Base Camp 1956 [spine title; no title page issued as usual].

San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1956. First edition of this penultimate Base Camp books. Oblong quarto (11 x 8 3/8 inches). Unlike other Base Camp books this is not continuously paginated byt rather each article is paginated. Numerous full page photographic illustrations and each with a descriptive text leaf opposite (also not included in the pagination), other drawings, maps and diagrams in text Publisher's wrappers with cloth spine bearing stamped title, front cover is a photographic illustration of Glacier Peak from Suiattle Pass. An excellent copy.In all there were 15 Sierra Club Base Camp books issued. They commenced in 1940 and ceased in 1957. A couple of war years were missed for obvious reasons. All were really the accomplishment of Sierra Club member and editor extraordinaire Oliver Kehrlein. This book documents the 1956 Sierra Club Base Camp outings, held in four different locations: Emerald Lake near the San Joaquin River middle fork and Mammoth Lakes in the California Sierra Nevada; Bench Lake in California's Kings Canyon National Park; Glacier Peak in the Pacific Northwest; and the south fork of the Kings River in the California Sierra Nevada. Being the largest Base Camp book in its 16 years of publication, there are numerous articles documenting the experiences of camp participants and the surrounding environments. Included are songs, stories, diary excerpts, and other creative works; bird, insect, botany, and wildlife reports; mountaineering and conservation notes; black and white photographs of campers and surrounding scenery; as well as a guide to the watershed south fork of Kings River, written by Oliver Kehrlein. Also included is a list of base camp participants. Though still living at the time this issue is dedicated to William E. Colby and contains a 5-page article about his involvement with the Sierra Club Outings.The Sierra Club Outings are almost as old as the Club itself. "By 1901 the Club's Board of Directors had determined that an annual summer outing would be a valuable addition to Club activities. Other organizations, such as the Mazamas in Oregon and the Appalachian Mountain Club, engaged in annual outings, but their aims were purely recreational. Viewed in terms of the goals of the Club, outings would encourage members and other interested people to see firsthand the country the Club sought to preserve. This was no small task at a time when simply reaching the Sierra from San Francisco, many miles distant, required a major effort. While many of the early explorers of the Sierra were Club members, some members had never visited the range and could have little knowledge of Muir's "right manners of the wilderness." William Colby was the man who undertook to teach them. A graduate of the University of California's Hastings Law School, Colby became Secretary of the Sierra Club in 1900, retaining that position for 46 years, with the exception of the two years he served as President. Colby led his last High Trip in 1930 (long before is death in 1964) but they continue to this day.