Collect a heap of boughs “about the size of a small house,” according to Moody, stripping off the fans with the hands, using only the lighter tips. Build on the ground a quadrangle of poles somewhat larger than the intended bed and retain this in place by ground stakes. Beginning at the head lay your larger fans convex side up and butts toward the foot much as you would shingle a house with the bushy stems overlapping. Over these lay a similar cover of the smaller fans with the butt ends beneath the layer already placed, leaving the fan ends curving up and down toward the foot of the bed. When done place over all the floorcloth and blankets. As the boughs get pressed down and the bed becomes hard they must be replenished.
The ground cloth is to a tent what a floor is to a house. It keeps out dirt, vermin, dampness and wind and in cold or wet weather, besides being an absolute health necessity, it will add greatly to one’s comfort.
The ground beneath besides being wet and cold is hard as a board for sleeping purposes, hence some sort of pad is needed. Nothing meets this requirement so well as the so-called browse bag or tick. It is preferably made of waterproof balloon silk or paraffined muslin (arubber blanket or poncho is too heavy) size 2½ by 6½ feet and weight 1 pound. It is open at the foot end and at each camp is stuffed with hay, grass, leaves or other browse dry or wet. The bag weighs but little, takes up small compass when rolled for the pack and is useful in packing. It is quickly made into an acceptable bed mattress each night and emptied each morning.
With the filled browse bag beneath you the under side is always dry and warm and the upper side is attended to by rolling yourself up in the blanket. For traveling through a rough swampy country and for mountain work this is absolutely necessary for a restful sleep.
The bag may be composed of a 7 by 8 foot sheet with grommets 3 inches apart on one end and the sides and when not serving day duty as a pack cloth or in the emergency bivouac as a tarpaulin leanto shelter tent may be worn like a Mexican serape or rain blanket over the shoulders. It can be made into a browse bag by folding the sides together and lacing the ends and side with a string of number 36 tarpon line. Or the tarp or shelter cloth may be laid over a collected layer of browse next to the ground. With a browse bag one can rig up a good bedpad in much less time than it takes to shingle browse.
To sleep warm outdoors the ground should be as dry and warm as possible. This can be accomplished if need be by a fire built over the intended bed area, the embers raked away and the bed made thereon. The browse bag is then filled and flattened over the heated spot. There is some knack in arranging your covers about you to fit snugly and keep out the night cold. It can be done by a simple trick so as to entirely eliminate the necessity of a sleeping bag.
Lying flat on your back on the browse bag cover yourself with the blanket, kick up your feet rigid from the hips so as to bring the blanket foot end draping over and under the feet, returning the feet to the tick roll the body to the left side and tuck the blanket edge under your right side, reverse the turn and do the same under your left side. Lower the feet, wrap up the shoulders and go to sleep. The blanket is now drawn about you snugly above and below and there is no exposed side to let in the cold air and in rolling over the blanket will tighten about you.
In an emergency one can sleep in most any kind of weather by following a certain Indianmethod. He carries but one blanket but does not use it to wrap around his body. If the night is not too cold he lights a rather large fire and warms the earth, then he rakes away the coals and lies upon the bare warmed ground pulling the blanket over him. In extreme cold in addition to the above ground warming he heats a large stone before bedtime, rolls it on the ground, curls himself around the mound, and pulls the cover over him, lying with his feet to the fire. He neither wraps the blanket about him nor lies upon it relying on the warmed earth for warmth below.
On chilly nights in addition to the heated ground beneath the bed you can build a big camp fire six feet or so in front of your leanto shelter and the heat will be reflected down upon the sleeper. You must have a windbreak of cloth leanto, boughs, or rocks. The fire should be kept going all night and for this one needs a lot of wood, so carry a larger chopping axe if you are to encounter very low temperatures. Even with this fire it is hard for one man to keep warm and get a good night’s sleep. Two men, however, can change off, watching the fire and sleeping.
The warmest and most portable bed then is in reality patterned after the one of civilization.Essentially it will keep the sleeper high and dry by means of the waterproofed cloth over browse or the filled browse bag and it will keep the body warm by the woolen blanket rolled snugly about you.
THE light weight mess kit combines the fewest utensils with which a person can prepare his own meals from the raw materials. It must nest compactly, have as few component parts as possible, be comfortably carried on the person while en route, contain space for a lunch or emergency ration and possibly have provision for carrying water. To meet these demands one may well include the following articles:—a fry pan (possibly rigged up as a baker also), a stew kettle, a cup, a light fork, spoon and knife and a canteen. Most of the so-called light weight individual outfits center around the above as the essentials with variations in shape to best suit the particular outfit for easy nesting.
The preparation of food by frying is not the best thing for the stomach, for the average bit of fried stuff is enveloped in tough greasy coating. However most cooks use this method to some extent, so provision for frying must bemade. The frying pan is preferably made of steel and in use is to be rested on a bed of coals raked to one side of the cooking fire. If one prefers to utilize the big open fire the fry pan handle should have a square socket into which one may fit a stick to extend the handle, the same to be newly fashioned at each camp. For the lightest kits use a small No. 0 pan with a socket.
The component parts of any outfit will vary according to the condition and temperament of the user and the nature and locality of experience. He has to choose from a multitudinous and confusing array of impedimenta offered by well meaning and alluring advertisements.
The camper who is choosing his light individual mess kit has the privilege of gathering together those utensils selected along lines above suggested and easily procurable at any store or of getting through the regular sporting goods dealers some specially made kit whose greatest recommendation is compactness with lightness and utility. It must have a pot and a fry pan and these with a pocket or hunting knife and a pointed or flat stick answer all purposes. One must compromise between weight and comfort.
Many cook outfits offered by sporting goods houses are too complete for a place in the hiker’s kit, in fact their very completeness renders them impractical because of weight, bulk and the number of utensils to be kept track of. They are made more in answer to the call of city sportsmen with fastidious trend of mind who as a rule favor more elaborate equipage throughout.
In choosing a cooking outfit weight is the first consideration. One does not wish to carry heavy stove utensils nor are such needed. They must be strong enough, however, for hard service. In the second place compactness is a desideratum, for here we must reduce bulk. The common utensils of the shop will not nest well for they are all spouts, bail ears, handles and cover knobs. One can reduce the bulk by getting such articles as nest into one another. In making up the light weight mess kit the nesting idea should certainly be carried out but never at the cost of utility.
