Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

98 CAMPING AND WOODCRAt J.scenery and backwoods characters if bending andchafing under a load of fardels, all the time consciousthat he is making a pack animal, a donkey, ofhimself.Consider, then, your personal equation. If youare a middle-aged city man, soft from a yearor more of office work, about twenty pounds on yourback is all the weight that you ought to carry. Eventhat little will be burdensome the first day out;but soon you will be striding along all day hardlyknowing it is there. A younger man, or one whogets a good deal of daily exercise in the open air,can do the same with thirty pounds, until he gets intraining, and then go considerably more.I am speaking of all-day hikes, across country,through the woods, uphill and down dale. In untrackedwilderness, especially if it be mountainous,it takes a husky fellow, in good form, to pack fiftypounds without over-exertion. Yes, infantrymencarry seventy, sometimes, but they don't do it throughthickets, over rocks and down-logs, up and downravines, where there are no trails—nor* are they outfor the fun of the thing. The personal equation,then—your own—regardless ot what other folksdo, or think you ought to do. Find out what isand easy for you, and then GO LIGHT,lightWeigh the essentials. Are you to sleep out? Youneed a comfortable bed, shelter from rain, and securityagainst venomous insects. Food, then, for howmany meals ? Choose what can be cooked with thesimplest and lightest utensils, and what will giveyou the most nourishment for its weight and bulk,and surh as does not require more than half an hourto make ready and fit for the stomach. Bedding,shelter, food and something to prepare it in: thoseare the essentials, besides the clothes on your backand the contents of your pockets. Anything elseis dispensable, to be picked with care and weighedwith scales, and balanced against some other thingthat might be of more real use or pleasure.Then how is the weight to be carried? A great1