Stupid People

[1ADAM12]

It was October of 2000 in Yellowstone. I was at the North Entrace of the park where all the parks officials offices are. Well there was a herd of Elk there grazing on the grass (also it was rut time) When a group of asians that did not speak any english were trying to get their pictures taken next to a Bull Elk. They got within two feet of him a guy on each side and their wives snapped the pictures. I thought for sure they were going to get trampled! A ranger came out and wrote them a ticket which I thought was very funny! The other funny part was the Asians were pretending not to speak English or maybe they really did not understand.

At the same Entrance a car next to me was feeding a Raven nuts right from her window. The funny part of this was there was a sign next to her car that said do not approach or feed the animals. A Ranger came out and warned the girls in the car not to feed the animals and pointed to the sign next to their car. When the Ranger was out of site or the girls thought...they fed the Raven again.....big mistake. The Ranger came back and wrote them a ticket as well

I never laughed so hard in my life!!!!!!!

Marcy Dam sometime in the early 90's a group of guys maybe 5 or so were hiking in a beer ball. Later the next day while the guys were on their day hike a bear came in and drank the rest of the beer that was left

Marcy Damn sometime in the 90's about 10pm. MY friend and I are in one of the lean-to's trying to get some sleep when all of a sudden a man yells out from across the Dam "May I have your attention please" We are like oh great something is wrong! In his next breath he yells out "The NY State Jackpot is now 10 million dollars" I have to admit that was quite funny. We laughed about that one the whole next day while we were hiking.

-Adam

 

[Solitary]

Marcy Dam sometime in the early 90's a group of guys maybe 5 or so were hiking in a beer ball. Later the next day while the guys were on their day hike a bear came in and drank the rest of the beer that was left

I have to admit this made me laugh out loud ... and then shudder. I know that when it comes to Homo sapiens there are happy drunks, sloppy drunks and mean drunks. I wonder what a mean drunk Ursus americanus would be like?

 

[1ADAM12]

I have to admit this made me laugh out loud ... and then shudder. I know that when it comes to Homo sapiens there are happy drunks, sloppy drunks and mean drunks. I wonder what a mean drunk Ursus americanus would be like?

MY buddy and I actually saw the bear! It was sitting on his rump holding the beer in his paws. I am guessing he capped it with his teeth. Then he tipped his head back and drank. We took some pictures but of course that was before digital times and I was very bad about putting my pictures in an album

 

[skiguy]

I have to admit this made me laugh out loud ... and then shudder. I know that when it comes to Homo sapiens there are happy drunks, sloppy drunks and mean drunks. I wonder what a mean drunk Ursus americanus would be like?

Even scarier if it was a Matts Beer Ball .....only something someone who went to college in NY State would understand

 

[woodstrider]

Here is a story, all too true about a bear and honey...I read it on a book on bear attacks in the US. It proved to have some good information on how not to get bite, killed or eaten by a bear, though sometimes it is out of your hands(totally no pun intended)

A parent(s) wanted to get a picture of a bear and their child so they put honey on the kid's hand, thinking that the bear would lick the honey off and they'd get a great picture and a long lasting memory. The bear came over and bit the kid's hand off.

 

[--M.]

This is very irresponsible blogging, and I wish it would stop. In the past five minutes, I've read multiple stories about bears, honey and children. If you don't stop writing these anecdotes, eventually the miscreants will stop teaching each other how to open food-vaults and will discover what you're talking about! Bears are dangerous enough as it is without us tipping our hands to them, so please, knock it off! I mean it!

Now, where do you get that commuter boat from Hingham to Weir's beach?

 

[dug]

There's a difference between stupid vs. uneducated/unexposed to new & different things. I am quite sure I've been called stupid once I get to the big city and can't figure my way around a subway system, and I've never considered myself stupid.

 

[charlos]

i was bouldering in central park in the middle of a problem when a passerby repeatedly asked me the time!

 

[forestgnome]

I understand when people describe being close to a bull elk, moose or bear as really stupid, but I do it anyway, every chance I get. I'm just really facinated with all wildlife that lives in the forest, particularly moose. The more I observe them and hang out with them, the more I learn about them. Yesterday I was hanging out with a mama and her yearling bull calf for over an hour. She became comfortable with my presence after a while. At one point I was between them, about 15' from mama. In my opinion, she did not mind my presence.

I'm quite sure that this would be labelled as stupid by many inexperienced people who have read about how dangerous mama moose can be. That's ok. I accept this, and I like it that way if it keeps others from getting close to moose.

