Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

looCAMPING AND WOODCRAFTcho, in that it is airy underneath, and it can beslipped on over the pack-sack, while it has the advantageof leaving your arms free to fend off bushes,to climb with, to shoot, paddle, and so on.There is a pattern called the "Fairy," 34 incheslong, that weighs only 21 ounces and takes up hardlyany room when packed. It and a medium-weightsweater coat together weigh only about six ouncesmore than a duxbak hunting coat. Worn together,they form good protection against a cold, keen wind.Carry a change of underwear. When on a hike,take your bath or rub-down at close of day, insteadof in the morning; then change to fresh underwearand socks, and put on your sweater and trousers tosleep in.Fresh dry underclothes are as warm as anextra blanket would be if one slept in the sweatygarments he wore during the day—to say nothingof cleanliness.Shelter.—Rain is the campaigner's worst enemy.Jack Frost can be kept at bay, in a timbered region,though you be bivouacing under the stars ; but yourequire a waterproof roof to defy Jupiter Pluvius.The kind will depend chiefly on whether you goFor two or more, choose onealone or In company.of the very light tents described in Vol. I. (pp. 76-108). When going alone, in summer, a simpleshelter cloth and small mosquito bar are sufficient.They can easily be made at home. Take, for example,seven yards of the green waterproof materialcalled verdalite, which comes in 38-inch width, andweighs 4.% ounces to the running yard. Sew upthree widths of seven feet length, and hem allaround, making a rectangle very nearly 7x9 feet.Put small grommets or eyelets around all four edges,for tie-strings. The completed shelter cloth, in thism.aterial, will weigh about 2^4 pounds, in waterproofed''balloon silk," or similar stuff, about 2j4pounds.Such a cloth may be set up in various ways. Oneof the quickest is to\tie or nail a pole horizontallyirom one sapling to another, four feet from the