The story where you met a good guy in the bush!

[kgd]

Okay, I'm getting a bit tired of all the paranoid comments about self defense tactics on two legged beasts. I understand that most of us get out there primarily to escape society. We aren't looking for human companionship, or we take our companions with us. That said, and unlike some of the stories told on BF, some of the best, most polite folks and often people with values aligned with my own I've met up with and chatted with while outdoors.

Aubrey's story about the African hunter giving up his ostrich egg for some liver was a great story that could go here. Lets hear your stories about the good guys you met up on the trail. This can be the guy who showed you where you were on the map when you got turned around. The gal who gave you a top up on your water bottle when you were running low. I think part of the problem is that we all see ourselves as the prepared types giving out that type of help, but surely you had your role models. Surely, you met somebody in your trailblazing past who made you think - there goes a good guy. Lets here it!

Here is my story. I was in Wyoming in the Little Big Horn park hiking it out and camping it out for a few days. This was in my grad school days and admittedly I was less prepared for this one than I should have. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing. I went out to yellowstone as my vactation, but couldn't get a campsite there as they were booked up over 1 year in advance. I was getting tired of sleeping in my car off the highway at nights and found myself in Wyoming camping.

I had a map and the area but not a compass Admittedly, I was used hiking trails in Manitoba and usually a map + trail was all I needed. I found my camping site and was camping for a day. On the second day I did a bit of exploring and got myself turned around. I had a map in hand but couldn't find my landmarks. I used the sun's position as a rough guide and as I was roaming through the bush I ran into a campground. The campground had a few cowboys. They waved me in immediately when they saw me and offered me a cup of cowboy coffee. They were really friendly and such. It turned out that they ran an outfitter company and had a big canvas tent set up. The clients were off with another cowboy exploring the trails on horse and the hand there was just hanging buy minding the camp.

I explained my situation and he showed me where I was on the map, took out his compass and pointed out the direction I needed to go in. Then he told me about 3 or for landmarks I could use on the way to get there. One of the landmarks was not too far off. Finally, he said if you can't find that first land mark, look for the smoke from my fire and come back here. We'll make sure you find your campground.

It turned out his directions and descriptions were spot on. I wasn't that far from where my tent was. I was happy I found my way. Later that evening, as I was having my dinner. The hand and another cowboy from the camp came by to my campground on horseback. 'I just wanted to make sure you got here alright" he says. "I assumed you did when you didn't comeback, but this way I know for sure". I offered them some of my food but they declined, although they accepted an apple for the horses. I thanked them profusely and they turned off and made their way back to their camp.

A couple of good guys! So what is your story?

 

[Mentor]

Nice story, Ken, and a welcome departure from the 'security on the trail' discussions.

I can think of two short anecdotes:

I was on a two-week canoe trip with a partner in 2006, in BC's Wells Gray Park. We packed reasonably light, but had made room for a few luxuries - including an expensive bottle of port. The plan was to finish off each evening with a small cup of port, and we had calculated that the bottle would probably last us for most of the trip. About halfway through our trip, we set up camp on a sandy shoreline on the east part of the north arm of Murtle lake. After getting our tents in order, we set out for some afternoon fishing on the lake. When we returned, we found that a family (parents and two young kids) had pitched their camp not too far from ours. The kids were splashing around by the beach while the adults prepared dinner. As we prepared our own dinner, we both remarked at how much additional gear, effort, and patience was required to take a young family on an outing in this area (larger tent, plenty of clothing, and stuff to keep the kids entertained). The parents appeared to be in constant motion from when they arrived until they put the kids to bed, and they looked pretty exhausted sitting around their campfire. We were really impressed with how much work these folks put into giving their kids a real outdoors experience, and we decided to wander over after dusk to say hello. We brought a bundle of split wood and our bottle of port. They were happy to see fellow travellers, and they invited us to sit by their fire for a while. We shared our port and chatted for an hour or two. As Ken noted, you tend to find that you have some things in common with the people you meet during excursions to the middle of nowhere, and the conversation was good. They hadn't interacted with anyone other than their own kids for about five days, and we hadn't interacted with anyone at all for almost a week. It was one of those great 'strangers sharing a camp fire' moments. At the end of the evening, they thanked us for the port (collectively, we polished off the remainder of the bottle), we thanked them for the hospitality, and we went our separate ways.

