a weblog sharing info on outdoor skills and campfire musing by a guy who spends a bunch of time in pursuit of both
CULTURE
WHERE -
TALES ARE TOLD OF
Welcome to Roland Cheek's Weblog
Roland is a gifted writer with a knack for clarifying reality. Looking forward to more of his wisdom
- Carl Hanner e-mail
I intend my Campfire Culture weblog to be the work of a "Conservative Conservationist." What does that mean? Well, both "conservative" and "conservationist" stem from the root word "conserve."My dictionary defines conserve as: "1. to prevent injury, decay, waste, or loss of. 2. to use or manage wisely; preserve; save." So there you have it -- conservative conservationists are those who believe it disastrous for Americans to be such spendthrifts that we must squander our natural resources in order to stave off bankruptcy.
To access Roland's weblog and column archives
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Tip o' the Day
I went into the boot testing program with a modicum of preconceptions. For instance, I secretly doubted that insulated leather boots could ever be suitable for summer wear, at least in the rugged mountains country where I dwelled, worked and played.
Moreover, I've been long accustomed to shedding leather boots for lightweight rubber pacs when autumn storms hit (though rubber pacs trap perspiration worse than insulated leather boots).
Neither did I believe any manufacturer's claim about waterproof leather boots, despite their incorporation of supposedly resistant fabrics and silicone treatments. Nope, I'm a single-layer-leather, high top, treat-'em-rough, grease-the-heck-out-of-'em, old fashioned Montana mountain stomper who cut his teeth as an Oregon logger. Imagine my surprise when a wilderness guest -- a boot manufacturer from Maine -- asked us to test experimental boots for him.
Each guide and i received two pairs of boots in early summer. Our instructions were to alternate them, wearing one pair one day, the other pair the next, etc. Each boot, we were told, was of different construction, even between right and left -- though we probably would be unable to tell. We were also told to use only silicone treatment, instead of my tried and true boot grease. (Grease would plug the pores of both leather and Gore-Tex, making them unable to breathe and thus "wick" out perspiration.)
We tested our boots for six months. At the end of the period, in some ways I became confused, at least about some of my old prejudices. I wound up still convinced there's no such thing as a waterproof leather boot -- with or without Gore-Tex lining. I also became even more convinced that an active hiker cannot wear insulated boots of any kind in mid-summer, and maintain healthy feet.
But insulated leather boots are superior to rubber pacs when pushing hard in most fall hunting conditions -- even cold weather and deep snow. They will, as advertised, "breathe", whereas my feet perspire a flood when hiking hard in rubber pacs. And one's feet remain warmer in insulated leather than with rubber. In addition, the leather boots always has better soles for traction than rubber boots.
Silicone, as an outside treatment agent, does work by allowing the leather to breathe while making it somewhat moisture resistant . . . if one stays out of wet snow on brush and beargrass.
And I wound up having to admit the Gore-Tex thinsulate inner lining did keep my feet warm and dry during one 27-mile trek in the midst of a driving rainstorm.
Conclusions?
It's tough. When I said I had reservations about it being possible to develop leather boots that would permit perspiration to be wicked out while the boot's exterior is wet, my boot manufacturer friend said, "Why? Your skin does it."
FAMILY OUTDOOR PLAY A HEALTHY TREND
"Must be kids playing around the bend," I said to Jane as we ambled down the steep mountain trail, a popular, well maintained forest path that begins only a couple of miles from town and climbing 4,000 feet over eight miles to the summit of Columbia Mountain. Relatively few hikers make the distance, but many use the lower portions for exercise and adventure. Rock outcrops are frequent. Most provide openings in the forest cover where stunning views can be had of the snowcapped mountains of Glacier National Park, or down across the broad valley below.
We hike there from time to time -- a brisk mile-and-a-half, thousand-foot climb can do much to assuage fading brains and fend off the approach of the rigor mortis inherent in bodies affixed to swivel chairs chained to computer terminals.
It wasn't always so. For much of our lives, active outdoor pursuit was a way of life. I turned to the outdoors first; my avocation became my occupation when I left a secure, well-paying job as safety director with a large lumber company to begin the challenge of developing a wilderness guide service from scratch. The new endeavor was indeed a challenge, both physically and economically. But we persevered, with me in the field and Jane holding down the home front. Later, after our children were raised and gone, Jane joined me in our outfitting business. Ours was a demanding outdoors regimen that served us in good stead until we retired and took up writing about our adventures (i.e. turned sedentary).
Unfortunately we didn't always pursue adventure as a family, and I've held that fault to be mostly mine. Simply said, while our children were small, I spent virtually all of my idle time fishing and hunting, usually alone, but sometimes accompanied by other guys. Though not an adequate defense, the outdoors adventures of fifty years ago was largely "guy" things -- girls need not apply! "Girl" things were largely clubwork and sewing circles and wiping noses and changing diapers.
