394 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March 29, 1913 
The rod should be about ten feet in length 
and should weigh six ounces or so if it is of 
bamboo; if it is made of steel or solid wood, 
then let the weight be about, seven ounces, and 
you will not go amiss. I wish to say that the 
solid wood rods are good and worthy the hand 
of any angler, however exacting. The solid wood 
rod is meant for service, but the trouble is if 
you are traveling, it will not do. They come in 
one piece or at the best two pieces, and cannot 
well be carried without inconvenience. Of the 
solid wood rods the lancewood is the cheapest; 
it is whi])py, and for the beginner, who does not 
care to pay out too much for his first rod, yet 
wishes good service, the lancewood is recom¬ 
mended. A good rod of this type can be pur¬ 
chased for the sum of four dollars. Solid wood 
rods, in bethabara or greenheart, come a little 
high, and one could just as well purchase a 
bamboo rod. The bamboo rod has graceful¬ 
ness, durability, resiliency and pliancy. All these 
points must be considered in the purchasing of 
a fly-casting rod, for unlike the steel bait-casting 
rod, where the reel is drawn upon for the greater 
part of the energy, in fly-casting it is the rod 
that does the work. The ferrules of the rod 
should be waterproof and serrated and should 
be made of German silver, for the reason that 
it is the most durable and will stand the most 
wear without giving out. The snake guides I 
have found to be the best on the market. The 
guide nearest the reel should be fitted with agate 
as should also the tip guide; that is, if you pur¬ 
chase a thoroughly perfect rod. These two 
guides stand the most wear, and they are 
brought into use the most. Hand grasp should 
be swelled cork. The six strip bamboo is given 
preference over the eight strip in that it re¬ 
sists wear longer, and is not liable to become 
warped, nor will it lose its pliancy or its resili¬ 
ency. 
The rod for trout fishing is the most im¬ 
portant part of the outfit. The reel is not 
drawn upon for energy, save as to hold the line 
and to reel in the fish when one is caught. But 
the only reel rightly fitted for trout fishing or 
fly-casting is the single action reel. They come 
in all sorts and varieties of materials, ranging 
from nickle to solid German silver or German 
silver with trimmings; others in nickle in con¬ 
junction with hard rubber. I have found a 
rubber reel as good as any, though it is wholly 
a matter of taste. One notable thing is that 
the reel should have a strong click. And it 
should hold in the neighborhood of 150 feet of 
line. The proper line for fly-casting is the 
enameled line, either tapered or the level. Some 
prefer the tapered and some the level line, but 
for my part I do not see that there- is much 
difference, although I may be mistaken. My 
experience has been as above stated. 
If you are going to buy a tapered line, I 
would get the*double taper; that is to say a line 
with a set thickness in the middle and gradually 
tapering down to the end. Such a line j'ou 
can use longer. In the matter of flies, it is 
best to be stocked up on the best ones, and then 
you will be sure of striking something of the 
order that is needed. Cheap flies should be 
shunned, for they will give you but exasperation, 
and at the best poor results. To pay a sum of 
two dollars a dozen for flies is not too much, 
and then you are certain and can feel confident 
of yourself. Rod, reel and line and the flies— 
these are the wholly necessary things that go 
into the outfit, and if you go to the park, a little 
care spent in the beginning in selecting your out¬ 
fit will bear its fruits in helping to make your 
little vacation one of utter sweetness, rid of 
worry, and the disgust so many untutored ang¬ 
lers are forced to e.xperience before they have 
attained the eventual near-perfection that comes 
from ardent application to the universal pastime. 
To the fly-fishing enthusiast who goes to the 
park, there are many other things to occupy his 
attention—horseback riding in the mountains, up 
steep trails and through pine-fringed gorges to 
the top of the backbone of the continent; taking 
camera pictures from a territory where one need 
go but a mile to exhaust a brace of films and 
yet will not have covered the ground thor¬ 
oughly ; where the student of birds and animals 
is in a virgin territory and near at hand Can find 
a wealth of the true, wild material—not the 
civilized inhabitants found near the outskirts of 
the cities. And there is the mountain climbing 
one may enjoy to his heart’s content. 
To the person of rugged physique and hard 
limbs, who has not a weak heart, here is a 
factor in the amusement world of a nature to 
call the most exacting—mountain climbing. The 
very mention of the word will call up pictures 
of gigantic snow-hugged peaks, dangerous cre¬ 
vasses, writhing glaciers, booming torrents—of 
hardy men and women, strung together with a 
rope carefully treading their way along lonely 
courses, cutting their way with the ice axes, 
ever moving, slow but certain toward the in¬ 
domitable top of the world, there to look down, 
having defied blast and snow, standing victorious. 
