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Weird stuff found in the woods

3M views 4K replies 2K participants last post by  RJ2019 
#1 · (Edited)
Have you ever seen some strange stuff out there? I'd love to hear about it.

I've seen some weird and fascinating things out there.

Tons of stolen cars.

Pot fields.

Poaching dump sites. The biggest having over two hundred deer and elk carcasses. Funny thing about that one is I had to fight with the lady on the poaching hotline to take the info down. The wildlife officers were much more interested once they saw the spot. Never heard what happened.

Tons of garbage, some toxic.

Apparently porn and construction items are the two most popular items to dump.

I've found old oil lamps, 70 year old beer cans.

We once came across a logging dump pit. The area had been logged off 80 years before, and we found there garbage pit. Lots of spoons old jars and cans, different tossed aside items.

I've seen old mining troughs.

I'm sure as the thread progresses I'll remember some other things.

One of the coolest I ever found took me a bit to figure out. We were bush whacking our way towards a river, when we came to the last rise before the long flood plains of the river we saw the outline. The whole area along the sides of the river is filled with 29 yo Alders, that have regrown since the St Helens eruption sent a massive mud flow(lahar) down the river.

What we saw looking down that hill was weird, it was a huge outline of a rectangle with these trees growing all over it. The fact that there was something unnatural about the area was just two lines that formed the corner of the rectangle. Even as we approached and saw it's massive size we still couldn't figure out what it was. It was only when we were standing right next to it that we saw the twisted metal on top. It was the mangled remnants of a guard rail. What we were looking at was a two lane bridge 150 ft in length! Complete with guard rail, frame and asphalt. :eek:

The Lahar had ripped it away and carried it close to a mile down stream before it came to rest 400ft plus from where the natural flow of the river is. Now nature has completely covered it. Few would hike down there, if they did it would be hard to spot. But it remains as a small sign of the destruction the eruption did. This area is a little over 12 miles from the mountain.

Edit: I found some pics taken a little over 3 years ago of that bridge.

Looking down on it.


Standing next to it.






My brother and son(right) on top of it. Just 3 years, wow! They grow up fast.:(
 
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#2,814 ·
Once inspecting an isolated mine site at Quartzville Oregon.
To get out of the hot sun.
Stepped inside a 4 wide 7 ft., tall tunnel that was only 50 or 60 feet long.
Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
It appeared a little further in than where I was standing.
The walls & ceiling appeared to be undulating slightly.
A closer look revealed about 50 million big CRICKETS covering the walls & ceiling.

Another time, an old mine portal was sloughed in with only a man hole sized hole into the tunnel exposed.
On my hands & knees at the top of the rubble pile I peered into the tunnel.
A bobcat exited the hole at high speed & sprang right over the top of me. :eek:
 
#2,815 ·
........ Another time, an old mine portal was sloughed in with only a man hole sized hole into the tunnel exposed.
On my hands & knees at the top of the rubble pile I peered into the tunnel.
A bobcat exited the hole at high speed & sprang right over the top of me. :eek:
I'd a been laughing my arse off if I were with you and saw that! Next would be to ask if you were OK.

Good one! :D:
 
#2,817 ·
Another time at a 4by vehicle accessible old mine site off the beaten track in Idaho
Rail had been stripped out, about 1/2 inch skin of water running out the portal.
Tunnel floor was silt covered, saw one set of a mans tracks going in.
No 2nd set of tracks coming out. :eek::

Had a map of the mine.
Was about 1500 foot long straight crosscut tunnel to where the old timers hit the vein.
Then another 1500 feet of drift along the vein & multiple stopes along the vein.
Inner workings at that bottom level did not hole through to the surface.
So there was no natural flow through ventilation in the mine.

Had hand held methane & oxygen testers in my rig.
Put on rubber boots, hard hat & battery on belt light.
Took the testers, walked in, tested air about every 50 or 100 feet.
At 900 feet in air went dead lacking oxygen.
But, a person would not know that without a lit candle or tester.