There was another time, also on Murtle Lake, when I had a nice 'pay it forward' moment, without ever meeting the other person. After portaging to the canoe launch at the start of my trip, I wandered over to the information sign to check the weather and bear siting reports (posted by the park rangers). It has a small covered bulletin board where notices are posted. I noticed that there was a small packet made of duct tape pinned to the board, with a note attached. Out of curiosity, I took it down and read the note. It was addressed to "Attn: Anglers", and it noted that the writer had found a small blue and silver spoon + hook combo ("see inside package") stuck to a log during his outing. On a whim, he had tried it out, and it proved to be a real winner. At the end of his fishing trip, he decided to leave the found lure (which couldn't have cost more than a few dollars) for the next angler to enjoy. At the bottom of the note, I saw a bunch of names and dates from anglers who had also used the lure, along with little notes like "Thanks for sharing - caught five lake trout!". By the looks of it, the lure had been there for most of the season, and every person who picked it up had put it right back where they found it, which was just awesome. I took the lure with me on my own trip. That little spoon scored me plenty of trout - more than my X-Rap lures! When I returned from the trip, I added my own entry to the original note and tacked it back up on the message board. I haven't been back since 2006, so I don't know if it is still there.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[stabman]

Nothing spectacular for me.
Just met some nice people when out and about and had nice conversations, sometimes shared some hotdogs around the fire.:thumbup:
For all my "paranoid preparedness", I've yet to meet jerks on the trail.
There's more good people than bad out there, by and large.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I used to wander around Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, in NYC, not exactly Yellowstone, but you can get away from people for a while. The few times I ran into someone, they were like me, looking for some rough ground to cover, over the hills, through the streams, or looking for the bird sanctuary.

One time I was sitting on a quiet ridge and saw an Asian man with a shopping bag wandering along the next trail over. I waved and called to him, he came over, and I pointed to a fallen tree and asked if that's what he was looking for. He was exstatic -- there were mushrooms growing there that I knew were a delicacy in the Japanese community here.

 

[udtjim]

Several times. One is the time that the guy towed us quite a few miles back to the boat ramp when my cousin lost the prop off his motor. It would have been a long night at least had he not stopped. I related this a few weeks back.

Another time I took a couple youngsters fishing on a large lake in Canada. I had told them to fill the gas can in the boat because I knew we were going out about 25 miles. However I didn't think to check to see if they had done it, until we ran out of gas about 2/3 of the way back. A guy at the camp was watching something from shore with his field glasses and saw us trying to row that 18 foot Lund back home. He threw a can of gas and a tow line in his boat and came out to meet us.

Last but not least, I took a fall one time while deer hunting in the Black Hills in Nov. I hurt my left ankle to the point that I couldn't walk on it. It was almost dark and only about 5 above zero. I managed to make a fire beside a fallen tree and stayed fairly warm through the night. The next morning I wrapped my ankle with my neck scarf and started walking slowly down the hill. After a ways, I knew I was not going to make it to far. I fired my rifle three times and waited. I tried it again about 30 minutes later and was really happy to get the same response back. Two hunters on a fire road walked toward the sound and found me. They helped me back to the road and took me into town where My Brother picked me up. No cell phones in those days. About 1961.

In return, I have never left anyone in a bind if there was anyway that I could help them. A guy should always return those favors.

 

[razcob]

During a hiking/camping trip on top of a mountain trail, during a hot day in July, a father in my party asked these two passing soldiers who were carrying three day packs if they knew where he could find water. The soldiers were on leave, but had some army clothing that identified them. Without giving a thought for themselves, they started to take off their packs to give the father their water. The father declined the water, but just wanted to know if they knew of a water source. Their reaction was so quick and selfless, I think they would of given him their boots if he would of asked for them. It reinforced my pride in our military.

 

[udtjim]

We have the best guys in the world in our Military. My hat is off to those guys and gals that are serving these days, even though they don't have to. In my day, we had the draft. Thanks guys and Gals.

 

[x39]

I've met numerous nice folks afield. Once while hiking on the Nature Conservancy trail on Great Wass Island, Maine, my buddy and I heard branches cracking a ways off the trail. We headed into a thicket to investigate and found a guy who had to be well into his seventies way up in a spruce tree. He climbed down to talk to us, turns out he was the guy who maintained the trails and he liked to climb trees to check out different views.
Another time while bird hunting in NY state I met another bird hunter who had a dog. We got talking, he admired my shotgun (16 ga. M-21 Winchester) and I his (an engraved OU Berretta) and we spent a very pleasant and successful afternoon hunting together over his dog. We swapped numbers, but I moved from the area shortly afterward and never saw him again. For those who aren't into bird hunting, I should explain that this was a pretty big leap of faith on his part, as most guys with a good bird dog are usually pretty picky about who they will allow to shoot over it.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I'm a fat guy, so I get a little winded when I am going uphill. Well, this hill went up a helluva long way, and I was sweating bullets, in the middle of an asthma attack (thankfully, I never get asthma, this time it was BAD), and generally feeling like crap. Tried some water, felt like puking that back up. If I went back down, I still had a long way to go.