Of materials tin and iron are the cheapest and they may be light enough. Here their merits end. Iron will rust and neither iron nor tin will stand rough handling. Utensils of such material are hard to clean when greasy and if the joints be soldered one is kept in mortal fear of their early destruction. The so-called armorsteel which is strong stamped steel withheavy tinning is quite good if one can get nothing better.
Enamel ware is the easiest to keep clean and its poor heat conducting properties makes it for some things preferable. It has a tendency to chip and flake under rough handling or in cold weather. This latter fault can be remedied to some extent by gradual warming of the article before exposing to fierce heat. Enamel ware is not much heavier than other ware that is sufficiently strong for outdoor service.
Aluminum alloy is a boon to the camper, it being the ideal material for certain outdoor utensils. It stands up in all climates—tropical, frigid north, in use on horseback trips, in canoe work, sledging or on the hike. It is much the lightest material we have. Any sporting goods dealer can supply you. The unalloyed aluminum is too soft and easily bends out of shape with hard usage and dry heat, hence a stiffener is added yet without appreciable change of weight. Aluminum alloy has few merits beyond lightness: it is a quick heat conductor, hence the cup had better be of some other material such as enamel ware so as to save the lips from blistering. Also under the application of dry heat to an aluminum fry pan the food sticks and burns so the fry pan is preferablyof light stamped steel. However, where lightness is the great desideratum all parts of the cooking kit should be made of aluminum alloy.
The most commonly used outfit is the one mentioned, consisting of fry pan, kettle, cup, knife, fork and spoon with perhaps a canteen. The first three articles represent the essential components of an ideal individual mess kit and provision for these in some shape or form is made in most every mess kit combination you will come across. The above outfit I have used for years, gotten together in the first place because the parts were easy to get hold of and then they were retained because they did the work expected of them—they withstood the “acid test.” The large tin cup, Army pattern, I carried at my belt where it is easy to reach and thus escaped the trouble to nest. In it I steeped tea thus doing away with a special teapot. The kettle of tin was used for boiling water, making stews, etc. Its wire bail I luckily lost and therewith attached a chain bail which stays put when suspending the pot over the fire and it is not cumbersome when packing away. The fry pan is a small Number 0 size with socket for extension handle. It is covered with a tight fitting lid and thus does duty as abaker. By heaping coals upon it one gets the envelope of hot air.
The United States Army Meat Can combines a frying pan and baker: the deep bottom also serves as a soup plate and the lid as a serving plate. When the lid locks in place over the pan by the hinged handle it becomes a roomy receptacle for lunch carrying on the march, the metal ring on one end allows of its attachment to the soldier’s belt or the whole thing can be stored in the pack sack. It is an ingenious contrivance and ideal for the tramper’s use.
A large aluminum alloy tablespoon, a small steel fork and the sheath or pocket knife or flat stick which displaces the table knife completes the kit. On certain trips where water is scarce I add a second hand, felt covered Army canteen.
Regarding inspirators, broilers, fire irons and other clap-traps, let it be known that though seemingly insignificant they furnish more details to look after, but as a rule they do not possess sufficient advantage to pay for the care and labor of transporting on a light trip.
On a hiking trip the combined fry pan and baker will be used. With this very acceptable breadstuffs can be coaxed out of camp fire heat, dough and the frying pan. Indeed in emergency the frying pan itself may be discardedand in such a contingency one can make very good bread by winding the dough around a cleaned stick and slanting it up by the side of the fire.
Canteens are nearly always a necessity in mountainous regions where your work carries you on the ridges high above the valleys where the streams are. In the desert a special water supply must be planned for. In ordinary hunting or tramping trips the smaller Army canteen supplies the more urgent needs. Where the water supply is contaminated it is necessary to boil and filter the water for drinking. This can be done at mealtimes and then cooled and carried in the canteen for use on the march. The purpose of the felt covering of the canteen is to keep the contents cool by the evaporation from the wetted felt.
As a rule one will, on a light trip, carry no folding grate or fire irons as supports for utensils. Rocks, logs or earthen trenches will take their places and one does not have to tote them around.
In choosing the hiker’s light weight mess kit take only those component parts that are really needed and have these as strong, light and compact as is possible.
SUPPOSEDLY the greatest privation which will confront the amateur woodsman who breaks away from home ties for a few weeks’ jaunt into the wilderness is a gastronomic one. Yet with a properly balanced ration list composed of goods procurable of any grocer with perhaps the addition of some of the newer evaporated foods available on special order or made at home, the hiker may hit the trail confident that he will be well fed.
The hackneyed slogan of outfitting, viz.:—to secure the maximum in efficiency from supplies which represent a minimum in carrying weight and bulk—must be reiterated in choosing the tramper’s food supply. For those demanding the extreme in portable equipage the evaporated foods—vegetables (as dried potatoes, Julienne, etc.,) soups (Erbswurst), eggs, milk, etc., are invaluable. In their preparation by dessication the fresh vegetables are deprivedof their water content so that all one needs to do in preparing them for table use is to add water and cook in the usual way. They are thus restored to their former value as palatable foods although of course their form and shape may be altered.
Their chief value for our purpose is that they represent a tremendous reduction (of approximately 15 per cent) in their natural weight and a corresponding lessening of bulk. For example a pound of evaporated potatoes will represent seven pounds of the fresh product. Or again one pound of granulated dried egg represents four dozen of the fresh eggs. Dehydrated goods are equal to fresh goods and are far superior to the canned kind. They are palatable and nutritious as foods, they never spoil and permit a welcome variety in the bill of fare. Concentration of bulk alone is not the criterion in choosing camp foods—digestibility is really paramount. Thus cheese, nuts, beans, rice and the various evaporated foods are highly concentrated but differ greatly in their ease of digestion.
Food for the hiker, as we have said, must with the least weight and bulk furnish appetizing and digestible nourishment to an active man. It should be composed of the proper proportionsof fat, protein (which comprises the elements of lean meat) and cereal. It should pack easily under all conditions of heat, moisture and rough handling and must cook simply.
