Camping

The wilds are calling. The beaches and parks are as crowded as Bloomingdale's at Christmas; your summer-weight suit clings to your body like a wet plastic bag; and you want out. It's time to go camping--not in some trailer-jammed roadside hive, of course, but in God's country, or as close to it as you can get in a few days. There's just one problem: You're not alone. According to recent estimates, 48,000,000 American hikers and backpackers are hoping to get away from it all. Especially in summer. Especially on weekends. Especially to the convenient exurban parks of the East and the spectacular wildernesses of the West.

Plan your escape for weekdays or an off-season weekend. Holidays are the worst time to camp; any time between Labor Day and Memorial Day is best, but don't try snow camping unless you have experience or a knowledgeable companion. Decide whether you want to camp in the desert, mountains, or forest, and hunker down with a good directory, such as The Bantam Great Outdoors Guide to the U.S.A. and Canada (see bibliography), which details available stomping grounds, how to get to them and what sorts of campsites they contain.

Lesser-known regions recommended by our Travel Editor, Stephen Birnbaum, include: Badlands National Monument, South Dakota; Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, Colorado; Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia, North Carolina; Buffalo National River, Arkansas; Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico; Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona; Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho; Everglades National Park, Florida; Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado; Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas; Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida, Mississippi; Haleakala National Park, Hawaii; Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii; Isle Royale National Park, Michigan; Joshua Tree National Monument, California; Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; Lava Beds National Monument, California; Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado; Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona; Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona; Pinnacles National Monument, California; Point Reyes National Seashore, California; Saguaro National Monument, Arizona; Shenandoah National Park, Virginia; Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park, North Dakota.

Still, seclusion is within reach in even the most trammeled parks and forests. Find out from local authorities which campsites and trails are most popular--and when. Plan to go elsewhere. Ask if you will need permits and whether or not open fires, cans and bottles are allowed in the area. Also, you will want to know if some areas are off limits because of bears or other predators, overuse, fragility of terrain or fire hazard.

Some novice campers figure they have to buy everything Eddie Bauer sells before stepping into the great outdoors. Not so. Backpacks, tents, stoves, sleeping bags and other big-ticket gear can be rented from a reputable outfitter if you don't feel like investing, or if you want to compare brands first. In summer, about all you'll need for clothes is a pair of shorts and pants (khakis, not jeans, as bugs are attracted to dark colors), a long- and a short-sleeved shirt, a wool sweater, a rain poncho or cagoule, a lightweight down or Thinsulate vest, two pairs of wool socks and a bandanna. The latter can be used as a towel, headband, place mat or potholder when it's not around your neck. Underwear is optional equipment. Make sure to change into warm, dry clothes before the sun goes down; temperatures tend to plunge when evening sets in.

Do you really need to spend 100 bucks or more for support, lug soles and status? Probably not, unless you have inordinately weak ankles or plan to do some serious off-trail climbing. Hiking boots may seem more appropriate than sneakers, but they also tend to bog you down and may give you blisters. Experienced hikers know that a pound on your feet equals five on your back. Veteran mountaineer Lou Whittaker opts for customized running shoes with Vibram soles where terrain, weather and pack weight allow. Along those lines, Donner Mountain Corp. has come out with Gore-Tex hiking shoes and boots ($64 and $69.50, respectively) that are sturdy, lightweight and don't require breaking in.

In camping, less weight imparts more pleasure. Hikers who make like pack animals suffer blisters, backaches and lowered libidos. Take the least and lightest gear you can get away with. Choose a backpack that's right for your purposes rather than for a grand-scale expedition. Internal-frame packs can be taken on planes easily, and some designs adapt for suitcase-style carrying.

Stuff sacks make organizing easier. Use one each for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, socks, toiletries, and so on. Essentials should stay in side pockets--toilet paper, sunscreen, bug dope, trail food, water bottle--so you won't waste time ferreting. Keep foul-weather gear within easy reach, too.

