10 FOREST OUTINGS 



follows, foresters now shut that camp or picnic site off for a while, give it 

 time to heal, and "rotate" the picnic or camp sites, whenever possible, to 

 some place else. 



Some of the best recreational-use planning has been done not at Wash- 

 ington, and not at the regional and supervisor offices, but by rangers on 

 the ground. And many of the best jobs of welcoming people to the forest, 

 spreading them out, and letting them have a good time in the way of their 

 own choice, quietly, have been done by sardonic, old-time forest officers 

 such as the one just quoted. 



No one who loves the woods and the lone places can long remain 

 inhospitable or out of sympathy with people who today throng to the woods, 

 the shores, the lakes, and the heights of mountains on our national forests. 

 In somewhat lonely settings these visitors may be embarrassed or awkward, 

 at first. Certain of them may make a great deal of noise, on their own, and 

 turn radios on full blast to make themselves feel more at home, and prove 

 it. But generally the jitterbug phase of their return to nature soon wears 

 off, and they seek quieter amusements, more on their own. Their need and 

 hunger for natural things, for simple, earthy, normal satisfactions, is so 

 urgent, so deep-seated, and so evident, that even when they spit down 

 canyons in their exuberance and see how much of The Star-Spangled 

 Banner they can sing before it hits; even when they perform the tenderfoot 

 trick of rolling great stones down sheer mountainsides, dangerously; even 

 when they complain that a one-way pack and motor trail to a mountain- 

 top is out-of-date and should be at least a three-lane highway, paved, oiled, 

 and sleek, you cannot for long feel cynical about these robust nature 

 lovers, or remain unfriendly toward even the rowdiest, the noisiest, the 

 most self-conscious. They are lost children coming home. 



But they are often problem children; and the job of planning recrea- 

 tional use on the public forests and fitting it into other uses is difficult at 

 times, and always fascinating. 



FOR PURPOSES OF SIMPLE PLEASURE the national forests of our States and 

 territorial possessions offer everything that unsettled land can offer any- 

 where on earth. They include nearly any combination that can occur in 



