Lucky Bandana

I don't know about you but no thru-hike is complete without a lucky bandana.  You know, the kind that has been washed so many times it feels like silk.  I was hiking on the PCT and somehow lost my red bandana after a stop for lunch.  I was devastated!  It had been with me since my very first long hike in Montana years before.  We went to the town of Big Bear City to resupply and were standing at the bus stop talking to a couple hikers we had just met.  The man pulls my bandana out of his pocket (snot and all) and says, "You didn't happen to lose this did you?"  I couldn't believe it!  I don't know what it is but sometimes you just need that familiar little piece of soft cloth when you're out there exposed among all the elements.  That bandana made it halfway through a second thru-hike and was nearly falling apart.  It had to be retired to my "hiker hall of fame" gear box but still makes me smile when I see it!