Well, I took a breather, ready to pass out, atrial fibrillation starting up. Sitting there putting some cold water on the back of the neck. A lady asked "Are you alright?". I almost jumped in the air ten feet. I said yes ma'am, thank you. I saw her later at the top of the hill. We sat together, just looking at the gorgeous view. She asked me if I was going to be alright to make it down the other side. I confirmed that I was going to be able to, and we went down.

Embarassing, but she was a good person to stick around and make sure I was okay.

 

[pitdog]

I met this guy a while back, he even offered to come help chop some fatwood for me but it was raining hard and I just wanted to get home for a cup of tea !

Think he said his name was Jason...or was it Noss ????

 

[SIXFOOTER]

Have met mostly just good people on the trail, some maybe not to smart or well prepared, but good folks. I somehow learned early to be prepared, was a boy scout at an early age and it stuck I recon. As a result I am usually helping people out that did not know how to build a fire, set up a tent, put their deer rifle back together, etc...
But, there was one time a few yrs ago. A bud of mine and me were scouting some hunting locations up in North Palm Beach county in his Rover he was so proud of. We drove in, started exploring this road and that, kept going, drove thru shallow water, kept going. At some point he stopped listning to me tell him where the holes were and high centered the Rover on a trail in about 1 1/2 feet of water. We got out, scratched out heads, tried digging with sticks, nada. I cut down a pine sapling with my buck knife and we used it like a saw under the truck to try and get it freed, that dodn't work either. By this time (couple hrs) we were out of the 2 or 3 small bottles of water we had with us and no food. Then the truck started freaking out, horm blowing, light blinking, windows going up and down like it was haunted. Who knew that there were FIVE computers UNDER the seats? What maroon thot that was a good idea for the worlds toughtst truck that will go ANYWHERE? Thw water that came in under the doors that were not supposed to lead hosed the computers that run Everything. I got on the cell and if I stood just right I could get a call out. Only person I could reach was my housekeeper, she lived in the acreage. She drove out to the park were in and found a guy with a big mud buggy. He was loading up to go home, be agreed to coma see if he could find us. With her directions it took him 2 hrs. We could hear him driving around but not see him. When he finally did get to us, he and the other rednecks could NOT believe we were as far out in the boonies as we were in a Rover. They all wanted to get their picture taken with the Rover in the swamp. They dragged up out to the park road and we got a flatbed from there to get his trashed truck to my house. My housekeeper brought us 2 budweisers, which I don't care for, buut that was the best tasting beer I ever drank. While we were loading the truck up we helped the rednecks load their buggy back on its trailer. Thats when I found out he had been heading home earlier because his buggy was broke. In spite of that he spent the next 3 hrs dealing with us. Some very nice folks up there in the county

 

[C_Kyle]

When I go out, I'd prefer not to run into people. I like to feel like I'm out there all by myself. I have never run into any good or bad people, just a couple of people passing by.

I would do whatever was required to help someone out, especially if I came across someone in the shape I was in recently.

 

[sasha]

Intersting but it seems that everyone on here changed there mind after other folks helped them out. I found that the father you go from the trail head the nicer the people you meet. I shared my water more then once. Sometime even some snacks. Done some first aid on some kids. Parents didnt have anything on them to take care of cuts. Sometimes backpacking in the sierra i meet people that been out there for more then a week. All they want to do is talk to someone. Even if i have a funny accent lol.
met this guy on my last trip (dicided to take pics of the people i talk to on trail) I were the first guy he seen in four days. We talked about the condition of the trail that we just hiked. As we were supposed to walk on the path the other one just walked.

.
You do meet some nice folks out there. But never walk away with out looking over your back just in case or let the other person turn away and start walking first.

Sasha

 

[Foilist]

About a year ago I was on a motorcycle camping trip in Vermont. Just before dusk I pulled into a primitive, state forest campground quite a ways from the paved road I was travelling. It was empty except for one other lone motorcycle rider who waved me down. We ended up sharing a campfire, food, drinks, and great conversations late into the night. He had been on the road, travelling all over the US and Canada for a YEAR camping from his dual-purpose bike with minimal gear. Boy, did he have some great experiences to tell about. He was used to camping alone, particularly during the week when the campgrounds are mostly empty, so he was pretty starved for conversation.