Walked back out, as I didn't have an air pack with me.
Got on CB radio (was long before cell phones) - got ahold of county sheriffs office.

Explained what I found, requested a search crew with air packs.
2 hours later they arrived, we geared up & went back in.

At 1500 feet in where the workings split in 2 directions.
Found a man DEAD, with a dead flashlight next to him.

Went back out, got a stretcher, went back in & we packed him out.

Long story short, he died of oxygen depravation.:xeye:
Was a elk hunter from out of state, ID & cash in his wallet.

His rig must have been parked on the mine dump.
After he walked in & didn't come out.

Someone found what appeared to be an abandoned pick/up & camper.
Then stole it, it was recovered later 100 miles away stripped.

In a mine... dead air is something you cannot see (without a lit candle) or sense.
In it, you get tired, take a break, sit down, fall asleep & NEVER wake up.

STAY OUT of old mines, unless trained, experienced & equipped. :thumb:

EDIT to add: to work in mines like that, miners ran fan bag lines in, with the bags suspended on a cable one side of the tunnel.
Then had a BIG squirrel cage fan at the portal, to pump fresh outside air into the mine & workings.

Another issue is, with wet rotting timber in a deep mine, methane concentrations can develop in pockets.
Forced air ventilation will dissipate it below dangerous levels.
Without forced air ventilation those pockets build up.
Walk into one of them, with a LIT candle.
BANG - explosion & you are generally DEAD.
 
#2,818 ·
My father in law and I located a rather large mine that he had explored years ago, around 35+.

Well we found it again, me for the first time and ventured in. We had all types of gear with us, not our first rodeo.

We were about 100yards into it and I finally mention to him, I noticed it at nearly the entrance and knew what it was, that the ceiling was moving and looked alive.

He said I was messing with him and kept going. About another 50 yards in I mention it again and he finally looks up, ceiling is about 7 1/2 feet, and says "wow, It is moving what is that."

I start laughing and tell him spiders. He says no and looks closer.

It must have been one of those once in a life time moments because there had to be around a million + daddy long legs walking deeper into the mine. Well he got close enough that some fell and landed on him.

Now picture a 6' 265# law enforcement officer jump and nearly hit his head, spin around in the air and trample me and not stop until he was outside.

After I regained my composer from laughing and being flattened out I gathered what he dropped and headed back.

When I got to the exit he was still doing the **** jebe dance!

Since then he has dragged me to that same mine a few additional times with cameras but have not seen anything like it since. A rattler or two but not the spiders.

He affectionately calls it spider cave now.

He has also gone back with other members of his team that are just as afraid of spiders in hopes to see them do what he did. Still no luck.

As for mine safety, never go in them. They are dangerous and often prove deadly.
 
#2,819 ·
Have found in dry mines, hordes of packrats & middens (packrat nests).
The reflection from my light bouncing off little red eyes darting all over.
Is enough to spook you, until you know what they are.

Found cached slusher buckets



and air driven slushers..



Still in working order & costly to purchase today.
 
#2,836 ·
Soak down the pipes, done some disposable clothes, wear a good respirator and get stuck in!

I used to remove the stuff with full PPE back in the day, not dangerous if handled and removed carefully...
 
#2,823 · (Edited)
On the Oregon/California border, high in the Mtns on a rugged dirt road sometimes used for bypassing Or/Ca border crossing inspection. Noticed fairly fresh skid marks on the rocky road that headed down off the road into a gully.

Stopped, looked over the embankment, saw a rolled fairly late model pickup about 200 feet down in the brush. Grabbed 1st aid kit, hiked down to it. Getting closer, noticed multiple bullet holes in the wreck.

Next to it, looking in saw a fair amount of blood, but no person. Traversed around the wreck in case occupant or driver had been ejected, side hill traversed back & forth up to the road, found no one on the way.

Later, reported to State police.
Who, just as I thought said probably drug deal or transfer gone wrong.

