Big Creek — Friday, Dec. 25, 2020

Another great leave-no-trace Wilderness Christmas Feast, keeping with my tradition since my wife died!  No hike video this year because of the heavy rain, but I grabbed some photos to share..

Trail: the only issues on the section we hiked were along the 'connector' trail between the road to Lake Cushman (not parking area) and the T junction with the main loop trail - there were a half dozen small trees to crawl over.  Otherwise, no issues.  We ducked into one of the campground picnic shelters to cook the food because of the weather.

Dinner! ..my dear friend Linda is a World Vision Child Sponsor like me, so this year we decided to celebrate those 5 sponsorships with a dish from each of the 5 countries, using my single burner stove and backpack skillet:  

Bangladesh: eggplant bruschetta topped with tomatoes, gr onion, feta cheese, parsley, chives & garlic

Romania:  sarmale(cabbage rolls) filled with gr beef, rice, onion, oregano, dill & basil, with a sauce of tomato juice, smoked bacon, thyme & bay leaves

Palestine: sheermal (flatbread) made with cr cheese, saffron, eggs, flour, butter & milk

Uganda: plantain topped with peanut sauce & poblano pepper cut into star shapes

El Salvador: empanada filled with corn, beans, onion, cheese & potato

And for some Pacific Northwest cuisine we had halibut stuffed & topped with a green cilantro pesto with added pomegranate seeds for color!

Tips for winter wilderness feasting (lessons learned the hard way):

1) partially pre-cook everything that requires more than a few minutes, so that it all finishes cooking at once; 2) have a cover for the backpack skillet; 3) use aluminum pie pans in basket holders for plates, so that you can quickly reheat the plate over the backpack stove as you eat!

Merry Christmas!