I once asked an old time ranger where his favorite place to camp was located. His reply? His couch! LOL
The generations long before us had it right. Let the mules carry the supplies, including stove, food and "licker". Stop in the afternoon, set up camp, erecting one of those big, canvas tents, light a fire, pull up a chair and start dinner.
When CA grew from 5m to 20m people (by 1970), that's when all the restrictions began. A necessary evil of course, otherwise nature would have been absolutely trashed. But a lot of the core appeal has been eroded due simply to the nature of our current reality.
That is why I raise the question, are we merely trying to force a square peg into a round hole? Maybe the hole used to be also square, but it surely ain't now. So we go through the motions, trying to recapture something that is so long past that no one living remembers anything remote to what it must have been like.
Which is why my day hiking is almost like going back to step one, albeit through unconventional means. Experience the comforts of what people in 1921 enjoyed, at the cost of having to walk back to your car camping spot by the end of the day.
Last edited by Hobbes; 03/25/21 12:38 PM.