--------

Another time - driving on an isolated high Mtn gravel road, saw a man by the roadside laying down with a beer can in his hand - looked like he had been beaten with a crowbar & severely dehydrated. He was so weak, all he could do was raise the can & wave slightly. Stopped - administered water/first-aid, he could not stand, loaded him in my rig - headed for town with him. One the way - was careful not to allow him to chug water fast.

He told me he was starving & did I have any food. Gave him a can of dinty moore stew - can-opener & spoon - warned him to eat slow. He ate that like he had not eaten in a week. He told me day before - another rig drove right past him - women driver & did not stop/assist. Delivered him to small town hospital emergency room - broken ankle - bone fractures - broken ribs, etc.

His story - young logger - taking a Mtn short-cut to home late at night, 5 or 6 elk ran out in front of his rig, he was driving a bit fast, slammed on brakes, skidded off/road, rig launched into the air, hit/rolled - he was ejected & rig went much further. As he could only crawl - he could not locate his rig.

Over several days time - crawled up to the road. Beer can he found while crawling - used to gather morning dew & rain water.
 
#2,825 ·
First of all this is a great thread, I stumbled across it a few weeks ago and have read the entire thing little by little. I was surprised to see some recent posts at the end of it and figured I'd a few stories that come to mind.

Once while out squirrel hunting in some hardwoods I spotted an old beech tree that was just begging me to sit down and take a break for a while. As I got closer I noticed markings on the tree and ended up finding several old carvings in it. They had stretched out as the tree grew and some were hard to make out but one read "JIM 1923" I found another date from 1920 and lots of random shapes like diamonds, arrows, and numbers and letters that didn't make any sense to me like JG3. I couldn't resist adding my own initials and the date and also took some pictures if anyone is interested. That was probably 10-12 years ago and the tree has since been hit by lightning and eventually died and fell over so my pictures are the only thing left of it. I did take a metal detector out there once but didn't find anything.

Second story isn't so much strange as it is interesting..once while riding my fourwheeler along the edge of a field on our property just inside the wood-line I found a large grinding stone just sitting there with the smaller stone still on top of it. It was awesome to think about someone hundreds or thousands of years ago sitting right there using it and for whatever reason left it behind. I thought about leaving it there out of respect but I was afraid it would be matter of time before someone hit it with a bushhog so I took it home and still have it. About 300 yards into the woods there's a Creek where I've found a lot of artifacts after a good rain, arrowheads, broken pottery some of which had designs, found one arrowhead knapped out of petrified wood which I thought was pretty cool but finding that undisturbed grinding stone takes the cake, a true link to the past which I was privileged to encounter.

I'm sure there's other stories that will come to mind but these 2 stick out as perfect examples of why I love the outdoors. You just never know what you're going to come across and every trip into the woods is an adventure for me.
 
#2,826 ·
Years ago we were hiking deep in the Allegheny woods and came upon a wrecked tar paper shack at least 2-3 hours into the woods. The roof was gone. The walls sagged. We found newspapers from the 60's and lots of empty pill bottles for some reason. I picked up this old fashioned diner salt shaker that had aluminum foil in it. I thought that was odd. I opened it up and there were 5 twenty dollar bills folded up in the foil! It was so old they were crumbling. I brought them into a store and told the lady I'd fallen in the water with them. And she gave me new ones lol. Never found that shack again though.
 
#2,829 ·
Well out on a bit of a 4wd explore today down some old mining borefield tracks I hadn't been on before and found some groups archery range - I thought pistol range at first (which would be bizarre in Australia) but definitely archery

which as an archer excites me, hope I can meet this group - I'd like to join in there as it's a much better set up than mine and it's kind if permanent
- but although it's not anyone's land you sort of feel like you are trespassing you know? Maybe if I leave a note asking or a 6 pack and some targets it would be a good way in