Many of us enter into dangerous situations on our own free will. In fact, many drive hours just to do so. I quit viewing someone dangling from ropes off a cliff as stupid because of my own wildlife observing activities. I think most of us view dangerous activities as stupid if they do not interest us. I see no joy in dangling from ropes, but an ice climber or river kayaker might say "that forestgnome is stupid for being so close to a moose". We will do dangerous things if we get joy from them, while viewing dangerous acts that don't interest us as stupid.

Ok, stoke that flame-thrower

 

[roadtripper]

In the fall of 2005, two friends and I started hiking up the Nineteen Mile Brook trail just as the sun was setting on on a Saturday afternoon. We had reservations at the hut and hoped to reach it at around 8pm.

With each of us sporting headlamps, we ran into three kids (probably about 18 years old) standing on the trail approximately 1 mile from the hut. They had only one cheap flashlight between the three of them and they had no backpacks (aka, no food, no water). They hiked with their sleeping bags wrapped around their necks and, sitting beside them, were two full (and quite heavy) coolers full of beer that they had hauled 2 1/2 miles up the trail.

We asked them if they were alright, and they said they were sort of lost. They had heard that there was a hut on this trail and had assumed it would be fine to arrive without a reservation and party the night away. They had no idea how far along the trail the hut was. Finally, they said that due to the weight of the coolers and the dying batteries of their only flashlight, they had to turn around.

They asked how much further the hut was and were disappointed to find out they had to have been within 1/2 mile of it at one point. They were also shocked when we told them that you needed reservations for the huts.

Since they had about 2 1/2 miles to hike down, I'm guessing their flashlight died and they probably spent an unexpected night out in the woods. Probably just another "when i was young and stupid" type story they can tell in the future.

I wouldn't call these fellas "stupid" myself, but rather grossly unprepared.

 

[halia and flammeus]

The mishaps make for the best stories! I am so glad to have stumbled upon this thread - laughter is the next best thing to hiking... although, the way Flammeus and I hike, sometimes the two are indistinguishable.

Famous last words:
"I don't usually fall." Kaboom. North side of Balsam (Catskills) (notorious for steep slippery ascent/descent).

"This must be the right way - its heading down." Bushwacking off Halcott. Needless to say... 5 miles of unintended road walking ensued.

"At least there are no bugs." Hiking up Plateau (from the west) in a thunderstorm/downpour. It was basically like hiking under a showerhead.

"Finding cannisters is easy." Well, yes, when the guidebook has detailed (and accurate) directions.

Spoken to us: "You will not make it to the top." Those were some serious fighting words. Of course, no crampons in April on the north side of Katerskill High Peak... we didn't make it to the top. But damn, did we verbally eviscerate our challenger throughout the rest of the hike. (OK, Flammeus didn't. I did.)

These moments are only truly funny because no one got hurt, and we learned from them. I try hard to balance being an idiot and being safe...

 

[MonadnockVol]

Since they had about 2 1/2 miles to hike down, I'm guessing their flashlight died and they probably spent an unexpected night out in the woods. Probably just another "when i was young and stupid" type story they can tell in the future.

I wouldn't call these fellas "stupid" myself, but rather grossly unprepared.

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE ... well, actually, after reading all of the above, maybe you would ... the number of hikers who go up Monadnock, watch the sunset and then are surprised to discover that it gets DARK after sunset. Some enterprising few have used their cell phones as lights to get down, more often they use them to call 911.

- Monadnock Volunteer (aka Steve)

 

[BobC]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE ... well, actually, after reading all of the above, maybe you would ... the number of hikers who go up Monadnock, watch the sunset and then are surprised to discover that it gets DARK after sunset. Some enterprising few have used their cell phones as lights to get down, more often they use them to call 911.

- Monadnock Volunteer (aka Steve)

I was one of those idiots about 20 years ago, when I was young and stupid (or should I say more stupid than I am now). Hiked up Monadnock with my girlfriend, and even refused a ranger's offer of a flashlight at the summit when it was clearly getting late. I remember feeling surprised at just how dark the darkness really was, when you're on a mountain and away from any kind of street lights. Colossal stupidity. But that lesson stayed with me, and now I never go out without at least one headlamp, no matter what time of the day I think I'll be hiking down.

 

[MonadnockVol]

But that lesson stayed with me, and now I never go out without at least one headlamp, no matter what time of the day I think I'll be hiking down.

And there's the key thing: you learned from your mistakes. We all make 'em (and if you scroll up a few pages you can read where I tell on some of the many stupid things I've done) and with a little luck we survive and then - we hope - we learn.

