I have a few books that are particular favorites of mine and I have read them over and over (which is not to say thoroughly). Here are some which I have not seen mentioned anywhere on this or other similar forums. But remember what some old fellow said, "Read everything you can, then keep it to yourself."
I have left out some that I am assuming most readers will be halfway familiar with, such as Kephart, and others that are of a more specialized nature, such as books about the far north. All these are of more general interest.
My oldest book is "Campcraft," by Warren H. Miller (1916). I believe that the sort of thing that both Miller and Kephart were talking about was a recreational activitiy, usually oriented towards hunting or fishing. Kephart is much more comprehensive (the reprint of his books is two inches thick), yet Miller acknowledges that outdoor activitiy is a lot different around the country. All these books, by the way are American and I suspect that the older books here will be pretty scarce overseas. I haven't checked Amazon.com.
Miller was a one-time editor of Field and Stream magazine. He alone suggests making your own equipment and he uses two chapters on the subject. He also spends a lot of time on campfires, cooking and cook-kits. It is a very readable 282 pages long.
Dan Beard in his book, "The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft (1920)," uses up four whole chapters on campfires and then two more on council fires. There are two chapters on food and cooking, one on horse packing and five more chapters on what to do between campfires. Frankly the book appears to be written for scouts, since he was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts in the United States. He is a little preachy now and then.
L.L. Bean, which is now a Yuppie clothing and outdoor store, wrote a book in 1940 entitled "Hunting-Fishing and Camping. All his advice is direct and to the point. He even had a section intended to be removed from his book and taken on a hunt ("how to dress a deer) but it is almost too specialized in that it was written with only Maine in mind where evidently you always go with a guide. One of the end papers is a map of Baxter State Park, which is where the Applachian Trail ends. The other end paper is a map of the 1941 deer kills by township and county. There were 19,881 deer kills. Some of the illustrations are charming.
For the rest of the 1940's most men got their camping instructions from army field manuals.
In 1951 the Sierra Club published a 152 page book entitled "Going Light," subtitled "With Backpack and Burro." The title says it all. It is both progressive and up to the moment with some things and very dated with others. Coming out right after the war, there is a lot of mention of army surplus. Although it suggests that solo travel is a bad idea, it is really only one of these books that suggests that you may actually find yourself in the wilderness somewhere.
All these books share a couple of things. They all stress lightweight gear, or rather, keeping the weight of your load down, which saying something else. Don't load yourself down. Another thing is that in all these books, there is a very social, clubby feeling. The Sierra Club rather overdid that back in the 1950's and some of their outings were large group adventures, which is fine but I guess it isn't for everyone. You never read anything like it anymore even though the Sierra Club is very much still around. There is also the Applachian Mountain Club in the east and it also has the same social characteristics and some of its own.
Most hikers and campers I see strike me as less willing to engage in large group activities anymore, although I have seen at least one group of hikers larger than a dozen people. But people don't walk the Applachian Trail like that.
My last book is "Long Distance Hiking," by Roland Mueser (1998). The author interviewed people who had finished the thru-hike on the Applachian Trail and reported his findings. They talk about their gear and their general trail experiences. Since they had all just walked 2000 miles, presumably what they had to say would be of some value to someone contemplating a similar endeavor. This book you could probably find somewhere. It is very readable and so are all the others, though Dan Beard is a little tiring at times. The author avoided being critical of anyone's personal experiences and was willing to say that everyone was walking their own walk, in a manner of speaking. This is not to say that none of the people he interviewed were never critical. Some popular gear evidently failed everyone (Gore-Tex) while other gear satisfied everyone that used it. There sure are a lot of thru-hikers these days. I've hiked no more than about 40 miles of it myself.
A couple of other things in common among all the books and that is an absence of any discussion of "survival." I suppose that was taken for granted. You can't live off the land and hike the Applachian Trail. When I was active in scouts as an adult, at the summer camp there was only one day of campfire cooking. The rest of the time we ate in the mess hall; otherwise there would have been no time for other activities.
Another thing common to all the books, particularly "Long Distance Hiking," is a complete lack of anything approaching dogma, although Dan Beard is trying his best. No mention of brand names, though there is often mention of suppliers. The last book does mention brand names, most of them, in fact and everything comes in for criticism. But some people hiked the length of the Applachian Trail wearing cotton socks.
