[Stefan]

I posted this earlier but I will do it again. Does anybody know who "meganerd" is on the WTA.org website for posting information? We found the person's keys at Cascade Pass this weekend and we want to give him his keys. Stefan

[Quark]

Stef, I saw on the WTA website this morning an APB for Meganerd as well as an APB for him on the Trip Reports section - guess Mike called them - but it's not on the website now. Don't know if it "fell off," or if Meganerd has responded so it's been taken off. But if he responded, why don't you know, if you have the keys???? I'm confused. You're confused. Now everyone is confused. As Confucius would say, "It's a confusing situation."

[catwoman]

What's to be confused about?! He said he has his keys!

[Scrooge]

Meganerd reported losing his keys in a WTA trip report on a trip up Sahale Arm. He was quite specific about being lucky to get a ride out - and in fact a ride all the way back to Seattle. I suppose it's possible that he's discovered that he just misplaced his keys, but that's a little hard to believe. Somebody with an active connection to WTA, Allison or Alan Bauer or someone, should at least be able to get a message to him. Stefan, I'm not sure what a WTA APB is, but if you still have the keys I suggest you make a very special "trip report" on the WTA site. And tell meganerd how he can contact you. "Trail Talk", the hard way.

[polarbear]

The hard way indeed. I never thought of WTA trip reports being used as trail talk, but it has some possibilities

[Mike Collins]

A practice which I have found useful is to cache my keys near the car at a location which I make known to my climbing partner. There are two reasons for this. A pack can fall irretrievably over an edge adding miles, misery, and worries to an outing. Secondly and perhaps more important is that the climber themself could fall injured and with the keys in his/her pack. The other climber then even after hiking out would have added hours onto the rescue effort. Leave the keys at or near the parking area in a hidden location.

[Quark]

Sheesh... Clarify: 1. Meganerd wrote a trip report saying he lost his keys somewhere while doing Cascade Pass. 2. This morning, I saw an All Points Bulletin (APB, a very popular acronym for All Points Bulletin) on the front page (aka Home Page) of Washington Trails Association (WTA)'s website saying "Meganerd, someone found your keys, please contact WTA." 3. This morning, I saw on the Trip Reports section of WTA's website a Trip Report titled "Attention Meganerd" written by Bill Sunderland, webmaster of WTA's website. I did not open it but it likely said something like "someone found your keys, contact WTA." 4. This afternoon, after I saw the APB on the WTA website, I saw Stefan's question. 5. This afternoon, I checked the WTA website to see if the APB for Meganerd was still there. 6. It was not. 7. So I'm confused. 8. Perhaps due to a glitch (aka SNAFU, catwoman will have to figure that one out on her own) the APB is no longer on WTA's website.

[#19]

I agree with the jist of Mike's post about the importance of keys being readily accessible to the person going for help. But I would be careful about stashing keys at popular trailheads. People have been known to sit quietly in van's at trailheads watching someone stash their keys. Then when the hiker heads up the trail the thieves have a field day.

[Scrooge]

I'm sorry. I keep getting this image where I topple off a cliff into a raging river and my body is swept away downstream. My hiking partner looks over the cliff and says, "Dang! He had the car keys."

[Stefan]

Keys are wasted carrying weight too!

[Mike Collins]

If I have to hike 20 miles out on the Illabot road I will be saying that Scrooge. After of course a five minute period of silent respect.