As we were nearing the Chisos Basin parking lot from the Basin Loop Trail, two young men were making a lot of noise coming up the trail. It turns out they were loaded down with sleeping bags and full-sized bed pillows with their school backpacks and were pulling a cooler on wheels. Ah, the hubris of youth! I have never seen a funnier sight on a trail. For a brief moment, I thought about warning them of bears being attracted to their cooler, but they were already voicing doubts about their undertaking, and I doubted they would get very far up the trail. The noise was enough to scare away the toughest bear, and it had to be really challenging to drag that cooler on its tiny plastic wheels. Tony and I laughed all the way back to the van.

We didn’t think to snap a photo, but here’s a close rendition created by ChatGPT. In reality, the cooler was a little larger and being pulled on wheels as described above. They were definitely young, laughing, and carrying pillows.