What is this?

[hikingnclimbing]

Saw this from the Carter-Moriah Trail. Didn't want to go off trail to investigate, but I'm curious as to what the heck it is. Looked a bit like a Sig bottle, but it's been there a long time to have the tree grown around it like that. Any ideas?

Zoomed in:

As seen from trail:

 

[BlackBuffalo]

An old, broken water bottle (could be plastic), now being utilized as a birdsnest???

 

[hikingnclimbing]

Could be. I didn't think that plastic would survive intact for long enough to have the tree grow around it, so I was leaning towards metal. I was also leaning that way because the color is so vibrant, too. Hmmm...

Anyone else have any ideas? I might be able to get something close to the GPS coordinates if someone is heading up there and curious about it as well.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

An old, broken water bottle (could be plastic), ...

It does look remarkably similar to some plastic water bottles I had in the late 1970s. Mine were bright shades of yellow and orange. The cap was attached by a chain to a metal band that went around the center of the bottle. The band also had a belt clip. Perhaps someone hung it on a small branch and forgot it, or perhaps the tree snagged it from the hiker's pack. It might have been during winter if it is high on the tree. 30 years would be sufficient time for the tree to grow around the bottle. The plastic might crack it time, but they were very durable.

 

[hikingnclimbing]

Ah, ok. Sounds like it could be that. Cool! I wish it had been closer to the trail so I could have checked it out better. As you can tell from the second picture, it was quite a ways from the trail (especially since the trail was about to veer left).

Thanks for your incite!