Travel Snip: Carbo Load

After a short hike up to Watchman's Point in Crater Lake, we returned to the carpark to have a snack and head off to the next location down the road. Across from us was a family preparing for the same hike we'd just completed.

The father was in his mid thirties, pot bellied, and wore a bright red t-shirt. He was eating from a large bag of potato chips. As he proceeded in his mission to the bottom of the bag he stopped at regular intervals to offer the bag to one of the other family members. "Hey, Tom", he would say, "Wanna Carbo Load?". Or "Jenny, Carbo Load?". Said family member would then take the largest handful of chips they could manage and, with the air of someone undergoing serious preparation for some arduous task, cram them into their mouths.

I couldn't decide which was more ridiculous. "Carbo Loading" for a 30 minute walk, or attempting to do so with potato chips. The father had obviously heard of the concept of athletes carbohydrate loading in preparation for endurance events. The fact that he was walking a 30 minute trail, not running a marathon, eating 3 minutes beforehand, not 3 days, and that he was using potato chips, not pasta or bread, was not going to deter him from a wonderful excuse to eat chips and feel good about it.