POLE FORDING 



Drawn by Bellmore Browne 



animals must swim, and the duffle must be 

 rafted. But here we will deal with fording, 

 and there are three kinds; pack-fording, pole- 

 fording and rope-fording. Of course, the 

 chief drawback is your grub, you must get it 

 across, and keep it dry. 



PACK FORDING. 



Suppose the stream is 30 yards wide and 

 you find a place where it is swift but not 

 over waist deep ; here your grub will help, 

 for an 80-pound pack will hold you to the 

 bottom, when without it you would be swept 

 away. This fact is well known, and rocks or 

 gravel from the bank will be useful if your 

 pack is too light to hold you down. In this 

 fording your pack must be well up on your 

 shoulders and ready to drop quickly, for if 

 you fall down with a tightly tied or strapped 

 pack, you will not come up until you have 

 lost interest in the undertaking. Frequently 

 one can find an easy ford, but on occasions 

 there will be no good crossing for several 

 miles. 



POLE-FORDING. 



If there are three or four in the party de- 

 cide on the best ford, usually the widest 

 stretch. Cut a slender pole between eight and 

 twelve feet long and at least three inches in 

 diameter at the small end. You can find bal- 

 sams or alders on almost any glacier stream, 

 except in high altitudes, where fording is 

 usually easy, and the streams are small. 

 It is good to undress as then there will be 

 less resistance to the .water, and you keep 

 your clothes dry, but keep on your footgear, 

 or the round glacial stones will grind your 

 ankles. When all is ready, stand in a line 

 and grasp the pole. The lightest man (A) 

 should be on the up stream, and the heaviest 

 man (B)' on the down stream end of the 

 pole. A's pack and clothes should be dis- 

 tributed between the others, as they need 

 weight, and A will be under water occasion- 

 ally. Now all start across in line, working 

 down stream, always keeping the pole paral- 



lel with the current. -As the water deepens 

 A may be swept from his feet, but he must 

 hold on to the pole for he is making an eddy 

 for the others to walk in. If possible, always 

 pass below rocks, the water is deeper there 

 but less swift than on the up-stream side. 



The first time I saw this ford made was 

 in Northern British Columbia, where three of 

 us crossed a swift stream with perfect ease. 



BRIDGES. 



Occasionally one can just span a stream 

 with a tree. Sometimes these bridges 

 are shaky affairs and great skill in balanc- 

 ing is necessary to one who crosses with a 

 heavy pack. Often nothing but a wetting 

 would result from a fall, but frequently there 

 is enough danger to make it very interesting. 



This "tight-rope walking" is always a pleas- 

 ant change from the monotony of packing, 

 and the man attempting the ford or bridge 

 always has an appreciative, but rather too 

 critical audience. A failure, unless the acci- 

 dent is serious, always evokes long and en- 

 thusiastic applause from the men on the 

 bank. 



The pack-dogs in the North become adepts 

 at crossing streams. I remember one of un- 

 usual intelligence. He seldom failed to cross 

 the slender bridges without mishap. One 

 day we crossed a narrow but particularly 

 swift stream on a dead balsam tree. It was 

 wet and the dog slipped when he was about 

 half way across. He managed to hold on to 

 the tree with his forepaws, and- the swift cur- 

 rent kept his body on the surface. Without 

 hesitating, he began to work his way, paw 

 over paw, towards the bank, and landed safe- 

 ly, pack and all. When a bunch of pack- 

 dogs approach running water they become 

 greatly excited, for they realize the danger, 

 and the fact that a wet pack means trouble 

 with their masters. 



Swift water can be crossed when the banks 

 are brushy or timbered, by throwing a 

 weighted rope across and letting it tangle. 



9-2 