 

[Ridgewalker]

One time when my scout troop was hiking in Acadia we were introduced to the cairns and their purpose to which one of the scouts asked if people were buried. Having an intellectual moment I answered, "yes dead people are sometimes buried under them, but not on hiking trails."

When I appointed hiking leader for our rainy day assault to Carter Dome I thought the river that divides the Nineteen Mile Brook trail went straight instead of going left where the cairn was(!) Our scout leader did not say anything and kept checking his bearings as we stumbled uphill. Finally he pulled us aside and made a lesson of it and we defined what a scout hiker was and the importance of looking for the white AT blazes.


The last story relating to dumb stupidity was that I came close to walking my entire troop off the Caps Ridge trail. At the time I was oblivious (sp) to seeing yet again painted markers. The same scout leader from the last story informed me that my energy was down and needed to eat gorp.

Lessons learned- Work on your powers of observation. Lucky for us we did not end up on the Accident reports in Appalachia.

 

[roadtripper]

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE ... well, actually, after reading all of the above, maybe you would ... the number of hikers who go up Monadnock, watch the sunset and then are surprised to discover that it gets DARK after sunset. Some enterprising few have used their cell phones as lights to get down, more often they use them to call 911.

- Monadnock Volunteer (aka Steve)

I was that guy once too. I was 18 and hiked up a small mountain outside Little Rock, AK (Pinnacle Mountain for those familiar) with my girlfriend at the time. Round-trip the hike is about 2 1/2 miles, and we wanted to watch the sunset, so we started up 30 minutes before the sun went down.

The idea that it got dark after the sun sets didn't even connect with us. This trail is VERY scrambly and we got lost several times on the way down. Luckily, it was close to a full moon and we could at least see a foot in front of us. In the end, I think we hiked an hour in the dark without a flashlight/headlamp with a couple of minor falls each. First and only time I'll do that!

 

[SherpaKroto]

Just heard this on in Jaunary from the Ranger at Cumberland Island, GA. A few months prior a group were on the Island and one know-it-all kept saying he was a "Horse Whisperer" and could get close to the wild horses there. He proceeded to get down on all fours and slowly move toward a stallion and some mares. When the stallion approached him, he snorted. The stallion bit him on the head, ripping his skull clean. The Ranger told us it took something like 36 stitches in the back of his head to sew his scalp back on.

 

[MadRiver]

Just heard this on in Jaunary from the Ranger at Cumberland Island, GA. A few months prior a group were on the Island and one know-it-all kept saying he was a "Horse Whisperer" and could get close to the wild horses there. He proceeded to get down on all fours and slowly move toward a stallion and some mares. When the stallion approached him, he snorted. The stallion bit him on the head, ripping his skull clean. The Ranger told us it took something like 36 stitches in the back of his head to sew his scalp back on.

I hope the horse wasn't injured.

 

[Sugarloafer]

I didn't know whether to post this in the Smart People thread or this one. It's about smart people doing stupid things. Anyways, what is it about some outdoor activities that turns the brains of otherwise intelligent and cautious people into mush ? In particular, I notice it in skiing and I'm sure it must apply to hiking too, although I've never encountered it first hand. I've seen highly educated people that you couldn't pay to jay walk in Boston, do incredible things on a pair of skis. Mostly it involves taking excessive risks, relative to their abilities, skiing on terrain that's way over their heads. One of my ski patrol buddies was telling me about a doctor he hauled down to the clinic in a sled. The guy was an intermediate skier in his mid 40's, who thought it would be fun to try some of the tricks that kids were doing in the terrain park....he went off a kicker, crashed and broke his wrist. What the hell was he thinking about ?? These people must be some kind of closet thrill seekers.

 

[skiguy]

I didn't know whether to post this in the Smart People thread or this one. It's about smart people doing stupid things. Anyways, what is it about some outdoor activities that turns the brains of otherwise intelligent and cautious people into mush ? In particular, I notice it in skiing and I'm sure it must apply to hiking too, although I've never encountered it first hand. I've seen highly educated people that you couldn't pay to jay walk in Boston, do incredible things on a pair of skis. Mostly it involves taking excessive risks, relative to their abilities, skiing on terrain that's way over their heads. One of my ski patrol buddies was telling me about a doctor he hauled down to the clinic in a sled. The guy was an intermediate skier in his mid 40's, who thought it would be fun to try some of the tricks that kids were doing in the terrain park....he went off a kicker, crashed and broke his wrist. What the hell was he thinking about ?? These people must be some kind of closet thrill seekers.

Potential Fame and Glory but most of the time these folks are Adrenaline Junkies