[philmont] lest he wet his pants

Always enjoy when John writes about the "good old days" at the Ranch.

I agree that it was a more intense experience at the Ranch before the advent of gas stoves. Dehydrated, rather than freeze dried foods were the norm. A "no cook" breakfast was part of the rotation, not the norm, and "cooked" did not mean there was oatmeal. It meant pancakes or dehydrated scrambled eggs, which required carrying a frying pan, gathering wood, and lighting an a.m. fire in the embers of your p.m. fire.

A trail chef kit, rather than some high-tech teflon coated, turkey basted cook kit was carried. Soot from the fires blackened the pot, which must be turned in scoured at the end, so a paste of a high powered soap called Tetrox was applied to the outside of the pots before putting them on the coals. I daresay the incidences of some of that soap getting into the pot, bringing on a condition the Ranger warned of , the dreaded "tetrox trots", was more common than some present day scout leaving the cap on the gas bottle loose.

After the meal, two 8 qt. pots were placed on the fire, one with tetrox in it, and one treated with high powered chlorine tabs (to counteract the tetrox). Not the dip in the boiling water we do now.

Dry camps were intentionally scheduled, as part of the "western camping" experience, rather than the luck of the draw as presently. Switching lunch for dinner or breakfast was more often done due to wet firewood than for lack of water. Also, if you had wood, and it was wet, you still got it lit somehow. Lit quite well. A roaring blaze, in fact. With matches.

Lunches often included lunch meats such as Spam, Bif or Treat, with crackers. It was good. Nothing we had ever eaten before, but clearly someone, somewhere had. No one complained. (In New Jersey, unlike other parts of the country, we have freshly sliced cold cuts in a dizzying variety available everywhere, and always have. Cf. the popular HBO show "The Sopranos". I understand other parts of the country, now or in the past, were lucky to have Oscar Meyer available).

Well, enough reminiscing.

YIS,

Bill Sheehan, ASM
Troop55, Pitman, NJ
Philmont '70,'72, Autumn Adventure '01,'03,'05

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Received on Wed Apr 4 08:42:33 2007