Folding Candle Lanterns are the Most Convenient for the Woods and They Give Sufficient Light for Camp Life
The Camper’s Outfit
The personal outfit should include only the most useful articles, and each member of the party should be provided with a dunnage bag of canvas to hold bedding and clothing, and a smaller, or “ditty,” bag for keeping together the toilet and other personal belongings which most everyone finds necessary for everyday comfort. A mending kit, containing a few yards of silk, linen, and twist; a length of mending cotton; buttons; a few needles and pins, both safety and the common kinds, should not be overlooked. The veteran usually stows away a bit of wire; a length of strong twine; a few nails and tacks; rivets, etc., for emergency use, and it is surprising to the novice how handy these several odds and ends are found while in camp. A compact tin box will form a convenient place to keep them and will take up little room in the dunnage bag. A medicine case and a first-aid outfit are well worth packing; the smallest cases containing a few of the common remedies will fully meet the camper’s needs.
When carrying food by canoe or pack basket, the canoe duffel and provision bags are a great convenience, enabling the outer to carry different foodstuffs in a compact and sanitary manner. Food bags may be had in different sizes, and friction-top tins may be purchased to fit them; and one or more of these liquid-proof containers are desirable for transporting lard, butter, pork, ham, and other greasy necessities. The food bags slip into the larger duffel bags, making a very compact bundle for stowing away in a canoe or pack harness.
Carrying List for the Camp Outfit
For permanent camps, take the wall tent with fly, although the Baker or camp-fire styles are also good. When traveling light by canoe, the canoe or protean tents are recommended. When going very light by pack, use the forester’s or ranger’s tent. Sod and floor cloths and mosquito netting are optional.
The cooking kit may be of aluminum or steel, all nesting within the largest pot. Include a folding baker, or reflector, with bread board in a canvas bag, a wood salt box, and a water-tight can for matches.
Furniture for the permanent camp consists of a full-sized ax, double-blade or tomahawk style with straight handle, in a protecting case, whetstone and file for keeping the ax in shape. A shovel and saw will be needed when a cabin is built. A canteen may be included, but is not required on most trips. A folding candle lantern is the best for the average trip, but an oil, or acetylene, lantern may be used in a fixed camp. Cots, folding chairs, tables, hangers, etc., are only useful in fixed camps.
A pack basket with a waterproof-canvas lid and cover, having straps to go over the shoulders, is a general favorite with woodsmen and guides. Canvas packs or dunnage bags may be used if preferred. There are two sizes of food bags, one holding 5 lb. and another of 10-lb. capacity, with draw-strings at the top, and these are the best for carrying provisions.
Pack harness, with a tumpline to go across the forehead, is needed when the outfit must be carried on portages, etc. This may be omitted when pack baskets are used. Packing cases of fiber may be used for shipping the outfit to the camping ground, but ordinary trunks, or wood boxes, will answer as well.