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Valuable things you've lost on canoe trips

Glenn MacGrady

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"Valuable" can mean something of monetary or sentimental value.

I'm going to construe canoe trip very loosely for myself in this thread.

Maggie and I drove to Lake George, NY, in the Adirondacks last week to leaf peep and paddle bark canoes with Rogers' Rangers. I believe this is a picture of us with our Mohican paddlemates, but I'm not positive because of WHAT HAPPENED to the phone camera that took the picture.

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The next day, we drove up to the top of Prospect Mountain, which has an almost 360° view of the Lake George area. We got in free because we are old. Yay, saving money on Prospect Mountain!

Reconstructing what happened, we were taking selfies with our camera phones at the walled pedestrian overlook at the top of the mountain. I must have put my Google Pixel 9 Pro on the wall while we became distracted by chatting with and taking pictures with another couple.

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Then, we walked to another area of the wall, I sat at a picnic table for a while, and we finally went back to our car. I immediately realized I didn't have my phone.

We looked all over the car. No phone.

We went back to every place we had been along the wall. No phone.

Gerry, a 77-year-old park ranger, took notice of our distress and helped look all around the wall and picnic table area. No phone.

I finally realized that I could use an app on Maggie's phone that's called something like Find Your Phone or Find Hub. It showed my phone a fair distance OVER the wall about 500 yards from any place that we had been along the wall. And in that area OVER the wall is a steep cliff covered with boulders, bushes and leaves. I and the younger Gerry went over the wall to look. No phone.

Maggie recruited three passing teens (who could actually walk without falling over) to cliff scramble. No phone.

After two hours, we gave up and missed a lake tour on the steamboat Mohican. No phone.

The next day we drove to the Spectrum Store in Glens Falls, where I bought a new Google Pixel 11 Pro XL that was on sale.

That trip cost me an extra $800 and every sentimental thing on my lost phone.

It remains a mystery how my phone could have disappeared off the wall within 20 minutes of my leaving it there, and how in blazes it ended up far OVER the wall 500 yards from where we had been. Any theories?

Anyway, back to the regular program, tell us about things you have lost on more genuine canoe trips.

[P.S. Lake George is called Horican in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans.]
 
Somewhere in Woodland Caribou Park is a watch of mine and a pair of sunglasses belonging to my son. It was a cheap watch and I imagine the strap failed; it wasn't there at the end of a portage.
With the sunglasses it was my son wiping his head and face with a wet cloth while his sunglasses were perched up on his head!
 
Ray Ban Aviators in Sylvania during a rollover and Oakley Fuel Cells in the BWCA when unshouldering a canoe in the muck.

If only there was a way to keep them from falling so far from my head when dislodged... 🤔😶
 
Ray Ban Aviators in Sylvania during a rollover and Oakley Fuel Cells in the BWCA when unshouldering a canoe in the muck.

If only there was a way to keep them from falling so far from my head when dislodged... 🤔😶
You could always wear a cone like this. I’m surprised it’s not patented. Hey, that might just be a million dollar idea! I’ll call it the “Glass Catcher.” Comes with a braided parachute cord collar for comfort and survival purposes.
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This is why I wear cheap sunglasses. Some of those have been the ones someone else lost before I found them. A recent pair, I fished from the bottom of the Teton River. That should tell you how clear that water is.

Surprisingly, I can't think of any time I've lost sunglasses on the (liquid) water. Skiing the backcountry in deep powder OTOH, those things disappear forever the second you drop them. And that's why I also carry a (cheap) spare.
 
It remains a mystery how my phone could have disappeared off the wall within 20 minutes of my leaving it there, and how in blazes it ended up far OVER the wall 500 yards from where we had been. Any theories?
First thing I thought of was a crow or raven grabbing it and flying off, dropping it shortly after. Probably realized it was an outdated Pixel model. :D
 
The Cree River stole my favorite hiking pole. The Sherlock Trekker. And they don’t make them anymore. Just lifted it right off my wrist as I was making my way through some deep water.
 
I have NEVER lost anything on a canoe trip!!
However, I have strategically stashed some equipment in obscure places.
For example, I have stored a Buck sheath knife at the bottom of Stillwater Reservoir.
I also keep an 8x monocular at the bottom of Brandreth Lake outlet.

Tough break about your phone, Glenn. Although I don't know exactly how accurate those "find my phone" apps are...
 
a few years back I and a friend went to a massively popular paddler's event after the event we had a massive cloudburst as we were packing up, so I set the canoe beside the car and tossed all the straps in the bottom (it was on a cart) and into my Tilley (a 10th anniversary gift from my wife) to keep them together, after the storm both the hat and all my straps were gone, while the dry bag with our cameras, phones, wallets, etc, was still there. there was no wind to blow it away and not enough water to wash it away, but there WERE dozens of paddlers and spectators running past my truck, ever since, every time I see someone wearing a similar Tilley, I stop and take a good look
 
I lost a Votrex monocular (8x36 IIRC) on the portage between Santoy & Pike Lakes on my Steel River trip. It almost had to happen when I set the packs down for a rest where the trail splits but I was 3 portages on when I noticed so I didn't go back to look. (Lifetime warranty if anyone cares to look... I can probably give you GPS coordinates & "finders keepers" is OK by me.)

I also lost a GoPro camera with head mount about 2 days later. Not much footage on that sd card (and I've never done anything with all of the other footage from that trip) so it wasn't a great loss; I just felt bad garbaging up such a pretty area.

I replaced the monocular but not the GoPro (at least, not yet).

I think I found everything else although I've backtracked a few portages for some of it.

Sorry about the phone. Was there no service up there that it wouldn't ring when you called it?
 
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