Kiva – Ammo Box

COUNTRY:
Kiva

DESIGN:
The National Park Service requires you to protect your food in the backcountry of the Grand Canyon.  In designated campgrounds they have these ammo boxes to store things in.  I learned the hard way that you should put your stuff in there when first arriving at camp — the critters will attack your pack if they smell or see something in minutes if your leave the campsite to say….use one of the pit toilets after a long hot day of hiking.  The boxes are of heavy metal and make a long ” clank ” when the tops are opened or closed.  It is common for hikers to wake up at first light to eat breakfast and break camp in the canyon because it is so hot to hike during the middle of the day.  Thus I think of these boxes as the “Grand Canyon ” alarm clocks as you can hear the sounds all over the camp as people get into them.

MAILED:
by me from Phantom Ranch in 2000