I just got done washing a pair of hiking shorts and left my compact camera in the pocket and it got very clean. NO it doesn't work anymore.

I have a buddy who borrowed my folding Buck knife that I carry everywhere. Gave it to him in the boat. Did what he needed to be done, then without thinking, he throws it overboard. Yes, 25 years later, I still remind him.

You have any buddies or ex-buddies you might comment on or your own absentminded little miscues?

I know I am speaking to the true voyaguers whom make NO MISTAKES>

Back in the day, my buddy and I were sitting on shore passing the time of day. My buddy started shooting his BB gun at dragon flies that were landing on his rod tip.
Maybe a 10 yd shot.
On one shot his rod jerked ever so slightly.
He walked down got his rod and started cussing and laughing at the same time. The BB had cut a perfect half moon piece out of his rod 3 three inches from the tip....

I like to swim laps at the local Y. A few weeks ago I decided to save time and wore my swim trucks with pockets when I left home. I had a nice swim but when I got out to the parking lot I couldn’t find my keys. Not in my gym bag or left in the car, but in my swim trunks pocket. So they swam 1/2 mile with me. The key for my Subaru worked and when I got home the Mazda key worked also. I took them apart, thoroughly dried them and replaced the batteries. Lucky me, they are both fine and I didn’t have to replace two expensive keys.

Back in the day, my flip phone went through the laundry in a pants pocket -- a complete wash and dry. Worked just fine. Try that with today's "smart" models...

Fast forward to iPhone... First time I tried standup paddling, I got out quite a ways before realizing that my iPhone was in my swim trunks pocket. A very cautious, gentle paddle back allowed me to make it to shore without incident.

Not so lucky on a birthday celebration with the grandkids. Jumped in and felt something getting rather hot in my pocket. Needed a new phone the next day. (Only lost one picture that hadn't backed up yet...)

I've since made it a rule to enter the water with my hands in my pockets. :-)

yogi59weedr: "Back in the day, my buddy and I were sitting on shore passing the time of day. My buddy started shooting his BB gun at dragon flies that were landing on his rod tip.
Maybe a 10 yd shot.
On one shot his rod jerked ever so slightly.
He walked down got his rod and started cussing and laughing at the same time. The BB had cut a perfect half moon piece out of his rod 3 three inches from the tip...."

Had the same thing but larger scale, shot at a monster buck with 12 Guage slug.
Thought for sure I hit him, then I noticed splinters where blood should have been looked at the trees and a oak about as big around as pop can had a half moon missing from it. But with a bb gun that's impresive!!! Lol

Many times have I stood up in ice shanty to here that splash in the hole...
Then it's a guessing game as to what went in.
Truck keys
Phone x2
Countess jigs
Pliers
Entire rod
Yes all.of the above

I was fishing up on Ensign and noticed my reel was broken. My buddy Pikehunter loaned me a spare rod and reel he had. When we got to our fishing spot I reached behind me and lowered the basketball net anchor. The rope was going fast to the bottom when there was a splash. Yes the rope I tossed was around the rod and reel I just borrowed. It is still on the bottom of the lake.

On my very first BWCA trip this was one incident from a whole comedy of errors:

While portaging from Ashigan to Gibson to look at Cattyman Falls and search for some northerns, I was following my friend who had the canoe with our fishing rods bungeed to the thwarts. I noted the light breeze and thought it odd that the wind was ever-so-slightly moving the leaves and twigs with almost a certain kind of cadence or rhythm. When we got to the lake and un-secured the rods, I discovered that mine had no line on it. What I then realized was that the "rhythm" of the leaves was their movement caused by my buddy and the motions of the canoe as he was portaging it. He had hooked a branch on my fishing line and it was yanking the trees with each of his steps as it was getting un-strung from the reel. He felt bad about this but I said "No worries, I'm prepared!", as I produced a back-up reel from the pack I was carrying. Once I got re-rigged we went out onto the lake after those fish. On my first cast, I heard a "ploop!" and then caught a glimpse of the crank from this back-up reel sinking to the bottom of Gibson Lake. Then a fish hit and I had no way to reel it in to the canoe. It was now that the original reel became the back-up to the back-up with it's (thankfully interchangeable!) crank that got switched to the crank-less reel that was now on my rod. Once THAT was done, I started reeling in and was pleasantly surprised to find that the fish was still on! Finally, I landed a nice 24" northern pike that joined for supper!

schweady: "Back in the day, my flip phone went through the laundry in a pants pocket -- a complete wash and dry. Worked just fine. Try that with today's "smart" models...

