This is not a guide for ultralight backpackers. A New York Times Bestseller List club member, it was first published in 1974 by BYU Press. Its author, Dian Thomas, is an advocate for the wilderness experience, arguing that it’s an essential one for us as modern humans, which I agree with. Some of the info is outdated (burn your plastic trash, for example (there is a revised edition)), but it’s conscientious for its time, and is full of lots of cheapo and elemental means to cook and camp out, I’m thinking with a car nearby (lots of the suggested ingredients are canned or otherwise heavy; the dutch oven is a major character) but not necessarily. If the world ended tomorrow, we now know, you could cook food right in paper bags, build stoves and ovens out of easily-found urban stuff, or just hot coals and dirt, and generally hide out in high style in the bush. There’s a certain low fidelity, rock-bottom-practical vibe about this book that I find really attractive. It’s like a charismatic yet no-bullshit, bell-bottomed camp counselor. And it tells you how to cook with a shovel.

Rock Cooking

Heat can be conducted through the rock from coal or fire below. Find a flat rock which is not over two inches thick. Rocks which have recently been in water or that retain moisture, such as shell and limestone, should be avoided because they may explode. Make a keyhole fire, brace the rock over the square part of the keyhole, and put hot coals under it. Heat the rock slowly. If one side heats too fast and expands more quickly than the other side, the rock may break. Turn the rock over and allow it to heat on the other side gradually and as evenly as possible.

When the rock is hot, it can be placed directly over the coals and used as a grill. When the upper surface cools, brush it off, and cook on the hot side. If a rock is thin enough, the heat will be conducted through it and it will not need to be turned. The food may be cooked directly on the hot surface of the rock, or the rock may be covered with foil, as desired.

buy Roughing it Easy

• california desert pioneering evidence
• lycanthropic hardcore 7″– Kitschchao’s “Peter Stumpe”
• berserking (2)
• berserking
• the story of the Gauk Burakal, or “human bear,” of the Pomo Indians of California