Keep an open mind and keep your mouth shut, I guess the lesson is.
I have left out some that I am assuming most readers will be halfway familiar with, such as Kephart, and others that are of a more specialized nature, such as books about the far north. All these are of more general interest.
My oldest book is "Campcraft," by Warren H. Miller (1916). I believe that the sort of thing that both Miller and Kephart were talking about was a recreational activitiy, usually oriented towards hunting or fishing. Kephart is much more comprehensive (the reprint of his books is two inches thick), yet Miller acknowledges that outdoor activitiy is a lot different around the country. All these books, by the way are American and I suspect that the older books here will be pretty scarce overseas. I haven't checked Amazon.com.
Miller was a one-time editor of Field and Stream magazine. He alone suggests making your own equipment and he uses two chapters on the subject. He also spends a lot of time on campfires, cooking and cook-kits. It is a very readable 282 pages long.
Dan Beard in his book, "The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft (1920)," uses up four whole chapters on campfires and then two more on council fires. There are two chapters on food and cooking, one on horse packing and five more chapters on what to do between campfires. Frankly the book appears to be written for scouts, since he was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts in the United States. He is a little preachy now and then.
L.L. Bean, which is now a Yuppie clothing and outdoor store, wrote a book in 1940 entitled "Hunting-Fishing and Camping. All his advice is direct and to the point. He even had a section intended to be removed from his book and taken on a hunt ("how to dress a deer) but it is almost too specialized in that it was written with only Maine in mind where evidently you always go with a guide. One of the end papers is a map of Baxter State Park, which is where the Applachian Trail ends. The other end paper is a map of the 1941 deer kills by township and county. There were 19,881 deer kills. Some of the illustrations are charming.
For the rest of the 1940's most men got their camping instructions from army field manuals.
In 1951 the Sierra Club published a 152 page book entitled "Going Light," subtitled "With Backpack and Burro." The title says it all. It is both progressive and up to the moment with some things and very dated with others. Coming out right after the war, there is a lot of mention of army surplus. Although it suggests that solo travel is a bad idea, it is really only one of these books that suggests that you may actually find yourself in the wilderness somewhere.
All these books share a couple of things. They all stress lightweight gear, or rather, keeping the weight of your load down, which saying something else. Don't load yourself down. Another thing is that in all these books, there is a very social, clubby feeling. The Sierra Club rather overdid that back in the 1950's and some of their outings were large group adventures, which is fine but I guess it isn't for everyone. You never read anything like it anymore even though the Sierra Club is very much still around. There is also the Applachian Mountain Club in the east and it also has the same social characteristics and some of its own.
Most hikers and campers I see strike me as less willing to engage in large group activities anymore, although I have seen at least one group of hikers larger than a dozen people. But people don't walk the Applachian Trail like that.
My last book is "Long Distance Hiking," by Roland Mueser (1998). The author interviewed people who had finished the thru-hike on the Applachian Trail and reported his findings. They talk about their gear and their general trail experiences. Since they had all just walked 2000 miles, presumably what they had to say would be of some value to someone contemplating a similar endeavor. This book you could probably find somewhere. It is very readable and so are all the others, though Dan Beard is a little tiring at times. The author avoided being critical of anyone's personal experiences and was willing to say that everyone was walking their own walk, in a manner of speaking. This is not to say that none of the people he interviewed were never critical. Some popular gear evidently failed everyone (Gore-Tex) while other gear satisfied everyone that used it. There sure are a lot of thru-hikers these days. I've hiked no more than about 40 miles of it myself.
A couple of other things in common among all the books and that is an absence of any discussion of "survival." I suppose that was taken for granted. You can't live off the land and hike the Applachian Trail. When I was active in scouts as an adult, at the summer camp there was only one day of campfire cooking. The rest of the time we ate in the mess hall; otherwise there would have been no time for other activities.
Another thing common to all the books, particularly "Long Distance Hiking," is a complete lack of anything approaching dogma, although Dan Beard is trying his best. No mention of brand names, though there is often mention of suppliers. The last book does mention brand names, most of them, in fact and everything comes in for criticism. But some people hiked the length of the Applachian Trail wearing cotton socks.
Keep an open mind and keep your mouth shut, I guess the lesson is.
