The Left Flip Flop Hypothesis
(Recap of the Clark Fork Public Land Pack-Out)
The author’s husband and son cruising the drift holding areas for trash.
Words and Photos by Melissa Hendrickson
Introduction:
Many years ago, I had a retired military seasonal working for me, meaning he had more worldly experience than your average college aged seasonal. One day, upon finding an abandoned flip flop on a remote Forest Service road, he stated with compunction that it is always the left flip flop that is found. Over the years, all the lost flip flops I’ve found have seemed to be left. Not having taken actual data points, I’m not sure if these memories are true or have been swayed by the seasonal’s confident statement. More recently, during the first annual Clark Fork Pack-Out in 2023, four flip flops were collected by my family. Once again, memory serves that they were all left, but video evidence shows otherwise. (2023 BHA Public Land Pack Out Video)
Hypothesis:
If a person loses a flip flop while out recreating, they are most likely to lose a left flip flop.
Materials and Methods:
On August 31st, the second annual Clark Fork Public Land Pack-Out took place. Data collectors (BHA members and family) picked up trash by boat and by walking the shores of the Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area near the Clark Fork Drift Yard boat launch.
One BHA member got creative getting an abandoned tire back to the boat launch on his small fishing kayak.
Instructions were given to the participants to save out the footwear found on their routes. The Drift Yard area is an ideal place for data collection to support or refute the above hypothesis. The facility was built in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineer’s Albeni Falls Dam, located 45 river miles downstream. The drift yard sits in the delta where the Clark Fork River meets Lake Pend Oreille. Debris floating with the current is passively directed through a series of boom systems and into a holding facility. Debris is typically woody material of all sizes from high water flooding events, but also includes flip flops, docks, and other trash from upstream. The holding facility collects this debris and can be navigated by human powered watercraft when the water is high or by foot when the lake levels drop later in the season as water is released for winter from the dam.1
A family walking the shore of the Drift Yard. Woody debris and part of a dock can be seen in the foreground.
Results:
Trash was collected from 23 miles of the delta by several boats and 6 people walking along the shoreline.
Routes followed by participants of the Pack-Out as tracked on onX, the sponsor of the Public Land Pack-Out.
Three of the parties returned with footwear. Upon tailgate analysis back at the boat ramp, the results showed 6 left flip flops, 1 left sandal, 1 right sandal, and 1 right sneaker.
Tailgate footwear analysis.
Discussion:
Does the loss of a certain side of footwear depend on whether the owner is left handed or right handed, thus correlating to left or right foot dominance? Therefore greater loss of left flip flops reflects on the greater population being mostly right handed? Parking lot discussions neglected to take these greater theories into account and rather focused on whether the citrus venison or the jalapeño huckleberry bear tacos were better.
Hard to decide which were better tasting! Photo by J. Brown.
Conclusion:
The results of this informal study support the hypothesis, but more data collection is needed in a variety of settings to further test it’s strength. Therefore, we look forward to the third annual Clark Fork Pack-Out next year for further study. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s event and see you in the future. In the meantime, keep both your shoes on!
About Melissa Hendrickson
Melissa grew up in Northern Maine generally spending a lot of time outdoors. She started hunting after moving to Idaho for work in 2014. Melissa is a former public land hydrologist, current North Idaho Co-Chair of the State Board and SAHM.