Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PATHFINDING 47only crossing tributaries here and there,but fordingor swimming the main stream itself, many times,where cliffs, bogs, or impenetrable thickets make oneof the banks impassable.If the region through which the river runs iswide bottom-land, the mouths of its tributaries arelikely to be deep, or to run over fathomless mud asdangerous as quicksand, and this will necessitatelong detours. The vegetation up to the very bankof the river will be exceedingly rank, a wretchedtangle of bushes, vines, briers, and tall grass, andfallen trees will be plentiful and large. At anytime a heavy rainstorm may send the river out of itsbanks, and the party may find itself marooned whereit can neither go forward nor backward. On theother hand, if the river runs through a mountainouscountry, it is probable that the travelers will cometo a canon that will compel them to retreat. In anycase, the party will never have an outlook; it willnever know what lies beyond the next bend of th^river.A comparatively easy way around all of thesedifficulties is shown by the dotted line ABDEG.Leaving the river by a ridge that leads to the maindivide, and following the crest to a similar abuttingridge that runs down tothe valley at the objectivepoint, there will be no fords to make, the footingwill be much better because vegetation is thinner onthe more sterile, wind-swept heights, the fallen treeswill be smaller, there will be no mud or quicksandor miry bogs, and every here and there a coign ofvantage will be climbed from which a far outlookcan be had over the surrounding country.The chief precaution to be observed in trying tofollow a divide where there is no trail, or wherethere are many intersecting trails, Is not to stray offon some abutting ridge. Thus, at the points B andD there may be in each case a gap between knolls orpeaks, and the lead to the left might easily be mistakenfor the main divide. If the X)arty were enticed