I re-stock my cache with fresh water every week. After a couple years of disposing of unused water by pouring it on the ground, I got the bright idea to plant a native cottonwood tree (a fast grower, I was assured by the woman who worked at the garden center) near the picnic tables to provide future shade, and dump the unused water on that. I was in the process of digging the hole to receive the tree when two sobo thru hikers, Dirt Stew and Dormouse, wandered by and we chatted for a few minutes. They documented my efforts with a photo on their hiker blog, https://just2hikers.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/idyllwild-to-julian/, and ambled off to leave me to the task.

This was a five-year-old tree, seriously root bound, with dozens of roots coming out the bottom of the planter and forming a tangled mess. Several hours later, and well after dark, I finally freed the roots of the plastic, tried to spread them out in the hole I had dug, and … voila! … celebrated as the tree started its new life.