Strange canister on side of trail

The purpose of this forum is to help people identify things they've seen while out hiking: wildflowers, trees, birds, insects, small animals, animal tracks, even geographical features like buttes or streams
User avatar
arlohike
Posts: 237
Joined: April 28th, 2014, 8:28 pm

Strange canister on side of trail

Post by arlohike » May 7th, 2017, 9:09 pm

This is not a natural feature, so I hope that's okay for this forum.

Today on the Larch Mountain Trail, between Multnomah Basin Road and Franklin Ridge Trail, next to a faint footpath down to the creek that I didn't investigate, was this vaguely military looking canister, open on top, with what looked like red paint coming out of it. This was at about 2 pm and I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when I passed by in the morning. Coincidentally, I came upon two US Forest Service employees about 10 minutes after seeing this, and showed them the photo, and they didn't know what it was, either. Anybody here recognize this?
Attachments
IMG_1948.JPG
TrailCheck (iOS / Android)
Elevation Tracker (iOS / Apple Watch)

User avatar
Chase
Posts: 1265
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by Chase » May 8th, 2017, 4:44 am

Back up a minute there. You saw FS employees more than a mile from a trailhead?

User avatar
kepPNW
Posts: 6411
Joined: June 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
Location: Salmon Creek

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by kepPNW » May 8th, 2017, 6:04 am

Saw it Sunday, too. Looked like an old baby wipes container?
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

User avatar
Guy
Posts: 3333
Joined: May 10th, 2009, 4:42 pm
Location: The Foothills of Mt Hood
Contact:

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by Guy » May 8th, 2017, 6:47 am

Chase wrote:Back up a minute there. You saw FS employees more than a mile from a trailhead?
:lol:
hiking log & photos.
Ad monte summa aut mors

User avatar
aiwetir
Posts: 600
Joined: December 10th, 2014, 11:54 am
Contact:

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by aiwetir » May 9th, 2017, 1:02 am

A larger photo might help
- Michael

User avatar
BigBear
Posts: 1836
Joined: October 1st, 2009, 11:54 am

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by BigBear » May 10th, 2017, 8:59 am

I'm not certain what the can is either, but I agree that finding USFS employees a mile up on the trail is more rare than litter.

I saw two young ladies in their USFS uniforms on the Gillette Lake trail last year and seriously thought of taking their photo due to the novelty of the experience. Their uniforms still looked clean and pressed (like first time out in the sun). Our group of rather experienced hikers were trying to remember the last time we saw a USFS employee on the trail and none of us had seen one since the 1990s. We've seen them at the trailheads, but not actually hiking or backpacking.

User avatar
arlohike
Posts: 237
Joined: April 28th, 2014, 8:28 pm

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by arlohike » May 10th, 2017, 9:48 am

Here's a higher resolution photo. The grape leaves behind show the scale -- about the size of a large Nalgene bottle. It did look like a baby wipes container, except for the army green color and the red paint (?) oozing out of it.

Something like this would barely attract my notice on the Bridal Veil Plateau, but sitting right beside this clean and commonly used trail, and apparently just appearing earlier that day, made me curious.

I thought it was some kind of trail marking tool, or research tool like an insect trap, so when I saw the USFS folks I assumed it was theirs. Looking at the photo again, it seemed like it could have been lying under the brush for years and someone just found it and set it in view that day. But the paint on it seemed wet.
Attachments
IMG_1948.jpg
TrailCheck (iOS / Android)
Elevation Tracker (iOS / Apple Watch)

User avatar
Waffle Stomper
Posts: 3707
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by Waffle Stomper » May 11th, 2017, 7:48 pm

That's strange. Did you pick it up? I'm wondering if it is some sort of weird geocache canister?
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir

User avatar
arlohike
Posts: 237
Joined: April 28th, 2014, 8:28 pm

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by arlohike » May 15th, 2017, 7:38 pm

I didn't touch it or even poke at it with my hiking poles. It seemed potentially dangerous or toxic ... it also seemed like its owner wasn't far away.
TrailCheck (iOS / Android)
Elevation Tracker (iOS / Apple Watch)

User avatar
naturallog
Posts: 52
Joined: February 2nd, 2016, 9:07 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Strange canister on side of trail

Post by naturallog » May 15th, 2017, 8:21 pm

kepPNW wrote:Saw it Sunday, too. Looked like an old baby wipes container?
I think you're right. You can just make out the "slit" where you pull the wipes from.

Post Reply