The National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Guide by Mark Harvey $14.95 2nd edition © 1999 NOLS, Simon & Schuster 6” x 9”, 268 pages

The NOLS Wilderness Guide brings the savvy of NOLS curriculum to outdoor enthusiasts everywhere. With the latest information on equipment and backcountry camping and hiking techniques, this second edition is a compilation of tried-and-true NOLS skills and methods tested and practiced by students and instructors in the backcountry for more than 40 years.

Learning through experience has always been top priority at NOLS, and Harvey's book contains valuable information for anyone interested in experiencing the backcountry.

This classic wilderness handbook maintains time-tested NOLS practices while also setting out to address some of today's most pressing backcountry issues. In addition, great photographs, creative illustrations, and useful lists make this wilderness handbook a must-have item for anyone who loves the outdoors.

Includes:

• Selecting equipment—including discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of products such as the internal frame pack, lighter-weight boots, and freestanding tents.
• The latest Leave No Trace camping techniques
• Traveling safely and sensibly—including vital information on maps, compasses, and tips on crossing difficult terrain
• Backcountry cooking, with tips  on building fires and tricks for making gourmet meals
• Search-and-rescue techniques, including how to organize a self-sufficient search group and when to call in professional rescue teams

This classic wilderness handbook maintains time-tested NOLS practices while also setting out to address some of today's most pressing backcountry issues. In addition, great photographs, creative illustrations, and useful lists make this wilderness handbook a must-have item for anyone who loves the outdoors.

Some excerpts:

Chapter One: Why We Go
Chapter Five: Bear Camping
Chapter Twelve: Our Responsibility to the Land

Chapter One: Why We Go

"We go because the wilds are brutal and primeval and primordial and so, deep down, are we--at least part of us. Call it the Id, if you like; call it the influence of the Dark Gods. In the wilds we can loosen up and unbend, shake the "galling harness of civilization," as John Muir put it, and no one will think us odd or commit us to the padded institutions: fortunately, those who would commit us don't bother to leave the cities. Out in the wilderness we have to fight harder for our survival and engage the robust qualities that got us through millions of years of evolution. The woods are a welcome relief to that stifled part of our animal being. We are, in a sense, walking the dog--that wild dog in us who doesn't like the civilization below. What grim creator would have us develop as rough animals for an eternity and then forever restrict us to the norms of polite society?"

Chapter Five: Bear Camping
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"Both grizzly and black bears are omnivores, very clever, and nearly prehensile. They have an exquisite sense of smell and nothing will tempt them more than pan-fried trout, margarine, and the smell of your pancakes in the morning. The reason to practice special camping techniques is not just for your own safety, but for the safety of the bears as well. The easier it is for a bear to get human food, the more habituated it becomes to humans, up to the point where it has no fear of entering a camp to get what it pleases. It becomes a "problem bear" and eventually will be shot by land managers if it ransacks one too many camps."

"If you know where bears live, what they like to eat, and the seasons they inhabit the various areas you're visiting, you have a better chance of avoiding a nasty confrontation. Bear tracks are easy to distinguish from, say, canine tracks both by their size and shape. Bear scat also stands apart from other animals because of the size of the diameter and the mixed contents ranging from seeds to animal hair. In addition to scat and tracks, keep your eyes open for fresh claw marks on trees, upturned rocks, and disturbed, rotten stumps. Consult a text on North American mammals to familiarize yourself with bear signs."

Chapter Twelve: Our Responsibility to the Land
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"The contest between mankind and the wilds has a history of thousands if not millions of years. But not long ago, the sides were more evenly matched. It used to be that we had crude tools to do our hunting and farming. Maybe back then surviving did mean a battle against nature. Today we have such good machines and systems of production that the preservation or the breaking of the wilds is entirely a choice to be made by humankind.

Some would argue that the effort to save the wild places is not worth it--that we would be better off if we farmed and factoried every square foot, save for a little land to build fairways for Sunday golf. Left to men like Robert Moses, who built New York State's major highways and parkways and once said, "A lot of people... hate the country and love congestion," we probably wouldn't have many places left to go canoeing, backpacking, climbing or birdwatching."