[fcatwo]

As I think back, Big Bend was the sight of a very thought provoking experience for us. We were there in March when it was warm rather than hot but we were inclined to follow their "take-plenty-of-water" rules anyway. We were hiking up one of the longer trails to a mountain top and not knowing how long it would take we carried two canteens of water each plus I had an extra gallon of water in a backpack. It turned out we made it up faster than expected and used only one of our canteens each. Finding no one else at the top who needed water I suggested we pour the extra gallon out rather than carry it all the way back. My wife had a feeling that was the wrong thing to do however so after a little grumbling I started back down with that stupid gallon of water on my back.

We were using a different trail and part way down came upon a small group of kids and their leader standing around a dry spring. the leader had hiked the trail before in the wet season and was expecting to find water there. They had started up with very little water and planned to replenish their supply both on the way up as well as on their way back down. I don't think they were in a life threatening situation but they would have been suffering long before they got back down even if they had started back at that point. Naturally we handed over the extra gallon of water plus about half of the water in our second canteens and my wife enjoyed one of her many opportunities (although she didn't say as much) to know she had been right and I had been wrong -- again.

We've both wondered if we were serving as someone's agent during that episode.