Stupid People

Humans may be the smartest thing on the planet, but chimps are catching up really fast:

I went XC skiing this past weekend at a state park in central New York. I was coasting downhill at a pretty good speed, when all of a sudden, I was flying like superman. Crashed into the ground elbow and shoulder-first (still hurts). As I was shaking off the cobwebs, two gentlemen walked over to me. They said they saw me crash, and were sorry that they placed the softball-sized rock in the trail so they could find their way out By the time I got back on my skis, another skiier had come by to restrain me from committing about a dozen crimes.

This got me thinking... who were the stupidest people you've run across?

The guy who went flying by me on skis and hit the rock I put in the trail....



Just kidding!!!

A friend and I hiked up Cannon years ago and when we got to the Rim Trail, several people came down from the Tram and were talking to us. A guy asked "Did you hike up here?" and we said "Yes". A woman looked aghast and asked "All the way?"

On that same hike and just a few minutes later a young boy was throwing rocks down the hill and his father told him "Stop that. There might be hikers down there." To which the little boy made a snowball and asked "Is it okay to throw snowballs?" Dad answered "Yes."

JohnL

Must be something about Cannon. When I climbed Cannon a few winters ago, a couple came up to me and asked if we had climbed. Ther next question was did I know there were lifts? (seriously)

Stupid.

Tricky subject. If one doesn't know something...I would consider it ignorance. Still in most cases…no excuse.
In Yellowstone you are bombarded with literature to “Stay away from the animals”. Hand outs at the entrances, on the roads, etc.. Yet every time I am there, sure enough, there will be a person who wanders up to an elk or bison to get that “perfect” shot with the camera. It simply amazes me.

Anyone who bet against the Patriots this past week-end. That was ignorant and stupid.

Stupidtrek57

While building a cairn above treeline on the Red Spot trail on Mt. Monadnock, I had a woman approach me and ask if I was building a barbecue.

And once from the Monadnock summit I had a gentleman ask me if it were possible to see Everest from here. I replied "Not today, it's a bit too hazy."

Jaytrek, if you bet against the Patriots this week you'd have won ... they didn't meet the spread ... but who cares?

max, that bar-b-que idea sounds like a good one. Heck, what's wrong with a little cookout here or there ... pack your own charcoal, of course, in and out. As for Everest, that's ridiculous ... but I have claimed to see the Eiffel Tower on a really clear day.

I think I met Rico's stupid people once: I was flying downhill on a oneway trail at a XC area and as I rounded a bend there were 3 people standing by the side of the narrow trail waving their arms and yelling to slow down. I went up in the air and came down on my tailbone, breaking it. When the fog cleared from my brain, I said, "What was it?" They said, "We thought you were going too fast!" I said a couple of choice things and spent the next two hours hobbling back to the car.

A friend of mine was skiing a few years ago and another skier who was skiing too fast and recklessly ran right into her and knocked her down. She was in the hospital for days and spent months being cautious about everything she did while she had to let her pelvic bone heal.

Stan--

The Patriots met the spread if you "teased" it down. Won't get into it here but...let's just say with the "under" I had a pretty prosperous night.

Back on Topic:

Stupid Part II:
All those "rocket scientists" out there who take a #2 in the winter time, on snow, WITH toilet paper and don't at the very least, pack out the toilet paper. They will just dig a hole in the snow and forget about it. Do they think the TP magically disappears with the melting snow?

It is a shame to go into established sites May/June and see the evils of their ways strewn about.

Bettheundertrek57

I was stopped by three exhausted people on the Lake Arnold trail (they had climbed Marcy up Van Hoevenberg trail and were returning.) They asked if I could tell them where they were, and I said sure, let me show you on your map, and they pulled out the state highway map.

Stupid People?

I got one for ya'll!

The other day I was...wait...uhhh...that was me that was stupid. Forget it.

Navigating by road map rings a bell with me, too... I think someone was trying to get up or down Algonquin, maybe, or through Avalanche Pass.

It seems to me that Edward Abbey had a lot of stupid/ignorant/funny questions that he was asked by tourists when he worked as a ranger. When I was on Hurricane Ridge in Washington State back in ’84, I overheard a guy ask a ranger why was there snow on these mountains (the Olympics) when they were only such-and-such an elevation and you had to go to such-and-such higher an elevation to see snow in Colorado. The ranger just looked at him for a few seconds then replied, "Well, we're a lot further north here."

I spent a night at the Beaver Brook shelter on Moosilauke a few years ago and ran into a couple from the Bronx who were section hiking the AT. I was eating dinner with friends when a man came walking up (followed by a dog and his wife) who sat down by our fire and took his boots off before pointing to them and announcing "I've been hiking in these." After this, he tried to dry his boots by putting them directly on a flaming log. The evening became more and more bizarre when the couple refused to let their dog drink stream water for fear of giardia.

At one point, the woman asked me if I knew anything about edible mushrooms and I mentioned that one of my friends knew quite a bit about them. At this she said "Oh, I don't mean the hallucinogenic kind." Not to be outdone, the man began asking about the possibility of a taxi picking him, his wife, and dog up at the USFS road below the Beaver Brook shelter area. He was surprised upon being told that there were no taxis in the area.

These were the highlights of a chance meeting with outdoor ignorance at its finest.

I was staying at the Perch leanto overnight. We were sharing it with two strangers. One of them mentioned that his friend snored, but that he would take care of it. That night every time his friend snored, this guy took two pots and banged them loudly together!!
Not a very good nights sleep.

Not directly related to camping, but a former roommate once used some of my Coleman fuel to start a wood fire. Problem was the wood was in a fireplace insert and when he threw the match in, it blew the insert halfway across the living room.

somewhat relavent

When the fishing gets slow on the Sacandaga, the wife and I go over to the boat launch. We anchor off, get out our lunch and watch. Between the backing up of the rig and forgetting the drain plug, the yelling just tops it off. Great entertainment!

Mike G.

Alpine makes a very good point about stupid people and the entertainment value they provide.

A couple summers ago we were staying at John's Brook Lodge. Around 9:00 PM a woman enters the main room and starts asking around if they have any rooms (they didn't). Ten minutes later her 11 or 12 year old boy comes in. He had fallen into John's Brook and was soaking wet. Then another ten minutes her daughter enters. None of them had any packs, they were all wearing aqua socks, and they obviously had separated as they were hiking in from the Garden.

A half hour later the father arrives, with about 100 pounds of gear on his back. They all then left, presumably to setup camp somewhere. Never saw them again.

I'm feeling pretty stupid....

After successfully negotiating numerous iced over stream crossings on Sat. (I counted about 21) I come home and two days later slip on a crossing that I make often. Because it had fresh snow cover the rock I thought I was stepping to was actually a solid ice flow that sent me down in a flash. My wrist is none to happy. Good thing no one was watching or it would have been quite entertaining.

About half way up Mt Rainier, we ran into a guy that was climbing solo. He asked if he could buy a pair of crampons from us. We declined the offer as we were using ours at the time. Thankfully, he then descended rather than following us up onto an even more crevassed glacier than the one he had already crossed.

Some years later, we must have met his relative on Mt. Washington. We were descending the summit cone in late spring with a few inches of snow on the ground, temps in the mid 30's and a heavy condensing fog making our shell gear pretty wet. We meet a guy dressed in a soaking wet cotton sweatshirt heading up, complaining about being cold, and who then offers to buy a pair of gloves from us. Again we passed, since we were using the gear at the time and were enjoying being warm. We had no luck convincing the fellow that he'd be warmer if he descended.

Who knew there was so much money to be made selling gear on the trail!