 
#2,830 ·
this isn't a 'found in the woods' post but earlier post about money found in a shack prompts me to post this one.
around 25 yrs back a feller I know was contacted by a distant relative in a nearby town that inquired about haveing him and his cuzzin tear down an old house that she had on the edge of her property. he/they agreed to do the job, they both had pick-up trucks and tools to do the job but both of them are notorious procastinators when beer is involved which it was a-plenty then.
the property owner contacted this fella a couple times after trying to get him to come take the place down as the building code dept was going to condemn it and fine her is it was'nt taken down. finally she contacted another handyman and co. to take it down.
the house had the plaster and lath walls and when they were stripping the interior behold mason jars stuck in the walls full of silver coins, silver certificate bills and some gold coins. turned out to be around 30 k worth of stuff. they got to keep it all.
my buddys were broken hearted and spent a couple weeks kicking theirselves in the arse while drinking. several times I rode my m/c down to their place to see the self-inflicted misery they were going through. wished I'd had a video recorder of the crestfallen looks on those faces, I read of the find in the newspaper before that pair even knew about it so told them about it - they were in disbelief so checked for themselves.
 
#2,831 ·
I was out in the desert on 4th of July watching the fireworks from the top of this peak. While walking back down, keeping in mind this was at night, I walked right passed a pit in the ground. It was a very odd formation, possibly man made, its hard to tell. It was circular in shape, and about ten feet deep. This was near the top of a mountain that is mostly all rock. The bottom of the pit was fairly flat. It could've been bad if I fell in there. I have no idea how that would've been formed or what reason someone would've had to make it. I've been all over that area and never seen anything remotely like it. Just a large deep hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere.
 
#2,832 ·
I found a u haul buried into the side of a hill. It was rusted out and the cab was under the ground. And then I also found an entire cabin with a 50's style decore. A old stove some old canned food and bits of clothing. It was a one bedroom cabin and itsee roof was collapsing and missing half the front wall. It was pretty cool but a little spooky. I also found the wing of a plane with bullet holes in it. That was odd.
 
#2,833 ·
There is a spot not too far from me that is a older heliport on a Mesa...more or less, if you look over the edge there are a bunch of old 50's cars buried in the side. There is an old nomad, a bel air(I think) and a few others. I think they were abandoned and then when they clear the heliport the slowly bury them.
 
#2,834 ·
We did find, just remembered this, a newer escalade that was flipped, shot up and partially burned in the desert. I still debate going back and salvaging the axles and things off it. Not sure if it is still there though as We have not been in that immediate area for a couple years now.
 
#2,835 ·
I found a couple of interesting things while deer hunting:

I found an old A H Fox double barreled 12 gauge shotgun with a beavertail forearm. Someone had hit a tree with it, bent the barrels and left it. I guess they missed a big buck.

Another time, I found a 20 something year old guy sitting in the woods crying. He had been lost all day. I took him back to my truck and we went to where his friends had dropped him off that morning. They were not there, so I drove him back to his apartment. (about 30 miles) His friends were there drinking beer. When he did not show up at their trucks at the appointed time, they assumed he had caught a ride back to town. So, they left him. Some friends huh?
 
#2,837 ·
As Kids, My Cousin and I were out exploring the woods behind his house (ex-house of Ill repute). We came across a swimming pool. It was very elegant at one time. It was made of blue and white ceramic tiles. The edge was surrounded buy rows of blue tiles. The cement benches were still in place. But it had been back filled with the remains of a brick home. We later learned back in the 20's there some very fancy homes in the area. The depression killed the money and, the homes were abandoned and torn down. Nature reclaimed the area.
 
#2,840 ·
I was once out hiking in Colorado, near crystal peak/florissant area and I found a Gerber gator clip point knife on a tree branch. it was basically brand new, I still have it to this day, have never sharpened it or used it, its still razor sharp. this was in the mid 90's. it was perched on a thick branch about 6 ft off the ground, in a pretty remote area, at least 5 miles from the nearest road. but the knife was literally brand new, and still is today.
 
#2,845 ·
Ok so this doesn't qualify as weirdbut I found a pretty much brand new fishing net on the bank of my local reservoir. there was a big rain and lot of stuff got washed out found it on the rocks yesterday. it's the it's the kind with the rope attached to itI don't know much about fishing nets but I'mma bundle up and put in my bug out bag and learn how to cast it.
 
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