Sierra Club guide teaches beginners how to walk softly, carry a backpack

Published: Monday, July 27, 1998

Monday, July 27, 1998

BOOKS: Comprehensive primer shows novice outdoor explorers how to survive vast wilderness

By Megan Dickerson

Daily Bruin Staff

Theodore ("Teddy") Roosevelt, considered the first conservationist public policymaker, once said, "Walk softly, and carry a big stick." He could have been talking about author John Hart's low-impact, backpacking philosophy, as detailed in "Walking Softly in the Wilderness: The Sierra Club Guide to Backpacking."

Designed for the novice backpacker, the book funnels the wisdom of baptized-by-fire backpackers into a comprehensive, 478-page primer. Part step-by-step guide and part philosophy lesson, the book reconciles the negative aspects of human interference with a "take only photographs, leave only footprints" sensibility.

The reader learns how to pitch a tent in areas with good drainage and little vegetation or stow waste far from streams or other water supplies. Where such technical knowledge could frustrate a wilderness freshman, Hart's straightforward, highly readable style makes it seem feasible to the average person. It communicates that although wilderness travel is not free, effortless or without discomforts, it is possible for everyone, as long as one is willing to "walk softly."

This "low-impact backpacking" strategy is unique to the guide. Readers can find many tomes in the Great Outdoors aisle that record eco-friendly ways of cleaning up waste. Few weave such a simple philosophy of "going light" into each crevice of camping information. These methods, Hart says, are "not merely points of backcountry manners or wilderness etiquette ... Low-impact methods are the new necessities."

Apparently, so are web sites.

The third edition of the Sierra Club guide comes 15 years after its predecessor, and - according to editors - every paragraph has been reworked and rewritten. The reader realizes how much has changed in the backpacking world when Hart cites web sites alongside conventional bites of wisdom. The long-revered guide has also been updated with such new political trends and policies as the Wildlands Project, a plan that would create a network of protected areas. Such information would interest even the most experienced Grizzly Adams.

Hart details the most interesting and the most mundane parts of backpacking. The book is divided into eight sections, with titles like "Gearing Up" and "Trouble and How to Deal With It." The gear section includes a very helpful list of exactly what to bring, from pot grippers to urethane-coated rainchaps.

Each section is subgrouped in specific chapters. One chapter explains kinds of boots, the same fare found in an annual special edition of Backpacker magazine, but in a more timeless form. Even the seemingly rudimentary details, like how to read a compass, are explained in a way that does not insult the tenderfoot's intelligence. After all, for the beginner, this information is essential to trail preparation; there's nothing like getting caught without the proper boots. Hart seems to speak from experience.

There is even a chapter on packing children on the trail. Hart condones taking infants backpacking as early as one month, but devotes a couple pages to baby-specific information.

Overall, Hart covers every aspect of the wild necessary for a new adventurer. With the backing of the venerable Sierra Club, it is one of the most comprehensive, easy-to-read beginner's guides on the market - almost as essential as the right bedroll.

In Hart's world of backpacking, "carrying a big stick" is not combative. Rather, it functions as a form of preparedness. And "Walking" aims to have every fledgling backpacker think accordingly.