[pct-l] sprouts and tarps

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Lorna,

My opinion about sprouting – probably diametrical to yours – is that it
would be a significant waste of time.  The process adds weight, it has to
be fussed over, and sprouts have low Caloric value that in no way would
compensate me for the trouble.  In small compensation for the trouble is
the fact that anything fresh and juicy may be valuable beyond its pure
Caloric content.

I remember stopping at the junction of the PCT and the Kearsarge Pass Trail
while an Aussie named Swami cooked something to eat.  He had the usual
hiker-slop – meaning an amorphous mass of supposedly edible substances –
but he had stopped just below at Vidette Meadows and plucked some wild
onions.  Chopped into his pot the resulting aroma was so wonderful he could
have been mugged on the spot.

I began using a “tarp” as shelter back in the ‘50s, because that’s all I
had available, so I had to learn to deal with it.  Specifically, I used
either a war surplus tent shelter half, or a surplus poncho.  Today I use
purpose-built – by me – SilNylon tarps.

What is necessary today – as it was then – is the ability and willingness
to: 1) sleep under the stars whenever possible to avoid fussing with the
tarp; 2) to learn how to erect the thing in such a way it will resist wind
and rain, but considering how few people can tie just a few competent knots
that may not be easy; and, 3) deal with mosquitoes on top and ants on the
bottom.

Once I built an enclosed bug-bar which suspended from the underside of the
tarp -- or could be erected as a stand-alone – and it covered me from waist
up.  It worked well, but it weighed 6.6 ounces, and as such it didn’t make
the cut.  These things are for sale but I wouldn’t use one of them either.

Sometimes I just throw a square of mesh over my head when I sleep to keep
the mosquitoes at bay, but mostly I just sleep in my headnet. In either
case it helps to have a nice bushy beard.
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=167391

If it’s not cold when I go to bed I wear my jacket to keep the bugs off my
top half.  Around 10-12 PM it usually gets cold enough to ground the bugs,
so if I awake I remove the net and zip up the bag.

Ants can be aggravating without fully enclosed tent, but wise site
selection is the best way to reduce most of that problem.

Enjoy your planning and trip,

Enjoy your trip,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/