The following items are looked upon as the essentials in diet lists for campers:—flour, bacon, beans, tea, sugar. They represent the three classes of foods necessary to health. For increasing the palatability and variety of the bill of fare other items creep in and they are admissible if they represent in food value and concentration of bulk the same as a given amount of the essential food for which they were substituted.
Bush life develops a great appetite, therefore figure well on the necessary amounts to be packed. Too much means discomfort and fatigue in packing and too little means hunger and perhaps privation. Little dependence should be placed upon securing game or fish en route unless one is certain that he is in a country where such are present in reasonable abundance and that there is nothing to interfere with procuring them.
In general it may be said that for each week about twenty pounds of food stuff are needed per man. The following proportions of the various items will be found about right:—
On the trail count on cooking but two meals a day, morning and night with a noon-day stop with lunch and hot drink. This allows time for a day’s work.
Foods will keep well if care is taken to exclude moisture by packing in provision bags of closely woven muslin, size 6 by 10 inches with tie strings for closing the open end. They are made waterproof by painting with paraffin, which has been liquefied in gasoline. Mark each bag well. They stow away nicely in odd corners of the pack sack.
Bacon is the great standby in the meat line. Only the leanest should be chosen: trim off the rind before starting on the hike and wrap it in a piece of waterproof muslin to protect it from other items of the outfit. Do not seal it tootight as it will mold. As bacon grease will be used instead of lard the latter can be omitted entirely.
The flour ration should be made up of whole wheat or graham flour and yellow corn meal. For a stimulating beverage coffee is generally preferred in the United States and tea in Canada. The latter is much easier to transport and more sustaining to the body. If properly chosen you can eliminate the tea or coffee pot from the camp outfit. George Washington coffee and Instant Postum are powdered preparations and all that is needed is to put a teaspoonful in a cup of hot water, stir up, sweeten and drink. If you use tea get the tea tabloids which are a great convenience because of their extreme compactness. Sufficient for 100 cups of good tea occupies only about as much space as one or two ounces of loose tea leaves. For use throw one tabloid into a cup of hot water, wait a minute and a satisfying infusion is the result. Tea in general is to be preferred, for an ounce of it will go as far as many ounces of coffee.
Dried fruits such as raisins, figs, etc., should always be included in the ration list. They make fine emergency rations to be carried in the knapsack (with a cake of sweet chocolateadded.) Chocolate beats whisky for putting new energy into a fellow who is all in. When raisins are cooked up alone or with rice one gets an agreeable change in the bill of fare. Rice is one of the most concentrated foods we have, it is easy to pack and cook and has great sustaining powers as an article of diet. It has food elements of such a kind that it can be taken in place of potatoes or bulky breakfast foods. To cook rice, add gradually the washed kernels to furiously boiling salted water and keep this over the fire for 20 minutes. Powdered milk is on the market and is more satisfactorily purchased than made at home. It is the milk of choice when you have to cut down weight as on a hike.
Baking powder should be pure, and it should be kept in air and water tight containers and sunk in the middle of the flour sack. I keep it in an aluminum flask with a cork lined metal screw top. When moisture reaches baking powder a chemical change takes place destroying its leavening powers and it is useless for cooking purposes. Keep this in mind in considering self rising flours which have the baking powder mixed with the flour in proper proportions for use and simply requiring the addition of water before cooking.
One has a remarkable craving for sweets when on the trail which only sugar will satisfy. Sugar is the most concentrated food we have for it supplies so much heat and energy to the body. In cold weather Nature calls for more heat in the body and one’s appetite for sweets usually increases in proportion. Much is written in camp outfitting concerning a preparation called saccharine or crystallose which is a chemical of remarkable sweetness—a small portion of it equalling in sweetening power several hundred times its bulk of sugar. Do not depend on it, for its chemical action delays digestion and it does not furnish the food value which sugar does.
In preparing dried bean meal one uses ordinary navy beans which are cooked in the usual way and then baked in an oven. By spreading this product out in a broad flat bottomed pan and continuing the baking or drying out process in the oven the moisture is all driven out and only a crumbling crust remains. This is pulverized and packed in tight fitting tins or in waterproof sacks. It is used as a soup or gruel. Common baked beans which come in tins from the corner grocer may be put into the broadbake tins and thoroughly dried and packed away. As beans are hard to boil in high altitudes you can prepare them at home by parboiling without salt in the water, drying well and later using by cooking as usual in salted water.
In the palmy days of the “late lamented wild west” the Indian hunters preserved meats by a method called “jerking.” The flesh would be cut into strips and laid on light wooden racks in the sun or in the smoke of a camp fire until dry and hard. This would be packed away and used in the winter time much the same as we use the dried beef of the butcher shops of today. You can preserve meats—steaks, game, or fish—this way or after the improved method of Dr. Hornaday of the New York Zoological Garden. He takes meat cut into strips and works well into the flesh a mixture of salt 1 pound, allspice 1⅓ tablespoonsful and black pepper 1½ tablespoonsful. Then he hangs it up by a string in the sun if the air is dry as in the mountains or, if not, in a camp fire smoke protected from the wet. It can be eaten uncooked and tastes fine after a month or so has passed.
One of the best concentrated foods for campers and one admirably suited for use as an emergency ration is Erbswurst—a meal preparation used by various European armies. As it is hard to get except from grocers of the larger cities or sporting goods dealers one can well make it at home as follows:—Procure common dried peas and navy beans and dessicate them after cooking as suggested above (see paragraph on Dehydrated Navy Beans). Of the pea meal use one pound; of the bean meal 1¼ pounds; bacon chopped fine and dried, and onions pulverized, of each ⅛ pound. Mix all together and run through the grinder again, dry and pack away. It is used to make a thick soup and is very nutritious.
Probably the most remarkable dried food of all is the evaporated egg. Take ½ dozen eggs and beat them up hard with an egg beater. Take two flat bottomed baking pans from the kitchen and spread a very thin layer of egg thereon. Now in drying should you put this in the oven it will cook whereas if simply set in the sun during the day the moisture is evaporatedand a crust of the essential elements retaining all the nourishment and flavor of the egg remains. True the product is shapeless as far as the ordinary conception of an egg is concerned but it is very effective for cooking where weight and fragility in packing are concerned. After the eggs have been in the sun all day remove indoors and if dry run through a cleaned coffee mill. This pulverizes the mass. It should next be completely dried out in the sun and packed away in empty molasses tins with pry up lids.
