Such a trip is good recreation and a splendid sport and in no other way can one better familiarize himself with the country’s topography and the characteristics of its people. On the longer trips a very simple kit suffices his needs--he wears suitable walking clothes, and carries a notebook, some few toilet articles, a change of underwear and hose and a rain-proof over garment--all packed in a rucksack of some sort. The daily local walks taken by the pedestrian to secure health with the longer weekly jaunt, indulged in perhaps as a member of some walking club, afford an admirable preliminary preparation for more arduous outings such as a week’s FOREST CRUISE, carrying in a back pack the shelter, bed and food and thus equipped one may break entirely away from civilization and eat and sleep independent of hotels or ranches. Those who feel the vim of outdoor life, those interested in any phase of Nature study, those wanting to get away from the city’s humdrum existence, in short, all who want to recreate can plan no more repaying or zestful days than those spent with a back pack outfit touring the unknown wilderness near home. It may be for any one of a variety of purposes--camping, hunting, fishing or trapping, it matters not what, the main thing is that one gets near to Nature in her primitive state. Amateur exploration has the interesting element of mystery which leads one into all sorts of country right around home and which one never dreamed to be in existence. There are still greater opportunities if one gets off the beaten tracks and steers his course far into the back country. One returns from such a trip with renewed and abundant vital reserve and with a veritable storehouse of happy memories. He has tasted the woodsman’s life in all its elemental qualities--its seclusion and originality; he has learned the good there is in simple, hearty things and the exhilaration of spending nights in the mountain land or forest aisles under snapping stars in a moonlit solitude. He knows no greater pleasure than that afforded by experiencing the charm of wilderness adventure which enslaves him for life. A walking trip then becomes a real hike when one leaves the highways, beds and meals of civilization and hits the woods trails which lead him far into the wilderness.