"

Well. . .A few months ago I couldn't find my iPhone 7. Looked and looked all over the house. And in the garage. Traced my steps everywhere. Finally decided to call it, and started out in the laundry room that opens up to the garage (still thinking it must be in the car because it had been found there one other time.)

From inside the washing machine I heard this tiny little "beep-beep", sort of wet-sounding. I was aghast. Hurried to empty the washer and found my iPhone in the pocket of my jeans, already in the second rinse! And it was ringing! Sort of weakly, but it was ringing!

I dried it off, and figured it was a goner. But (even though I have been told later that this was unwise) I turned it on and it lit up. Decided to let it rest for awhile. The next day it worked, except that one little corner of the screen was dark. After a couple days I charged it and it has worked just fine ever since. 100% of the screen is now in use and the battery life seems about the same as before.

I keep thinking I am on borrowed time with it, but for now I just use it and am thankful. Any photos that are important are on my camera anyway, so it is really just a phone to me. But everything works. I also think perhaps the case it was in might have protected it. It isn't anything special. Just a cheap clear plastic case I bought on Amazon.

Yup, Spartan2... Mine was an iPhone 6s. Supposedly, better water resistance/underwater survival began with the 7. Lucky you.

I’ve got so many I could write a book. Multiple books. My daughter got me a new fancy coffee grinder for Father’s Day. Twice now I have dumped beans in only to realize that the cover was still on and coffee beans went all over the floor.

Ever brush your teeth with sunscreen lotion?

I thought I was alone on many blunders. Seeing now I got a lot of friends. 5Wonder how much of this is a age thing? I think I aways scored high on the blunder scale.

My friend and I hiked a section of the SHT (Superior Hiking Trail) and were doing a point-to-point. She parked her car at the "finish point" and I drove us to the start.

As we approached her car on foot, she realized she left her keys to HER car (the finish car) in her jacket that she took off and left in MY car, which was at the start!!!!

Luckily a mutual friend was staying on Lake Superior, not terribly far away, and gave us a ride back to the start! Hahahaa...

This was also last May when Covid was still hot-to-trot, so I was nervous how we were going to get a ride back, and thought for SURE we'd be running down Hwy 61 back to the start.

I still tease her about it.

After a few group trips a long time ago I started going solo with the dog. My first three trips, I messed up the camera (pre camera phone says).

Trip one: left in truck.

Trip two: batteries completely dead.

Trip three: thought I left it in truck, found it in the pack after I got home.

Family started suspecting I was going awol for a week every year and just claiming Bdub!


And then there’s the creek/portage on Ada going to Cherokee. I know not to trust anything that isn’t a rock. I know it’s better to just take the ankle breaking portage rather than trying to paddle/line the canoe. Hasn’t stopped me on three occasions and I’ve paid the price every time.

I canoed a stretch of the Otter Tail river back in the mid 80's. It was sunny and hot and we didn't bring anything to drink. The river current was flowing pretty good. We had two vehicles and left my buddies at the take out and drove mine with the canoe to the put in. As you guessed it, my buddy left his keys in my vehicle at the put in. With the current it was about 2 hours down but about 3.5 going up stream. Bad sunburn that day.

