Old Times

[squeezebox]

I'ld be interested in hearing from some of the old folks about what it was like 30-40 yrs ago, gear, shelters, food etc.
In 1980 I did a bicycle trip in Europe with a 6-7 lb A frame tent , A lot like today's scout tents, Sierra Design flashlight came out a month or 2 before I left. A Svea stove.
Has anyone put together a history of backpacking, inc. equipment etc.

[rafe]

Go find a copy of "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" published by Rodale Press, edited by James Hare. It was published in 1975 and contains thru hike journals of about forty folks, including Ed Garvey, Earl Shaffer, Eric Ryback, Dorothy Parker, et. al. It's about 2000+ pages total, in two fat hardcover volumes.

http://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Appalac.../dp/0875960677

Back before the intertubes, this was about the best resource available for learning about thru hiking. I found a copy at my local library. Since then I've purchased my own copy via eB-y.

[Tipi Walter]

Check out
http://www.oregonphotos.com/SierraDesigns1.html

When I first started in the mid to late 1950's we had canvas Yucca packs and heavyweight rectangle sleeping bags.

In the late 70's thru the 80's we upgraded to excellent North Face tents and sleeping bags and then Marmot bags and then WM and Feathered Friends.

The best backpacking light at the time was the Mini Mag AA model which we held in our mouths most of the time, and drooled down on occasion. See---


My buddy Johnny B drooling down his Mini Mag after a nighthike in Pisgah NF.


My old North Face tent (circa 1978) used these.


Every decent backpacker carried one of these, P-38, circa 1970.


The backpacking boot of choice in 1982 was the Nike Ascent, as above.


Old Lowe packs were things of beauty. And still are.


And who can forget the old Keltys?

[wookinpanub]

I read the James Hare compilation by Rodale Press before my thru-hike in 1990. I also read any other book I could get on the AT from my college library. Having no hiking experience before starting on Katahdin, those journals were about all I had to go on when imagining what the trip was going to be like. Some things were completely different. In those accounts, there seemed to be much more road walking and interaction with locals. By the time 1990 rolled around, the PA roadwalk had been reduced to about 5 miles (IIRC) and that was pretty much it other than the few towns it went through. Interaction with locals seemed greatly reduced than what I read about. A few shelters still had baseball bat bunks and a couple had chicken wire bunks. I remember one having nothing but a dirt floor.
Equipment/Gear:
Kelty Expedition Tioga, external frame backpack, 6100 cubic inches, about 6-7lbs.
Eureka tent 5lbs (North Face Tadpole knock-off) sent home in Harpers Ferry, having used it 5 times in 1200 miles
Kelty 20 degree sleeping bag, ~4lbs
Mylar space blanket for nights below 20 degees
Vasque Sundowner full leather boots
Wigwam ragg wool socks with polypro liners and knee high gaiters
Dollar store clothes
Patagonia synchilla fleece jacket
Helly Hansen rain suit (used more for wamth/wind break)
Iodine tablets for water purification (switched to Timberline filter after getting giardia)
Camping Gaz Bluet canister stove (mailed canisters in mail drops)
Stainless steel pot/lid

109 day thru-hike
Ultralighters, "I fart in your general direction."

[garlic08]

My first trip was a bike tour, too, 1000 miles around Lake Michigan after I graduated from high school in Chicago in 1975. I borrowed a single-wall pup tent, didn't even think about a sleeping pad (never heard of such a thing), used an old synthetic boy scout bag, wore cut-off jeans and a tee shirt, had a cotton sweatshirt and some plastic rain gear and an old steel cook pot. Total load was probably under twenty pounds, all rolled up in a plastic bag on top of the book rack on the Schwinn Varsity. I didn't think much about the gear, it was all about getting out there. As I traveled more, and earned more money, I bought better gear.

[Mags]

The best backpacking light at the time was the Mini Mag AA model which we held in our mouths most of the time, and drooled down on occasion. See---

Before LED headlamps became popular and affordable, this little item was awesome. I later re-purposed it for my Photon II light (which has, in turn, been put on my key chain at this point).

Every decent backpacker carried one of these, P-38, circa 1970.

Don't know if I am decent or not, but I still use the bigger brother (p51) pretty often just because it is so versatile.
http://www.pmags.com/light-versatile...51-can-openers

And who can forget the old Keltys?

Not my buddy. $25 at the local used equipment store. Great for load hauling when doing "Daddy Duty" plus you can attach all kinds of "stuff" to the pack. The "Stuff" tends to accumulate when backpacking with a 5 and an 8 yr old.

[rafe]

Svea and Whisperlite stoves ruled. In 1990 I'd say 2/3 of thru hikers used Whisperlites. I had a Camp Trails external frame pack, about 5 lbs. But most folks had already shifted to internal-frame packs. My tent was a Eureka Solitaire, three pound solo tent that was tiny but always kept me warm and dry. Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight was extremely popular for several years -- only a pound heavier, and big enough for two.

