Looking for your glasses?
Post date: Aug 10, 2012 4:01:24 PM
Did you lose a pair of reading glasses?
When we go into the backcountry, we often go out of our way to find more remote and private campsites. Part of the joy of backpacking is the sense of solitude and isolation that we find. And that means that we often find ourselves camping boldy where no man has camped before.
Well, not really. But you get the idea. Show us the usual sites, and we'll often look for something a bit farther afield.
On this last trip, we were off the John Muir Trail, exploring trails and routes that didn't get so much traffic. And when we stopped for the night, we often spent 45 minutes or more finding a place to camp that would be away from the madding crowd--or at least other hikers. In one case, we considered one campsite, then decided to move on. But before we moved on M noticed a pair of glasses on a log. She actually ought they were mine, and handed them to me. But I had mine right where I wanted them---on my face.
This pair had been on the log for a while, judging from the water spots and corrosion on the frames, so we tossed them in our pack and added them to the junk we've found on the trail.
And then a few days later, we were even farther off the grid, and M wandered off in the woods to do what bears do. Of course, she likes to get far away even from our isolated campsite for that particular activity. When she returned, she was laughing, and holding up a pair of glasses. A different pair.
So we have two pairs of reading glasses right now. They are both about 1.5 magnification, and we'll donate them to a local charity shop.
But it does make you wonder how many other pairs are out there...and how many people are having trouble reading their topo maps.