What to do about Crazydude's stuff??

[cynthia23]

Hi everyone, I am seeking input/opinions on the pressing matter of The Crazydude's stuff. For those of you who don't know, here is the back story: in October, a lunatic attempted to climb Skyline. We know he was a lunatic because this is what he did: he carried a full load of camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, several gallons of water, gas tank) Not too surprisingly, Crazydude experienced problems. At around 2500, in the middle of the Shady Slope, he abandoned ship. Or, more precisely, all of his gear. Now, at this point, one would presume that CD, being thus exhausted, would turn and go back down. But CrazyDude took the road less traveled. Minus any gear whatsoever now, including any water, he went UP. Amazingly, he made it to the tram. Then, Eric the Ranger became involved when he got a call that a crazy, agitated man was demanding a free ride down on the tram. Crazydude, acting on the little known Tram rule, "Certified Lunatics Ride Free!" felt strongly that he should not have to pay to go down. And anyway, having left absolutely everything (including his sanity?) on the shady slope, he had no money. CD became so obstreporous that Eric had to pull his gun. In the end the Trammies decided that the whole thing was turning into a bad scene and let Crazydude ride down free. He took the tram down and disappeared. Like a fairy tale troll, he has not been seen since.

However his stuff has. All of his gear is still sitting on the Shady Slope. In a tribute to our intense honesty--or, our intense fear of body lice--no one has touched Crazydude's stuff. It has been sitting there since October.

Now, I believe CD has been up there, and possibly camped there a time or two, because I have noted the stuff has shifted a bit, and there is a flattered area of brush. Though why anyone would choose to "camp" on an unstable slope well above the angle of repose which is littered with poorly balanced giant boulders the size of Volkswagens, is beyond me. It is not something anyone in their right mind would do. But then we have established that Crazydude is not in his right mind. But leaving aside the madness of the thing, it appears to me that the stuff has basically been abandoned. The tent and sleeping bag are just unsightly, but what concerns me is the can of gas. Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure that flammable gas is, well, flammable. And I'm no mountain man, but I'm also pretty sure, using my finely honed wilderness intuition, that having a can of flammable gas sitting baking for months on end in the hot Sonoran sun on a mountain filled with tinder dry brush, is not a good thing.

Here's my long-winded point--should I take the can of gas? Does anyone have any reason to think that maybe Crazydude is actually living up there and using his stuff? I don't want to deprive a lunatic of his flammable gas--although come to think of it, maybe I do ...

I was thinking of taking the gas and leaving a note explaining that I thought it was abandoned but if he wants it back to call me. But for some reason I don't want to leave my phone number for a paranoid schizophrenic that Eric felt he had to draw his gun on. Call ME crazy.

Ok, Skylies, what should we do?

I await your Solomon-like wisdom ....

[phydeux]

Yikes!


A can of gas sitting in the hot Coachella Valley sun? While most of the other stuff is probably just unsightly litter, the gas definately needs to be removed ASAP. I'm not close enough to do it (in OC). If you can't get to it yourself, you might want to call the Mt SJ State Park office, Palm Springs Fire Dept, or whoever is responsible for the area, and tell them where its at, its size, etc. They might bring down the rest of the stuff, too.

Mt. San Jacinto State Park, Idylwild: 951-659-2607
USFS, Idylwild 951-659-2117

[phydeux]

Forgot one:

Palm Springs Fire Dept: 760-323-8181 (general, non-emergency line)

[Cy Kaicener]

I hiked up to the tram yesterday and did not see the can of gas, but it could have been hidden. With temperatures very high today and tomorrow I would be very concerned about the gas igniting. Doreen and I both made it up to the tram. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
That hike that you wanted to take on the Jo Pond trail is on Wednesday March 28th http://www.cvhikingclub.net/hikeschedule.htm with shuttle. I think they waited too late in the year to do this trip. They cant start earlier than 8 am because its in the Indian Canyons.

