Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

52 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTmayturn into a snowstorm ; so we cannot sit aroundwaiting on the chance of its rising.Below the balsam zone (5,000 to 6,000 feet) theleaves, in autumn and early winter, lie very thicklyupon the ground, so that a scurry of wind may atany moment obliterate the trail for some distance.When a cloud settles upon the mountain, a manhurrying along to get into the valley before nightfall,and over-confident, perhaps, of his bearings, mayeasily miss the trail and find himself on the wrongridge—where? Once of¥ the trail, there are noblazes to guide him, and the going gets worse andworse until it becomes damnable. If one couldsee out, he would not hesitate; but he cannot see atree two rods away.In such case, it is of serious Import for a man todecide, rather promptly, upon which particular ridgehe may have straggled ; for many of these ridges arevery thickety,some of them lead Into laurel "hells,"and on others one's progress is impeded by cliffs.To descend immediately into a creek valley wouldbe the worst thing he could do, for the headwatersgenerally rise in almost impenetrable thickets oflaurel and rhododendron, and their beds are roughand steep.Now, what does a mountaineer do In such dilemma?Trust to instinct? Not a bit of It. Ourstrayed man might not be able to explain the process,he probably would not even be conscious of the Infinitudeof details involved, he might lay it all to"woods sense" and let you credit him with a mysterious"gift"; but this Is what he would do: first,he would scan the trees and shrubs, closely observingtheir prevailing habit of growth ; then he w^ouldexamine the ground itself ; he would move about likea dog scenting for a track; presently he would findevidence, not single, but collective— gathered frommany sources—which his memory and reasoningpowers would combine Into a theory of locality, and,five times out of six,his theory would prove correct.I1