4 years ago I took a trip with a friend that I hadn't paddled with in over 25 years. I carried the canoe across the second portage and set it partially in the water and partially on the fine gravel landing. My buddy was about 3-4 minutes behind me with our food pack. I passed him several yards up the portage. I went back to the beginning and grabbed pack #2 and met him mid-way across the portage as he was coming back for pack #3 and the paddles. As I come down the hill at the end of the portage I notice the canoe was not where I left it. My buddy had placed the food pack in the end of the canoe that was in the water which floated it. Once I got to the water I spotted the canoe about 50 yards down the shore. After bushwacking through some thick brush I was able to retrieve it.

Many years ago at hunting camp one of the younger hunters put doe in heat urine in a hair spray bottle thinking it would be easier to spread around that way. My buddy Ralph unwittingly used it on his hair before church, he had the pew all to himself .

6 pound lake trout and treble hooks snagged in my crotch.
Was a story about it in Boundary Waters Journal .... "How to Land a Lake Trout"
If I can find a link, I'll share.

merlyn: "Many years ago at hunting camp one of the younger hunters put doe in heat urine in a hair spray bottle thinking it would be easier to spread around that way. My buddy Ralph unwittingly used it on his hair before church, he had the pew all to himself ."

Pun intended , I assume

Just wait until you get old.

Then it happens more.

My buddy and I had our 2 nice sized walleyes for dinner and breakfast and while trolling back to camp caught another one. My buddy added it to stringer and promptly threw stringer back into water. Without it being tied to the canoe...ooops..

Years ago there was a temporary issue with the quality of the water supply in my small town, so we were using gallon jugs of purchased water for drinking. It was in the spring, allergy season, and I was all stuffy and couldn't smell hardly anything.

I needed to make a pot of coffee, but all the jugs were empty. I looked in the fridge, and found a water jug with about a litre in it.

After I spit out the first sip of the coffee, I figured out that my wife or one of the kids had transferred glacier gatorade (the clear stuff) into that water jug.

Last June while doing a solo trip I stopped to check out a campsite. Pulled the canoe up adjacent to a nice sloped rock. My two dogs hopped out and were checking things out with me but then one decided the flies were just too much and without me watching her decided to head back to canoe. Needless to say when she jumped into canoe it was enough to "cast off". Luckily it was a fairly calm day and the water was warm. But I did need to swim to retrieve the canoe with my doggy wagging her tale and quite happy she was being rescued.

whyzata: "My buddy and I had our 2 nice sized walleyes for dinner and breakfast and while trolling back to camp caught another one. My buddy added it to stringer and promptly threw stringer back into water. Without it being tied to the canoe...ooops.."

Yes, I admit I’ve done this one too. Tossed a whole brand new metal stringer overboard with about 6 walleyes on Ensign. No idea how it got Unclipped.

My dad was Calamity John, so I was raised thinking that trips to Canada were strings of blunders. It was literally SNAFU.

Then, on my first solo trip, nothing went wrong. No boat sunk. No one nearly died. No car crashed. And we were remarking how trouble-free the trip was as we approached the landing when my paddling partner reached forward to adjust some gear and knocked my fishing outfit into the water. What was especially sad was it was the one with a rare Swedish Cardinal reel. Sigh.

merlyn: "Many years ago at hunting camp one of the younger hunters put doe in heat urine in a hair spray bottle thinking it would be easier to spread around that way. My buddy Ralph unwittingly used it on his hair before church, he had the pew all to himself ."

Ok, This one made me really laugh!

My brother had just purchased a brand new anchor. We went fishing and he says this looks like a good place to catch them and he throws this new anchor over the side of the boat.

Only problem was that he forgot to tie the anchor, to the anchor rope.

I was on day 9 of an 11 day solo. I was on a small river with several short portages. I had my GoPro on my head as I had most of the trip. It was a hot calm day so I dipped my hat in the water and dumped it out over my head. A minute or two later I went to turn the GoPro on and it was not there. I back tracked to the last portage hoping I had lost it there but no luck. It had to have plopped in the water when I dipped my hat. Fortunately I had swapped out memory cards a couple days before so I didn't lose video from the whole trip.

Savage Voyageur: "

whyzata: "My buddy and I had our 2 nice sized walleyes for dinner and breakfast and while trolling back to camp caught another one. My buddy added it to stringer and promptly threw stringer back into water. Without it being tied to the canoe...ooops.."

