THE PLACE TO CAMP
For most girls the place in which they are to camp will depend very
largely on the locality in which they live. But few people want to, or
feel that they can, travel long distances to secure their ideal camping
ground. Yet there are some things about the place to camp which most of
us can demand and get. When one has learned a little of the art of
camping, it is really surprising how many good camping grounds may be
found in one’s own immediate neighborhood.
The first question to be decided is the sort of expedition which we
shall undertake. Are we going to rough it for a few days or a couple of
weeks, taking things as they come and not expecting any of the comforts
we ordinarily have? Are we going to sleep in the open, cook and eat in
the open? If we are to “pack” all that we shall have along with us, is
it to be a river trip or a lake trip in a canoe? Is it to be a walking
expedition or with horses? The least expensive item will prove to be the
one that involves taking the fewest number of guides, and which is
carried out on shank’s mare. Every expedition which is continually on
the move through an isolated and rough country should be equipped with
one guide to each two people. If it is a stationary camp, one guide to
three or four people will be the minimum. But that _is_ the minimum.
Registered guides command big pay for their work, usually about three
dollars a day, and their food and lodging provided for them.
When we cannot make up for our oversight or mistakes or stupidities by
trotting around the corner to procure what we have forgotten, or taking
up a telephone and ordering it sent to us, or sending a message to the
doctor, who must come because we have exhausted ourselves, or got
indigestion from badly planned and badly cooked food, it behooves us to
be careful. Only a word to the wise is necessary. To use a slang phrase
which contains in a nutshell almost all that need be said on the
subject: _don’t bite off more than you can chew_. If you are starting
out on a strenuous walking expedition, be sure that all in the party are
accustomed to hard walking and are properly shod and in fit condition
for the work. With these requirements attended to, your duffle bags full
of the right shelter and food stuff, a capable man or capable men in
charge of the expedition, there is nothing in the world which could be
better for a group of healthy girls than a walking tour. I have walked
scores of miles with my own little pack on my back and been all the
better for the hard work and the hard living. More of us need hard
living as a corrective for our over-civilized lives than we need
luxuries. If it is a canoe trip, it is well for several members of the
party to know how to paddle and even to pole up over the “rips” of
quickwater. Thank fortune that the girl of to-day has sloughed off some
of the inane traits supposed to be excusably feminine, such, for
example, as screaming when frightened. The modern girl doesn’t need to
be told that screaming and jumping when she goes down her first
quickwater in a canoe are distinctly out of order. I remember one
experience in quickwater when I was not sure but that I should have to
jump literally for my life. In some way the Indian with whom I was had
got his setting pole caught in the rocks, and we were swung around
sidewise over a four-foot drop of raging water. If the pole loosened
before we could get the nose of the canoe pointed down stream, the end
was inevitable. No one could have lived in those raging waters. The
canoe would have been rolled over and we pounded to pieces or crushed
upon the rocks. We clawed the racing water madly with the paddles, which
seemed, for all the good they could do, more like toothpicks than
paddles. But slowly, inch by inch, straining every muscle, we managed to
work around. Needless to say, we escaped unharmed, except for a wetting.
In this case as always, a miss is as good as a mile--a little “miss”
which was most cordially received by me. The Indian said nothing, but I
noticed that there was some expression in his face while this adventure
was going on, and that is saying a good deal for an Indian.
After some of the questions connected with the kind of expedition are
thought out, it is just as well to consider the place in which one
wishes to camp, for that will determine much else. All things being
equal, it is well to get a sharp contrast in locality, because that
means the maximum of change and tonic. In my experience there are only
two kinds of camping grounds to be avoided--no, I will say three. First,
there is swampy, malarial land, infested by mosquitoes and other
unpleasant creatures. Second, there is ground on which no water can be
found. Camp life without access to water is an impossible proposition.
And thirdly--a possibility fortunately which does not occur in many
localities--ground that is infested by venomous snakes is unsafe. Even
in so beautiful and fertile a region as the Connecticut Valley, where I
live when not at my camp in the Moosehead region, and where I frequently
go camping, the question of snakes has to be taken into consideration. I
have encountered both the rattlesnake and the copperhead, two of the
most deadly reptiles known, in the Connecticut Valley.
If, when you are at home, you live on land that is low, and high land is
accessible for your expedition, I think you cannot do better than camp
on the hills or the mountains. On the other hand, if you are ordinarily
accustomed to living among the hills, a camping ground on low land by
sea or lake will bring you the greatest change. Some girls might prefer
to camp deep in the very heart of the woods. Personally I do not. I
think it is likely to be very damp there, and to be so enclosed on every
side that the life grows dull. I like a camping ground on the shore of a
pond, or on a hill side with a big outlook, or at the mouth of a river.
One of the most beautiful camping grounds I have ever known is in a
deserted apple orchard miles away from civilization. Once upon a time
there was a farm there, but the buildings were all burned down. Remote,
perfect, sheltered, I often think the original Garden of Eden could not
have been more beautiful. And there is the original apple tree, but in
this case most seductive as apple sauce. You make a mistake if, before
you get up your camp appetite, you assume that apple sauce need not be
taken into account. When your camp appetite is up, you will find that
the original sauce on buttered bread will put you into the original
paradisaic mood. And there are all sorts of extension of the apple that
are as good as they are harmless, apple pie, apple dumpling, apple cake,
and baked apples.
It may not seem romantic to you, but you will find it practical and,
after all, delightful to camp a mile or so away from a good farmhouse,
as far out on the edge of the wilderness as you can get, for, the farm
within walking distance, it is possible to have a great variety of food:
fresh milk and cream, eggs, an occasional chicken, new potatoes, and
other vegetables in season. With the farm nearby, you can say, as in the
“Merry Wives of Windsor”: “Let the sky rain potatoes!” and you have your
wish fulfilled. It is probable, too, that the farmer in such an
isolated region will be glad to help in pitching the tents, in lugging
whatever needs to be lugged from the nearest village or station, in
making camp generally and, finally, in striking the camp. It is likely
that for a reasonable sum he will be glad to let you have one of his
nice big farm Dobbins and an old buggy for cruising around the country.
In any event, choose ground that affords a good run-off and is dry;
select a sheltered spot where the winds will not beat heavily upon your
tents, and never forget that clean drinking water is one of the first
essentials. Keep away from contaminated wells and all uncertain
supplies. With these injunctions in mind, you can find only a happy,
healthful, invigorating home among the “primitive pines” or under the
original apple tree.