How to select the best place and to pitch the tent—A brush bed—The
best kind of a tent—How to make the camp fire—What to do when it
rains—Fresh air and good food—The brush leanto and how to make it
Going camping is the best fun in the world if we know how to do it.
Every healthy boy and girl if given an opportunity should enjoy living
outdoors for a week or two and playing at being an Indian. There is
more to camping however than “roughing it” or seeing how much hardship
we can bear. A good camper always makes himself just as comfortable as
he can under the circumstances. The saying that “an army travels on
its stomach” means that a soldier can not make long marches or fight
hard unless he has good food. The surest sign of a “tenderfoot” is the
boy who makes fun of you because you try to have a soft dry bed while
he prefers to sleep on the ground under the mistaken idea that it is
manly or brave. He will usually spoil a trip in the woods for every
one in the party.
Another poor kind of a camper pitches his tent so that his bed gets
wet and his food spoiled on the first rainy day, and then sits around
cold and hungry trying hard to think that he is having fun, to keep
from getting homesick. This kind of a boy “locks the door after the
horse is stolen.” If we go camping we must know how to prevent the
unpleasant things from happening. We must always be ready for wind and
rain, heat and cold. A camping party should make their plans a long
time ahead in order to get their equipment ready. Careful lists should
be made of what we think we shall need. After we are out in the woods,
there will be no chance to run around the corner to the grocer’s to
supply what we have forgotten. If it is forgotten, we must simply make
the best of it and not allow it to spoil our trip.
It is surprising how many things that we think are almost necessary to
life we can get along without if we are obliged to. The true woodsman
knows how to turn to his use a thousand of nature’s gifts and to make
himself comfortable, while you and I might stand terrified and
miserable under the same conditions.
Daniel Boone, the great wilderness traveller, could go out alone in
the untracked forest with nothing but his rifle, his axe and a small
pack on his back and by a knowledge of the stars, the rivers, the
trees and the wild animals, he could go for weeks travelling hundreds
of miles, building his bed and his leanto out of the evergreen boughs,
lighting his fire with his flint and steel, shooting game for his food
and dressing and curing their skins for his clothing and in a thousand
ways supplying his needs from nature’s storehouse. The school of the
woods never sends out graduates. We may learn something new every day.
[Illustration: With a head shelter and a sleeping bag he can keep dry
and warm]
The average city boy or girl does not have an opportunity to become a
skilled master of woodcraft, but because we cannot learn it all is no
reason why we should not learn something. The best way to learn it is
in the woods themselves and not out of books.
A party of four boys makes a good number for a camping trip. They will
probably agree better than two or three. They can do much of the camp
work in pairs. No one need to be left alone to look after the camp
while the others go fishing or hunting or to some nearby town for the
mail or for supplies. There is no reason why four boys of fifteen who
are resourceful and careful cannot spend a week or two in the woods in
perfect safety and come back home sounder in mind and body than when
they left. It is always better to take along some one who has “camped
out” before. If he cannot be found, then make your plans, decide what
you will do and how you will do it, take a few cooking lessons from
mother or the cook—if the latter is good-natured—and go anyway.
First elect a leader, not because he is any more important than the
rest but because if some one goes ahead and gives directions, the life
in camp will run much more smoothly and every one will have a better
time.
If it is your first experience in camping, you had better go somewhere
near home. The best place is one that can be reached by wagon. If we
have to carry our supplies on our backs or in a canoe, the amount we
can take will be much less. After you have had some experience near
home you can safely try the other way. Where you go is of
comparatively little importance. Near every large city there is some
lake or river where you can find a good camping site. Campers always
have more fun if they are near some water, but if such a place is not
easily found near where you live, go into the woods. Try to get away
from towns or villages. The wilder the place is, the better.
You had better make sure of your camping ground before you go by
writing a letter to the owner of the land. It isn’t much fun after we
have pitched the tent and made everything shipshape to have some angry
landowner come along and order us off because we are trespassers.
In selecting a place to camp, there are several very important things
to look out for.
1. Be sure you are near a supply of drinking water. A spring or a
brook is best, but even the lake or river will do if the water is pure
and clean. The water at the bottom of a lake is always much colder and
cleaner than the surface water. When I was a boy, I used a simple
device for getting cold water which some of you may like to copy. I
took an old-fashioned jug and fastened a strong string to the handle
and also fastened this string to the cork of the jug as the drawing
shows. The jug was weighted so that it would sink, by means of a piece
of stone tied to the handle. We used to go out to the middle of the
lake where the water was the deepest and lower the jug over the side
of a boat. When it reached bottom we would give the string a sharp tug
and thus pull out the cork. The bubbles coming to the surface showed
us when the jug was full. We then hauled it on board and had clear,
cold, drinking water from a lake that on the surface was warm enough
for swimming.
