The upper dowel is a cross piece attached to the handles of my handcart. I had just purchased it in West Wendover, Nevada and attached it when I got to Crater Island for my “revenge” hike. (Two weeks earlier I had aborted a hiker due to poor conditions on the mud flat.)

I drilled holes through the cross piece and the handle dowels, using the portable drill I had on hand for assembling the handcart. Then I inserted pieces of coat-hanger wire through the holes and bent them over at top and bottom. The coat-hanger wire came from my repair kit in the car. Then I re-inforced the joints with nylon cord. The joints held just fine. A need for a cross piece became evident during my first handcart hike.

After getting back at home I designed an even better handle system for the cart that incorporated screws rather than wire and cords.