Transcriber's Note:
Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_.
Words printed in small-caps have been converted to ALL-CAPS.
PACKING AND PORTAGING
PACKING AND
PORTAGING
BY
DILLON WALLACE
Author of "The Lure of the Labrador Wild," "The
Long Labrador Trail," "Saddle and Camp in
the Rockies," "Across the Mexican
Sierras," etc.
[Illustration: OUTING HANDBOOKS]
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
MCMXII
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
All rights reserved
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. PACKING AND THE OUTFIT 9
II. THE CANOE AND ITS EQUIPMENT 12
III. CAMP EQUIPMENT FOR THE CANOE TRIP 15
IV. PERSONAL EQUIPMENT 23
V. FOOD 31
VI. THE PORTAGE 38
VII. TRAVEL WITH SADDLE AND PACK ANIMALS 51
VIII. SADDLE AND PACK EQUIPMENT 56
IX. PERSONAL OUTFIT FOR THE SADDLE 64
X. ADJUSTING THE PACK 71
XI. SOME PRACTICAL HITCHES 77
XII. TRAVELING WITHOUT A PACK HORSE 101
XIII. AFOOT IN SUMMER 106
XIV. WITH SNOWSHOES AND TOBOGGAN 110
XV. WITH DOGS AND KOMATIK 123
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Method of Slinging Load on Aparejo 58, 59
Sling for Racking on Crosstree Saddle 74
Squaw or Crosstree Hitch 79, 80
The Crosstree Diamond Hitch 82, 83
United States Army Diamond Hitch 85, 86
Lifting Hitch 93, 94
Stirrup Hitch 96
Saddle Hitch 97
PACKING AND PORTAGING
CHAPTER I
PACKING AND THE OUTFIT
Ordinarily the verb _to pack_ means to stow articles snugly into
receptacles, but in the parlance of the trail it often means to carry
or transport the articles from place to place. The _pack_ in the
language of the trail is the load a man or horse carries.
Likewise, a _portage_ on a canoe route is a break between navigable
waters, over which canoe and outfit must be carried; or the word may be
used as a verb, and one may say, "I will portage the canoe," meaning "I
will carry the canoe." In the course of the following pages these terms
will doubtless all be used in their various significations.
Save for the few who are able to employ a retinue of professional
guides and packers to attend to the details of transportation, the
one chief problem that confronts the wilderness traveler is that of
how to reduce the weight of his outfit to the minimum with the least
possible sacrifice of comfort. It is only the veriest tenderfoot that
deliberately endures hardships or discomforts where hardships and
discomforts are unnecessary. Experienced wilderness travelers always
make themselves as comfortable as conditions will permit, and there is
no reason why one who hits the trail for sport, recreation or health
should do otherwise.
In a description, then, of the methods of packing and transporting
outfits the tenderfoot and even the man whose feet are becoming
calloused may welcome some hints as to the selection of compact, light,
but, at the same time, efficient outfits. These hints on outfitting,
therefore, I shall give, leaving out of consideration the details of
camp making, camp cookery and those phases of woodcraft that have no
direct bearing upon the prime question of packing and transportation on
the trail.
Let us classify the various methods of wilderness travel under the
following heads: 1. By Canoe; 2. With Saddle and Pack Animals; 3. Afoot
in Summer; 4. On Snowshoes; 5. With Dogs and Sledge. Taking these in
order, and giving our attention first to canoe travel, it will be
found convenient further to subdivide this branch of the subject and
discuss in order: (a) The Canoe and its Equipment; (b) Camp Equipment
for a Canoe Trip; (c) Personal Equipment; (d) Food; (e) The Portage.