Camping at Cherry Pond

by Henry Abbott

We had a lot of fun in building this camp. It was substantially made, and with a few repairs to the roof has sheltered us for twelve years.

The first step in building a camp is to look for a spring of good pure water. In this case, after searching for several days and failing to find one, we selected a spot where the lay of the land indicated that a spring ought to be and dug for it. We found about three feet below the surface a vein of ice water that has never failed in the driest season.

Next, we selected a spot on top of a knoll about fifty feet above the surface of the pond and two hundred feet away from it, where we staked out our foundation. This elevation put us above the fog and damp air which settle down on the water at night.

Then we proceeded to make a set of drawings and specifications such as would be made in building a house. The logs and roof timbers were cut and fitted to specification before they were carried to position. The ground plan was twelve by eight feet. The ridge pole was nine feet high. The hood projected two feet, and was seven feet above ground. The walls were made of spruce logs, and were five feet high. The bottom log was ten inches in diameter; others graduated in size up to five inches at the top. Rafters were placed four inches apart; these and other roof timbers were made of spruce saplings two to three inches in diameter; and the roof and gable ends were covered with tar-paper, the roof projecting one foot beyond the walls all around to keep the outside of logs dry. Cracks between the logs were calked with dry moss.

On the ground, across the front, we placed a log ten inches in diameter, and another of the same size parallel to it at the rear. Across these two logs from front to rear we placed birch saplings one and one-half inches in diameter at the butt. These poles were selected with some care to have them straight, and they were placed one-half inch apart, butts to the front; and a single wire nail fastened each pole to the front log and kept it in position. The small ends of poles were left free to slide on the rear log when bent. On top of this birch gridiron we made our bed of balsam boughs. The result was as comfortable a spring bed as one can buy at a furniture house.

We built a cupboard at one end of the shack in which to store our food, and it was eaten up by porcupines and rebuilt the second time before we learned to cover the boards with tin. Also, after one table had been chewed up by the animals, we suspended the new one with wire from the roof of the camp on leaving, and since then have found it in good condition when we returned.

The camp afforded sleeping space for three or four persons. On occasions when we had several guests we would set up a tent in the back yard.

From time to time we made improvements; for example, we built a pavilion to cover the dining table so that in rainy weather we were not obliged to eat our meals on the bed.

One day during the hunt we came upon signs of bear only a few rods from the camp, and the tracks and other evidence of his presence were fresh. He had not been gone more than a few minutes when we arrived. The black bear of our forests is very fond of cherries and other fruits. The wild cherries of these woods are of a superior variety. They are much larger and sweeter than the ordinary type of choke (or pin) cherry. They are black and have a bitter-sweet flavor. We often eat them, but they are best used in making "cherry bounce."

The bear will gorge himself on these cherries, and he is no conservationist. He climbs a tree if it is a large one and breaks off all the branches. If it happens to be a small tree, he will tear it down and break it limb from limb, or he may pull it up by the roots, thus destroying the crop for another year. The bear is a typical American.