Carry a change of underwear. When on a hike, take your bath or rub-down at close of day, instead of in the morning; then change to fresh underwear and socks, and put on your sweater and trousers to sleep in. Fresh dry underclothes are as warm as an extra blanket would be if one slept in the sweaty garments he wore during the day—to say nothing of cleanliness.

Shelter

Rain is the campaigner's worst enemy. Jack Frost can be kept at bay, in a timbered region, though you be bivouacing under the stars; but you require a waterproof roof to defy Jupiter Pluvius. The kind will depend chiefly on whether you go alone or in company. For two or more, choose one of the very light tents described in Vol. I. (pp. 76-108). When going alone, in summer, a simple shelter cloth and small mosquito bar are sufficient. They can easily be made at home. Take, for example, seven yards of the green waterproof material called verdalite, which comes in 38-inch width, and weighs 4 1/4 ounces to the running yard. Sew up three widths of seven feet length, and hem all around, making a rectangle very nearly 7x9 feet. Put small grommets or eyelets around all four edges, for tie-strings. The completed shelter cloth, in this material, will weigh about 2^4 pounds, in waterproofed "balloon silk," or similar stuff, about 2 1/2 pounds.

Such a cloth may be set up in various ways. One of the quickest is to\tie or nail a pole horizontally from one sapling to another, four feet from the ground, for a ridge, and tie one of the 9-foot sides of the cloth to it. Tie the other side the cloth to another straight pole, draw out an angle of 450, and pin the pole down with an inverted crotch at each end. That is all. You have a shed roof sheltering a space 5^4 by 9 feet, and 4 feet high in front. Under this you sleep parallel with the fire instead of feet toward it. If no small trees stand in the right place, set up a pair of forked stakes, or, both ends of a pliant green stick, bend it into a bow and drive the ends into the ground on either side at the head of your bed, to support your mosquito netting; crawl under, and tuck the edges of the net under your bedding.

In rocky ground, shears (Vol. I., p. 46).

Smoke from the camp-fire does not hang under such a shelter, as there is free draught through it. If the wind shifts lean a pole against the ridge, on the windward side, and stack some boughs against it. Nothing could be simpler, cheaper, lighter, more compact, nor, in the long run, more satisfactory for the lone forest cruiser in summer, than this plain rectangle of thin but close-woven waterproof cloth. One of its advantages is that a stretcher-bed, if you carry such a thing, can be set up under it without bother about the length of poles. With the cloth set up over a big fallen log for windbreak, as already described under Bivouacs, there is plenty of headroom. If you wish to stay a few days in one place, the cloth can be used as a roof over a frame of baker tent form. I carry a few wire nails and tacks for making such a structure.

For a mosquito bar, take two yards of the fine mesh that comes in 68-inch width, and hem the ends, or use bobbinet, which is stronger and a better protection.

Bedding

Don't bed down on the cold, hard earth. And, unless you know the country to be traversed, don't depend on finding balsam or hemlock for a browse bed wherever you may spend a night. In Vol. I. 'p. 134) I have spoken of the bed tick. One that I now have, made of romper cloth, is a bag 32 x 78 inches, to be filled with dry leaves, if nothing better is found, and closed with horse-blanket pins; it weighs just one pound, and takes up very little space in the knapsack. The leaves, being in a bag, cannot spread from under you; they cushion the body and keep off the chill of the ground. A 3-pound blanket on top of such a mattress is warmer than a 5-pound one without it, and a pound weight is saved, to say nothing of bone-ache. That is enough for summer Camping, unless you are at a considerable altitude.

A 20 x 30-inch pillow-bag will weigh 3 ounces. Stuff it with leaves or other soft material, before you turn in at night, close the end with safety pins, and pin your towel over it if the surface is not soft enough.

Cooking Kit

It is easy to make up a good lightweight set of utensils for two or more men (see Vol. I. pp. 118-123), but a satisfactory one-man kit is another matter. The Boy Scout sets do fairly well for a short outing when baked bread is carried, but are inadequate for baking on the journey. A reflector is too cumbersome for a lone woods-cruiser. Let him bake his bread and cakes in a frying-pan (see Vol. I, pp. 344-345). This,calls for an 8 or 9-inch pan. Get one with folding handle (detachable ones are easily lost), or take a common one, cut off all of the handle but about 1 1/2 inches, and rivet on this stub a semi-circular socket into which you fit your stick for a handle when you go to cooking. For general use I do not like aluminum frying pans, but when traveling afoot they are satisfactory. A deep aluminum plate fits inside the pan in my kit, along with an aluminum fork, white-metal dessert spoon, and a dish towel. When tied up tightly in a light bag they do not rattle around. You want two little kettles for cereals, dried fruit, tea or coffee, to mix dough in, and the like. A pot that is broad and shallow boils water much sooner *than one that is deep and narrow, ana it, is easier; to clean. The kettles must not be too big to stow in the knapsack. Anyway, when one is going afoot he does not want to bothei with food that takes long boiling, and so has no use for a large kettle, 1 choose two i-quart aluminum buckets, which can be bought through any dealer in kitchen ware, fill them with part of my foodstuffs, set them bottom to bottom, and tie them tightly in a bag so that the covers will not come off. So there is no waste space, for the food must go somewhere, anyway. The kettles are good protection for perishables. Thus no sooty vessel goes inside another, and you have a package of small diameter.