Car and camping

Mobility is one of the chief attractions of car camping. You can plan a twoweek vacation tour of several camps, stopping for two or three days at each, and if you are well organized this moving about will not be a hardship. If the camp site becomes too crowded for your taste or the fishing isn't up to par, you can drive on and set up in another spot before sunset.

When you pull into a public camping ground, the ranger in charge will assign you a site. Or, if you prefer, you can pick your own; it will have good drainage, a fixed fireplace (as a rule), drinking water nearby and a supply of wood, if your predecessor hasn't used it all. These services are on a first-come, first-served basis and are generally free, although a small charge is sometimes made. Many public sites are near towns in which you can buy perishable supplies; some even have daily deliveries of milk, butter, eggs, bread and fresh vegetables. The old sourdoughs could get along for weeks with a sack of flour, a slab of fat back and a tin of tea, but modern campers do not need to practice such austerity.

Use the public facilities provided for you whenever possible, whether in state and national parks or on state-owned lands. If you happen on an unmarked but ideal place to set up your tent, a charming spot with a clear stream obviously loaded with trout, and good wood and water handy, it is quite likely that you are trespassing on private property. If you suspect that this is the case, the thing to do is to locate the owner and get his permission to set up your tent. Few landowners will refuse a family a camping spot. If you don't have the foresight to get permission, you may be run off just as you are in the final stages of settling down. Many big estates in mountain areas that have all the earmarks of a deserted wilderness maintain patrolmen to keep trespassers off.

There are certain requirements that must be observed whether you are on private or public lands, all of them based on common sense and normal behavior. In return for providing you with a fine spot for your tent, you are asked only to keep your fire under control and not to be a litterbug.

The call of the wild

Once you have served your apprenticeship in off-highway camp sites, you will probably want to explore wilder territory. Nothing satisfies the urge to get away from it all better than a back-pack or canoe trip into country out of reach of the automobile. These spots are legion. If you are a fisherman or hunter, and most campers are, you will soon discover that to get more fish and game you have to get away from the crowd. A canoe, a horse or your own two good legs will get you there, and with the proper camping gear you are assured of great sport. Not until you cut the ties that bind you to even lightly populated areas will you feel that you are really on your own. Whether or not yon carry a rod or a gun, getting back into true wilderness country with only a minimum of equipment to keep you comfortable is a wonderful way to learn self-reliance.

Back-packing, however, is for experienced campers and skilled woodsmen. People who have no urge to return so completely to the primitive can still add another dimension to their lives by using regular camping facilities and taking advantage of modern equipment. Living out of doors today can be almost as comfortable as living in your own home. You can have a snug shelter that is windproof, rainproof and insectproof. Your bed can be warm, soft and relaxing enough to ensure a good night's rest. Your food can be just as good as it is at home and, within reasonable limits, just as easy to prepare. You can eat off a sturdy table, sit on a solid chair and enjoy the flickering spears of bright flame thrown upward by your campfire, while you breathe in the sweet odors of balsam, spruce and hardwood.

True, you won't have TV, although some joker always drags along a portable radio. Whether trading TV and radio for starry skies and the mournful cry of loon and whippoorwill is a fair exchange, is for you to decide.