391 
SEPTEMBER, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
later a shapeless mass of man, or horse, or 
both is lying—a thousand feet below: 
Generally it is their own personal duffle 
that is the hardest to “make up’’ for either 
fast or slow trips, as it consists of stuff 
that was never intended for the western 
mountains, such as patent mosquito tents 
of peculiar construction, with special floor¬ 
ing, stoves and pipes, pneumatic beds and 
heavy pumps to blow them up, all of which 
is made to roll up together and fit in water¬ 
proof bags some 3^4 or 4 feet in length 
and weighing 125 to 150 pounds. In the 
center of this roll for safety is stuffed all 
kinds of heavy, useless articles, with a 
12-foot trout rod in 3 pieces, to finish off. 
Handy bales doubtless for canoe work and 
man power on the portages back East, but 
for fast mountain travel—? Some pictur¬ 
esque language escape the men on being 
told that it must not be unpacked, but go 
as it is: From that moment the expedition 
is doomed to failure—so far as trophies are 
concerned: Guides no longer think of hunt¬ 
ing or trophies, but how they are going to 
get through as everything has been planned 
and thought out days ahead for camping 
grounds on the best game ranges—here for 
Moose, Goat and Bear, over there for 
Sheep, Wapiti and a chance for a Grizzly, 
further on for some good fishing in a lake 
that lies in the center of a splendid all¬ 
round game section, all of which are from 
2 to 3 days’ travel apart, must now be 
thrown aside at the last minute and fresh 
arrangements made for closer camps and 
different hunting grounds. 
The two strongest and stoutest Dobbins 
are selected from amongst the 16 horses, 
and the trouble begins. The bags won’t lie 
along the horses’ sides, they are too long, 
one bag alone cannot be thrown across the 
saddle, it would be top-heavy, there is only 
one way—straddle two together on the sad¬ 
dle like a man. Each horse is now carry¬ 
ing, roughly, 250 pounds of dead weight, 
which is equal to 400 pounds of live weight, 
over timber-strewn, narrow, stiff mountain 
trails; sticking out at the sides and high 
above the saddle, the bags catch on every 
obstruction that the other horses pass with 
ease. Axes, and not rifles, are the main 
tools required on this trip, here a jutting 
rock disputes the right-of-way—on a dan¬ 
gerous corner, there a network of trees 
must be cleared out of the way, or a fallen 
tree over the trail stops both horses dead, 
more axe work. 
The bags and their contents are coming 
The horses used for mountain work are 
hardy, sure-footed little cayuses, capable 
of packing 175 to 200 pounds over steep 
and dangerous trails day in and out for 
weeks on green food, if given time. 
Even then they often come to grief. 
But for fast travel 125 pounds will be suf¬ 
ficient for each horse. This must be sorted 
out and packed into 50-pound bales—one 
on each side of the pack-saddle—with some 
25 pounds of cooking utensils, axes, rods, 
guns and other long or awkward stuff, on 
top. This must be carefully adjusted on 
the saddle and diamond hitch properly 
“thrown” or it will work loose continually. 
Time must be made to save time: But 
those sportsmen who have been accustomed 
to packing roughly for canoe expeditions 
back East, fume and fret at the valuable 
time they think is being lost. The guides 
know better and are adamant: With them 
one ounce of experience is worth a ton of 
theory. They have a clear recollection of 
some subsequent trip where a badly packed 
or adjusted load had slipped to one side, 
or a saddle with a man astride it had 
worked back too far, on a steep piece of 
trail, a wild plunge to recover footing or 
balance on a narrow trail and a moment 