[Illustration: The jug by which we obtained pure, cold water]
2. The next important thing in selecting a camp is being near a supply
of firewood. A week in camp will consume an amazing amount of wood,
especially if we have a camp fire at night to sit around and sing and
tell stories before turning in. In most sections there is plenty of
dead wood that we can use for camp fires. This does not mean a lot of
twigs and brush. There is no use trying to go camping unless some one
knows how to use an axe. In another chapter I will tell you something
about the proper use of axes and hatchets. For the present it is
sufficient to say that an excellent place to practise handling an axe
is on the family woodpile. You will thus combine business and
pleasure, and your efforts will be appreciated by your family, which
would not be the case if, like George Washington, you began your
lessons in woodcraft on the favourite cherry tree.
Almost any kind of wood will burn when it is dry, but it takes
experience to know the kinds of trees that will burn when they are
green. If there is no dry wood in the neighbourhood, and we are
obliged to cut a tree down to get our supply, it is very important to
pitch our camp somewhere near the right kind of a tree and not be
obliged to carry our firewood a long distance. The best “green wood”
for the campers’ fire is hickory, although birch is excellent. Hickory
is also the best dry wood. Other trees that will burn well when green
are cedar, white ash, locust or white oak. There are comparatively few
places, however, where dry wood is not available and of course it is
always best to avoid such a place.
3. The camp site should be in a fairly open spot. Thick woods and
underbrush are either hot or “damp” cool. If you can find a site that
is shaded during the heat of the day so much the better. It is unwise
to pitch the tent under a tree that stands alone on account of
possible danger from lightning. If your tent is shaded by a tree be
sure there are no dead limbs to blow off and wreck it during a storm.
Be sure that the drainage is good, so that in case of heavy rains, the
water will run off and not flood the camp. It is very important if
your camp is along some river or stream to be high enough to avoid the
danger of sudden floods. This can usually be determined by talking to
some one who knows the country. You can also tell it by studying the
previous high water marks in the trees. In case of floods there are
always some wisps of straw, pieces of brush, etc., caught and held by
the limbs of trees after the water settles back to its former level.
It is a good chance to practise your woodcraft by trying to find them.
Damp locations are very bad. The higher we can get, the drier it will
be. We avoid both fogs and mosquitoes. Usually there is some prominent
place that will give us a good outlook and where the breezes can reach
us.
There are both good and bad points in pitching our tent on the site of
a former camp. As long as the former campers have not scoured the
surrounding neighbourhood for firewood nor have left a place littered
up with all sorts of rubbish and garbage to draw flies and vermin,
they may have fixed up things around the camp site to save us work and
to add to our comfort and pleasure. Each case will have to be decided
on its own merits.
[Illustration: A wall tent]
The three important things then are the water supply, the firewood
supply, and good drainage.
Next in importance to the camp site is the outfit, and the most
important thing is the tent. For a party of four boys on their first
camping trip, the best kind will be a wall tent. A tent, 11 x 14 feet
will be large enough to provide sleeping quarters and to have every
one comfortable. A simple shelter of canvas outside can be provided
as a dining-room but this is more of a luxury than a real necessity.
Canvas or duck is the common material from which tents are made. The
standard eight-ounce khaki duck used in the United States army will,
for this size tent, cost about twenty dollars. This will include a
fly, which is merely a second roof to the tent. The best material for
tents is balloon silk. It is much more waterproof than canvas and only
weighs a quarter as much. It is also much more expensive. A tent can
be made at home, which is of course the cheaper way. They can also be
hired from previous campers or from some awning maker who is also
usually a tent maker.
A canvas tent without a fly will leak in a rain storm if the roof is
touched on the inside either by our hands or our clothing. It may be
made partially waterproof by a coating of paraffine which has been
previously dissolved in turpentine. The simplest and at the same time
the warmest tent for an experienced camper who knows the tricks of the
trade is a leanto tent, one with one side entirely open, in front of
which a blazing fire may be kept burning. This is hardly adapted for
boys on their first trip, however.