Our conceiving of this hazardous sport is natu¬ 
rally coupled with the Switzerland country, 
where for time untold it has been that country's 
one -great attraction. There the Alps rise, sinis¬ 
ter and forbidding, to baffle the midgets of men 
who come creeping up their sides. Yet we need 
not go to Switzerland. In this country we have 
the Glacier National Park, in the St. Mary’s 
country, with conditions almost the same in 
general as those found in the old country. 
While it cannot be compared with the climb¬ 
ing to be found in Switzerland, it is. however, 
of such a nature as to satisfy the most exacting 
amateur. One does not know what the climbing 
of a mountain is until the ascent is begun, then 
certain illusions will be stowed away, never to 
be thought of again. Yet it is sport and a lot 
of it. It demands muscle, courage and perse¬ 
verance. One will never grumble, but must 
laugh in the face of the mighty odds. This is 
mountain climbing and you will get a good taste 
of it if you so desire right here on grounds 
eternal. The value of top boots will soon evince 
itself to the man who makes his way through 
the mountains. They are the one and only thing, 
they brace the muscles behind the leg and hold 
the ankles firm. Now, this amounts to a great 
deal. You cannot go slip-shod up a mountain. 
Boots then, and have them hob-nailed. Those 
hobs sink in and will time without mention save 
you from slipping. And right here let me cau¬ 
tion you to get them large enough so that you 
can get a couple pairs of woolen socks into them 
without cramping them. Also you want a pair 
of roomy pants, and the knickerbockers answer 
the purpose fully, or riding breeches will do as 
well. Something that will not hamper the move¬ 
ments of your knees. If you have low top 
shoes, it is necessary to have either leggins or 
spiral puttees to go with them to guard the 
ankles. The spiral puttees are much in use 
among the members of the various mountain 
climbing clubs that operate annually in the Sel¬ 
kirk country of Canada, and are good for any 
kind of knocking around. They properly shed 
the snow and will guard the ankles from cold, 
hence they are an invaluable addition to the 
outfit. You want a sweater coat and warm 
woolen underwear, for the weather conditions 
among these peaks is none too balmy. Add to 
the outfit a felt hat if you do not admit the 
usual cap. You will be safe either way; you 
have your preference. These things of bodily 
wear you furnish yourself, but other than that 
you will have the best of accommodation at the 
“outfitting parlors’’ at the start of your climb, 
such as ice axes or alpenstocks and the ruck¬ 
sacks. 
The outfit for a woman is much on the 
order of that adopted by the men. A service¬ 
able short khaki shirt and knickerbockers, hat, 
sweater, boots and puttees, gloves, not forget¬ 
ting the smoked glasses. IMark a line under 
that. Do not forget the smoked glasses, or you 
will soon find out the reason why when the sun, 
beating down upon the snow, near blinds you. 
There are cases without number where the trail 
has come to an end all too suddenly in the ex¬ 
perience of a mountain climber, and a bit of 
precaution is a good thing to look forward to 
and heed. 
There are many especial points of attrac¬ 
tion in the Glacier National Park. From the 
railroad station at Belton you proceed to the 
starting point or nucleus of all your trips, the 
Glacier Park Hotel, being brought there by 
launch over the inimitable waters of Lake Mc¬ 
Donald, one of the finest sheets of water in the 
West. It is one riot of glory, and coloring 
without name. Avalanche Lake is one of the 
first on the route, and the trail to the top is 
one to be remembered. Passing through the 
Royal Gorge one looks upon nature in all her 
immensity, all her grandeur, all the fullness of 
her expression. Here the waters crash down 
with a voice like distant thunder, reverberating, 
hissing, groaning and shrilly echoing their free¬ 
dom. Fanned over all is a curtain of haze, lift¬ 
ing and lowering, the sun shining upon all, and 
searching out hundreds of color schemes one 
would not deem it possible to find. Just as the 
shadows of night are being drawn over the 
landscape, the ponies are homeward headed with 
their burdens of delighted humanity. As you 
ride along, the scenes and . experiences of the 
day enter upon the mind one by one, and you 
again revel in the opportunity given you. You 
will fall asleep at the foot of some imaginary 
torrent, looking up into countless visions of 
what has passed. The next day is well filled in 
with a climb up Sperry Glacier, one of the most 
momentous of the trip, for the trail to the final 
goal is so long and the scenes along the way 
are so many and various and so awe-inspiring 
in their beauty that it easily stands out fore¬ 
most. You will pass through virgin stretches 
of pine where the silence of ages seems to 
abide; up tortuous trails where man seems baf¬ 
fled, but where the nimble and hardy ponies 
climb like mountain sheep looking down upon 
torrents spuming their frothy burdens into the 
maw of some exacting demon below. And finally 
