FOREST RECREATION DEPARTMENT 



ARTHUR H. CARHART, EDITOR 



THE UNWELCOME GUEST 



A CERTAIN code of good social practice exists 

 ^*- among all groups of out-door aristocracy. There 

 is just as much good taste in the manner in which one 

 may act in a party of campers as there is in how one may 

 comport oneself at a dinner table. The high ranges of 

 mountain systems have as exacting a system of how one 

 should behave as has the best court of Europe. That 

 system is not so elaborate and is nearer to true courtli- 

 ness than is some of the pomp and show of a throne 

 room, but infringement on good usage generally brings 

 swift condemnation which is as complete and absolute as 

 though the Lord High Chancelor had politely grasped 

 your ear and lead you far from some kingly presence. 



An illustration of how such infringement is greeted 

 by people of the great woods or mountain lands will tell 

 much. Ranger Earl Gilcrist (which of course is not his 

 real name) and I had been tramping the timberline 

 trails for three days in the hope of getting a deer dur- 

 ing the brief open season. The night before we had slept 

 in a delapidated prospector's cabin where the stove was 

 in such bad condition that it was necessary to build a 

 fire out of doors to cook on. The night before that had 

 been spent at an altitude of 11,000 feet above the sea and 



with a great fire roaring at our feet to keep away some 

 of the chill of the October winds. 



The days had been full of long hard hikes, of tense 

 stalking of aspen thickets only to find them without 

 game present and of climbing over ridges and along 

 trails where few feet had passed before. On the day 

 after the season closed, carrying a forty-pound pack each, 

 we had climbed down from the high ridges and reached 

 the base camp, a cabin, tired and disappointed at not 

 bringing in a buck. 



There had been two other men in the party, good fel- 

 lows and city men. Instead of hitting the trails to the 

 high country they had preferred to stay in the region 

 near the cabin for there it was easier hunting and the 

 chances of getting a deer were nearly as good as in the 

 higher parks and timber. 



When we came into the park where the cabin is lo- 

 cated we could see that these other members of the party 

 were gone. Earl evidently was thinking of something 

 other than camp courtesy for he did not notice the potato 

 peelings, tin cans and egg shells strewn on the ground in 

 front of the cabin. Entering the cabin my gaze at once 

 went to where a most serious breach of camp etiquette 



TOURIST CAMPERS IN ONE OF THE J^ATIONAL FORESTS 



There is often real pride evidenced in the camps of the old timer of the outdoors, and this fine, clean camp in a 

 spot marks the man who: loves to camp and knows tha ethics of camp life. 



well-chosen 