Another very good and very simple tent is the “A” tent used in the
army. This looks like a “V” turned upside down. We can pitch it
without the aid of tent poles by simply hanging it be ween two trees
to which a rope has been stretched.
[Illustration: An “A” tent]
The Hudson Bay tent, trapper’s tent, forester’s tent, canoe tent, and
a dozen others, including an Indian tepee and wigwam, are all good
tents for special purposes. The pictures show the different styles and
all of them are designed for special uses, either for warmth or
lightness in carrying or ease in pitching. If we go camping in summer
and can have our equipment or “duffle,” as the woodsmen call it,
carried by team, the wall tent will be the best one to take.
Tent pegs can always be cut in the woods, but it is far more
satisfactory to get them ready at home before we leave. If you do cut
your own pegs, select hardwood saplings to make them from and to
further harden the points, char them slightly in a fire. If you spend
a few winter evenings at home making the pegs, it will save you a lot
of time and trouble when you reach the camping ground. The best pegs
are made of iron or steel. This is especially true when the ground
where they are to be driven is hard or rocky, which is usually the
case. Steel tent pins may be bought for six cents apiece or possibly
the local blacksmith will make them for less. They should be a foot
long.
A sod cloth is a strip of canvas eight or ten inches wide fastened to
the bottom of the tent wall. Its purpose is to keep the wind and rain
from blowing under the tent. After the tent is pitched a ditch should
be dug all around it to catch the rain and carry it away. The earth
that is dug from this trench may be thrown on the sod cloth to hold it
down.
It is an excellent idea, if you are a beginner, to practise pitching
the tent at home so that you will understand it better when you are in
the woods. Besides this, you can try sleeping out a night or two to
see how you are going to like it.
[Illustration: A trapper’s tent]
When you reach your camping place, the first step is to clear the
ground of all rubbish, loose stones, sticks and brush to have a clean
floor. Then unpack the tent and fit the pegs of the two upright poles
through the two holes in the ridge pole. Next raise the tent and peg
the guy ropes on the four corners first. A little practice will show
you how to do this. After all the ropes are pegged at a proper
distance from the tent, they should be tightened and the tent made
secure.
Always plan to have a full four hours of daylight to make your camp
ready. If the drive is a long one and you are obliged to get up very
early in the morning, you will have to do it, that is all. I made my
first camping trip when I was twelve years old. We had just reached
the camping ground, unloaded our kit and sent the team home that
brought us when—bang! over the mountain across the lake from where we
were going to camp, a terrific thunder shower came up and in a few
minutes it was pouring. There was our whole outfit—tent, bedding and
food—getting soaked because, instead of hurrying along during the
day, we had fooled away our time trying to catch fish in wayside
brooks that had never seen a fish and not realizing how important it
is to make haste as well as hay while the sun shines.
[Illustration: An Indian tepee]
We quickly pitched the tent, not as it should have been pitched, but
in a heap over the rest of our goods to keep out as much water as
possible and then ran for a nearby barn where we spent a cold hungry
night, wetter but wiser. The next day, out came the sun and dried our
things, but if the rain had continued we certainly should have been
obliged to go home or at least to a farmhouse to stay until the
weather cleared. We soon forgot our unpleasant experience but we have
not forgotten the lesson it taught—and that is not to waste time
along the road when there is work to be done at the journey’s end.
Next to a good tent, the most important thing for the camper is a good
bed. It is even more important than good food because if we sleep
well, hunger will furnish the sauce for our grub, but if we spend the
night trying to dodge some root or rock that is boring into our back
and that we hardly felt when we turned in but which grew to an
enormous size in our imagination before morning, we will be half sick
and soon get enough of being an Indian. A canvas cot makes the best
camp bed if it can be taken along conveniently. There is one important
thing to look out for in sleeping on a cot. In my first experience of
the kind, I nearly froze. I kept piling things on me until all my
clothing, and even the camp towels and table-cloth were pressed into
service and was thinking about pulling some dry grass to pile on the
rest of the stuff. Still I shivered until I discovered that the cold
was coming up from underneath because there was nothing to keep it out
but the single thickness of canvas. When I put one of my blankets
under me, I was as warm as toast.
Very often it is impossible to carry cots on a trip, and that is
where a knowledge of woodcraft comes in. The softest, sweetest,
downiest bed in the world can be made with no other materials but
those which grow in the forest—if we know how. At least the tired
camper will think it is soft and will sleep on it like a top and wake
up refreshed in the morning. Perhaps if we had our choice we would
prefer our own bed at home, but in the woods we do not have this
choice. Most people call this a bed of “pine boughs.”
