Errors of commission...

In my last post I mentioned that I had not only cleaned up a bunch of trash out of the Desolation Wilderness, but I had also, in my own little way, contributed some. The bright orange trowel that I carefully picked up (carefully, in more ways than one!) and packed along for two days disappeared out of my pack on the third day-- a day I spent bushwhacking off trail. So I didn't end up packing out that trowel, I just moved it to another location.

And then there was the camp soap.

My wife and I use the little bottles of hotel amenites to take along a little Dawn detergent on some of our trips. In putting together my kit for the trip, I found a convenient little bottle of blue liquid, and it was the perfect size. I tossed it in my bear can, knowing that I would have exactly one bowl to wash each night.

That first night I polished off my food, rinsed the bowl once, and then filled with a tiny amount of water. (All of this far, far, up the granite ridge from any body of water.) And then I tried to tap in a little Dawn. It wouldn't tap. Boy, it must have been years old, because it was somethinn between a solid and a liquid.

No matter, after some effort, I finally got one drop to land in the bowl. It didn't dissolve. It just sat there in the water. Old? It might have been pre-historic!

And so I reached in with my hand and started stirring it around. I stirred and stirred, but no soap, literally. What the hell?

I read the label on the bottle: hand lotion and moisterizer.

That bowl was soft and moisturized, that's for sure. I wiped it out with some extra TP and hoped the bouquet wouldn't linger until tomorrow's dinner.

Meanwhile, back out on patrol, the next day I visited a series of campers and noticed a plastic bag with a couple of bottles in it lying on the ground. None of the campers claimed it--and it had both bug spray and camp soap in the bag.

"I guess I'll have to pack this out," I said grandly..

"Oh no," said one of the campers, " Please let me do that for you."

And I just couldn't think of a way to turn down that offer of assistance from someone who so wanted to help.

Dammit, the trail giveth, and the trail taketh away.

Dinner, by the way, was just fine. Moist, too.