On the Trail

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On the Trail

Project Gutenberg's On the Trail, by Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: On the Trail An Outdoor Book for Girls
Author: Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard
Release Date: June 7, 2006 [EBook #18525]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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On the Trail
An Outdoor Book for Girls
By LINA BEARD
AND
ADELIA BELLE BEARD
With Illustrations by the Authors
NEW YORK
Charles Scribner's Sons
1915
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published June, 1915
TO ALL GIRLS WHO LOVE THE LIFE OF THE OPEN WE DEDICATE THIS BOOK
[Illustration: Over-night camp.
Fire notice is posted on tree.]

PRESENTATION
The joyous, exhilarating call of the wilderness and the forest camp is surely and steadily penetrating through the barriers of brick, stone, and concrete; through the more or less artificial life of town and city; and the American girl is listening eagerly. It is awakening in her longings for free, wholesome, and adventurous outdoor life, for the innocent delights of nature-loving Thoreau and bird-loving Burroughs. Sturdy, independent, self-reliant, she is now demanding outdoor books that are genuine and filled with practical information; books that tell how to do worth-while things, that teach real woodcraft and are not adapted to the girl supposed to be afraid of a caterpillar or to shudder at sight of a harmless snake.
In answer to the demand, "On the Trail" has been written. The authors' deep desire is to help girls respond to this new, insistent call by pointing out to them the open trail. It is their hope and wish that their girl readers may seek the charm of the wild and may find the same happiness in the life of the open that the American boy has enjoyed since the first settler built his little cabin on the shores of the New World. To forward this object, the why and how, the where and when of things of camp and trail have been embodied in this book.
Thanks are due to Edward Cave, president and editor of Recreation, for kindly allowing the use of some of his wild-life photographs.
LINA BEARD, ADELIA BELLE BEARD. FLUSHING, N. Y., March 16, 1915.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. TRAILING 3 II. WOODCRAFT 21 III. CAMPING 44 IV. WHAT TO WEAR ON THE TRAIL 84 V. OUTDOOR HANDICRAFT 106 VI. MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE OUTDOOR FOLK 119 VII. WILD FOOD ON THE TRAIL 138 VIII. LITTLE FOES OF THE TRAILER 165 IX. ON THE TRAIL WITH YOUR CAMERA 187 X. ON AND IN THE WATER 205 XI. USEFUL KNOTS AND HOW TO TIE THEM 233 XII. ACCIDENTS 244 XIII. CAMP FUN AND FROLICS 255 XIV. HAPPY AND SANE SUNDAY IN CAMP 269

ILLUSTRATIONS
Over-night camp Frontispiece
PAGE One can generally pass around obstructions like this on the trail 5
Difficulties of the Adirondack trail 9
Blazing the trail by bending down and breaking branches 11
Returning to camp by the blazed trail 13
Footprints of animals 17
Footprints of animals 19
Ink impressions of leaves 23
Ink impressions of leaves 24
Ink impressions of leaves 25
Pitch-pine and cone 26
Sycamore leaf and fruit of sycamore 26
How to use the axe 29
The compass and the North Star 37
A permanent camp 49
Outdoor shelters 51
Dining-tent, handy racks, and log bedstead 53
A forest camp by the water 55
In camp 57
The bough-bed, the cook-fire, and the wall-tent 59
Soft wood 63
Hard wood 65
Bringing wood for the fire 69
Camp fires and camp sanitation 81
Trailers' outfits 87
The head-net and blanket-roll 91
Some things to carry and how to carry them 101
Handicraft in the woods 107
Outdoor dressing-table, camp-cupboard, hammock-frame, seat, and pot-hook 109
Camp-chair, biscuit-stick, and blanket camp-bed 111
The birch-bark dish that will hold fluids. Details of making 115
A bear would rather be your friend than your enemy 118
Making friends with a ruffed grouse 120
Found on the trail 122
Timber wolves 124
Baby moose 126
Stalking wild birds 128
The fish-hawk will sometimes build near the ground 131
Antelopes of the western plains 135
Good food on the trail 143
Fruits found principally in the south and the middle west 147
Fruits found principally in the north and the middle west 151
Fruits common to most of the States 155
Hickory nuts, sweet and bitter 159
Nuts with soft shells. Beechnut and chestnut 161
Poisonous and non-poisonous snakes 173
Plants poison to the touch 181
Plants poison to the taste 185
The white birch-tree makes a fine background for the beaver 191
Blacktail deer snapped with a background of snow 193
The skunk 195
The porcupine stood in the shade but the background was light 197
Photographing a woodcock from ambush 199
The country through which you pass, with a trailer in the foreground 201
Method of protecting roots to keep plants fresh while you carry them to camp for photographing 203
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