etymology of "gorp"

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 03/23/2001 11:20:44 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM writes:

> >>>>>
>  'gorp',[1] the standard issue snack for hikers and campers.
>
>  [1] "Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts"
>  <<<<<
>
>  Comments? JAUL [Just Another Urban Legend]?

I met "gorp" and the explanation that it is the acronym for "good old raisins
and peanuts" from a group of Sierra Club members I became acquainted with in
the spring of 1976.

Colin Fletcher _The New Complete Walker_  (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974,
ISBN 0-394-48099-6) uses "gorp" twice:

page 116 "'gorp'---beloved by many but not by me"

page 117 <begin quote> Another reader---that same onward-and-upward
septuagenarian who swore by a coconut-and-Familia breakfast for the
Tetons---shared this home-made energy bar recipe: "I throw raisins, dates,
coconut, figs, prunes, pecans, walnuts and filberts in a heterogeneous
mixture into the food chopper.  I pack the dubious-looking mess which the
chopper spews out into a 1-inch metal tube, ramming it down hard with a close
fitting rod.  When the tube is nearly full I lay it on waxed paper and push
the cylindrical rod of 'gorp' out..." <end quote>

This "reader" was previously identified on page 108 as "One young reader of
seventy-five."  I am not sure what this person means by a "food chopper".

I suppose one could try to chase down Fletcher's 1968 book _The Complete
Walker_ and see if the above quotes are in it.

             - Jim Landau