226 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



One of the charms of the Hfe is its freedom from re- 

 sponsibility. The packing of your dunnage-bag when on 

 the march is the only duty you really have to perform, 

 though some prefer to assume that of washing their 

 clothes (a task generally intrusted to Charley Tuck's 

 brother heathen), but even this becomes almost a social 

 function. By common consent the day after you arrive 

 in camp is devoted to a general washing. Shortly after 

 breakfast the girls return to their camp, and procuring a 

 pile of clothing, go down in groups of three or four to the 

 river. As the morning's programme includes a bath, the 

 favorite costume for laundry work is a bathing suit. It is 

 a pretty though often a humorous sight to see the lassies 

 lined up along the river-bank diligently scrubbing and 

 sousing until the garments have assumed that appear- 

 ance of uniform griminess which passes in camp for 

 cleanliness. 



Short excursions of two or three days duration, lunches 

 and teas with a dozen or more guests are frequent, and 

 are a pleasant element in the social life of the camp. The 

 little picnic parties, where five or six friends elect to spend 

 the day in one another's company, are particularly delight- 

 ful. You build a fire at lunch-time and have tea or soup 

 or chocolate wherewithal to augment the commissary 

 lunch, and sometimes, if luck attends the fisherman, you 

 have trout. 



There seems to be a prevailing impression that the 

 entire club travels day in and day out in one indissoluble 

 "gang." Nothing can be further from the fact, for save 

 when climbing a mountain you travel to suit yourself. 

 You start at whatever hour you wish, walk alone or in 

 company, and spend the whole day or a few hours in 



