CAMPING IN THE HIGH SIERRA 
Where Conditions Are So Ideal That Men and Women 
Must Appreciate Nature 
BY MADELINE Z. DOTY 
MAN’S yell of terror 
4 rang out on the night 
air. Dark forms ap- 
peared from among the 
trees and hurried to- 
i} ward the spot from 
‘| whence thesound came. 
But it was found that 
yj | the excitement hadbeen 
Sif caused by nothing 
more than a young, 
cold, shivering, little 
1 rattler, who, deserted 
by his family, had 
sought the comfort of man’s abode. Hav- 
ing found a sleeping-bag on the ground, 
he had crawled in for the warmth. Imagine 
the horror of the man when hehadattempted 
to get into his bag and heard that dreadful 
whr-r-r of the rattle. After that the sleeping- 
bags were never left on the ground, but 
hung on trees during the day. 
This was only one incident where life is 
principally made up of the pure joy of living. 
Do you know what it is to be simply glad 
you are alive; to feel every muscle in your 
body in its right place and in full play; to 
tread the ground with the strength and free- 
dom of health, and to feel you are monarch 
of all you survey? The place to know and 
feel all this is in the Sierra Nevada Moun- 
tains of California. I never before had 
camped out to any extent, yet for one solid 
month I lived in the open. I did not even 
see the outside, let alone the inside, of a 
dwelling-place. We were miles by trail 
from even a log cabin. 
To get ready for such a camping cam- 
paign you need comparatively few things. 
Take dress, for instance. The men usually 
wear khaki trousers, red or green flannel 
shirts, strong hob-nailed footwear and soft 
felt hats. The woman’s costume is scarcely 
more elaborate. Dark flannel bloomers, for 

it is apt to be cold at times, and knee skirts; 
shirt waists made like a man’s negligée 
shirt with the collar fastened on; a gay 
windsor tie of some kind; a soft felt hat of 
becoming shape and large enough for pro- 
tection from the sun, and strong shoes with 
hob nails, are the most convenient and com- 
fortable costume, and many like its pictur- 
esqueness. You will want a warm sweater, 
and don’t forget theall-importantbandanna, 
which, tied to your belt, serves the various 
offices of napkin, night cap, towel, an apron 
to cover the grease spot on your skirt, and 
last, but not least,as a most important uten- 
sil to carry your lunch in. The high-laced 
boots are a necessity, both in fording a 
stream, for they are water-proof, and in any 
unexpected encounter with a rattlesnake. 
That last statement sounds much more 
dreadful than it really is; for though we 
went through a part of the country where 
there are many rattlers, I never saw a live 
one on the whole trip, except the ignorant 
little fellow that crawled into the sleeping- 
bag. A rattler will never attack you if let 
alone; he is quite as anxious as you to get 
out of the way. 
The time to go camping in the Sierra is in 
July or August, for then it never rains. You 
need no tent, only a sleeping-bag. You just 
live out in the great out-of-doors with no 
roof over your head. A very important 
item in camping is this sleeping-bag. The 
easiest, warmest and lightest weight bag is 
an eider-down quilt covered with a dark 
denim, folded over and sewed like a bag, 
with one end left open for you to get in. It 
was a queer sight at night, when the horses 
occasionally wandered up to the sleeping 
quarters, to see these weird-looking sacks, 
each with a head sticking out of the top, rise 
up from the ground and utter a piercing 
shriek or a “shoo” to the approaching 
horse. Until you have tried it you cannot 