A pound of evaporated egg equals four dozen fresh eggs and one tablespoonful of egg powder with two tablespoonsful of water represents an egg. It is useful in omelets, scrambled or in combination cooking. Besides being a great saving in weight since one does not have to carry around the water, the evaporated preparation enables us to utilize eggs on the hardest kind of a hike where if we were forced to use fresh eggs their place in the knapsack would be positively prohibited because of their fragility.
When much fat is required for the body as in colder regions no food has been found tosurpass Pemmican. Peary says:—“Pemmican is the most concentrated and satisfactory of all meat foods and is absolutely indispensable on long Arctic sledge journeys.” For a ten pound lot take of lean meat, 5 pounds; fat (suet) 4 pounds; dried fruit (raisins) ½ pound and of sugar ½ pound. Cut the meat in thin slices, dry several days as directed under “Jerked Meats.” Pulverize between two stones or otherwise grind and mix well with the suet, melted, to a paste, add the ground currants or raisins and sugar, allow to cool and pack away. Eat raw, boiled with flour or fry.
This makes an agreeable lunch drink and is really necessary to keep the system in good order. Take the clear juice of three lemons and 15 teaspoonfuls of sugar and put into a broad, flat baking pan. Since so much water is to be evaporated it is best to dry this out in an oven, but prolonged exposure to a hot sun will do the trick. The lemon powder should be perfectly dry and then pulverized and stored in pry up tins. For use put the powder in water to the desired strength. The addition of citric acid crystals in small amounts is a help, but when relied upon alone to make lemonade,as recommended by some writers, will not make a drink which takes the place of the concentrated lemon except as to taste.
Bread is the staff of life. Just as good bread can be baked in the woods as in the best hotel of the boulevards. The baking of camp bread can be taken as a criterion of the amateur cook’s ability. Have a good baker, a good fire and follow the recipe if you would have success. On back pack trips it is advisable to retain the frying pan as the baker and by using a tin cover you can heap coals upon it and get the envelope of hot air. Lay two green chunks or two square edged stones about 6 to 8 inches apart near the camp fire. Rake a few coals between and place the pan over them. Put the dough in the pan after sprinkling with flour and cover with the tin. Place live coals on this tin—about twice as many as underneath—and watch the baking closely so that it won’t burn. You can fry bread on the top of stone: when one side is baked stand the pan on edge by the side of the stone and allow baking to proceed in that way.
Remember that small cakes and biscuits must be baked quickly before a hot fire whereaslarge loaves, such as johnny cake, must have a slow even heat so as to get done through. The secret of the camp oven is the envelope of hot air which must not be too hot and must be kept even. Below are given the recipes which are most successfully used with the frying pan baker. Whole wheat flour makes easier than white and has more taste. Use yellow corn meal. In the recipes follow exactly to obtain the best results.
To save packing several ingredients separately it is often recommended to mix the johnny cake and pan cake flour at home and carry it in one sack on the trail. Then merely mixing with water to a given consistency will be sufficient to supply a good dough. If dampness is kept from it while packing it is very good and the following recipe will be found satisfactory:—take of granulated yellow corn meal 1 quart, of white wheat flour 1 pint, sugar ½ cup, salt 1 teaspoonful and baking powder 4 teaspoonsful. For flapjacks in camp take a portion of the above flour mixture and add sufficient water to make a stiff batter and allow it to stand for a few minutes before dropping it in spoonfuls on the hot greased fry pan: when bubbles beginto show on top turn. To make a johnny cake or corn bread use less water than above so as to make a doughy mass, turn into the fry pan, set up before the fire and leave until the top sets, then turn over.
A method for corn pone in which the ingredients are mixed at each baking:—1 pint of water in a pail is brought to a boil, add a teaspoonful of salt, corn meal is slowly added and stirred to a mush, cooking it for a few minutes. Grease the fry pan, put in the mush, cover with tin, bury in the ashes and coals, and bake 30 to 40 minutes. This makes the finest kind of breadstuff.
This is easy to mix, is made without grease, keeps fresh for a long period and will not dry up or mold. It is good to eat when cold and is just the thing when laying in a supply. For routine diet it is much better than biscuit. Take of flour 1 quart, salt 1 teaspoonful, sugar 1 tablespoonful, and baking powder 2 heaping teaspoonfuls. Mix in 1½ pints of cold water to make a thick batter and pour out level into a pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a sliver will not stick into the dough.
One of the delights of camp life is in estranging one’s self from the fastidious customs of civilization and living off the country where you camp. A fine pastime and diet change is the catching and eating of fish. The lakes and streams of the outdoors abound with fish which when caught in the icy water and cooked over a camp fire in the open makes a welcome addition to the hiker’s bill of fare. Trout are easily cooked. Black bass are good if the water where you catch them is cold. Pike is the best American food fish. They should be left uncleaned never longer than one-half day after catching, never leave in water and don’t wash until just before cooking. Roll in cornmeal, have plenty of bacon fat in the fry pan and cook slowly. Try with the tine of fork to see if done.
For digestible frying use a shallow pan and little grease, heat the pan and grease just enough to keep the meat from sticking. The meat must be dry or it will absorb the grease. Cook quick at first to seal in the juices and turn frequently; do not jab too much with fork for that would let the juice escape.
The seasoned hiker is little apt to be separated from his outfit, but it can and sometimes is done and then one must be able to cope with a real emergency. Every individual outfit should contain emergency food. It is a safe plan never to become separated from your party without an emergency ration with you and materials for securing game and fish if such abound in the region.
The conditioning of the feet will be done while as a pedestrian you are preparing for some long hike. Curative measures for foot maladies then are to be undertaken at home. In caring for the feet a definite toilet routine should be established and adhered to in order to keep these worthy members in a shape fit to do the work expected of them.
