Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

^CHAPTER VIROUTE SKETCHING—MAPPING-MEASURINGAmong the pleasures of life in a wild country 1count first the thrill of exploring new ground,"Something hidden: go and find it!" He who doesnot respond to that mainspring is out of order—his works need looking into.Of course, the whole earth has been rambled overby somebody before our time; but it suffices one ofus to bore into some wild region that is unknown tohimself, unknown to his companions, and whichnever has been mapped indetail.I used to go hunting, every fall, with two or threecomrades who felt as I did about such matters. Wenever hired a guide. On arriving at a blank spotwe would spend the first day or two scouting. Wewould scatter, scour the country, and then, aroundthe camp fire at night, we would describe, in turn,what we had found.Verbal reports, such as these, are more entertainingthan useful. The crudest sort of a sketch onpaper would have taught us much more. By combiningour route sketches we might have produceda serviceable map of the country for miles around.I wish we had made such maps. I would love topore over them inthese later years.We thought that route sketching would take toomuch time and trouble. That was a mistake. Anybodywho can read a compass and draw lines ofdirection can make a practicalroute sketch withoutlosing more than twenty-five per cent of a steady