Major Changes in Camping and Hiking

[prain4u]

On another thread, I mentioned how the "best practices", equipment, and outdoor philosophy had changed significantly during my 30-40 years of hiking and camping.

I included this quote from a 1959 book. The quote was regarding proper cleanup procedures following a meal:

"Get rid of the garbage. Burn whatever will burn at one end of the fire. Burn out cans and flatten them. Wash out empty jars. Bury the burned out cans and the washed out jars".

I invite you to go back to your "old" camping/hiking books and magazines and provide us with quotes, photos, or descriptions of the silly (and now outdated) equipment, clothing and "best practices" which were being published as being normal "back in the day".

If you can, try to include the approximate publication date too.

(Your own personal pictures, descriptions and approximate weights of your old hiking and camping equipment might also be fun to share).

[GoldenBear]

Specifically, my first Boy Scout Handbook, which was the 1959 edition. Amongst the things I remember being told:

1) do NOT sip water from your canteen while you hike -- that only makes you thirstier. Instead, keep a pebble in your mouth.
2) how to get a "healthy" tan.
3) how to cut and suck after a snake bite.
4) dig trenches around your tent, so rain goes away from you.
5) how to use a tourniquet.
6) clean a wound with alcohol.
7) raise the neck of a person before giving artificial respiration.

All of the above, of course, was "best practices" back then, as the Scouts invariably are at the forefront of proper outdoor ethos. However, as this thread clearly states, we are talking about how what was "standard" decades ago is now not accepted. My response is in NO WAY a knock at Scouting, for which I owe an un-payable debt for getting me into outdoor activities in the first place.

Most specifically, my Scouting years taught me a basic lesson I've taken with me to this very day: namely, that any outdoor site I come to should be in BETTER shape when I leave than when I arrive.

[M1 Thumb]

I wonder what practices we engage in today will seem silly and outdated in a few decades?

At least with the cans 50 years ago, they would rust away relatively quickly, unlike the aluminum cans and plastic bottles littering our parks today.

Usage rates also dictate practices necessary to keep the environment intact and usable. 50 years ago, how many people would be hiking and camping on the AT for example? It was probably feasible then to bury the limited amount of waste generated. Today that practice would be short of ridiculous.

Maybe people in 50 years will laugh at the amount of weight people carry today when hiking. Materials and technology in 50 years......

[Hikes in Rain]

One of the things I've always wanted to try but likely never will is the bough bed. Many references, including Kephart and Nessmuk (1930's?). Springy, fragrant, takes maybe an hour or two to make. If you add the log frames, made from the trees you cut down to make the bed, it could take a bit more. Good for maybe three days of use. It's a lot more than just whacking down some pine or balsums and stacking the branches. It's woven carefully, making sure the butt ends of the branches point downward.

[veteran]

National Geographic Mount Oglethorpe 1949

Notice the Knife

[beakerman]

Specifically, my first Boy Scout Handbook, which was the 1959 edition. Amongst the things I remember being told:

1) do NOT sip water from your canteen while you hike -- that only makes you thirstier. Instead, keep a pebble in your mouth.
2) how to get a "healthy" tan.
3) how to cut and suck after a snake bite.
4) dig trenches around your tent, so rain goes away from you.
5) how to use a tourniquet.
6) clean a wound with alcohol.
7) raise the neck of a person before giving artificial respiration.

In fairness to the Scouts, they DID teach me a basic lesson I've taken with me to this very day: namely, that any place I visit or camp at should be in BETTER shape than when I arrive.

All of that "first aid" stuff taught back then was standard best practice for FA regardless of who was teaching it. Everyone was doing it that way.

The concept of a healthy tan really still has not gone away completely and I was taught that a nice tan protected against sunburn.

The trenching...again standard practice inthe day not limited to scouts

My point is other than the old "indian" trick of the pebble in the mouth all of htat was pretty much how everyone was doing it Scouts or not.

