How to Camp Out. Gould John Mead
BLANKET
Next in the order of necessities is a woollen blanket,—a good stout one, rather than the light or flimsy one that you may think of taking. In almost all of the Northern States the summer nights are apt to be chilly; while in the mountainous regions, and at the seaside, they are often fairly cold. A lining of cotton drilling will perhaps make a thin blanket serviceable. This lining does not need to be quite as long nor as wide as the blanket, since the ends and edges of the blanket are used to tuck under the sleeper. One side of the lining should be sewed to the blanket, and the other side and the ends buttoned; or you may leave off the end buttons. You can thus dry it, when wet, better than if it were sewed all around. You can lay what spare clothing you have, and your day-clothes, between the lining and blanket, when the night is very cold.
In almost any event, you will want to carry a spare shirt; and in cold weather you can put this on, when you will find that a pound of shirt is as warm as two pounds of overcoat.
If you take all I advise, you will not absolutely need an overcoat, and can thus save carrying a number of pounds.
The tent question we will discuss elsewhere; but you can hardly do with less than a piece of shelter-tent. If you have a larger kind, the man who carries it must have some one to assist him in carrying his own stuff, so that the burden may be equalized.
If you take tent-poles, they will vex you sorely, and tempt you to throw them away: if you do not carry them, you will wonder when night comes why you did not take them. If your tent is not large, so that you can use light ash poles, I would at least start with them, unless the tent is a "shelter," as poles for this can be easily cut.
You will have to carry a hatchet; and the kind known as the axe-pattern hatchet is better than the shingling-hatchet for driving tent-pins. I may as well caution you here not to try to drive tent-pins with the flat side of the axe or hatchet, for it generally ends in breaking the handle,—quite an accident when away from home.
For cooking-utensils on a trip like that we are now proposing, you will do well to content yourself with a frying-pan, coffee-pot, and perhaps a tin pail; you can do wonders at cooking with these.
We will consider the matter of cooking and food elsewhere; but the main thing now is to know beforehand where you are going, and to learn if there are houses and shops on the route. Of course you must have food; but, if you have to carry three or four days' rations in your haversack, I fear that many of my young friends will fail to see the pleasure of their trip. Yet carry them if you must: do not risk starvation, whatever you do. Also remember to always have something in your haversack, no matter how easy it is to buy what you want.
I have now enumerated the principal articles of weight that a party must take on a walking-tour when they camp out, and cook as they go. If the trip is made early or late in the season, you must take more clothing. If you are gunning, your gun, &c., add still more weight. Every one will carry towel, soap, comb, and toothbrush.
Then there is a match-safe (which should be air-tight, or the matches will soon spoil), a box of salve, the knives, fork, spoon, dipper, portfolio, paper, Testament, &c. Every man also has something in particular that "he wouldn't be without for any thing."4
There should also be in every party a clothes brush, mosquito-netting, strings, compass, song-book, guide-book, and maps, which should be company property.
I have supposed every one to be dressed about as usual, and have made allowance only for extra weight; viz.,—
You may be able to reduce the weight here given by taking a lighter blanket, and no knapsack or canteen; but most likely the food that you actually put in your haversack will weigh more than three pounds. You must also carry your share of the following things:—
Then if you carry a heavier kind of tent than the "shelter," or carry tent-poles, you must add still more. Allow also nearly three pounds a day per man for food, if you carry more than enough for one day; and remember, that when tents, blankets, and clothes get wet, it adds about a quarter to their weight.
You see, therefore, that you have the prospect of hard work. I do not wish to discourage you from going in this way: on the contrary, there is a great deal of pleasure to be had by doing so. But the majority of men under twenty years of age will find no pleasure in carrying so much weight more than ten miles a day; and if a party of them succeed in doing so, and in attending to all of the necessary work, without being worse for it, they will be fortunate.
In conclusion, then, if you walk, and carry all your stuff, camping, and doing all your work, and cooking as you go, you should travel but few miles a day, or, better still, should have many days when you do not move your camp at all.
OTHER WAYS OF GOING AFOOT
It is not necessary to say much about the other ways of going afoot. If you can safely dispense with cooking and carrying food, much will be gained for travel and observation. The expenses, however, will be largely increased. If you can also dispense with camping, you ought then to be able to walk fifteen or twenty miles daily, and do a good deal of sight-seeing besides. You should be in practice, however, to do this.
You must know beforehand about your route, and whether the country is settled where you are going.
Keep in mind, when you are making plans, that it is easier for one or two to get accommodation at the farmhouses than for a larger party.
I heard once of two fellows, who, to avoid buying and carrying a tent, slept on hay-mows, usually without permission. It looks to me as if those young men were candidates for the penitentiary. If you cannot travel honorably, and without begging, I should advise you to stay at home.
CHAPTER III
LARGE PARTY TRAVELLING AFOOT WITH BAGGAGE-WAGON
With a horse and wagon to haul your baggage you can of course carry more. First of all take another blanket or two, a light overcoat, more spare clothing, an axe, and try to have a larger tent than the "shelter."
If the body of the wagon has high sides, it will not be a very difficult task to make a cloth cover that will shed water, and you will then have what is almost as good as a tent: you can also put things under the wagon. You must have a cover of some sort for your wagon-load while on the march, to prevent injury from showers that overtake you, and to keep out dust and mud. A tent-fly will answer for this purpose.
You want also to carry a few carriage-bolts, some nails, tacks, straps, a hand-saw, and axle-wrench or monkey-wrench. I have always found use for a sail-needle and twine; and I carry them now, even when I go for a few days, and carry all on my person.
The first drawback that appears, when you begin to plan for a horse and wagon, is the expense. You can overcome this in part by adding members to your company; but then you meet what is perhaps a still more serious difficulty,—the management of a large party.
Another inconvenience of large numbers is that each member must limit his baggage. You are apt to accumulate too great bulk for the wagon, rather than too great weight for the horse.
Where there are many there must be a captain,—some one that the others are responsible to, and who commands their respect. It is necessary that those who join such a party should understand that they ought to yield to him, whether they like it or not.
The captain should always consult the wishes of the others, and should never let selfish considerations influence him. Every day his decisions as to what the party shall do will tend to make some one dissatisfied; and although it is the duty of the dissatisfied ones to yield, yet, since submission to another's will is so hard, the captain must try to prevent any "feeling," and above all to avoid even the appearance of tyranny.
System and order become quite essential as our numbers increase, and it is well to have the members take daily turns at the several duties; and during that day the captain must hold each man to a strict performance of his special trust, and allow no shirking.
After a few
I knew an officer in the army, who carried a rubber air-pillow through thick and thin, esteeming it, after his life and his rations, the greatest necessity of his existence. Another officer, when transportation was cut down, held to his camp-chair. Almost every one has his whim.