Re[2]: [at-l] ummm

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"Weary claims 6 decades of experience,"

In the interest of full disclosure. I did my first "backpack" 60 years ago this month. I was 12 and
was camping at the Dolly Copp, US Forest Service, Campground at the foot of the Daniel Webster Scout
Trail to the summit of Madison.

I was about the youngest of a group of five or six. We walked up the Great Gulf Trail, camped at the
shelters, (since torn down I suspect by forest service folks upset with wilderness designation)
climbed Washington and traversed the Presidentials before returning to camp.

I climbed my first mountain 68 years ago this month, or so my parents claimed. I vaguely remember
riding from time to time on my Dad's shoulders, but that happened so often that specific times have
faded out of my memory.

However, I learned something from the experience. I never carried my kids -- other than a boost over
an occasional big rock -- I made them walk the whole way, even the three year old. We may have been
the first family to spend 6.5 hours climbing the 3.5 miles to the Chimney Pond shelters on
Katahdin. I can admit it now. The time limits for prosecution under the child abuse statutes has long
since passed.

Weary