 

[Calebklyne]

went out last weekend for 3day backcountry adventure and due to group firepits me and my buddy met a lot of really cool people but best of all we hungout with the ranger for a while and ended up running into a guy my buddy went to school with so he hiked the rest of the way out with us. All said and done it was a great trip

 

[theonew]

Last July I did a really long steep hike on an extremely hot and humid day. Towards the end I stopped at a lake so my dog and I could swim. I met a guy there who was fishing with his dog. He had a cooler with some beer and gave me one, it didn't save my life but it sure hit the spot Our dogs got along really well and we've become casual email friends and have met each other at the same lake a few times.

Richard and his buddy Leonidas

 

[sixgunner455]

A couple saw me getting out of my truck to go hunting one morning, and stopped to chat. They invited me to go up on their place if I didn't run into any deer on the public land I was heading out on. Nice of them. I did go out there the next day, and had one of the toughest, most rewarding hikes I've ever had climbing on their mountain.

Still didn't get a deer, but that's only a part of why I was out there.

 

[vector001]

great thread, thanks for being a positive source in the face of the waves of survival paranoia, brethren.

........

one of my best experiences was walking way out in the sticks in North Saskatchewan in August (i think it was, early 90's). i was roughing it. minimal kit (or so i thought.)

there were indians from a village within ten miles or so - Kree, if i recall, but no matter - native folks;

i had passed along deep creeks, past fresh bear and wolf scat and sign, through places that looked like a moose had barged through the low-hanging trees and willows, and just was having the time of my life when i came to a clearing, and did the usual Marine-thing - freeze, listen, listen some more, don't expose yourself....

after maybe two minutes, a lone man pops out across the clearing, maybe 30 yards away, and heads in my general direction, evidently oblivious to me. he had two leather cords hanging off him cross-chest, which supported a rusty old iron-sighted rifle (.270, if i remember right), and a pump shotgun, with that polished wood furniture and perfect haze of rust that you see on a well-used long arm that says folks live and die by what it brings home for supper.

he was a Native, early twenties, wirey and he seemed as sharp as a fox. he looked over and saw me and immediately walked towards me, which anywhere else probably would've alarmed me. his clothes were torn up and all he had besides the long arms was a little kid's backpack, if i remember right. torn denim shorts and old tennis shoes.

this guy wasn't putting Cabela's kids thorugh college any time soon.


he asked if i'd seen any moose, he was hunting. i said no, only sign, i could show him.

he thought about it.

i sat still.

he thought some more.

i waited.

he decided i was salvageable as proper patient hunting company at that point, i reckon, and asked if i'd like to help him hunt moose. i told him i guessed so (folks pay thousands for similar trip opportunities like this).

i pulled out a little bottle of CLP and asked him if he could use it on his firearms.

his eyes danced across the little bottle like it was made of Platinum.

apparently, i was Big Medicine suddenly.

we got our moose.

he lamented that it was too big, but at least i was there to help a little, dumb white man or not.

his name was Jim.


a couple days later i was back at the Outfitter's Camp where my party was staying at. they were having trouble with the locals stealing them blind; gas, boats, everything.

it's shameful, says the camp owner's son.

we can't figure out who is doing it.

set a trap, i says to him, always thinking Marine (i am cured now, i swear - don't listen to my wife) ...so we leave out some gas cans and wait for darkness.

along comes a couple guys in the middle of the night to get the easy-pickin's gas cans.

i stuff one into the ground. it's Jim.

hey, Vec.

....Hey, Jim.

'need some gas, brother?

yep.

let me get ya some gas then, i told him.

.......

Canadians that i've met always brag about their good relationships with their natives compared to us in the USA, but i've never seen it - not that they have an easy time of it, either side.

that camp didn't have any more thefts that year, i heard.

it was a great hunt too. fish were biting too.

i made a friend, that normally wasn't friendly, to boot. maybe just lucky.


i think if ya watch your reactions to strangers, all sorts of good stuff can happen.

hope ya liked my story. i richly enjoyed yours.

..........

brother udtjim - maybe we'll see ya up in Sturgis next summer.

vec

 

[kgd]

Very cool story Vector!

 

[greenwoods]

When I was a young lad, (IIRC 12), I was camping along the trails in the Pecos National Wilderness with my horse. She wandered off and when I woke in the morning I was pretty freaked out. As I was breaking camp and getting ready for the long walk a seasoned grampa fellow came along riding his Palomino and leading my horse. I never felt so happy or relieved up to that point in my young life. It's pretty gnarly out there and he rode with me a while and gave me a bunch of good advice.
I've always checked on folks in the wildy since then. My daughters now are the same way and we've found many fine friends this way
Been lucky and the worse folks I've met were just very hungry, needing water or trekking with brand new shoes so they needed lots of moleskin and duct tape. The tape over bandaids was one of the things the old timer showed me so long ago.

Great thread:thumbup:
Really love these memories.


Mark