542 



Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 



food for a common lunch is distributed 

 in the saddlebags of a number of the 

 riders. Whatever the system, there is 

 always lunch and plenty of it. 



After the riders are on the trail, with 

 the head guide leading, experienced 

 riders distributed in the line, and a 

 wrangler riding behind, the remaining 

 packers, cooks, and wranglers complete 

 breaking camp, load the pack animals, 

 and pass the riders while they are rest- 

 ing for lunch at noon. This puts the 

 pack train into the next camp ahead of 

 the riders. If all goes well, the latter 

 will spot a tent fly and a curl of smoke 

 along a stream or lake sometime be- 

 tween 3 and 5 o'clock and start prac- 

 ticing their "cowboy yells." For that is 

 the camp. The cook has the coffee on. 

 The duffel is off the pack animals. 

 From then on it is a matter of riders 

 and crew getting up sleeping tents and 

 flies where weather or, on rare occa- 

 sions, insects, make them necessary. 



Mostly the "camping operations" 

 consist of locating good spots to bed 

 down in the open, with due attention 

 to relative privacy, sanitary precau- 

 tions, the distance that duffel must be 

 carried, and noninterference with the 

 "kitchen," temporary corral, and water 

 for cooking and drinking. This takes 

 some planning and agreement. Areas 

 for women, for men, for families and 

 couples have to be picked. Minimum 

 but adequate sanitary arrangements 

 must be located. Swampy or sloping 

 ground must be avoided. On the 1941 

 canoe trip one camp was made on a 

 small island so small that it was most 

 difficult to stay on it. Usually there is 

 plenty of room. Usually the previous 

 occupants have left the site in orderly 

 condition. Sometimes there are old 

 buildings, a dilapidated log cabin, or a 

 well-maintained but unoccupied for- 

 est-guard's quarters for short-season 

 use, or a cattle- or hunting-camp struc- 

 ture. Some of the riders are sure to 

 appropriate these as camps, if the cooks 

 do not get there first. 



AVAILABLE for this sort of wilderness 

 travel are 77 established or proposed 



wilderness and wild areas in the na- 

 tional forests. Wilderness areas cover 

 at least 100,000 acres each; wild areas 

 are smaller. Eight of the former con- 

 tain more than 500,000 acres each. 

 There are large areas of wilderness in 

 most of the national parks. By far the 

 greater number of the wilderness and 

 wild areas are relatively untouched. A 

 few are recaptured lands on which 

 lumbering or mining and prospecting 

 was relatively active in the past. Some 

 of them exhibit a natural condition 

 that would compare with those at the 

 time of the Louisiana Purchase. 



Besides the places named, the Trail 

 Riders have penetrated, in Colorado, 

 the Maroon-Snowmass, the Flat Tops, 

 and the San Juan Wilderness Areas ; in 

 Montana, the Spanish Peaks Wild 

 Area; in North Carolina, the Great 

 Smoky Mountains National Park; in 

 Washington, the Olympic National 

 Park; and, in Wyoming, the Wind 

 River Wilderness. 



Because practically all the areas, ex- 

 cept the canoe country in Minnesota, 

 are high, the time when travel is safe 

 extends only from late June to early 

 September. At that, the elements are 

 not always kind. Rainstorms on the 

 trail are uncommon, but certainly not 

 unknown. Trail riders do not claim to 

 enjoy such weather, but it is a part of 

 the whole adventure, and they are usu- 

 ally equipped with slickers or ponchos 

 that keep them reasonably dry. Always 

 there is a blazing campfire in the eve- 

 ning and reasonable assurance of a 

 warm, dry night's rest. 



Many of the riders' lasting memories 

 center around the campfire conversa- 

 tions, the friendly arguments, and ques- 

 tionings. At those gatherings there is 

 always serious discussion, and always 

 singing, with fiddle, guitar, accordion, 

 or banjo accompaniment; often special 

 stunts are arranged by the guides and 

 helpers and by the riders themselves. 



Anyone who plays a musical instru- 

 ment that is not too bulky or hard to 

 handle can contribute that to his duffel. 

 Mouth harps, banjos, guitars, accor- 

 dions, and ukeleles are frequently taken 



