After the day’s tramp he must get a warm meal and into comfortable repose as soon as possible. Hence toward evening he chooses a suitable camp site near good drinking water. The latter is often of questionable quality and yet of considerable importance from the point of view of health. If in doubt about its purity boil the drinking water for half an hour, cool and strain through cotton or cloth. Most mountain streams are pure. Caution is especially necessary in regions where stagnation and germ life are prevalent, in valleys where camping parties or inhabitants have contaminated the watershed or where the water has flowed over poisonous mineral deposits.
If on a fishing trip the nearer the camper is to the trout stream the better, if on a shooting foray his field for selecting a site is greatly broadened. He must look out to be near plenty of firewood and leanto material.
The exact spot where one’s bed is to rest and shelter erected should be on a slight elevation where the ground is dry and which falls away from the tent on all sides, providing perfect drainage in possible wet weather. A windbreak of heavy tree growth is desirable but never get near trees that may blow down in a storm.
Now go about pitching the tent, placing it so the entrance will be to leeward of the prevailing winds; avoid these by keeping away from the high hills. Select two trees ten feet apart with a flat place between and proceed to level the tent floor by removing browse and rocks, smoothing dirt mounds, etc. Now proceed to make your shelter which may of necessity be the Indian emergency bivouac or the shelter cloth camp. (See chapter 7 “Efficient Cruising Shelters.”)
Next clear a living space in front of the tent providing room for the fire. In no way does the camping tyro proclaim his greenness more than when he attempts to make a fire. The white man nearly always builds a fire of a size that is out of all proportion to his needs while an Indian usually builds a very small fire—a habit acquired possibly from his former necessity of concealing his whereabouts from possible enemies but probably because of his good sense in woodcraft in doing only those things which are really necessary. A good knowledge of fire building is always essential for the preparation of meals and for night heating purposes. We must master, in keeping with the above needs, the making of the small cooking fire and the larger “friendship” or night fire for warmth.
THE COOKING FIRE
The cooking fire should be made quite systematically and quite apart from the heater. If one simply wishes to boil a pot of water or toast a piece of bacon the fire may be made of small material such as dry short twigs picked from a standing tree. For the regulation cooking fire it should be kept so small that one can approach without having his eyebrows singed. There is no need to have a lot of flames but replenish often and keep it going steadily, thus forming a good bed of coals to send heat in all directions.
Several methods are used for supporting the cooking utensils over the fire:—(a) dig an earthen trench 6 inches deep and slightly narrower than the fry pan bottom. Along either side lay a 3 foot small green pole and build the fire between. The pan and kettle may rest on these poles or may be suspended by hooks attached to a dingle stick whose other sharpened end is thrust in the ground at a slight distance and pressed to slant over the fire. Again they may be attached by crotched sticks from a cross pole which rests in notched stakes driven in the ground at either end and at a proper height from the fire, (b) A couple of small green logs, hewn flat on top, laid five inches apart and pegged into place to prevent rolling, are also serviceable. At one end the distance between logs may be widened to accommodate the different sized utensils. Flat stones may be used to build the little fireplace. If your fire does not draw well you can raise one end of a log a little off the ground by putting a small stick thereunder. Wait until the fire of clear wood has burned down to coals and then cut off your draft and cook over the coals, using the log supports as though they were a range. Your cooking fire is little larger than your hat and throws off very little if any smoke.
THE FRIENDSHIP FIRE FOR WARMTH
This is the heater for comfort as you while away the evening in cheerful reminiscence of the day’s happenings, as you watch the lurking mysteries of night approach, and which will warm you before you roll in fluffy blankets for the night’s repose.