Much may be spared in the way of trouble and discomfort in woods travel by the selection of a correctly designed and properly hung pack carrier. Next to being properly shod the possession of a suitable rig for carrying the outfit from place to place is the most indispensable requisite for the hiker. The most common and satisfactory article for this use is to be found among the array of tump lines, pack sacks or baskets, and pack harnesses, each designed for a purpose good for use in its particular field and very little elsewhere. This choice in turn depends largely upon the weight of outfit to be carried which of course should be kept down to absolutely essential limits and within the personal physical capabilities of endurance. Tasks within one’s strength are pleasing or at least tolerable: those beyond that strength are punishment. The tramper’s pack, inclusive of a ten days supply of provisions, need not weigh over thirty-five pounds. (The seasoned woods traveler will start with eighty pounds.) Any additional weight of grub will be directly proportional to the time one is to be out. It is always advisable for two persons to go together on such a trip for they can share the shelter, use the same cooking utensils and certain other nonconsumable items. It is a fact unbelievable to the tenderfoot, yet readily attested by the experienced, that at the beginning the carrying of a thirty-five pound pack is entirely feasible for the average man and at the end of several weeks one can carry many more pounds with some ease. On a short portage trip with canoe relief ahead a pack of one hundred pounds is conveniently transported on one’s back. The footman, however, must be carrying all the time and the beginner will find a thirty-five pound pack a sufficiently heavy burden. This must include shelter, mess kit, bed and a week’s supply of provisions. It is well to keep in mind that the pack lightens some each day as the provisions are used up. The various pack carriers are so arranged that the weight is suspended either from the head of the woodsman, from his shoulder or by a combination of the two methods. It is to many a surprising statement that a much heavier load can be carried suspended by straps over the head than from the shoulders. This is due to the fact that one is thus enabled to utilize the powerful muscles of the neck. These muscles are generally poorly developed in the novice and this, together with the much better known method of shoulder suspension packing, is doubtless the excuse for the latter’s popularity among other than experienced woods travelers.