Classic camping literature

[John Joseph]

Camping has been a nomadic lifestyle since the beginning of time, but recreational camping during modern times is relatively new, championed by the famous "Nessmuck" https://www.mountainhomemag.com/2016...186746/nessmuk
and when automobiles became affordable, the Vagabonds (Ford, Edison, Firestone and Burroughs)
https://www.thehenryford.org/collect...the-vagabonds/
as well as the likes of Fredrick Gunn,
https://connecticuthistory.org/readi...era-education/
the Rev. William H.H. Murray,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willia...arrison_Murray
and John Muir (do you really need a link? Of course you don't!)

The thing is, these fathers of the camping movement left plenty of documented accounts of their camping adventures behind and a few even wrote camping guidebooks.
I was wondering if any of us enjoyed perusing such classical camping literature?

[toedtoes]

Question for you, and I don't mean it rudely, just am curious:

You post these great discussions threads, but never come back to them to respond to replies or to engage in the discussion. So why post them?

This forum doesn't get much traffic these days, so without your participation in the actual discussion, there is no discussion.

[Happy Joe]

I have long enjoyed reading Nesmuk;
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Nessmuk

...as well as Horace Kephart (Camping and Woodcraft along with other articles and books;
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Horace%20Kephart

A search for "Camping" on Internet Archive gives the following long list of literature;
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Camping&page=1

Reports and papers of the "Royal Geographical Society" are rather dry...

a search for "wilderness survival skills" gives the following;
https://archive.org/search.php?query...+skills&page=2

I suggest joining "Internet Archive" (free) for a virtually unlimited supply of literature of many kinds
(its my Go To source of reading materials and literature of all types);
If you want to check out books to your device you will have to load Adobe Digital library on to the device (free)

Here is more info:
https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us

You could spend days just looking around at the literature, music and movies and years reading.
Checking out (like at a real library will allow you to keep some items in you "Digital librarry app for up to 2 weeks (it will stop being readable at the end of the time you can return it before hand and check something else out)
Some public domain (old) stuff can be downloaded with out signing up. Some literature cannot be downloaded but can be read/ watched/listened to on line/over the web.

Enjoy!

[John Joseph]

Question for you, and I don't mean it rudely, just am curious:

You post these great discussions threads, but never come back to them to respond to replies or to engage in the discussion. So why post them?

This forum doesn't get much traffic these days, so without your participation in the actual discussion, there is no discussion.

I'm new here, and just finding my way around the place.

One of my favorite books is Clarence King's Mountaineering In The Sierra Nevada circa 1870 and still widely available in paperback (I think)
Not really a how to book, but written as an explanation to the academic community as to how King published the wrong elevation for Mt Whitney (spoiler alert: he climbed the wrong mountain)
There's lots of interesting stories about camp life however.

[toedtoes]

OK. Thanks for responding. I do find your threads interesting.

One of my favorite books is a childrens book called Father's Big Improvements. It is set in the early 1900s and is about a family - the father updrades to a bunch of "newfangled" items : automobile, electric lighting, telephone, indoor plumbing, gas stove and oven, and so on. At the end of the book, he takes the family, including Grandma, on this newfangled vacation called camping to "get away from the hassles of life". As they sit around the campfire, after a day of Dad and the kids fishing and hiking and Mom and Grandma cooking on an open fire, lugging buckets of water for washing, and so on, Grandma makes a comment that this "camping" is a lot like their daily life before all those improvements.

It's just a fun read that explores how differently we see things.

I also really enjoy the Nevada Barr mysteries that are set in the various National Parks. I try to read them while I am in the park.

[Happy Joe]

I'm new here, and just finding my way around the place.

One of my favorite books is Clarence King's Mountaineering In The Sierra Nevada circa 1870 and still widely available in paperback (I think)
Not really a how to book, but written as an explanation to the academic community as to how King published the wrong elevation for Mt Whitney (spoiler alert: he climbed the wrong mountain)
There's lots of interesting stories about camp life however.

...If I haven't said it before; Welcome!

I too find many of your posts to be about interesting subjects...

I don't know if you are a hard copy or e-reader fan by preference . (I like to take an e-book reader camping since it, both allows me to carry a library in my pocket and can provide some entertainment during inclement weather).

Due to its age Clarence King's Mountaineering In The Sierra Nevada, is, apparently, in the public domain (no longer protected by copyright) and thus is legal to download read, distribute and posses.

A search;;
https://archive.org/search.php?query...ierra%20Nevada
shows at least eight facsimiles of the original available for down load in a variety of formats...

As a fan of historic camping techniques, one of my favorite period "how to" books is Kephart's "Camping and wood craft (I have it both in hard copy and in epub format; It too (at least in the original short book) is in the public domain..
https://archive.org/search.php?query...odcraft&page=2

Enjoy!

[John Joseph]

It's fun stuff to read what it was like in earlier times, especially when it involves a geographic area you're familiar with, or are travelling through.
I'm concerned that many young people prefer visual media over reading.
The likes of Sears (Nessmuk) and Murray didn't produce You Tubes for the amusement of current generations, therefore the flames they ignited in the collective imagination seem to me slightly dimmer as the result.

[toedtoes]

I remember that being said about my generation. In truth, I think it is more that young people are often more inclined to skip books for entertainment and information. As they age, many find books and reading as something other than a boring and required part of school.

[John Joseph]

Slightly OT, but many National Parks feature Archives, usually nearby the park's headquarters. Seldom visited and in my experience often in some state of disarray they are available to researchers and any visitors who can talk their way past the front door, usually by asking questions like "Do you have the map of the route General Crumpet took to lay siege to Baked Beanville?"

Once inside be prepared to uncover a treasure trove of fascinating accounts by pioneering explorers and early tourists.

It's a good way to spend a rainy afternoon when it's too muddy to hang around camp.