Today I was reminded somehow about my trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. This was a very memorable trip and here is a true story.
Not sure if it was the first or second night we were hiking on our 12 day trek, but the most important part is that we were guided by a staff member for the first few days to help us learn the rules and get acclimated. It was my turn to cook and clean up after the meal. Here are the details of how no trace camping works.
1) The entire meal was made in one bowl…I think we had Chicken Pot Pie for dinner. The portion was distributed until there was no more left. No one could turn down the spoon as it came around loaded with wonderful rehydrated food! Yummy!
2) Time for dessert…since the main course was scraped from the pan, it was available to make dessert, chocolate pudding! Guess it should have been called “Chocolate Pudding a la tad of chicken pot pie” ;P It did not taste bad since the pudding was stronger than the chicken.
3) Time to clean up….My turn to be exact. In the morning, hot water was boiled to make breakfast and thus sterilizing the pan. It was the job of the cleaner the night before to clean the dishes out and stack them until the morning. So…leave no trace, meant no cleaning water dumped. I bet you can guess what happened next…yep, no soap, just a little water in the chocolate pudding pan to clean it out. The waste water was then swallowed by yours truly! Could have been a lot worse 😉 Not quite a chocolate shake, but drinkable….perhaps a trial of Nestle Quik? LOL.
4) Once the ranger was gone……let’s just say, there was no more drinking of the waste water!
One more fun food moment….never mix powdered milk when on a “Leave No Trace” camping trip. I had a desire for milk at breakfast. I attempted to mix the power with water, but it did not mix! Ahhh…I had clumps in water. Gross!