Around the Sawtooth Range 
Ten Days’ Tramping and Trout Fishing in 
the Adirondacks 
By ARTHUR LESLIE WHEELER 
Winner of one of the “Forest and Stream” Prizes 
F ^ early spring, when there are signs that the 
i winter is passing and that the streams will 
soon be running bank full through new- 
udded woods and meadows touched with green 
, grow uneasy. This feeling is, I believe, com- 
, I0n _ to many, like a recurrent annual disease, 
id it is, at least in my case, incurable. Each 
?ar it seizes me and grows stronger and 
ronger until some remedy is necessary to check 
P. course. This usually takes the form of a 
j lng tr ’P’ ' ate ' n May, to some fairly accessible 
tout stream. 
Thus fortified I hold out for a time, but such 
unedies are merely temporary expedients and 
lam soon uneasier than ever. As June wears 
;--ay, the trouble grows serious and more dras- 
t. treatment is clearly a necessity. Nothing will 
.-ppress the symptoms for the coming winter 
lit a real plunge of a week or more into the 
vlderness. 
Last July my annual attack had reached the 
aite stage when a letter to an engineering 
Fend revealed the odd coincidence that he was 
Bering from the same malady. It is a pecu- 
i ; nty of such sufferers that they desire to inoc- 
Jte all their friends with the same germ. 
Ipery loves company. The method of attack is 
I'.ple: entice your victim into the woods just 
l! ' e , and then, if his constitution is not im- 
Jne, he is your prey ever after. The victim 
jthe engineer and myself on this occasion 
rJl be called the Tyro—of whom more anon, 
j I happened to be summering close to the 
c,e of * he woods, the other two left to me 
V question of itinerary, supplies and equip- 
"'t. Of the supplies I need only say that there 
< ample provision for three hungry men with 
j allowance for the abnormal woods appetite, 
equipment consisted of a cooking outfit of 
fln ware, all save the aluminum baker rest- 
fin a large covered pail; a light axe, rods, 
tackle, some medicines, which I always 
ty more as an amulet against disaster than 
'actual use; a small camera of the box 
'-ty; a light protean tent with cheesecloth 
1 blankets and clothes. These were the chief 
*’ and everything, save axe, rods and pail, 
‘ s l° wed in two waterproof canvas packs and 
J;Ck basket. Each man started with about 
pounds, but our appetites soon lightened 
-‘maximum. 
I was to be a tramp trip. None of us could 
'way into distant wilds where canoeing is 
■lost satisfactory method of locomotion, but 
-nay still find stretches of unmarred nature 
without going to far-off Canada or the Rockies 
and if you would really enjoy them, you must 
abandon the canoe and with -a pack upon your 
back take to your legs, for even in the Adiron¬ 
dack's the canoe will lead you too often along 
GOING IN. 
well paddled ways where you will constantly 
meet what you wish to avoid-other people. 
W ith a well stored pack and a contour map 
you can cut loose from well traveled ways and, 
if you are a woodsman, you can travel any¬ 
where that your feet will take you and search 
out nooks as wild as any you might reach after 
a long railroad journey, even though you may 
be always within a day’s tramp of the settle¬ 
ments. Lumbermen you may meet, but lumber¬ 
men are part of the wilderness, and you will 
have to travel far indeed to escape them. 
Five or six miles to the south of the outpost 
oi civilization from which we started loomed 
the Sawtooth Range, bulwark of that section 
of the Adirondack forest which includes New 
\orks highest mountains and wildest scenery. 
Around this range we planned to tramp. The 
Engineer came first to the rendezvous, and as 
the Tyro was to be two days late, we deter¬ 
mined to camp within reach and wait for him 
before striking further into the woods. 
After an hour’s trip up the river we landed 
j 1 e dge of the woods and in five minutes 
ad left the river with its tooting launches be¬ 
hind and were fighting mosquitoes on the trail, 
or it was July, and the camper must choose 
ci lei ong days and better fishing with the 
insect pests or shorter days and poorer fishing 
Without them. And right here let me put in 
a good word for Horace Kephart’s first recipe 
lor fly dope. We were using it within the first 
fifteen minutes, and then as afterward, we 
ound it the best we had ever tried. A thorough 
rub put our foes to flight and we buckled to 
our five-mile tramp through a beautiful forest 
and up a clear trout stream until we reached a 
pretty camping spot near the main confluence 
It was four o’clock, and in an hour we had 
built our first woodland home and shortly after 
were enjoying our first woodland meal. 
A chilly night, in which we were both too 
sleepy to feed the fire, did not damp our ardor 
or a day’s fishing. The brook is too near civi¬ 
lization to afford much sport, but we secured 
enough for our modest needs, and then there 
were other things. The joy of a perfect sum¬ 
mer day on a beautiful stream is of itself a 
reward to the righteous. We idled slowly along 
picking up a small trout here and another there, 
surprising a young coon in a spruce thicket, a 
mmk as intent on fishing as we were ourselves 
several grouse, and everywhere hearing the clear 
notes of the thrushes and other songsters. This 
is another advantage of July. And did you ever 
enjoy the sensation of a plunge in icy spring- 
water just to give yourself an added appetite ’ 
or supper? It is especially efficacious at such 
a time to sit in a small cascade on a water worn 
boulder and enjoy all the advantages of a wood¬ 
land shower bath. But you need not sit there 
Jong! Then, after a good rub. you tingle with 
such life that there is nothing left of the sub¬ 
sequent meal for that thief of the woods, the 
Canada jay. 
On the following day the Tyro arrived. We 
had left directions for him and we fished down 
the brook and went over to the landing to meet 
him. Then under our expert instructions he 
shouldered his new pack basket and we guided 
him to camp, gently coaching him the while. 
He wore low shoes and a disgracefully new' 
pair of khaki riding breeches at which we, as 
old hands, sniffed disdainfully. He was meat 
for the mosquitoes and “no-see-’ems” and dis¬ 
played from the first a deep seated distrust of 
fly dope. But he was tough, and we could 
stand it. 
Around the camp fire that evening we noticed 
no mosquitoes, and as it was rather warm and 
the tent was small, we decided to take a chance 
and dispense with the net. As Huckleberry 
Finn would say, “It warn’t good judgment.” 
After we had turned in, the night grew warmer 
and the mosquitoes came forth from their lairs. 
No man likes to rouse from a semi-somnolent 
condition and smudge out a tent. So we en¬ 
dured in stolid silence, but it was a rude initia¬ 
tion for the Tyro. Finally a bright idea struck 
him. He rolled over and clutched a piece of 
