1 84 



RECREATION 



the Peruvian Andes lay piled above one an- 

 other, shading off from a reddish hue to a 

 blue haze, hardly to be distinguished from the 

 sky. Then the clouds commenced to roll in 

 from the East, the great blanket which gen- 

 erally settles down over the lower country at 

 night, and by 6:30 p. m. only the highest 

 ridges could be seen. Far below us lav a 

 white sea of clouds. 



I am as great an enthusiast over roughing 

 it as one could be, but that night at The 

 Caves was roughing it, indeed; yet the ther- 

 mometer showed only 42 degrees above zero. 

 Not so very cold, it felt cold just the same, 

 with the wind blowing forty miles an hour 

 and only a rock sloping inward for shelter. 

 Yet we enjoyed it all; smoke, ashes in our 

 eyes, wind and cold. After all, these things 

 only add to the real pleasure of the life. 

 They tell so plainly that one is away from 

 the hateful city and everything connected 

 with it. 



An early breakfast the morning of the 5th, 

 and a flying start, took us down out of the' 

 cold weather just in time to save Maxon's 

 life. His teeth had chattered all night. We 

 again passed through beautiful forests, 

 crossed the Muluncay, and by 7 p. m. were 

 eating a good dinner, having descended over 

 9,000 feet since 6:30 a. m. 



We are both in the harness again, but the 

 memory of that little paseo will stay with us 

 alwavs. 



Ralph C. Kline, Zaruma, Ecuador, S. A. 



ondacks kill more trout, in a year's time, 

 than all the fishermen catch in the open 

 season. This is saying considerable, but 

 it is a statement of facts and cannot well 

 be gainsaid by the makers of the law 

 mentioned above. . . . 



John E. Dowd, Beaver River, N. Y. > 



DON'T DISTURB THE BALANCE. 



The following clipping from the Utica 

 Press has been handed us by Mr. Frank C. 

 Metzger, of Herkimer, N. Y. : 



To the Editor of the Utica Daily Press: 

 I want to, if I can properly, call atten- 

 tion to a fact which affects sportsman- 

 ship to a degree generally unknown, and 

 which is fully realized by a comparatively 

 few. It is a game law which, by its 

 amendment through Section 3, Chap. 

 580, Laws of 1904, places a close season 

 en otter until October, 1906. 



This law by whomsoever drafted, is a 

 mistaken one. In effect, it is inimical to 

 the interest of all sportsmen who come 

 to the Adirondacks during the fishing 

 and hunting seasons. 



Otter have an insatiable appetite, and 

 they are the most aesthetic epicures 

 known in the aquatic animal kingdom. 

 They are not satisfied with the full- 

 ness of the finest fish that inhabit _ any 

 stream or lake, but must destroy either 

 in sport or maliciousness, more trout 

 than they can eat. I make this assertion 

 only because proven to me by a large 

 number of woodsmen and_ guides, men 

 who have known their habits for a long 

 term of years, that the otter in the Adir- 



CANOEING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 



Given two able-bodied males, with a nat- 

 ural love for the woods and fields and 

 streams, and an abhorrence of summer ho- 

 tels and their artificialities, and you have 

 the basis of a canoe trip anywhere, and at 

 any time. Add to this one cedar canvas cov- 

 ered canoe, with carrying yoke and paddles, 

 an ample supply of heavy army blankets and 

 rubber ponchoes, a small canvas shelter tent, 

 the simplest possible kind of a cooking outfit, 

 fifty pounds of provisions, an axe, a com- 

 pass, some good maps, a camera, and plenty 

 of fishing tackle, and you have a fairly ade- 

 quate outfit for the trip we took, a jaunt of 

 something like two hundred miles through 

 the lakes of the western Adirondacks. 



Our point of departure was Old Forge, the 

 terminus of the Fulton Chain Railway, two 

 miles northeast of Fulton Chain, on the Ad- 

 irondack Railroad. 



We arrived at noon and took to the water 

 immediately, after carefully stowing our one 

 hundred and twenty odd pounds of duffle, 

 disposed between two of the so-called "Ca- 

 nadian packs" with head-carrier attachment, 

 for convenience in packing over the portages. 

 Most Adirondack woodsmen and tourists will 

 tell you to use pack-baskets. The Canadian 

 pack basket is seldom, if ever, seen in that 

 region, but we found that the pack-basket 

 was apt to be top-heavy in the canoe, while 

 the pack we used lies flat in the bottom, 

 steadies the canoe, and renders embarking 

 and disembarking much easier. 



Turning to the left as we left the Old 

 Forge Dock, we paddled a little over a mile 

 up Old Forge Inlet, a mere enlargement of 

 the middle branch of the Moose River, 

 which drains the Fulton Chain, the first 

 group of lakes through which the trail leads. 

 A sharp bend to the right and the inlet opens 

 into First Lake, a picturesque sheet of water, 

 containing several tiny islets, its shore dotted 

 with sylvan camps. From here we followed 

 the white buoys of the Fulton Navigation^ 

 Company, which runs a line of tiny steamers 

 to the head of Fourth Lake. First Lake is 

 not over a mile long, and merges almost im- 

 perceptibly into Second Lake of about the 

 same general character and extent. From 

 Second Lake a narrow opening, almost un- 

 discoverable until actually upon itj you pass 

 to Third Lake, which is larger and more 

 regular in shape, being a nearly perfect oval. 

 On the right is Third Lake creek, a most 

 charming streamlet, navigable for some miles, 