Yes, I admit I’ve done this one too. Tossed a whole brand new metal stringer overboard with about 6 walleyes on Ensign. No idea how it got Unclipped. "

I’m afraid I have to join this short, but distinguished list :-(

I would also have to join this list. While crappie fishing with my dad and uncle in a small bass boat, someone forgot to retrieve both collapsible fishing baskets on the return to the dock. The one basket retrieved was half full. The other basket, which was completely full, was not retrieved and sadly likely still resides at the bottom of the lake.

On our last trip this June, my brother forgot his sunglasses and I had a spare pair in the car that I use for driving so I let him use those. After a few days, we were splitting up so they could head home and we were going a few lakes deeper in for the rest of the week. My brother tells me that he will get me back the sunglasses in a couple days. They hop in the canoe and get maybe 50 feet from and he calls back to me and says "I guess I wont be giving you those sunglasses back."

He had put them on the top of his hat while getting situated then looked down and they fell off into the lake. Rookie mistake.

LindenTree: "My brother had just purchased a brand new anchor. We went fishing and he says this looks like a good place to catch them and he throws this new anchor over the side of the boat.


Only problem was that he forgot to tie the anchor, to the anchor rope."

A buddy did this exact thing also with a brand new collapsible anchor.

I am amazed I have seen no billfold left on top of car roof or forgot to tie canoe down. I know there is canoe tiedown blunders.

Last year I almost had the no tie down canoe. Put the canoe on top of canoe rack. Went and did something else. Drove about 10 feet and the little light bulb in the head went off. Got out and had zero tie downs.

Well, I have told this one before, but it is always cringe-worthy to me when I have to relive it. Sorry I cannot tell it in a sentence or two to do it justice.

It was June of 1986, and it was the last day of school for me in my first year of teaching elementary general music and choral music in a small rural school district that had had no music teacher for 8 years. I was 41 years old and I was a first-year teacher. If any of you are teachers, you probably know how that first year went, and in my case, seeing hundreds of little faces and convincing middle schoolers that our school should have a choir. . .well it wasn't a completely wonderful year for me. But there were perks. For one thing, the junker I drove all through my year of student teaching had just been replaced by a brand-new Olds Cutlass Ciera. (I had a salary now!) For another, once I taught my last class of the day, 8th grade choir, in a 95+ degree classroom with a bunch of kids who wanted out as much as I did, I was FREE! My dear husband had planned a romantic getaway for the weekend at a lovely B&B, and we planned to do a little canoeing.

Spartan1 arrived with the 1972 Grumman tied to the brand-new car and once I was loaded up we took off. We headed down the road and it was just such a great feeling to know that I had survived my first year, I had a short break before I had to do summer classes, and we were off to celebrate. Traveling down a country road suddenly I looked out the windshield and saw the two ropes on the front of the canoe spring free, and shortly after that the canoe became airborne--breaking free from the straps on the roof, but still attached to the ropes on the back of the car! It banged along the passenger-side (my side!) door as it flew along, and then bumped along the road, finally coming completely free and flying into the roadside ditch!

I was, of course, hysterical. First thought--was anyone behind us? Did the canoe hit another car? Nope. Second thought--our new car! Oh, no! Third thought--the canoe! What kind of shape was our canoe in now?

We stopped, of course, to survey the damage. Spartan1 determined that there was a sharp edge on the metal bracket (whatever you call that thingy) where he had tied the ropes in the front, and it had just sliced the rope. Lesson learned. He fished the canoe out of the ditch, and we were surprised to learn that it had one dent, a few new scratches, and was in remarkably good shape for bumping along the side of the car and then along the roadway. Another lesson learned: those aluminum tanks are very, very durable. The car had a big dent in the side just ahead of the passenger door and we were always too cheap to get it fixed, so when we traded it in it was still damaged. I think we were too embarrassed to call the insurance company and tell them we had a flying canoe. Consequently, I never really liked that car.

