If you find yourself hopelessly lost the first thing to do is to keep cool and avoid panic for the greatest danger is fear which robs one of his judgment. If you are near a party and have a gun shoot twice in succession repeating after long waits. [1] Smoke distress signals are made by starting two green stuff fires about fifty feet apart. Get on a high point for a lookout.
[1] The signal varies with the locality. In some sections it is one shot, then a pause, and then two shots in quick succession; in other localities it is two shots in quick succession, then a pause, and then a single shot. Ascertain what the distress signal in any locality is before venturing into the wilderness.
The back pack man is in no immediate danger so long as his outfit is with him but let it be separated from him by mishap in a strange country and his woodcraft ingenuity will be taxed. If night draws close build a little bivouac fire and camp before dark, make yourself comfortable, get in plenty of fresh wood to keep up the fire all night, build a wind screen on three sides of fallen logs, brush and browse, and if possible lay something on the bare ground to keep you off the dirt.
One should make it a rule never to leave the camp without taking a small emergency bag along which would greatly assist in case of getting lost. It should contain a compass, maps, First Aid packet, match box, fish line and hooks, emergency ration and a knife.
CHAPTER V
PACKS AND PACKING
BACK packing of the wilderness adventurer’s outfit is one of the necessary evils to be endured for the privilege of enjoying the freedom of travel and the peace and quietude of cheerful camps in the untracked solitudes of the great outdoors. Truly its trials and tribulations are many, yet when fully mastered and one becomes an adept in cruising methods it spells absolute independence of everything except food supplies. Packing at best is a hard plod but it is to be remembered that there is a certain pleasure in even the roughest experience and that in after years only the pleasant things remain in reminiscence.
Much may be spared in the way of trouble and discomfort in woods travel by the selection of a correctly designed and properly hung pack carrier. Next to being properly shod the possession of a suitable rig for carrying the outfit from place to place is the most indispensable requisite for the hiker. The most common and satisfactory article for this use is to be found among the array of tump lines, pack sacks or baskets, and pack harnesses, each designed for a purpose good for use in its particular field and very little elsewhere.
This choice in turn depends largely upon the weight of outfit to be carried which of course should be kept down to absolutely essential limits and within the personal physical capabilities of endurance. Tasks within one’s strength are pleasing or at least tolerable: those beyond that strength are punishment.
The tramper’s pack, inclusive of a ten days supply of provisions, need not weigh over thirty-five pounds. (The seasoned woods traveler will start with eighty pounds.) Any additional weight of grub will be directly proportional to the time one is to be out. It is always advisable for two persons to go together on such a trip for they can share the shelter, use the same cooking utensils and certain other nonconsumable items.
It is a fact unbelievable to the tenderfoot, yet readily attested by the experienced, that at the beginning the carrying of a thirty-five pound pack is entirely feasible for the average man and at the end of several weeks one can carry many more pounds with some ease. On a short portage trip with canoe relief ahead a pack of one hundred pounds is conveniently transported on one’s back. The footman, however, must be carrying all the time and the beginner will find a thirty-five pound pack a sufficiently heavy burden. This must include shelter, mess kit, bed and a week’s supply of provisions. It is well to keep in mind that the pack lightens some each day as the provisions are used up.