Heavy leather boots were the norm in the 70s, by 1990 many thru hikers had shifted to lighter footwear, but modern "trail runners" didn't quite exist. I wore a pair of Fabiano "Trionics" -- mid weight leather boots.

Nobody used hiking poles. Many thru hikers had fine, hand-crafted custom walking sticks. Cell phones hadn't been invented. Thru-hikers generally went a bit longer between town stops. If the statistics are to be believed, success rate back then (% finishers) was much lower than now. If the stats are true, I'd say it's mostly due to better and lighter gear nowadays. Many newbs showed up at Springer with 50 lb. packs, those who stuck with it had shaved that weight to 30-35 lbs. within a few weeks.

[rocketsocks]

Here's a picture like the one I use to have back in the 70's less the white strips, mine was all green w/the ecology symbol.


cool web page with lots of old stuff...worth a looksey.

http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/_ret..._gear&page=all

[rafe]

That's a seriously ugly pack. Jailbird special.

[rocketsocks]

That's a seriously ugly pack. Jailbird special.

...ain't it, I would be caught dead at an overlook with that thing on. Stripes were in as I recall in the 70's, had an old pair of pants that were Red, White, and Blue heavy verticle striped...hidious. but I loved em then.

[peakbagger]

GO on Abe Books and look for Dan Doan's Our Last Backpack. It covers hike in the Mahoosucs by a couple of older individuals going old style and their occasional encounters with modern backpackers

[lonehiker]

Here's a picture like the one I use to have back in the 70's less the white strips, mine was all green w/the ecology symbol.


cool web page with lots of old stuff...worth a looksey.

http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/_ret..._gear&page=all

Note the lack of hip belt. Early packs, at best, had nylon webbing just to secure the pack so it wouldn't bounce. All the weight was carried on the shoulders. On my first overnight trip 33 years ago my pack had to have been 50+ lbs. We didn't even think about weight. It just was what it was.

[Tipi Walter]

That's a seriously ugly pack. Jailbird special.

It's neat to know that chain gangs got to wear this pack when they worked.

[rafe]

FWIW, hip belts did appear on many external frame packs as well. My Camp Trails had one. (I think I see part of a hip belt in Tipi's last photo in Post #3.) It was not as effective as it might be on a modern pack, however. I was a late convert to internal-frame packs, I didn't switch till 2007. The I.F. packs I'd tried up until then never worked for me. Jansport was another popular pack brand, they had one with some kind of molded plastic or composite frame. Here's my Camp Trails upon arriving at Amicalola in 1990. Pack belt visible. Waaaay too heavy a load.

[lonehiker]

Ya, I replaced my pack around 1980 with a camp trails. It had a padded hip belt. I donated that pack to the scouts a few years ago. I wish that I had kept it. It was the Camp Trails Wilderness (?) that came with the kitchen sink.

[Tipi Walter]

Speaking of Jansport, here's an old one in action---

[Tipi Walter]

Anyone know anything about Wilderness Experience??

[10-K]

Go find a copy of "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" published by Rodale Press, edited by James Hare. It was published in 1975 and contains thru hike journals of about forty folks, including Ed Garvey, Earl Shaffer, Eric Ryback, Dorothy Parker, et. al. It's about 2000+ pages total, in two fat hardcover volumes.

http://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Appalac.../dp/0875960677

Back before the intertubes, this was about the best resource available for learning about thru hiking. I found a copy at my local library. Since then I've purchased my own copy via eB-y.

The best! I have both volumes prominently displayed.

[Hikemor]

IMO the great leap forward for backpacking gear was from the late '70s to about '90. This time period introduced Gore-Tex, polyester fleece, IF packs with improved suspensions, polypro thermals, lighter boots (Vasque Sundowners FTW), etc. The last twenty years have tweaked alot of gear but the basics remain.

I do remember being on a hike in the Whites when I was a kid in the early '70s. An AMC hut boy passed us headed up to one of the huts. He had boxes of vegetables or somesuch stacked on a wood pack frame with thick leather shoulder straps. I distinctly remember thinking how much torture that must have been. Of course I was standing there in leather construction boots carrying an e-frame pack w/o hip belt, cotton sweatshirt and cotton shell sleeping bag stuffed with god-knows-what. Little folding can opener too!

[rafe]

HikeMor: IMO it was Ryan Jordan et. al. that really pushed the hard core hikers to ultra-light awareness. That was somewhat later, no? I'm pretty sure average pack weights among AT thru-hikers have plummeted over the years. I only saw a handful of hard core ULers on the trail before 1990. Ward Leonard was one of them.

For sure we had polypro and Goretex and IF packs by '90. We didn't have Lekis, Sawyer mini water filters, catfood can alky stoves, cell phones, AWOL guides or TarpTents. Not too many hammock hangers either.