[at-l] Stupid things you (or someone else) has done. Was: "Strange" pack items

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> This was in the Adirondacks 4 (maybe 5) years ago
> on the trail over Lake
> Arnold Pass?.  It was an inexpensive one (the
> type that could be had for
> around $89 at the time) with a braid wrapped fake
> ivory grip, a "gold" hand
> guard and a black wood sheath.  I have a short
> sword of the same type.

Nope, that wasn't me.  I was hiking in Arizona and
California five years ago, an my Katana was 'real', and not
a cheap knock-off.

>
> I've never quite comprehended belonging to a
> group or whatever that
> dictated mode of dress, etc.  I am just too damn
> independent I guess.  What
> was the point of his requiring you to carry it?
> I presume that there was a
> reason.

There is an absolutely perfect reason, which he finally
admitted to everyone who had passed the 'test'.  The reason
to make you carry a Samurai sword everywhere you go is to
make you feel stupid for carrying one.  Evidently most
students come to think that they really are Ninja or
Samurai, but as my Sensei put it, "We are not Samurai, we
are merely inheritors of their legacy."  You can be told
this, but if you carry a Samurai sword around for awhile,
you quickly realize that the sword as a symbol of a warrior
(if not as a weapon) has no context in our culture, and you
just feel stupid.  I still have my sword, and still practice
with it, but at least now I do not imagine myself as the
embodiment of an ancient warrior...

To make this trail related, I have carried this idea over to
backpacking.  I've done some pretty stupid things, and I
used to imagine myself as one of the early explorers or
trappers.  (Hasn't everyone on the list fantasized about
being with Lewis and Clark on those early adventures?)  Now
I realize that I am not a mighty adventurer, but rather a
traveler of paths that many have tread.  Sure, I've been in
wild places, but I don't think I've ever been where no man
has gone before - even if they haven't been there in a long
time.

So, (having previously covered stupid things people carry)
the question of the day is, what is something stupid that
you've done?  I assume this list is about learning, so let's
learn from one another...

My all-time stupidest was knocking my pack off a cliff into
a river in Alaska, where it promptly was washed away.
(Lesson:  Keep the back behind you, not next to you.)  My
second stupid thing is setting my lean-to tarp on fire.
(Lesson:  Never build your fire too close to the edge of
your tarp.)  My third stupid thing is failure to pay
attention to weather forecasts.  (My buddy and I were three
days out in summer gear and the weather was beautiful.  On
the third night, the temperature hit 19 below zero.  Well,
at least that's as low as my thermometer went...)

Shane