Arrange pack weight to match each day's terrain. Consult your map; if the trail looks fairly flat, pack heavy gear on top so the weight will balance over your hips. Hiking steep or rough paths calls for centering the weight, as a high load may tip you sideways. And if you plan on boulder hopping, move the weight to the bottom, lowering your center of gravity. In all cases, heavy objects should be near your back.

When you're ready to hang up your hat and call it home, a few tenets apply to selecting a campsite. Stake out a level, rockless, rootless, protected piece of ground. Avoid mountaintops, cliffs, swamps and low-tide areas. Once you've settled in and fed yourselves, pull out the length of rope that every camper should varry in bear country (40 feet minimum), the one end to your food bag and suspend the bag from a tree limb so animals can't freeload.

While indulging in the finer pleasures of the great outdoors, you can leave urban paranoia behind. The probaility of veiung unpleasantly interrupted is well below one percent; of more than 300,000,000 visitor days in nation parks in 1980, only 9074 fekibt crunes were reoirted, mostly against property. Leave valuables and cash at home, not in the car--which is more likely to be mugged than you are.

Finally, we trust you'll show cinsideration for the place to which you've escaped. Camp at least 100 feet away from water; wash your dishes and bodies at a distance, too. Dig a discreet bole if there's no latrine around, and carry out your trash.

End of sermon. Now hie to the hills.

bibliography

The Bantam Great Outdoors Guide to the U.S.A. and Canada, by Val Landi. Lively narrative on wilderness recreation in each state and province. Emphasis on hunting and fishing, as well as on backpacking and canoeing. Addresses provided for outfitters, lodges, maps.

The New Complete Walker (Knopf), by Colin Fletcher. One man's approach to backpacking pleasures and necessities, delightfully written. Information, philosophy and British humor about "the house on your back," as well as dangers real and imagined. Enlightening for seasoned and amateur out-doorsmen alike.

The Whole Hiker's Handbook (Morrow), edited by William Kemsley, Jr. The anthologized wisdom of Backpacker magazine. Advice and opinion, sometimes conflicting, on what to take, where to go and how to survive in the great outdoors. History and photographic suggestions, too.

Vittles to Go

Gorp, simply, is the perfect food. An acronym for good old raisins and peanuts, it is a personalized mélange of mixed nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit that satisfies hikers' needs for fast, tasty, balanced nourishment. You might thrive indefinitely on the stuff, but you could die of gustatorial boredom. Snack liberally on it as you hike, but consider other options for main courses.

We wish we could say freeze-dried meals compare with fresh, but, unfortunately, the fancy French names translate to cafeteria-style gruel. Proportions are deceptive: A package designated for two barely feeds one. With those caveats in mind, here are some of the best:

• Early Winters has the best soups around, from mock turtle to mulligatawny. The freeze-dried espresso, orange juice and grapefruit juice rate high marks, too.

• Mountain House makes the most palatable freeze-dried sustenance, according to mountaineer-photographer Galen Rowell, who has lived on the stuff for up to three months at a time. Our favorites are rib-eye steak, shrimp cocktail, beef almondine, beef Stroganoff, ice cream and fruit. Fast, in-the-pouch preparation.

• Sky-Lab Foods prepares already-cooked entrees in aluminum pouches; drop into boiling water to heat. Turkey, meatball and chicken pouches are excellent, but the beef resembles dog food.

• Wee-Pak's ham omelet, if scrambled, is moist and meaty. Its sour-cream turkey with rice is the best casserole we tasted.

In general, however, we prefer to mix things up a bit. Take fast food for rainy nights and emergencies, but don't neglect special edibles to lift libidos and spirits: fresh asparagus, Bremner wafers, smoked salmon (prepared exquisitely for the outdoors by Early Winters), Tobler chocolate, even a steak and a bottle of Puligny Montrachet for your first night out. You'll make an unforgettable impression.