In the morning before starting dust talcum, equal parts of talcum and zinc stearate, or the United States Army foot powder inside the stocking or smear over the foot a medicated ointment, oil or vaseline.
On a long tramp should the feet become tender one may well at the noon rest change socks and substitute dry ones or at least beat the worn socks with a stick to straighten out any wrinkles that may have formed, then dry them as well as you can.
In the evening attend to washing the feet and legs as soon as possible after the march. Cool water seems best to allay the sensation of heat and irritability resulting from their forcible impact on the road. Use very little soap if any and dry the feet well with a soft towel and apply friction gently until the skin is red.
If there is any tendency toward rawness of the skin add common salt to the bathing water. Weston, the famous pedestrian, when asked what special preparation of the feet he made before his long record-breaking walks said that he “pickled his feet in a strong solution of common rock salt—the kind used for ice cream making—at the temperature of the body. Souse and soak the feet at bedtime. Then dry and if available souse them with extract of witch hazel which is allowed to dry on.”
A tendency toward sweaty feet is natural with certain individuals. The sweat glands are simply over-active and the secretion easily decomposes and is highly offensive. The resulting softening of the skin permits of its rubbing off easily, and abrasions and blisters are apt to form. The treatment should be applied as soon as there is any sign of the trouble and is as follows: Bathe the feet in cool water and carefully dry them. Then paint with commercialformalin 1 part and water 9 parts and if this causes a burning of any portion of the raw skin wash it off with water. If formalin is not at hand a strong tea infusion or tannic acid solution will work as well. The object is to harden and practically tan the superficial layers of the skin and alter the secretions of the sweat glands. Repeat the above every other day for six days. Then dust with the Army Foot Powder.
This is antiseptic, astringent and soothing.
Under a combination of dampness and heat the skin becomes soft and tender and is apt to become blistered and abraded. Unaccustomed exercise and ill fitting shoes are responsible for most of the blisters which develop on the foot, usually on the heels and toes. They constitute the most serious troubles with which the amateur pedestrian will have to contend, especially those with a soft skin and sweaty feet. On a long hike the condition should have been averted by the toughening treatment at home as outlined above. In blistering the skin is raised and filled with a collection of watery serum. Thefluid must be evacuated and the skin left intact as a protective cover during the healing process. Remove the fluid by passing a needle, which has been heated until red, obliquely through the sound skin at the edge of the blister, withdraw and allow the fluid to escape. In the case of very large blisters use a needle and thread and sterilize by boiling. Pass through the blister and snip off the ends of the thread to within ¼ inch of the blister and leave it to act as a drain. Cover all with a soft clean cloth until the serum is all out then cover with adhesive plaster. One can thus continue walking without pain and rely upon complete recovery in a couple of days.
Abrasions are blisters with skin removed, due to rubbing of the shoes in walking and they are very painful because of the access of air upon the exposed nerves of the true skin. Small abrasions may be washed clean and dried, covered with an adhesive strip, and dismissed. Larger ones may need to be cleaned and treated with some antiseptic ointment and covered with absorbent cotton and adhesive. The secret is to prevent them in the first place by proper foot care, and if started to examine and treat them from time to time to prevent their enlargement.
A corn is a circumscribed thickness of skin at a point, usually on a toe, where there is pressureand friction between a bony prominence and the shoe. It is similar to a callus but differs from the latter in having a central peg or core projection inward toward the bone and by pressing on fine nerves producing pain. The pain stops when the outside pressure is removed. If the corn is between two toes where it becomes macerated by heat and moisture it is called a “soft corn.”
In treating a corn the cause must be remedied and this usually consists in getting footwear with plenty of “toe room,” thus relieving the pressure. For cure the callosity must be softened and removed. If the corn is not severe simply softening by soaking in hot soapy water and paring with a razor-sharp knife blade will often suffice. To remove corns: (1) Wash the foot well at bedtime. Soak for ten minutes in hot soapy water which will soften a corn so it will appear white. (2) Wipe dry. (3) Apply corn medicine. The chief ingredient of most of the advertised corn cures is salicylic acid and a convenient preparation is made by your druggist as follows:
Apply with a wisp of cotton twisted on a match or toothpick, dip in solution and paint on the corn and allow to dry. Repeat the above nightly for four times. (4) On the fourth night the corn should be dead and whitish in color. After washing pare around the edge of the corn with a knife blade and lift the core out in one piece, including all of the thickened tissue down to the quick. The result is a complete cure if the attachments of the corn are taken out all at once.
Soft corns must be treated the same as hard ones: soften the corn tissue so it will come away without pain. Preferably here one should use an ointment instead of collodion; salicylic acid 40 parts, vaseline 30 parts and lanolin 30 parts. Smear this over the corns and keep the toes apart with absorbent cotton. Remove the cause.
Because they are so common foot injuries must not be resigned to as inevitable. Prevention is simple and the rewards to the tramper adequate.
As pertains to normal life anywhere the hiker must observe the accepted precepts of hygiene in order to derive the greatest benefit from hishealth giving pastime. The feet must be kept sound as emphasized in the foregoing, the stomach and bowels normal and temperance in all things strictly observed. Our aim is not to train and diet for record breaking feats, but to develop a reasonable endurance and become healthy.
As soon as is possible after a walk rub down with a wet towel and friction to a glow with a dry towel: this is very refreshing and quickly dispels stiffness. While walking produces a good appetite, eating and drinking must be moderately indulged in after a long walk, just satisfying the pangs of hunger else you will lack energy instead of gaining it. Be careful not to become overheated: in cold weather ease up near the end of the journey to cool off gradually and thus prevent chill.
No wilderness adventurer should hit the trail without a knowledge of a few principles in the treatment of medical and surgical ills and he should always be equipped with a simple compact first aid kit. This should contain an emergency wound packet such as is issued our Army and consisting of the following—a pad of sterile gauze and a triangular bandage soarranged as to be suitable for use as a wound dressing on any part of the body: an ounce of absorbent cotton is useful (a) to filter bad water—boil the latter and pour through cotton held in the cleansed hands; (b) as a dressing for wounds; (c) a small tuft may be wrapped about a toothpick and used to swab foreign particles from the eye. Z O Adhesive Plaster (one inch by five yards) is used on the feet to prevent and treat abrasions and blisters, over finger cuts, to mend fish rods, etc. Take a collapsible tube of vaseline or boric acid ointment for chapped lips; compound cathartic pills for bowel regulation; aspirin tablets, 5 grains each to be used one every four hours for grippe, colds and rheumatism; sun cholera tablets for pain and cramps in the stomach and bowels—one every hour for four doses and in diarrhœa one after each bowel movement; and mosquito dope.
