CAMPER'S COMPANION EXHIBIT |
Looking Ahead
Wilderness camping, like anything else that is complicated and beautiful, is never quite finished. There is always more to learn, about yourself and the wilderness, about technique and enjoyment. There is rarely one way to do things, which means that both common sense and uncommon sensibilities need to be brought to bear on problems and projects. If you accept that as a reasonable proposition, you’ll remain open to the ideas, suggestions and experiences of others. And you’ll tinker, fiddle and improvise until you’ve got a camping trip down to where you want it, rather than the way friends, salesmen, old-timers or experts say it should be done. It’s at such a point that our book will have served its purpose. The wilderness is growing smaller. If you want to get a feel for the majesty of the backcountry, you’ll have to act fast and with knowledge. The better prepared you are to deal with impassive nature–its demands and your perception of them–the faster you’ll be able to get farther into the wilderness. And if your aim in part is to leave the masses behind, if only for a day or two, being able to negotiate the backcountry is a useful skill to have. Solitude is perhaps our most rapidly dwindling personal resource. Its natural habitat is in the mountains and on the lakes and rivers. In a real sense, then, we are the endangered species. If our capacity to be awed by nature is blunted, if we lose the ability to be modest–to be participants in the wilderness rather than masters of it–we diminish ourselves. Wilderness campers are no more high-minded than anyone else, but the very nature of their work–or rather, their play–requires that they stay attuned to the possibilities inherent in the relationship between an individual and the world beyond roads. If you are high up on a sun-soaked peak one day, enjoying the view and reflecting that the hard, off-trail hike ended at the second most beautiful campsite in the world, that the bubble-and-fly bagged a panful of trout, that the bread rose, the soufflé scored a hit, and the chocolate cake was the best you ever tasted, write a note about it and stick it in the message cairn. Whoever comes along and reads it will treasure your mood and want to make it their own. And who knows? Maybe even we’ll come across it sometime down the line. And then we’ll know for sure that our book has accomplished its goal.
This list is selective and is meant to be used in conjunction with the resources listed in Chapter 2. Dates represent the latest imprints available.
Camping and Backpacking Books
A select selection of "how-to" books
- Doan, Marlyn, The Sierra club Family Outdoors Guide: Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Bicycling, Water Sports, and Winter Activities with Children. Sierra Club Paperback, 1995.
- Dunn, John J., Winterwise, A Backpacker's Guide. ADK Mountain Club, 1997. A good all-around book on winter backpacking.
- Fletcher, Colin, The Complete Walker III. Alfred Knopf, 1996.
- Hampton, Bruce, and David Cole, Soft Paths: How to Enjoy the Wilderness Without Harming It. Stackpole Books, 1995.
- Hart, John, Walking Softly in the Wilderness. Sierra Club, 1998.
- Jardine, Ray, Beyond Backpacking, Ray Jardine's Guide to Lightweight Hiking. Adventurelore Press, 2000.
- Jeffrey, Nan, Adventuring with Children. Avalon House, 1995.
- Manning, Harvey, Backpacking One Step at a Time. Vintage, 1986.
- Prater, Gene, Snowshoeing, 3rd edition. The Mountaineers, 1997. The bible on the subject.
- Silverman, Goldie, Backpacking with Babies and Small Children. Wilderness Press, 1994.
- Townsend, Chris, Wilderness Skiing and Winter Camping. Ragged Mountain Press, 1998.
- Winnett, Thomas, and Melanie Findling, Backpacking Basics. Wilderness Press, 1994.
Guides to Trails, Mountains, and Campgrounds
"Where-to-Go" and "How-to-Get-There" guides
Foghorn Outdoors: Camping, Hiking, and Boating guides by Avalon Travel Publishing, 1400 65th Street, Suite, 250, Emeryville, CA 94608; tel. (510) 595-3664; website: www.foghorn.com/. Among the most comprehensive guides in print. The hiking guides include:
- Ann Marie Brown, 101 Great Hikes of the San Francisco Bay Area
- Ann Marie Brown and Tom Stienstra, California Hiking
- Ann Marie Brown, Day-Hiking California's National Parks
- Michael Lanza, New England Hiking
- Ron Judd and Dan Nelson, Pacific Northwest Hiking
- Buck Tilton, Utah Hiking
- The camping guides include:
- Robyn Brewer, Colorado Camping
- Tom and Gayen Wharton, Utah Camping
- Carol Connare and Stephen Gorman, New England Camping
- Fred and Gloria Jones, Baja Camping
- Marilyn Moore, Tom Dubocq, Sally Deneen, and Robert McClure, Florida Camping
- Tom Stienstra, California Camping
- Tom Stienstra, Pacific Northwest Camping
- High Sierra Hiking Guides by Wilderness Press. A series of nine expert little guides, each based on one of the quadrangles established by the U.S. Geological Survey. Small and light enough to carry with you. The same press publishes guides to other wilderness areas, high-mountain trails, and desert hiking in the western United States. Camping stores will have similar guides to other regions. 1200 5th Street, Berkeley, California 94710, 510/558-1666; www.wildernesspress.com; email mail@wildernesspress.com
- National Geographic Guides to America's Outdoors. A series of 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" illustrated guides to, among other places, the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, the Southwest, Northeast, Western Canada, and Middle Atlantic. Imprints, 1999-2000.
- Sierra Club Guides to Natural Areas. A set of trustworthy regional guides, one each for California; Colorado and Utah; Idaho, Montana, Wyoming; New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada; Oregon and Washington; Florida; New England. www.sierraclub.org.
- Falcon Hikers' Guides by Falcon Press, Helena, Montana. 32 separate guides to particular areas in the U.S.
- Trails Illustrated. Makers of full-color, large-scale topographical maps. Check their catalog for what's available: P.O. Box 3610, Evergreen, Colorado 80439-3425. www.trailsillustrated.com/.
Nature Guides
The following series provide all you'll ever need to know about bugs, berries, birds and everything else living in the outdoors:
- Audobon Field Guides. (Alfred Knopf) Separately published guides to trees, wildflowers, birds, butterflies, fishes, whales and dolphins, insects, reptiles, the night sky, weather, etc.
- Audubon Nature Guides. (Alfred Knopf) Individual guides to deserts, wetlands, grasslands, Eastern forests, Western forests, etc.
- Nature Study Guild Publishers. Box 972, Berkeley, CA 94701. Regionally configured "finder" guides: ferns, berries, flowers, trees, intertidal life, etc. Nine guides for Eastern North America; nine for the Pacific Coast states; four for the Rocky Mountains and desert states.
- Peterson's Field Guides. (Houghton Mifflin) 44 titles covering almost everything of interest to the naturalist, by one of the world's preeminent naturalists, Roger Tory Peterson.
- Sierra Club Naturalists' Guides. (The Sierra Club) Regional guides to the Pacific Northwest, deserts of the Southwest, Southern Rockies, North Atlantic Coast, Middle Atlantic Coast, North Woods of Michigan, Minnesota, South Ontario, the Piedmont of Eastern North America, New England, the Sierra Nevada, and others.