Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

TRIPS AFOOTH7straight in line with sides of tent, forming windshieldsand protection against driving rain when onewants the door open. Another is that the groundsheet, instead of being made square or rectangular,has the sides and rear end cut in segments of a circle,so as to fit against the walls when they are drawnoutward by sagging of ridge and stretching of sides.The bedding here described would not suit us atall. The down sleeping-bag would be too stuffy.The Holding quilts are so narrow that they can onlybe used to cover with, and so the under side of thebody is left unprotected by anything but cold mackintoshand a very thin, sheet of cashmere. In England,I suppose, it is taken for granted that thecamper will procure, for each night, a bedding ofstraw or hay; but in our country there are manyplaces, even in "civilization," where the camperwould have to chance it on the bare ground. Inour climate (or climates) w^e need more beddingunder than over us, if there is nothing to serve asmattress.The English featherweight outfits, although notadapted to our needs, are very suggestive, and Americanpedestrian tourists will do well to study them.(Full details are given in Mr. Holding's CamperHaridbook^. Not only lightness but compactnessseem to have been brought to an irreducible minimum.For example, there is a complete cycle-campingoutfit for two men, including tent, down quilt,toilet articles, cooking utensils, etc., that stows in sbag only 15 x 7 x 7 inches!s