[Illustration: How the bough bed is made]
Why I do not know as it never should be made of pine under any
circumstances. The best wood for the bough bed is balsam. If this does
not grow in the neighbourhood, hemlock, spruce, or even cedar will do.
To make a bough bed properly means a lot of work. The first step is to
cut four straight sticks. The side pieces should be six feet and a
half long and the end pieces three feet and a half. They should be
notched on the ends with an axe and either nailed or tied together
from saplings or from a tree that you have felled. Small balsam boughs
should be broken off with the fingers and laid one on the other until
the whole bed is filled with them. On this, the rubber blanket or
poncho should be spread and the blankets over all. All the boughs
should be shingled with the stems down to keep them in the best
condition. This kind of a bed will require remaking every day.
A better bed for the boy camper is made as follows: Take a piece of
heavy bed ticking and sew it into a bag about three feet by six feet.
When you reach camp you can make a regular mattress by filling it with
whatever material is most easily found. Dry leaves? grass, hay, even
moss or wet filler can be used if nothing dry can be found, but in
this case the rubber blanket will be an absolute necessity. Of course
it is much better to use some dry material.
Be sure to have a comfortable bed. No matter what ideas you may have
about cowboys and soldiers rolling up in their blankets and snatching
a few hours’ sleep under the stars by lying on the bare ground, a boy
who is used to a good bed at home will never have much fun out of a
camping trip if he tries to sleep on the ground with a rock for his
pillow.
For a summer camping trip, one blanket is enough. You must learn to
roll up in it. Lie flat on your back and cover the blanket over you.
Then raise up your legs and tuck it under first on one side and then
the other. The rest is easy. This beats trying to “roll up” in it,
actually. The common summer blankets used at home are not much use for
the camper. These are usually all cotton. A camper’s blanket should be
all wool. You can buy a standard U.S. Army blanket, size 66 x 84
inches, for five dollars. They can often be purchased in stores that
deal in second-hand army supplies for much less and are just as good
as new except for some slight stain or defect.
A sleeping bag is expensive but is excellent for cold weather camping.
It is much too hot for the boy camper in summer.
Do not sleep in your clothing. Unless it is too cold, undress, about
as you do at home. If the blanket feels tickly, it would not be a
great crime, no matter what the tenderfoot says who wanted you to
sleep on the ground, to take along a sheet. I have never done this,
however.
At the end of this chapter, you will find a list of things to take
with you.
The camp fire and the cooking fire should be separate. Almost any one
can kindle a fire with dry materials. It takes a woodman to build a
fire when it has been raining and everything is wet. The boy’s method
of taking a few newspapers, and a handful of brush or leaves will not
do.
First look around for an old dead top of a pine or cedar. If you
cannot find one, chop down a cedar tree. Whittle a handful of
splinters and shavings from the dry heart. Try to find the lee side of
a rock or log where the wind and rain do not beat in. First put down
the shavings or some dry birch bark if you can find it, and shelter it
as well as you can from the rain. Pile up some larger splinters of
wood over the kindling material like an Indian’s wigwam. Then light it
and give it a chance to get into a good blaze before you pile on any
larger wood and put the whole fire out. It sounds easy but before you
try it in the woods I advise you to select the first rainy day and go
out near home and experiment.
To make a fire that will burn in front of the tent all night, first
drive two green stakes into the ground at a slant and about five feet
apart. Then lay two big logs one on each side of a stake to serve as
andirons. Build a fire between these logs and pile up a row of logs
above the fire and leaning against the stakes. You may have to brace
the stakes with two others which should have a forked end. When the
lower log burns out the next one will drop down in its place and
unless you have soft, poor wood the fire should burn for ten hours.
With this kind of a fire and with a leanto, it is possible to keep
warm in the woods, on the coldest, night in winter.
[Illustration: The frame for a brush leanto]
This is the way to build a brush leanto: First cut two sticks and
drive them into the ground. They should have a point on one end and a
fork on the other. Lay a stout pole across the two forks like a gypsy
fire rig. Then lean poles against the crosspiece and finally thatch
the roof with spruce, hemlock or other boughs and pile up boughs for
the sides. A brush camp is only a makeshift arrangement and is never
weather proof. It is simply a temporary shelter which with the
all-night fire burning in front will keep a man from freezing to death
in the woods. Any kind of a tent is better or even a piece of canvas
or a blanket for the roof of the leanto will be better than the roof
of boughs. Be careful not to set the leanto on fire with the sparks
from your camp fire.