Throughout the early season until near August first mosquitoes, gnats, deer and black flies are to be reckoned with. The vicious black fly keeps one awake until late in the afternoon, the midges appear about sunset, the deer fly most all the time, and the mosquito mainlyat bedtime. Mosquitoes are worse the further South (in the tropics insects form the worst impediment to travel) or North (even to the bleak mountain tops above timber line) you go. The querulous sing song, poisoned sting and thirst for blood makes of them a real obstacle to the successful enjoyment of a trip. Even one can keep you awake for hours. The amount of annoyance depends somewhat on the person’s makeup, some being very susceptible while others are not. You can miss the pest by the choice of a good season. August finds them greatly lessened in numbers hence this is the best month in which to go camping.
For preventing their vicious assaults a headnet fitting down over the shoulders with strings under the arms is often useful when you are about camp but as you look through the cloth when walking in the woods the landscape assumes prismatic aspects. Mosquito bar is too fragile and bobbinet too expensive while cheesecloth net with a mica or celluloid window is quite satisfactory. Wear gauntlet gloves for hands.
Nine out of ten persons sleep in open camps and as the average tent is not insect proof we must employ certain measures to protect us. To drive the pests away a smudge of greengrass and twigs on a well started fire is a specific but requires attention to keep it up.
A tent may be made fly proof by having a cheesecloth interior which is an exact replica in shape of the tent, the body very loose and voluminous and no openings except when the sides are raised. It is suspended by cords and tapes and is absolutely protective.
The insect repellents used as body applications consist usually of some essential oil incorporated in a lasting base of thick oil or salve which establishes a durable glaze over the skin, preventing too rapid evaporation of the oil by the body heat. These “dopes” do not injure the skin a bit and the slight discomfort they may cause is compensated for by the immunity established. In mildly infested districts oil of citronella applied to the skin will suffice, but where they come at you in swarms a glaze on the skin is needed to hold the essential oil for more continued use. The following formulæ are successful:
The first thing is to stop the bleeding by simple pressure with the cleaned finger over the bleeding part or applications of hot water cloths. Once a clean clot is formed don’t destroy it. Never use the homely cobwebs to stop bleeding as they reek with germs of blood poison. The second important step is to exclude pus germs. They are fewer in the woods than in the city, but we must be exceedingly careful. Wash the injured part well in hot, soapy water then rinse with water that has been boiled and cooled. Apply the First Aid wound dressing. If the wound is inflamed and discharging pus clean as well as possible and keep the dressing wet with cooled boiled water, reapplying every three hours or sufficiently to keep the dressings wet. On a non-inflamed wound simply apply the First Aid dressing which is sterile and devoid of germs.
In a sprain the ligaments become bruised or torn, there is loss of function and pain with inflammation. Pour hot water on the injured joint for an hour at a time, repeating every twoor three hours for a day. (If no receptacle is at hand to heat water in fill a hollow rock, log, or waterproof cloth pocket with water, heat a stone in camp fire and put in water for heating.) Bandage the joint and keep applying hot water. Keep the limb elevated. When the swelling goes down rub the skin with oil or grease, gently massaging the injured parts. Don’t over exercise so as to reinjure the torn ligaments. Walking off a sprain won’t cure it, in fact only prolongs recovery.
In a dislocation besides the ligaments being torn the bone is out of place at a joint causing the affected limb to be shorter or longer than its mate. Study how the bone slipped from its socket, for you must reverse the movements occurring at the time of accident in order to reduce the dislocation.
A fracture is a severe malady because a condition of shock is usually present. The affected part is painful, the contour of limb is changed, a grating (crepitation) is felt and heard when the broken ends are rubbed together. The ends are often, by muscular action, drawn out of position so that they overlap. Overcome this muscle tension by steady pulling of the two broken parts in opposite directions until the ends meet in proper relation to one another(this is imperative). Hold them in place by laying splints of bark or sticks entirely around the break (interposing padding of soft material next the skin) and bandage all in place. If the parts are swelled apply cold water. Healing requires weeks for a good result.
A rather heroic measure was resorted to by Chas. F. Loomis on his long hike from Ohio to California. Having fractured his right arm so badly that the bone protruded (a “compound” fracture) and being alone in a desert he gave his canteen strap two flat turns about the wrist, buckled it around a cedar tree, mounted a nearby rock, set his heels on the edge and threw himself backward. He fainted but the bone was set. Then he rigged up splints and walked 52 miles before tasting food, then finished the 700 mile tramp to Los Angeles with his broken arm in a bandanna.
Those few hardy pedestrians who may venture to indulge in winter walks are subject to having the extremities freeze although if they understand the essentials of keeping warm in winter they may avert such troubles. The effects of heat and cold are about the same; they both cause a loss of blood to the tissues which when thus deprived of heat and nourishment are on the way to mortification. The object oftreatment is to restore circulation, gradually. Use cold baths in a cold room then gradually warming same up to the temperature of the body. Wrap the frozen limb up well with wet cloths for the first few days.
Drowning. A strenuous effort should be made to restore breathing in the apparently drowned and so do not consider your attempt as futile until you have thoroughly employed the method suggested below for two hours. You first
(a) Get the water out of the patient’s lungs by loosening all his clothes, laying him on his stomach and turn his face to one side. Now standing astride of his hips grasp him about the waist and raise the hips so that the head and feet touch the ground in order that the water may gravitate out of the lungs.
(b) Again laying the patient on his stomach, head turned aside and with his arms extended above his head he is given artificial respiration after the so-called Schaefer or prone method as follows:
(c) Lung Compression. You kneel on the ground straddling the patient’s hips and facing his head. Place your hands so that the little finger closes over the end of the lowest rib and the heel of your hands so placed on the sides asto allow you to exert all your strength downward from your shoulders until the patient’s lower chest region is compressed. You hold this compression for three seconds and then remove the hands and allow the patient’s chest to refill. Repeat the compression and lung refilling fifteen times a minute for two hours if necessary.
