rself than the pack straps. Night may overtake you
on a hard trail. Long as you have an extra heavy coat and a box of
matches, night does not matter. You are safer benighted in the wilds
than in New York or Chicago. If you have camp fire and blanket, night in
the wilds knows nothing of the satyr-faced spirit of evil, sand-bagger
and yeggman, that stalks the town.

[Illustration: The forest-ranger in action, fighting a ground fire with
his saddle blanket in one of the National Forests of the West]

To anyone used to travel in the wilderness, it seems almost like little
boys playing Robinson Crusoe to give explicit directions as to dress.
Yet only a few years ago, the world was shocked and horrified by the
death of a town man exploring the wilds; and that death was directly
traceable to a simple matter of boots. His feet played out. He had gone
into a country of rocky portages with only one pair of moccasins. I have
never gone into the wilds for longer than four months at a time. Yet I
have never gone with less than four sets of footgear. Primarily, you
need a pair of good outing boots; and outing boots are good only when
they combine two qualities--comfort and thick enough soles to protect
your feet from sharp rock edges if you climb, broad enough soles, too,
to protect the edge of your feet from hard knocks from passing trees and
jars in the stirrup. For the rest, you need about two extras in case you
chip chunks out of these in climbing; and if you camp near glaciers or
snow fields, a pair of moccasins for night wear will add to comfort. You
may get them if you like to spend the money--$8 leggings and $8
horsehide shoes and cowboy hat and belted corduroy suit and all the
other paraphernalia by which the seasoned Westerner recognizes the
tenderfoot. You may get them if you want to. It will not hurt you; but a
$3 cowboy slicker for rainy days and a pair of boots guaranteed to let
the water out as fast as it comes in, these and the ordinary outing
garments of any other part of the world are the prime essentials.

This matter of proper preparation recalls a little English woman who
determined to train her boys and girls to be resourceful and independent
by taking them camping each summer in the forests of the Pacific Coast.
They were on a tramp one day twelve miles from camp when a heavy fog
blew in, and they lost themselves. That is not surprising when you
consider the big tree country. Two notches and one blaze mark the