Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/279

Rh not include over two thousand feet of total climbing. In climbing one can count on one thousand feet an hour, without a pack if the trail is steep. With a fifty-pound pack the time is about doubled. If one finds it necessary to carry more than the weight indicated, the distance traveled is correspondingly reduced. From the total weight one must subtract the weight of the collecting outfit. My own outfit consists of a wood slat press with straps, twenty-five light-weight driers, one hundred sheets of inner papers, a few ounces of cardboard slips for fastening over the bends in specimens, and my plant digger. The total weight is not over five pounds. The weight of the specimens gathered is not likely to be, on a single trip, more than five pounds, which increase in weight is, however, offset by the decrease in weight of supplies. We have then forty-five pounds for the remainder of the pack.

The outfit may be considered conveniently under the following heads: clothing, bedding, cooking utensils, provisions, miscellaneous. The exact selection depends upon the length of the trip, the character of the country, climate, accessibility of supply stations and many other conditions which can not here be foreseen. It is clear that in the high Sierras more bedding is necessary than in Florida, that more provisions must be carried in a wilderness than in a settled country, and that rain or mosquitoes must be provided against where these occur. Therefore in discussing the requisites for an outfit I shall not make a definite selection, but shall offer suggestions as to such selection based upon my own experience.

In my own work I travel from place to place with the usual baggage allowance of one hundred and fifty pounds aside from my hand baggage. In this baggage I carry such articles as I am likely to need at hotels where I may stop, and also a selection of camp equipment, and extra driers and other collecting supplies. Sometimes I go first to a hotel, where I leave my baggage while I make an excursion of a few days on foot. Sometimes I travel in camp clothes and pack, in which case I can leave my baggage at the depot and go at once into the country.

Concerning clothes for camping, I can say little except that it is very necessary that the foot covering, whatever its other qualities, should be well fitted and well "broken in," for it is absolutely essential in a walking trip that the feet should be kept in good condition. As to other articles, I prefer heavy socks, wide-brimmed cowboy hat, and, in the mountains, woolen underwear. I usually go without a coat, but carry a sweater. The extra clothes may be reduced to an extra suit of underwear, an extra pair of socks, two large handkerchiefs and a pair of moccasins. The latter I use chiefly at night.

The bedding may be reduced to a single blanket of moderate weight or two of light weight. I also carry a waterproof poncho. This is a protection against rain, dew or damp ground at night and can be used