Against her will (she was much more of a traditionalist than I) Jane tried my rugged style of outdoor adventure and opted for clubwork and sewing circles. Then came women's lib and a rise of resistance to stereotyping by the distaff set -- in my view a very important development during a commensurate rise in awareness of all America to the splendors of nature and our need to treasure God's works. Along about the same time came a national awareness of the importance of vigorous exercise to maintaining good health, regardless of sex. Couple the two together -- the importance of outdoors exercise and the splendors of nature and it became a cause celebre' for most women and a few smart men. Where better to find healthy, vigorous exercise than amid the wilds. Jane wholeheartedly embraced the concept, and my life's partner became my working partner.
We rounded the trail bend and spotted a family engaged in scrambling over a rock outcrop. The mother stood atop a ledge and was at that very moment helping what I took to be a five- or six-year-old boy clamber up beside her while the child screamed in glee. The ledge was perhaps five feet above a rock scree where the father and maybe a three-year-old boy stood. As we watched the father scooped up the tyke and showing him how to grip tiny fingers around outthrusts and into rock cracks, began walking the little guy up the outcrop to the ledge. Though the father's hands steadied him, the little guy's cheeks were flame-red and he grunted with the effort. Meanwhile his mother and brother clapped and screamed encouragement. Then he was clambering to the ledge and his face broke into a happy face-swallowing smile and he, too, clapped in glee.
Striding on down the trail, I told Jane how much enjoyment I received from watching the family; how much I admired the trend of today's families engaging in outdoors adventure together. "We never did that, you know."
"I think you're beating yourself up needlessly," she replied. "You took your kids on wilderness packtrips, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Big trips. For three-day weekends or on vacations. But it was never for an hour or two in the evening. And we seldom did it as an entire family." We plodded on downtrail, then I murmured, "That couple is teaching their kids how to rockclimb. Probably they'll teach them canoeing and tubing and God knows what else. And they're doing it as a family."
"You taught your kids how to ride horses and catch trout and hunt deer and elk."
I nodded, but she walked ahead and couldn't see it, so I said, "But honey, I'm talking about how healthy it is for a father and mother to take their children out as a family to do a range of outdoor things."
"You took us out sledding or to cut a Christmas tree."
"Day activities," I murmured. "We'd allocate a day for outdoors adventure; these people are seizing a couple hours after work to play with their children."
She stopped so abruptly I bumped into her. Placing a hand on each of my shoulders, she gazed up and said, "No, you may not have been the kind of father you wish now that you were then. And yes, we'd both like to go back and do it over. But, though we weren't as good then as we may wish now, perhaps we weren't as bad as we thought, either."
Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:
www.rolandcheek.com
Recent Weblogs
June 19, 2007
for more info about these and other Roland Cheek books
There's a bunch of specific info about Roland's books, columns, archives and radio programs. By clicking on the button to the left, one can see Roland's synopsis of each book, read reviews, and even access the first chapter of each of his titles. With Roland's books, there's no reason to buy a "pig in a poke."
for detailed info about each of Roland's books
Read Reviews
Read their first chapters
For interested educators, this weblog is especially applicable for use outdoors/nature, environmental, or history classes, as well as for journalism students.
Roland, of course, visits schools. For more information on his program alternatives, go to:
NEXT WEEK:
THE WORST OBSCENITY
www.campfireculture.com
Roland says "Elk was the creatures who took me to the wildlife dance over a half-century ago." In The Phantom Ghost of Harriet Lou, the guy shares what he learned about the magnificent animals throughout the mountains of the West
Roland's best-selling book, in its 5th printing. Said by Outdoor Editor Mark Henckel writing in the Billings Gazette: "New book paints perfect portrait of grizzlies"
And respected Outdoor Editor Bob Mottram said in Tacoma's The News Tribune: "Cheek is at his best when he's describing bears in action, and at his best, he's excellent"
Chocolate Legs is an entire book about a single charismatic grizzly bear who became both famous and infamous in her own time
The best 116 of Roland's 2,700 newspaper column and radio scripts, mostly humor, all poignant -- much the same as his columns found in this weblog
Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness was where much of Roland's and Jane's adventures took place. That's why they've produced a 9 X 12, 80-page coffee table book about the million acre chunk of land that is arguably considered the "Crown Jewel" of America's wilderness system
Dance On the Wild Side is the story of Jane's and Roland's life. It's filled with romance and adventure, from childhood sweethearts through their decades guiding others to adventurew in some of the wildest lands in all the Rocky Mountains
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