[modiyooch]

National Geographic Mount Oglethorpe 1949

Notice the Knife

Actually, when I started in 1980, I did have a similar knife at my waist. It was large enough whereas I had to display it. Sent it home at the first PO.
I have a picture of my departure. I'm in jeans and a flannel and overfilled backpack.
As I think back, I have replaced the jeans and flannel, but still carry my goose down vest and rain poncho. I kept my Sierra Design tent for 20 years and it was lighter than my replacement tent. I still have the same backpack, nowhere filled to capacity. I probably have the same cooking pot. I never acquired poles.

[Blissful]

Nice pic of the southern terminus.

[Lyle]

Actually, tourniquets are back in vogue. I don't necessarily agree, but we now must teach and the National Registry of EMTs tests all basic students on their use early on in control of bleeding. Like I said, I don't agree, but it is what is in vogue now - right or wrong.

[beakerman]

wow really tourniquets? nah you're pulling my leg!

[Lyle]

wow really tourniquets? nah you're pulling my leg!

Nope. Here is a link to the actual skill sheet used in assessing EMT, EMT Intermediate, and Paramedic skills for the National Registry. This is the organization that provides standardization and is used as the testing organization for many State licensing process.

This particular skill sheet was just implemented this year.

http://www.nremt.org/nremt/downloads...ntrolshock.pdf

[Deb]

In regards to practices as recent as the 1970s that seem bizarre today: lean-tos in the Adirondacks had huge trash pits. It was expected that people would dispose of their unwanted stuff/garbage there.

[FritztheCat]

I wonder what practices we engage in today will seem silly and outdated in a few decades?

There will probably be some study done in the future on how people to treated water with iodine contacted some disease or damaged their liver in some way. Then future hikers will sit around wondering why on earth people put iodine in their water.

[prain4u]

Here's a link to the cover of a gear catalog from 1978. As "light" and "small" as that stuff was for it's era (and as good and durable as it was) my 48 year old body would sure creak and groan if I had to carry very much of that "bulky" equipment today! Pay particular attention to the coats, hiking boots, and pack frames. Look at the size of that tent--it is almost as tall as their shoulders. (However, I must confess that I sure love the durability of that "old" stuff!).

http://www.pbase.com/losthiker/image/123522838

[sbhikes]

We've seen a change in fashion since the 70s. Perhaps I'm showing my age, but I really think men looked way better back then.

[Feral Bill]

We've seen a change in fashion since the 70s. Perhaps I'm showing my age, but I really think men looked way better back then.

I sure did.

[modiyooch]

The sleeping bags have come a long way in design. I keep buying them because they keep getting smaller and lighter. My first one wouldn't even fit into my pack. It was a chore to stuff.

[wnderer]

Specifically, my first Boy Scout Handbook,
6) clean a wound with alcohol.

I thought pouring ethanol on a wound was a good idea. I always wondered about methanol. Apparently a saline solution is better. I'll have to start carrying salt in the first aid kit.

[restless]

"Campid and Woodcraft" by Horace Kephart,copyright 1988 University of Tennessee Press, Vol. II Woodcraft, p. 145 AND I QUOTE!!!
The following outfit is complete save for gun, ammuntion and cleaning implements. For a longer trip than one week, a reserve of provisions can be cached at some central point in the hunting district.
lbs oz
Pack sack, with tump strap 2 12
Tent 4
Sleeping bag 8
Pillow bag 3
Rubber cape 1 5
Mackinaw stag shirt 1 8
Spare underwear, 1 suit 1 8
Spare socks 2 pairs 5
Moccasins 1
German socks 12
Axe and muzzle 1 12
Cooking kit,dish towel, tin cup 2 2
Cheese Cloth 2
Mill file, 6 in. 2
Whetstone 2
Pliers 4
Wallet, fitted 6
Twine 2
Toilet articles 6
Talcum powder 2
toilet paper 1
First Aid kit 5
Spare matches in tin 6
Alpina folding lantern 8
Candles, 1/2 dz 8
Emergency ration 8
Tobacco, in wpf bag 8
Spare pipe 3

total pack without provisions 28 12

Note: this book was origanally published in 1917. Maybe later I will post his provisions for a week which brought his total weight to 42lbs 12oz. I'll take my ULA anyday

[restless]

Oops that should be "Camping and Woodcraft"