CAMPING PA-502

Every year more people enjoy the National Forests and National Grasslands—187 million acres of the best of our country's magnificent outdoors. Annually, more than 40 million persons use the 5,200 developed campgrounds on these public lands. (This figure is based on occupancy by one person for 12 hours, 12 persons for 1 hour, or any equivalent combination of individual or group use.) Camping accounts for over one-quarter of all recreational activities in the National Forests and National Grasslands. These areas now host 10 times as many campers as 15 years ago, and the number of visitors is still rising.

How and why do all these folks find fun pitching camp and roughing it in the woods?

Many of them hunt. As home for one-third of the big-game animals in the United States, the National Forests are the unposted, happy hunting grounds of our Nation. Other campers enjoy some of the finest fishing in the country, along thousands of miles of clear streams and at natural impounded lakes located in the National Forests.

Campers also go hiking, swimming, boating, water-skiing, motorscooting, and horseback riding. They pick berries, collect rocks, watch birds, and photograph wild flowers, wild animals, the superb scenery, and one another. They also spend time contemplating, socializing, and singing around the evening campfire.

Obviously there's no simple explanation for the strong attraction Americans feel for the outdoors. Each person comes for reasons special to him, and possibly just to be in the open, living close to the land. Fortunately for a Nation of people strongly drawn to the outdoors, open space and forest recreation, even in this age of urban sprawl, are still readily available and easily reached. Numerous major roads, some of them Scenic Forest Highways, pass through the National Forests.

Good maps are useful to the camper in planning trips and are necessary when traveling unfamiliar roads. In addition to showing National Forests, many atlases and roadmaps distributed by service stations and State highway departments indicate the location of recreation areas in National Forests, as well as recreation areas on other Federal and State public lands and on private lands. To obtain detailed recreation maps of National Forests before your trip, write to the Forest Service regional office administering the forests you wish to visit. (Addresses are on the inside back cover of this booklet.) When you enter a forest, stop at the District Forest Ranger's station; he will be pleased to assist in making your visit an enjoyable and rewarding experience.