Mosquitoes have probably spoiled more camping trips that any other one
thing. The best tents have mosquito net or cheese cloth fronts which
may be held close to the ground by a stick on the bottom. Perhaps the
easiest way to secure protection is for each boy to take along a few
yards of cotton mosquito netting and by means of curved sticks build a
canopy over his bed.
A smoky fire called a “smudge” will sometimes keep the pests away from
the neighbourhood of the tent or if we build it in the tent will drive
them out, but the remedy is almost as bad as the disease. As a rule
they will only be troublesome at night and the net over our bed will
enable us to sleep in peace.
The most common “dope” used in the woods to keep off mosquitoes is
called oil of citronella. It has a very pungent odour that the
mosquitoes do not like and the chances are that you will not like it
either. At the same time it may be a good plan to take a small bottle
along.
You may safely count on finding mosquitoes, no matter where you go or
what the people tell you who live there. Perhaps they have never tried
sleeping in the woods and do not know. Be sure therefore to take
along some netting or cheese cloth to protect yourself against them.
Everything that you can do at home to get ready for your camping trip
will add to your pleasure when you get out in the woods. If any part
of your kit needs fixing, fishing rods wound or varnished, your
jack-knife ground, your camera fixed, or if your clothing needs any
patches or buttons, do it at home.
No one ever does half that he plans to on a trip like this unless he
does not plan to do anything. Take along a few books to read for the
rainy days and have them covered with muslin if you ever expect to put
them back into your library.
If you have been putting off a visit to the dentist, by all means do
it before you get out where there are no dentists. An aching tooth can
spoil a vacation in the woods about as easily as anything I know of.
As a final word of advice to the beginner in camping, let me tell you
a few things that my own experience has taught me.
A felt hat is better than a cap as it is sun and rain proof.
Wear a flannel shirt and take one extra one. You can wash one and wear
the other. Be sure to have a new shirt plenty loose in the neck as
camp washing in cold water will make it shrink. Do not go around in
gymnasium shirts or sleeveless jerseys. One of my companions did this
once and was so terribly sunburned that his whole trip was spoiled.
Two sets of underwear are plenty, including the one you wear.
Take along a silk handkerchief to wear around your neck.
Wear comfortable shoes. A camping trip is a poor place to break in new
hunting boots or shoes.
Take bandanna handkerchiefs and leave your linen ones at home.
If you have to choose between a coat and a sweater take the sweater
and leave the coat at home. A coat is out of place in the woods.
Khaki or canvas trousers are excellent. So are corduroy. An old pair
of woollen trousers are just as good as either.
A poncho is almost necessary to your comfort. It is merely a rubber or
oilskin piece with a slit in it to put your head through. The right
size is 66 x 90 inches. With it you can keep dry day or night, either
using it as a garment or as a cover. When you are not using it you can
cover it over your bed or food supply.
Take along a good pocket knife and compass. Better leave the revolver
home. Also always carry a waterproof box of matches.
You will require some kind of a waterproof “duffle” bag to carry your
personal things—tooth brush, extra clothing, mirror, fishing tackle,
towel, soap, medicine, in fact whatever you think you will need. If it
is your first camping trip you will come home without having had any
use whatever for more than half the things you take. That is the
experience of every one, so do not become discouraged.
If you camp within reach of a post-office, address some stamped
envelopes to your home in ink before you leave. Then you will have no
excuse for not writing a letter home.
You can make an excellent pillow by rolling up your trousers. Be sure
to take everything out of the pockets first, including your knife, and
roll them with the top inside so that the buttons or your belt buckle
will not bore into your ear.
If you fall overboard and come ashore to dry out, stuff your shoes
full of dry grass or old paper to keep them from shrinking. When they
are dry, soften them with tallow or oil. Every one who goes camping at
some time or other gets wet. The only advice I can give you is to get
dry again as soon as possible. As long as you keep moving it will
probably not injure you. Waterproof garments are of little use in the
woods. They are always too warm for summer wear and by holding the
perspiration, are more of an injury than a benefit.
Never wear rubber boots in the woods or you will surely take cold.
Better have wet feet. The best foot wear is moccasins. If you wear
them see that they are several sizes too large and wear at least two
pairs of heavy woollen stockings with them.