That canoe went on more canoe trips in the BWCA, until we replaced it with a Bell Northwind in 1998. But she still resides at our lake cottage and I still love her. I ended up with thirteen satisfying and fun years teaching music at that school, and made wonderful memories. As for that car. . .the "new" feeling was gone after this episode and it never returned.

spartan2 we had a nice new spirit 2 Kevlar canoe fly off. our truck in a severe storm and when we found it it was ripped in half! spring creek was able to put it all back together but it never paddled strait again.

I was solo, fishing a slip bobber for walleye in a stiff breeze, anchored to hold my spot. After about 10 minutes with no bites, I untie my anchor and get ready to move. As I released the knot on my right side from the thwart behind me, I turn left to the other side of the canoe and see my bobber getting the ol' tap tap. I patiently wait, wait, wait, and when that bobber goes under I set the hook like a madman - with total disregard for the 4lb test that I brought to fish brook trout. The fish is hooked but the line snaps, and the painful silence that follows is quickly drown out by a flurry of curse words. I take just another brief moment to gain my composure and turn back just in time to see the tail end of my anchor rope slip over the gunnel and into the drink as the wind pushes me down the lake. Floating rope? Nope. Not my best morning of fishing.

I have so many phone stories it’s hard to keep track. Went swimming with one of course. My fav phone was the Nextel one, I called it the brick. I left it on the very flat back bumper on my exes GMC Safari van, she made 4 stops on the way to work and it went along for the ride till she turned into the parking lot at the library where she was employed. I called it several times and a coworker answered and after a brief chat I was reunited with the phone. Got in a bar fight that didn’t quite go my way and was relieved when I called it at 8 am and a bartender answered and had my brick in hand. I clearly remember walking in the kitchen with the sun pouring in the window, scratches on my face, and cheerily saying to my ex, ‘well, I guess I got outta that one relatively unscathed’… Ouch babe. When it finally died I was so fond of it I nailed it to a stud in the garage with a 16D double head nail, which came in handy when I needed the SIM card to transfer data to the new phone I needed after going swimming with another. See above. The nail just barely grazed and slightly gouged the SIM card but I was able to dig it out somehow and bring it to the phone store and load the contacts etc.
That’s just the highlights from one phone. I dropped it in window wells, drove back to job sites a bunch of times and found it just where I left it when it fell out of my pocket. Sitting in the mud. I had plenty of other phones, been attached to the leash since their inception, I’d say circa 1990, so 30 years, but the brick was my fav. I used to activate that alarm thing when waiting to pick my kids up from sports at school just to get em riled. I remember when everyone had a Motorola flip phone and they all had the same ring tone. I was sitting at a u shaped bar when one of the rogues present had his phone ring. 5 guys all said hello simultaneously. No caller ID back then. We all had a chuckle about that.
I got more…

Cheers, scat

My buddy found my backup flask in the food pack and took a big old snort from it.

Before the trip, when my other buddy and I were packing, we only had enough whiskey to fill one flask, and since we didn't need the excess capacity and it has a nice seal on the cap, the backup was filled with maple syrup.

Earlier this year, went fishing with my brother in a small lake in Central Oklahoma. As I was fishing, noticed a crank bait floating in the water in the rip rap of the bridge. I walked down and retrieved the lure, admiring my new prize, a lovely chartreuse square bill crank bait. As I walked along the rip rap, a stone from the shore line rolled, and I fell "slow motion" into the water, managing to throw my fishing rig and the recovered crank bait onto the shoreline...but fell in 5' of water with my phone in my pocket. It died on the way back home, and never recovered.

casualbriday: "My buddy found my backup flask in the food pack and took a big old snort from it.


Before the trip, when my other buddy and I were packing, we only had enough whiskey to fill one flask, and since we didn't need the excess capacity and it has a nice seal on the cap, the backup was filled with maple syrup. "

That's not a mistake, that's an unexpected treat. A mistake would be the other way around or like when I make a gin and tonic and take a big sip after forgetting the tonic.

