Here's an idea that we were tossing around when I lived in San Francisco.
to cut right to the (tounge in cheek) quick:

San Francisco has a lot of homeless people. Send a bunch of them to the national parks for the summer (like Yosemite) and they will live in tent camps (which they are accustomed to anyway) down by the stables so no one can say they stink up the place. They sign on as sherpas to carry your camping gear for you and all you have to do is feed them - they also carry their own gear in 80 pound frame packs. The federal government pays them to do this because they get carbon credits for it that they sell to China especially the homeless vets will find the weight to be easy to carry... Actually in Yosemite you CAN get someone to take your pack to a pre-set up camp on horseback while you hike - why not have a sherpa instead?

Some of my best friends are vets who live in homeless camps so don't tell me I'm not Pc. Those guys could do a lot of trail work and live in the parks but the NPS is too uptight. I mean they can't afford rangers right? And the rangers they have now are law enforcement people. Why not vets?

Now what were those Roman chairs called? The ones with a bunch of guys carrying it? I think some roman emperor had one made of granite and carried by a thousand - err - employees.... maybe that was just in the movie? Why walk?
Jim