James P. Jackson was a long-time biology teacher at Washington High School in Washington, Missouri. During his tenure, he collaborated with several collegues to start a school-sponsored extracurricular club called Students Afield Today (SAT), in which they took students on trips to study natural history and geography. They led students on trips to Wyoming, the Grand Canyon, and Big Bend National Park, in addition to numerous canoeing, camping, hiking, and cave exploration outings in Missouri.
In Chronicles of a True Camper, James eloquently describes some of the many adventures he had while camping. He was known to sleep on the ground in all types of weather, indulging in his love of real outdoor camping. As he put it, "camping without wheels" allows people to enjoy close encounters with the natural world: trees, birdsong, wildflowers, large and small wild creatures, and a feeling of kinship with all forms of natural life.