[cynthia23]

Okay, it is sounding like the general consensus is remove the gas can, and to hell with Crazydude and the ethical issues of stealing his gas.... I think you are right. Even if he is using it, he shouldn't be, because it's so dry up there. I feel bad taking a homeless lunatic's cooking source, but this is just too risky. I don't think we need to panic as it is a normal pressurized can of camping gas and it is not sitting in direct sunlight but the shade of a boulder. I'm sure they are made to withstand temperature extremes such as heat and cold. However I do think it should not sit in the desert heat all summer as this might push it beyond its specs. Also, there is always the possibility of lightning strikes, though I admit this is unlikely. But of course given the appalling consequences if the can did accidentally ignite, it's better to be safe than sorry. Phydeux--those are good suggestions, but the shady slope is not part of the Mt. San Jacinto Park (I think it may be BLM land) and I doubt the P.S. Fire Dept would be thrilled to hike all the way up there. I think we should just take the can ourselves. Anyone who is reading this and hiking Skyline soon, please take the can. It isn't hard to find--it's under Crazydude's pile of junk (tent, bag, etc) which is just eight or ten feet offtrail next to a big boulder. The location is approximately half way up the shady slope, e.g. around 2500 feet. I will probably not be going up Skyline again for two or possibly three weeks, so it would be better if others who are going sooner did it. Let's get rid of this potential hazard. Please post if you do take it so we know we don't have to worry about it anymore. As for his other gear, I vote that we leave it there. It's unsightly but not hazardous, and he may come back and need it.

[cynthia23]

Oops, re-reading these posts I see I may have quite accidentally given a wrong impression--this is not a can of GASOLINE, but a tank (I carelessly called it a can) of butane-type COOKING GAS, such as you use in a camping stove. If it were GASOLINE be sure I would have removed it absolutely immediately. As I said in the previous post, tanks of camping gas are obviously well-packaged to survive many hazards. I don't see the tank as an emergency (a can of gasoline would certainly be) but I do see it as potentially hazardous and something which makes me uneasy. Hence the post ...sorry to have panicked anybody ...

[zippetydude]

Hi Cynthia23. I don't think he's been there in months, and I doubt he's coming back to tidy up, so any clean up efforts will probably have no impact on him. When you refer to gas, you're talking about a propane cylinder, right? If you're talking about gasonline, then I'm wrong about him being gone, because I didn't see gasoline type gas there before.

Cy: How was the trail up on Saturday? I did Vivian Creek instead, and it was gorgeous. I suspect as much for Skyline...is all the snow gone?

See you folks on the trail!

z

[cynthia23]

Hi Z, how's my favorite Lost Boy? The propane tank was a blue metal canister, and it was there yesterday. It was also there three weeks ago. It's gas, right? What else could it be? I didn't examine it closely as I kept imagining Crazydude was gonna sneak up behind me, just took a quick poke in the pile with my sticks. I'm not too crazy about the idea of touching his stuff ...

Anyway, I think it is not a crisis, right? Or should we go get it right away? If people truly feel it's an emergency, I suppose I could hike up midweek ...

From this discussion, I have the feeling that Crazydude is indeed actively camping there from time to time, but I still think we should steal the gas, as there is no way in hell he should have an open flame on that slope. Let him eat his canned beef stew cold ...

re: Skyline--I only went to 5500 as I wish to not even deal with a popsicle's worth of ice. Cy posted on here last week and said there was very little...

[zippetydude]

I'm with you, I imagine it's propane. I was just trying to be sure he didn't bring up a gallon of gas in one of those red plastic containers. That would be insane and very volatile. In a propane cylinder, I'm sure it's safe if it's left alone. I've never seen any sign of him after the first time the stuff showed up, and I've gone past there at 5:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., early enough that I would have expected to catch him still asleep if he were camping there.

Strangest thing, though, that he would carry all that stuff up so far. That's a tough part of the trail (the first 3 miles). Also, who would want to come back to camp and have to poke through everything every day to be sure a rattler wasn't in your sleeping bag . . . Odd too that he didn't put his camp at least a little way off the trail so that no one would see his stuff. Totally bizarre.

z

[Cy Kaicener]

Stan - Conditions on Skyline were perfect. There were only a few small patches of soft snow which you could hike around and avoid, and these should be gone before the next weekend. Five people passed me and there were six more a short distance behind.