WALKING tours are popularly supposed to be feasible chiefly for those to whom this method of travel is incidental to their occupation—timber cruisers, landlookers, prospectors, game wardens and trappers of the North—men who daily match themselves against the forces of Nature. To the average city man rarely does it occur that by substituting walking, our most natural means of locomotion—even if carried no farther than the daily to and from business trip—for the rapid transportation perfected in our modern industrial life he can attain better business efficiency and an increased physical and mental well being.

The average sportsman of today is in most cases a plain, unpretentious business man of sedentary habits and with a consequent physical condition a little below the normal, but fortunately he retains a primitive unsatiated love of the outdoors. This same business man needs, as few others do, exercise to regain and retain health and efficiency. Without this exercise his occupation which keeps him indoors results in physical inactivity reducing his usefulness and happiness and markedly affecting his tenure of life. The average span of life is between 45 and 60 years. The age limit should extend from 80 to 100 years and this can be made the rule if we but go about it rightly. A large percentage of American business men have functional heart disease because of lack of exercise. They could well afford to walk daily until tired out in order to rid themselves of drawn faces, sallow cheeks, and weak hesitating steps. To them pedestrianism affords not only profit but real pleasure in getting away from the routine of city and office irk and hieing to the glorious out of doors.

Years ago man was a savage, and in spite of the restraining influences of civilization which have acted for centuries the spirit of this primitive life is still strong within. There is after all but one class of men who live in the world and they inhabit the wild places—the rest of us only exist. We do not thrive in cities but simply adjust ourselves to their unnatural and perplexing conditions. In the out of doors sheer physical existence may afford the richest pleasure.

It is commonly conceded as a well established hygienic fact that unexercised muscles become useless and inefficient, a condition which only properly directed physical exertion will restore to assist in meeting the exigencies of our modern top-speed life. This exercise must be varied to escape tediousness. Indoor gymnastics is not enough: outdoor games provide proper lung aeration but these are not feasible for all: pedestrianism is the simplest, safest, most spontaneous, and hygienic means of exercise. For most people no other sport is such an untasted experience, yet none is so productive of healthful results or so well adapted to the means, physique, and temperament of the masses. Indeed in this age of mechanical transportation we have almost forgotten that we were endowed with a pair of legs, given us for the sole purpose of walking—an essential exercise in the building up of healthy bodies and minds.

A three mile walk daily in the fresh air is an exercise par excellence and is within the reach of all. It may be tedious at first but when later it becomes a habit it affords real joy. The first cost is in the adjustment of business cares and in selecting time: the next involves physical exertion itself. Anyone who has spent the greater part of his past life in a sedentary occupation can safely enjoy such trips if he uses common sense at the outset and starts, say, on a mile a day and gradually increases the length of the walk. Systematically followed pedestrianism accomplishes a number of things—there is better sleep, an increased circulation and new nerve force: all the muscles are brought into play as is proven by the general stiffness of the beginner (which however disappears on hardening); extra fat and flesh are eliminated and minor ailments are overcome. There is a real joy in living for with health everything is a pleasure.

Every one ought to walk and nearly every one who walks ought to do more of it than he does. Should pedestrianism become universal the present generation would be far healthier and happier and their children would be sturdier and more beautiful. The old English habit of taking a constitutional walk every day speaks in no small measure for much of the strength and stability of the British character. There is a general trend of interest in America today toward pedestrianism and many persons are eager for information as to where to go, what to take and how to take care of oneself so as to derive the greatest benefit—queries for which we should now find answer.

Being mindful of the unlimited possibilities which walking affords for renewing youth the first task is found in the revolution of habits of living and the adjustment of the daily routine to include say two hours a day in road tramping. If persisted in a remarkable change will result—a notable clearness of mental power, keenness of appetite and a zest for life’s work. It won’t be long until one automatically increases the range and endurance.

Tramping may be arbitrarily divided into (A) Road Tramping and (B) Forest Cruising.

Road Tramping or real pedestrianism comprehends short walks as a training for physical well being which, as one becomes experienced, may be lengthened to include an occasional all day country tour as a wise utilization of holidays, or, one who becomes an adept may even plan to spend his annual two weeks’ vacation period in a lengthy walking trip upon some of the better known highways in any civilized section of our country or in our National Parks or as a tourist in foreign lands. Road tramping is for those to whom walking appeals yet who do not care to bother with the details incidental to camping. The trip should be so planned that the day’s journey assures a comfortable bed and warm meals at hotels, inns or at ranch homes. This broadens one’s walking opportunities up to the point where civilization and wild nature touch.

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.

On a recreation trip good companionship cannot be overestimated. Firstly, on a light pack trip most items of outfit can be used as well by two as by one. Again if one walks alone the trail is apt to become monotonous and doubly so after a half of a day’s trip has been completed. Good companionship stimulates a pleasant mental attitude and gets one away from the monotonous physical features of the walk itself. There may be also a pride in rivalry to spur one on to more worthy effort; otherwise he is apt to think only of his arrival at destination. Furthermore in the solitude of the great forests the establishment of the little bivouac home and the fathoming of the many secrets of the trail calls forth man’s gregarious nature.

Look well to the choice of your bunkie for nowhere else do weak and strong characteristics come to the surface so forcibly as when men are thrown together in camp. As a matter of fact a wilderness pal of proper qualifications is really hard to find. He may be a jolly comrade in town but that does not qualify him as a first rate camp mate. He must do an equal share on the trail and in camp, he should be physically fit, generous, fair minded and big enough to overlook the petty griefs incidental to rough trail life every where.

He who adventures into the big timber must look also with exactitude to the choice of an outfit, for the wilderness tramper matches himself against the forces of nature, and he must have equipment as well as the personal qualifications to surmount the difficulties successfully. The weight of outfit must be nominal since the packer must bear it alone from day to day, often through almost impassable country where the effort necessary in going forward alone is quite sufficient a strain without that of having to carry a single unnecessary ounce on his shoulders. A mistake in outfit may mean discomfort at least and possibly a spoiled trip. Life outdoors calls for a knowledge of equipment and methods which a large number of persons, because of their environment, cannot gain except from trial, or such as is imparted by some one more fortunately experienced.

Hence we do not speak to the seasoned campaigner or to him who on the short vacation can travel with full equipment and with guides and who has abundant transportation facilities. The beginner however needs practical suggestions for going light into the wilderness alone and he welcomes simple hints for hitting the trail right.