Found in Trip Reports: Kindness, Rescue and a Community of People Helping Each Other

In August, trip reporter Ngl1992 and her sister were only a quarter mile from the Berry Patch trailhead and a mid-week backpacking trip in the Goat Rocks when they got a flat tire. Getting a flat deep on a forest road is, at best, a hassle. At worst, it can ruin a trip and leave hikers stranded miles from help with no cell service. In a splendid show of priorities, the duo decided to go ahead with their hike and deal with their flat on the way out. And that's when someone stopped to offer help:

Got to car, moved car, and the KINDEST dad asked us if we needed help changing the tire. My sister and I were pretty convinced we could do it ourselves, but he stuck around and jumped in when we asked (mostly to get the original tire off, the bolts were so hard to move and I don't think we could have done it alone). He was so thoughtful with how he helped us, we still felt we had agency... it's hard to explain, but it was just a really lovely model of how to help someone with a lot of humility and grace.

Views from the goat rocks backpacking trip. A flat tire awaits their return on the road to the trailhead.

There is a growing body of scientific evidence that spending time in nature is good for us. But it also might help make us better people who feel more connected to others. So it's no surprise that the stories hikers tell illuminate a world where we take care of trails and each other.

Amid the thousands of useful reports of pothole size, conditions and hornets nest locations (all of which are their own form of giving back to each other) we see stories folded into trip reports day after day of the trail community being awesome to each other. 

These 17 tiny stories found in trip report paint a picture of what's possible.

Lost and found

Views from quinntessentialnw's trip, where they lost their water bottle.

If you've been hiking for a while, you've probably lost something along the way. Buried in trip reports and comments are the stories of hikers connecting with each other to return everything from expensive gear to items that may seem not worth the effort, until you consider their sentimental value.

First and foremost I lost my hydroflask on the trail if anyone found it and is reading this report! It’s brown and full of Stickers and I will gladly describe it in full detail...

That's how trip reporter quinntessentialnw started their July trip report to Hidden Lake Lookout. (In addition to useful trip report details, they also shared some stunning photos and, well, photos of baby ptarmigan, which is it's own form of spreading goodness.) In the comments a week later, another trip reporter whynothike connected the dots.

"I was at the trailhead on July 10th, and someone left your hydroflask there. Remembering your post, I picked it up, and will reach out with IG to return it.

Sometimes hikers even go hiking specifically to help find a lost item, as in the case of joe.FOTW's report at Knapsack Pass earlier this summer. (Did they find it? After much searching, they did.)

A week before this trip, on the 7th, my Mom and a friend of hers backpacked in this area. Sadly, during this trip, my Mom's friend lost her phone. So this Saturday, the 14th, we all returned to the Knapsack Pass / Spray Park area to search for and hopefully find the phone.

In a June trip up the Ira Spring trail, trip reporter Hikeswith3 had the karma of a small kind gesture (stepping aside to let a larger group of hikers pass) rewarded when another hiker noticed and picked up a lost item. To many, a dropped bandana could just be a piece of mystery trash. But this anonymous hiker took a little extra time and thought to assume it might matter to someone. And, it did.

And thanks to the faster paced hiker who rescued and returned my bandana dropped while making way for a large hiking group.

Car trouble and road rescues

In their winter trip report to Kelcema Lake, trip reporter and WTA member SavvyExploring stopped to help someone whose truck was stuck in the snow, and a "super nice guy with an ATV" stopped to help as well.

From giving people a hand with a tire, getting unstuck from a snow bank or giving backpackers who had to cut their trip short a lift, there are story after story of people helping hikers out of a jam.

We popped a tire on Mowich Road on our way home (some awesome folks from Puyallup stopped and helped us - thanks so much, Chandler and Chloe!). — July, Tolmie Peak

We also saw a 4Runner that was badly stuck and a super nice guy with an ATV came by and helped us get them out. — Dec, Kelcema Lake Snowshoe

This was the last leg of a backpacking stint on the PCT after we decided to end our trip early due to injury. We hiked from the PCT camp at Deception Lakes to the campsite about two miles from the highway on the Deception Creek Trail, then hiked to the highway the next morning to get a ride ... A group of three young women came up behind us, finishing the trail just a minute or two later. They were the tents we saw at the river crossing the previous day. They graciously offered us a ride to Zeke's Drive-In do we could get better cell-service to meet our ride. So kind of them. — July, Deception Creek

When trails feel like neighborhood

Longtime trip reporter George of George & Sally on the 70th anniversary of his first trip to Heather Lake. They've been sharing back trip reports to the community for so many years that they are their own kind of famous in the trail community, and this year, another trip reporter commented that running into them a decade ago was an honor.

Washington may feel like a big place, but if you spend enough time on trail, you may find yourself running into familiar faces on the trail and again in trip reports. It's a magic moment when trails feel like neighborhood.