Frequently Answered Questions

As caretaker I answered many questions. And, as the title of this page implies, most of these questions were the same thing over and over and over again. I will admit that they got to be a bit of a bother. I can remember going to bed at night answering questions to voices I heard in my mind. I have to think that this is still going on as I type these words, so my sympathy goes out to the current and future caretakers. The years have silenced many of the voices, but certain questions still ring in my head, I will address those that I recall on this page.


Read the sign!

"Where is the trash can?"

This little ditty is first and foremost. The obtuseness of which can only be appreciated by witnessing the number of "Pack-It-In, Pack-It-Out!" signs located throughout the camp. The sign outside the front door to the main cabin is hard to miss, yet it is amazing how many times a day camp volunteers are asked by visitors where they can deposit an empty sandwich bag. I will never understand the physics that makes a piece of packaging unbearable to carry once the useful contents are consumed.

I know at one time a caretaker had gone to the trouble of putting a sign inside the camps "personal" garbage can, located just outside the kitchen door, as the result of it being filled with unwanted refuse. It reiterated this request with a little more oomph. It read "Pack it out! Asshole!"

On a rather busy Saturday he was confronted by an elderly lady that wished to donate to the camp her empty beverage receptacles. He politely informed her that she should carry them off the mountain and deposit them in town. He then watched as she made her way around the outside of the cabin, and seeing the garbage can, lifted the lid, read the sign, and threw them in anyway. I am uncertain what happen next.


"How did you get that ___ here?"

Perhaps the next most prevalent questions all begin the same way, yet change when it came to a subject. This could be referring to one of the many large household appliances that can be found at the cabin (stove, refrigerator, etc.), or it could be applied to the enormous cache of sodas behind the camps counters in the summer. Not to mention the mountain of winter supplies hauled in every fall, or the occasional keg of beer.

By taking into account that they just climbed 3000 feet in elevation on a trail seven miles long, these items can seem out of place to the average backpacker.

Truth is most supplies are carried in on someone's back,and, chances are they did not travel seven miles with it. They probably carried it over from Mountain View, located one and a half miles south of the cabin. To find out where this place is and how the stuff gets there follow me to Mountain View.

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