One year I came up to the shack with a good friend. It was a rare -20 and very cold thanksgiving. Had to snowmobile from the main road to the shack. Anyways he went and started brushing his teeth... and the spitting started. He had grabbed my dad’s brylcream... you know that “ little dab will do it” hair grease. I know I spelt that wrong, my apologies.

Man, so close, nctry!! It's 'creem' vs 'cream'....

Good thing it wasn’t Grecian Formula 16. He coulda grown hair on his teeth.

Paddling on day on Saganaga and I heard a splash. Looked over the side to see my Uncle Henry folding knife (wood with shiny brass ends) going to the bottom. It had come unsnapped from the sheath by rubbing on the gunnel.

A1t2o: "

casualbriday: "My buddy found my backup flask in the food pack and took a big old snort from it.



Before the trip, when my other buddy and I were packing, we only had enough whiskey to fill one flask, and since we didn't need the excess capacity and it has a nice seal on the cap, the backup was filled with maple syrup. "

That's not a mistake, that's an unexpected treat. A mistake would be the other way around or like when I make a gin and tonic and take a big sip after forgetting the tonic."

I don't know, maybe if we had brought the real stuff and not Mrs. Butterworth's. Taking a solid slug of maple flavored corn syrup when he was expecting whiskey literally brought him to his knees. I think it was the mouth feel that did him in.

Savage Voyageur: "Paddling on day on Saganaga and I heard a splash. Looked over the side to see my Uncle Henry folding knife (wood with shiny brass ends) going to the bottom. It had come unsnapped from the sheath by rubbing on the gunnel. "

Uncle Henry folding U.S.A. are now relics and antiques-Hmm might of been worth a little extra now.

had to cross a rapidly moving stream one day in the BWCA. Being smart, I took off my shorts and held them over my head as I crossed the chest deep stream. when I got to the other end both my sheathed knife and pliers were gone. Some day and archeologist will find them and wonder what they were. The knife was handed down from my grandfather's father, to my grandfather, to my father, to me...and I lost it.

Scout64: "had to cross a rapidly moving stream one day in the BWCA. Being smart, I took off my shorts and held them over my head as I crossed the chest deep stream. when I got to the other end both my sheathed knife and pliers were gone. Some day and archeologist will find them and wonder what they were. The knife was handed down from my grandfather's father, to my grandfather, to my father, to me...and I lost it. "

Reminds me of a 5 day hike in the Beartooth mountains north of Yellowstone.
The last day we had a lot of rain and coming out I had one log to cross a small but raging creek. I started crawling across the the log and had like a $400.00 camera on a strap around my neck. It was there for 5 days. Well you know the story-the strap broke and the camera went into the stream that goes into Beartooth lake. Just 40 yards from my truck. I think many times that creek is just about dry, but after 30 years if I went out there and found it, it would be not much of a relic even.

One year I was in Jersey visiting bro in law.
I was in the ocean and decided to take my Ray Bans off.
I tossed them back on shore to my bro in law.
Well he fumbled with them and boom, into the ocean they go. I go back to the edge of the water. We stand there like 5 minutes talking and I look down and the waves washed them back up towards shore.
I dropped to my knees and before the waves took them back out to sea I snatched them up BAM I had my $150.00 sunglasses back on my head...
LIFE IS GOOD..

I have long said the amount of time you own a pair of sunglasses is inversely related to how much you pay for them. $150 pair, gone in 2 days. $15 pair will be with you for eternity.

+1

i'm sure i have many , but 1 i recall. i found out why you use a metal clip on an anchor rope ,

jillpine: "Ever brush your teeth with sunscreen lotion?"

No, but Ben Gay

Whew, I feared that with this title the post would be political in nature.

On Friday, (Friday the 13th) I backed our newest car (2017 Buick we purchased in February) into a heavy steel post set in a low concrete platform at the parking lot at the post office. Damage to repair will be upwards from $3000.

It was in the blind spot for visual and also for the back-up camera. I was in a hurry and probably backed up a bit too fast, too. Sigh.