was little.. she just lacks in a little common sense...

She once had a soccer game in chandler, we live in north phoenix/glendale, so for us this is quite the journey.. well she had just got her license and decided she would drive herself to the game.. a few hours later she called from payson, apperantely a little off course... dont ask how, i dunno, but she actually drove all the way to payson with the intent of going to chandler..

All this cant go without mentioning my sister never got less than an A in any class, college level math and science her junior year of highschool, she would get 100 percents as her overall grade.. She is just about finished with nursing school and is super intelligent.. just a little off when it comes to common sense i guess..

berkforbes wrote:She once had a soccer game in chandler, we live in north phoenix/glendale, so for us this is quite the journey.. well she had just got her license and decided she would drive herself to the game.. a few hours later she called from payson, apperantely a little off course... dont ask how, i dunno, but she actually drove all the way to payson with the intent of going to chandler..

berkforbes wrote:I was backpacking with my dad and sister a couple years ago, and as we all lie down to fall asleep my sister who is freaking herself out about bears and mountain lions asks if she can sleep with the mighty .22 ruger lol... (much good that would do against a bear) then she proceeds to ask and i quote "dad, will this gun hoot thru mosquito netting?" in a scared little girl voice (mind you shes 20 yrs old) me and my dad just laid there laughing our faces off for a good ten minutes.. So the next day knowing i can take advantage of her gullibilness (sp) she asks if its ok to rinse her face off with some water outta the little creek which wasnt flowing heavily, but there was moving water for sure.. i said ya of course, and right after i said now lick your shirt!!! she starts frantically licking her shirt sleeve thinking this will remove any parasites etc... again me and my dad just sat and laughed until we nearly started crying... poor girl will never live this trip down...

I bet you and your dad sent the poor girl on a snipe hunt or three back in the day.

When I saw the bears on Sixshooter Trail in the Pinals I basically sang "Bear Down Arizona" all the way to the top in an attempt to make noise so I wouldn't surprise any bruins again. Of course I didn't see another person the entire day....

berkforbes wrote:She is just about finished with nursing school and is super intelligent.. just a little off when it comes to common sense i guess..

Please inform me as to which medical institution she will be working at in Phoenix, and her name. So if I am ever in the area and have to be admitted to a hospital there I know who I definitely do not want for my nurse.

Infra wrote:

berkforbes wrote:She is just about finished with nursing school and is super intelligent.. just a little off when it comes to common sense i guess..

Please inform me as to which medical institution she will be working at in Phoenix, and her name. So if I am ever in the area and have to be admitted to a hospital there I know who I definitely do not want for my nurse.

Off topic here...but I am amazed by some of the really stupid stuff I hear uttered from nurses mouths while at work. In fact, it down right scares me and makes me wonder how the heck some of them ever passed nursing school...also reminds me that if I require hospitalization for any medical condition, I definitely do not want to be admitted to the hospital I work for

I'm assuming Berkforbe's sister is very smart, just a bit ditzy, and focuses on her studies and her work more than on how to be a successful outdoorswoman. However, I am also amazed at the apparent low IQs of some nurses. And so many of them smoke cigarettes! Yuck!

Yeah, off topic.

However, check out my new winter avatar, if you want goofy!

Infra wrote:

Infra wrote:

berkforbes wrote:She is just about finished with nursing school and is super intelligent.. just a little off when it comes to common sense i guess..

Please inform me as to which medical institution she will be working at in Phoenix, and her name. So if I am ever in the area and have to be admitted to a hospital there I know who I definitely do not want for my nurse.

Off topic here...but I am amazed by some of the really stupid stuff I hear uttered from nurses mouths while at work. In fact, it down right scares me and makes me wonder how the heck some of them ever passed nursing school...also reminds me that if I require hospitalization for any medical condition, I definitely do not want to be admitted to the hospital I work for

You must work at TMC.

I liked this thread better when it was about goofy hikes.

Since things got off topic a bit, I thought I'd share my little "trail" story. When I volunteered at Desert Botanical Garden my job was to put Prickly Pear jelly on soda crackers arranging them on a tray and putting them on a cart to set beside a walkway for visitors to taste.

Usually the man would send his wife up to the cart to taste and if she approved it he would eat some. One day I offered it to a young woman who declined...her reason being: "Prickly Pear Cactus is an endangered species..."

Aren't some people just beyond ridiculous? Don't you wonder what they do at home with their time? Did you very gently inform this gal that she was perhaps mistaken?

I tried...but she would have none of it. It seemed to me that people thought I was trying to poison them.

Poof, your pelli HAZ been earned ;)

And well-deserved it is!

Endangered Jellypelli

I love it!!!