(d) After breathing is established keep the patient in a recumbent position until breathing is regular and put him in a warm place and surround his body with heat in some form such as heated stones wrapped in cloths, hot blankets, etc. If available for use aromatic spirits of ammonia on a handkerchief held to the nose is stimulating.
Colds. Take a hot bath and a heroic dose of physic. For the aches and pains take aspirin tablets (grains 5 each) one every hour for 4 doses then one every 4 hours. If the throat is sore gargle with salt water.
Diarrhœa and stomach cramps may be due to bad water or improper food. The results are bowel pain and too frequent movements and general weakness. Stop all food and rest the patient in bed entirely. Take a purge and after three good movements take a Sun Cholera tablet each hour until three are taken then oneevery three hours. If without medicine use flour mixed with water.
In Sunstroke the skin stops perspiring, the skin over the ribs is hot and dry, the face red and the head feels great pressure of too much blood. Get to a cool place, lie down, loosen the clothing and bathe the face, chest and wrists in cold water and drink as much water as wanted. In Heat Exhaustion the conditions are opposite—the face is pale and the skin sweaty. You need stimulants such as tea or coffee and are not to bathe the skin.
FROM the standpoint of pure pedestrianism winter travel usually has but little appeal yet it represents to the uninitiated marvelous revelations in scenic display, for the sedentarian, who is housed in the vitiated air of stuffy steam heated offices, a stimulation to the highest degree of physical well being, and, being feasible, projects one’s vacation opportunities to include the year around.
Once experienced the exhilaration of winter travel will enslave you whether your indulgence is for the annual hunt in which you are responding to the issue of the Red Gods calling for snowshoe or ski trips across the waste places, or, again you may follow the trail of the Far North trapper in which case your frequently moved camps necessitate mushing behind a trail sled drawn by huskies or breaking a trail ahead of a bush toboggan propelled by your own power. Again perchance some get rich quick frenzy pushes you into the frozen regions in exploratory reconnaissance for precious metals.
Just what causes most people to refrain from outdoor life in winter is the fear of cold. Yet properly regarded the winter is the healthiest time of the year. Physically greater exertion is necessary in winter to enable the body to generate heat sufficient for protection against cold and this is compensated for in the usually increased difficulties in travel over road or forest snows. Pure tramping methods and kits for summer must be modified to suit new conditions for doubtless you will not have ground to walk upon hence you must take to snowshoes or to ski for the snow work, the body covering must be adequate for additional protection against the elements, and the shelter and bed must be especially adapted to your needs.
Snow-shoeing is becoming more and more popular among lovers of outdoor life. Without them northern bush travel in winter would be impossible because in dense forested areas the brush grows close and the ground is filled with fallen trees and rocks and the snow lies loose and powdery. Snow-shoeing is really at its best after the middle of January when the early snows have packed down and the weather is pretty constantly freezing.
So much has been written of the great tournaments of ski jumping by the Scandinavian expertsthat one may lose sight of the fact that ski running for the amateur is an unparalleled winter sport in any snow covered section and is a necessary part of the equipment of mountaineers whose journeyings take them far into the wilderness probably with a pack outfit on their backs.
In this country the winters are as a rule mild and pleasant yet the average American does not appreciate the benefits to be acquired from the use of the ski or the exhilarating and exciting sport to be had with them. The ski (pronounced “skee”) is used for walking (really toboganning or skating) over the deep snow, protecting the walker from breaking through and becoming immersed in a fleecy bath. In regions where the snow gets to the depth of 5 to 7 feet the ski is intensely utilitarian, being a real necessity for travel as otherwise travelers would become hopelessly buried in the drifts and perhaps perish. In this country it is becoming more popular each year and in many sections it is replacing the snowshoe for winter travel.
With ski one may slide down hills of snow or ice, he can walk over drifts without fathoming their depths and if sportively inclined and trained he can speed downhill so fast that thesense of motion is lost and the scenery is verily “snatched” past in rapid panorama. Where the country is reasonably open and not too rough the snow becomes fairly solid. Ski are superior to snowshoes and travel is far faster than with the web shoe.
In our mountainous regions there is good snow-shoeing and skiing at elevations of from 200 to 3000 feet from December to April. The climate here is commonly mild with days of continual melting—a temperature of 20 degrees or below being a rarity. The mountain snows are deep, forcing our summer cruising methods to a matter of reminiscence, and this depth increases very quickly as altitude is gained. At 5000 feet elevation the Frost King’s mantle may be found to be 20 or 30 feet deep but at this altitude few cabins for camp use can be depended upon.
Special cold weather clothing requirements are imperative for keeping warm in camp and on the trail. Body warmth depends on several things. First, the body’s ability to make heat, hence our attention to heat forming foods. That this heat may reach all parts of the body and especially the extremities which are so susceptible to cold, the circulation of blood mustbe absolutely unimpeded by such things as tight shoes, constricting waist bands or tight clothing anywhere. Secondly, the surface of the skin must be insulated by a loosely woven fabric covering (best of animal origin) which retains the heat in its meshes yet allows an egress of moisture which is constantly imperceptibly emanated by the pores of the skin and to a superlative degree during exercise. Successive thin layers are found to be more efficacious than one thick layer owing to the dead air interspaces.
The skin and its covering must be kept dry else freezing will ensue. Aside from what moisture may come from the body, wet may come from accidental immersion in streams or the air itself may be very humid—the reason for our greater sensitiveness to wet cold than to dry cold.
A large factor of success in Arctic exploration has been the choice of proper clothing. These explorers have followed down to the last detail the natural clothing of the Eskimo modeled after the protective covering of Arctic animals consisting of the impervious integument itself next the body or with silk intervening. This fits loosely at the knee, waist, and wrist, enabling the evaporation of constant perspirationto the open air, especially during exercise of any kind. The body is thus kept dry and no energy is lost in heat making.
