[pct-l] Cheryl Strayed's Pack in Wild...you ain't seen nothing yet.

[Gail Van Velzer]

Love your story~  although I know it's not a story, but the reality of how 
we hiked back then.  We carried everything and some group stuff to boot.  A 
40 or 60 pound pack was pretty normal; but I have been with guys who have 
carried well more than 80 for a long trip (30 days in the Sierras).
Golly
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Reinhold Metzger" <reinholdmetzger at cox.net>
To: "PCT" <pct-l at backcountry.net>; <Hiker97 at aol.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 3:36 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Cheryl Strayed's Pack in Wild...you ain't seen nothing yet.


> There has been much talk recently about Cheryl's huge, strange pack and
> other hiker's huge, strange packs.
>
> You ain't seen nothing yet until you've seen JMT Reinhold on his first,
> post USMC, civilian hike.
>
> Hey, I remember my first Mt. Whitney hike in 1968 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 Infantry "Grunt", where hiking
> is a way of life, used to hauling heavy packs and treating women right.
> It went against my grain to burden my recent bride with a pack.
> So, everything went into 2 Marine Grunt Packs strapped onto  a Marine
> Grunt Pack board 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."
> A pack board is a sturdy plastic board with burlap shoulder straps but
> no waist belt, used by ammo humpers in heavy weapons teams like
> Bazooka & Machine Guns to haul the extra ammo.
>
> So there I was, with 2 packs strapped on a pack board, with 4 military
> water canteens and a military first aid pack on a a military cartridge
> belt, stumping up Mt. Whitney....in "COMBAT BOOTS".
>
> You don't see them like that anymore.
>
> BTW...I also had to carry "Schatzy", our miniature dachshund most of the 
> way.
> But Karen coooing into my ear..."Reinhold you are my hero"...made it all 
> worth it.
> That is all I ever wanted to be ....."Karen's Hero."
> Of course I was Mitzy's hero also.
>
> 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.
>
> JMT Reinhold
> "Karen's hero"
>
>
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