[pct-l] Karen's Hero

[Reinhold Metzger]

> Yes Switchback
> Backpacking has certainly changed since the UL Revolution.
> Hauling 50-60 lb packs and wearing "waffle stomper boots" was the norm 
> in those pre-revolution days.
> I remember when I first hiked the JMT with the Scouts in 1996 hauling 
> a 75 lb pack starting at Yosemite and a
> 85 lb pack after resupplying at Vermilion.
> I remember when I first hiked Mt.Whitney in 1968 or 1969, with my 
> wife, hauling a monster pack and wearing
> combat boots.
>
> BTW....you ain't "Hard-Core" until you hiked Whitney in combat boots.
>
> I was a bad a$$ recently discharged Marine Corps "Grunt" used to 
> hauling heavy packs and treating my women right.
> So, it went against my grain to have my lovely recent bride haul a pack.
> So, everything went int a "Marine Grunt" pack and onto my back with 
> Karen (my wife) skip hoping along and me grunting all the way.....that 
> may give you guys a clue why they call the Marine Infantry the "GRUNTS".
> BTW....I also had to carry "Schatzy", our miniature Dachshund most of 
> the way.
> But Karen cooooing into my ear...."Reinhold you are my hero"....made 
> it all worth it.
> That is all I ever wanted to be......."Karen's hero".
>
> Say guys,  I understand now-a-days you guys make your women carry 
> their own packs.
> Yes, things have really changed from the days when Switchback and 
> Reinhold ruled the trails.
> Yes, there was a time when Saber Tooth Tigers roamed the wilderness, 
> the bones of hikers littered the trails and only
> "Hard-Core Mountain Men" dared to roam the wilderness.
>
> JMT Reinhold, Karens hero
-------------------------------------------------
Switchback wrote:
Only eleven JMT thru-hikes?
You should have been out there when men were real men.
My first hike on the JMT was in 1970.........that was when the last Ice 
Age Glaciers were retreating out of the Sierras.......