Re: Fletcher Vs Kephart

Sad and deplorable as it may be, I only find snippets on Harding's mode of death on the Web in very brief search. I can post LA Times obit excerpts at later date if anyone is interested.

This excerpt from Yosemite Association.org, of which I know absolutely nothing. suggests Harding's gruesome death in his trailer:

"(The late) Galen Rowell went to visit Mr. Harding on his deathbed three days before he died. He said his friend woke from a semicomatose state to ask for a glass of wine, which Rowell obliged."

Changing the subject, to Kephart you are quite right to point out his obscelesance, yet see also his description of British ultra-light kit that included down sleeping bag, Silk tent with bamboo frame, and rubber mat and alcohol "pad" stove weighting about the same as the similar modern gear. Kephart dismissed this kit completely, and advocated browse bags in lieu of mattresses--- a disatrous plan today, except where dry leaves and pine needles are available in great quantity.

Kephart was a classically trained scholar who worked aa rare manuscripts librarian in Italy for a number of years around 1900. His book on camping sold massively for three or four decades in the U.S.

Fletscher's influence on camping in past thirty years, is if anything, more significant than Kepharts previously, and is widely attested. Fletscher was a little more honest than Kephart, although his writing wasn't as refined. I do hope to read Harding's book some day.

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