[pct-l] watermelons and stuff

[mardav@charter.net (Marion Davison)]

We are former scout leaders so we mean no disrespect, but the watermelon
on San Gorgonio reminds me of one backpacking troop we met who shared
the duty of carrying a toilet seat on legs so that everyone  would have
a proper place to s*it.  Then there was the large troop ascending Baden
Powell who all carried a folding aluminum lounge chair strapped to their
backpacks.  If everyone has their own chair, then the leader never have
to kick a kid out of his chair!
I also met one backpacker far, far from a trailhead who was carrying a
two burner Coleman stove like a briefcase, and I wondered if that thin
wire handle would work its way right through his hand.
The largest backpack I have ever seen was on a senior citizen making his
way to Glen Aulin this summer, northbound.  Atop his standard heavily
loaded frame pack he had a bedroll about 2 feet in diameter and nearly
four feet wide.  It appeared to be 3" open cell foam.  
My favorite story came from one patrol in our own troop.  The boys
decided they wanted to pack in a pizza for the first evening meal.  When
we all got to the appointed parking lot to assemble for the drive to
Joshua Tree, they realized that  no one had brought a pizza.  One scout
walked in to the grocery store that served as our meeting place and
bought a raw, frozen pizza.  When we arrived at the trailhead he
discarded the pizza box and put this raw, thawed pizza into a plastic
grocery bag and tied it on the outside of his pack.  The raw pizza
folded in half as it traveled, swinging, on the back of his pack.  When
we arrived at camp after our four mile evening hike, the  patrol
unfolded the pizza, carved it into slices and fried each slice in a mess
kit frying pan on a peak 1 stove.  It made a great memory but it was
their last trail pizza.  
Marion Davison