Rocking Packs

Dan Cobb · Feb 17, 2022

In caving, rocking someone's pack is a pretty common gag. When they leave their pack unattended, you find as big of a rock as you think won't be immediately noticed and stash it in the bottom of their pack. Then you watch to see how long they carry around an overweight pack before they discover the rock. A buddy of mine carried a good sized rock through a cave for hours, on the hike back to the vehicles, on the hike to another cave the next day, all through that cave, and back to the vehicles before dumping out his pack and finding it.

Do tree climbers do this sort of thing?

Chris Schultz · Feb 17, 2022

I’ve seen rocks get hidden in peoples kayaks on river trips before….. it’s funny yes, but I don’t condone that prank as it could result in a nasty swim through a rapid, or a drowning victim. Question is: are they even a tree climber if there’s extra room in their pack?

Tom Dunlap · Feb 17, 2022

In the book The Eiger Sanction Clint Eastwood’s character takes climbing lessons from George Kennedy. They climb Fishers Tower. When they top out GK tells CE to grab a beer so they can celebrate. CE didn’t know that his pack was ‘rocked’ with beer. The scene wasn’t in the movie

Tom Dunlap · Feb 17, 2022

When I do pack trips I buy a gossip magazine or scandal sheet. It’s not hard to find a time to slip it into someone’s pack. Lots of denials about ownership when it’s found. They always make the rounds of ghe group and stories read around the campfire.

Pretty harmless ‘rocking’

SeanRuel · Feb 18, 2022

Im going to borrow that one

Cliff_Towle · Feb 18, 2022

I put a hefty oak chunk in my buddy's gear bag once. Later that day I wondered why the water coming out of my 5gal jug was turning brown...

TCtreeswinger · Feb 18, 2022

Tie off a mrs tail then call lunch

Bucknut · Feb 19, 2022

Dan Cobb said:
Do tree climbers do this sort of thing?

Do we ever! My favorite gag is to just slightly cut my co- workers’ climb line. Sometimes it takes a week or more to be discovered, but oh my GOD the look on their face when they do!

No, seriously the one gag we pulled on my old man years ago worked pretty well. Job was approx 6 silver maple removals of varying sizes. We just took a 2” thick slice off one of the smaller trunks and placed it in a random spot in the yard. Sprinkled sawdust around it to mimic the look of a freshly cut stump. Looked 100% convincing. When the boss showed up to check on our progress he was happy and chatty. Then as he strolled around the yard counting stumps he stopped and looked confused, flipping back and forth on the work order to find this “tree” we had cut down. From experience I can say that confusion was about 2.5 seconds from becoming explosive rage, so we all started cracking up and explained it to him. Very effective.