The usual idea of the amount of clothing necessary to keep the body warm and to prevent freezing in extreme cold is erroneous. It is not so much a question of cold as the degree of dampness on the body surface which is affectedbythe cold. Nearly every death from freezing is caused by either getting too warm and then wet through perspiration or accidental immersion in water. The former can be avoided by having the clothing sufficiently loose to allow good circulation of air and by thuskeeping uncomfortably coolthe tendency toward perspiration is overcome. While quiet or physically inactive one may wear much clothing as there is little danger of freezing, there being no dampness present, but if one is active and perspiring and is then quiet there is great danger.
When any kind of moisture gets on the body there is only one way to get rid of it—by the body heat. Clothing does not warm one, it onlyretainsheat made by the body. The drawing away of heat reduces one’s vitality as well as affecting the temperature of the body. Where one is physically active it is advisable to wear ordinary weight warm winter clothing ofthe temperate zone. Of materials wool is best next the body, except in Arctic work where a suit of silk is worn under the fur garments to prevent chafing. Two wool union suits, loosely fitting, will be found enough. The pants should be of Mackinaw which is warm, wearable, and to a certain extent water repellent. A flannel shirt or Pontiac shirt comes next and for use when one is inactive and apt to become chilled a heavy sweater coat with convertible collar is indispensable. To break the wind a parka can be pulled over head and trunk.
The parka is a garment made like a large hooded shirt coming to the knee. The edge of the face opening in the hood has a ruff of wolverine, wolf, or bear to protect the face. Wolverine is by all odds best as it is the only fur upon which the breath will not congeal. The garment is the most practical yet devised for very cold work. For use in the Arctics it is made of squirrel or deer skin worn with the fur outside and it is lined with the fur of some animal which will allow it to slip on and off easily. The drill parka which is used to break the wind and which is of particular interest to us is made on the same model only larger as it is at times worn as the outermost garment of all. Thefur garments are seldom used by those who are experienced when working on the trail, they are held in reserve until camp is reached. If in actual exercise the parka would be too hot and would cause perspiration to start.
Particular attention should be paid to the protection of the hands, ears, face, and feet—the body will take care of itself. For the hands Scotch wool mitts will be ample—mitts rather than gloves for the reason that there is but one space in each to be kept warm whereas in gloves there is a separate place in each finger where heat must be maintained. A larger pair of leather mitts worn over all will be found to retain heat besides resisting wear much better than wool. The ears and face are protected by a wool cap or llama combination cap and sleeping hood. The hood of the parka with its fur edged face opening cannot be excelled for head and neck protection. The face is to some extent exposed necessarily for breathing and the nose may be expected to suffer some. The intense light reflected from the snow will necessitate the use of smoked goggles, those with rubber frames being best as no metal will then touch the sensitive flesh.
Since much of your comfort in outdoor winter work or pastime depends upon the feet a fewwords concerning their proper care is not amiss here. Above all the feet must be kept dry. They are pretty apt to perspire and this moisture can be absorbed by filling the bottom of the shoe packs with straw which acts also as a cushion. At the day’s end you will find the socks dry and the straw wet—the desirable condition as wet socks will freeze and the feet become chilled. The best foot covering in dry snow is the oiled moccasin or shoe pac. No tight shoes are permissible in snow work at all for they will restrict the circulation by which the warmth of the body is carried to the extremities. For wet snow the outer foot covering should be of rubber, since leather when wet freezes and becomes stiff and for this the lumberman’s rubberoverwhich has a laced leather top with rubber foot cover is unexcelled. Next the foot wear two pairs of heavy wool lumberman’s socks reaching nearly to the knee.
If one is lost in the winter woods a bivouac constructed somewhat along the following lines will be found adequate for the needs of comfort and health. For cold weather shelter select for the site a hollow deep in the woods well surrounded by trees where all will be sheltered from the biting winds. Such a place for the summer camp would not be best because anight’s rain might flood the hollow. First find a wind break of cliff, rocks or fallen tree or build one of rocks or down timber. If it is rainy make a slant roof of poles and shingle with browse or bark and with a top cover of more poles to hold all in place. On the prairie where a windbreak is impossible build two fires at right angles to the wind and get between them. The smoke will blow away in columns parallel with your body.
If the snow is deep shovel to the ground, using the toe of the snow shoe or a flattened stick, clear a triangular space about 7 by 8 feet at whose small end, placed downhill, is put the fire, and at whose small side lays the bed. Walls of snow all around make an excellent wind break. On deep snow the fire may rest on a platform of green sappy logs such as balsam. Where the shelter is pitched the snow is tramped solid. In such a camp with a rabbit skin blanket and an all night fire one may sleep comfortably on the coldest of nights.
In sleeping out even if the days are mild the nights are pretty sure to be cold. A goodly supply of birch bark kindling and a surplus of dry wood should be laid up. It is no fun to awake chilled to the bone from the icy air and have to fumble about with wet half burntfagots. Build the fire to leeward and within four feet of the bed. If it is very cold build it above the level of your sleeping place for you thus get more heat and less smoke. Stake two back logs behind the fire. In very cold weather build the fire against the windbreak and when it is burned down rake the embers forward, rebuild the fire in front, spread boughs where the fire was and lie there on the warm ground. This can be repeated several times during the night. If done thus there need be no danger of freezing.
In cold weather in the North, with probably the means of transportation reduced to a dog team or a back pack, the ration list must be cut down to absolute necessities. To facilitate expediency in the handling of the outfit in the cold the range of variety had best be limited. The ideal cold weather ration meeting this requirement is pemmican. At this time of the year the fats should predominate as it does in pemmican. This food keeps well, is very compact and can be mixed in a variety of ways palatable to a hungry man on the trail. Pemmican may be made at home by the method suggested in chapter on “Ration Lists.” On such trips do not rely on baking bread en route because of lack of cooking conveniences and time. Alsothe moisture in common bread will freeze so use unleavened bread or that ready made hardtack or ship’s biscuit as the staple. One pound of pemmican and pilot bread per day will sustain a man at hard work.
Vary the bread ration with dessicated vegetables. Now if you will add to the Arctic ration the above mentioned pemmican varied with jerked meat and the hardtack varied with dessicated vegetables, tea, and dried milk you will have a well balanced, dry, compact, palatable, and energy yielding diet.