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BR360
01-17-2008, 17:30
OK, just wondering.

Having finishing putting away some old gear as I shuffled things around in the attic, I was thinking about doing a 70's "retro" weekend:
Kelty Tioga external frame pack; 4-pound Polarguard Bag (no-name); no sleeping pad; shelter would be a polyethylene tarp (that's what we used in scouts after ditching our 14 pound canvas tents); cook on a Boy Scout mess kit over a Sterno stove. Army poncho; crappy Scout 2-D cell flashlight, etc. Hiking staff would be cut from a sassafras sapling. A wool-plaid shirt, sweater and Navy watch cap worn over cotton longjohns and RedWing workboots would complete the rig with period fashion splendor.

(I remember fondly that January 1971 trip to Charlie's Bunion, freezing our butts off camping at Ice Water Spring shelter...)

Any one willing to consider something like this?

mudhead
01-17-2008, 17:33
I had to read it twice to find the "wool-plaid shirt."

dessertrat
01-17-2008, 17:48
Why you would do this is beyond me. . . I would rather do 1870's retro than 1970's. Better wool clothing, at least.

Almost There
01-17-2008, 17:57
Um....Have fun with that!

Jimmers
01-17-2008, 17:59
You forgot the scary 70's moustache and blue jeans!
Honestly, I'd rather try a survivalist style weekend than a 70's trip. I'd probably be more comfortable.:)

BR360
01-17-2008, 18:25
Yeah, Jeremiah Johnson! That would be cool! Better than the John Denver thing.

You'd get some weird looks, and maybe a few visits from the local constable, in the post-Meredith tragedy.

Course, going around in 70's era-gear probly wouldn't be any better....

Tipi Walter
01-17-2008, 18:35
Some of the old stuff is great, I started out on really early 1950s crap(heavy bag, canvas scout pack), and then swung back around to backpacking in the 1970s with some great old North Face gear(A-frame tent, external frame pack, North Face goose down bag, etc).

The problem is, some of the best stuff gets deep-sixed by the gear companies, and I'm sure most of us can name tents, bags or packs that we remember and would buy in a instant if only they were still made. North Face use to make a 3 pole hoop tent called the Westwind which I once owned and which was the perfect backpacking tent. Where is it now? Discontinued.

Mt Hardwear use to make a series of great tents(Thru-Hiker, Muir Trail, South Col). Where are they now? Discontinued. This is a strange thing going on with gear and it's upsetting. But y'know, when you look at the best stuff, stuff like Western Mountaineering, Hilleberg, Integral Designs, Feathered Friends, Bibler, McHale, this stuff stays the same, for the most part. Improved but not just dumped.

kayak karl
01-17-2008, 18:45
my friends still talk about our camping trips in the late 60's. laid out sleeping bag, put our stuff on it, roll it up, then rolled plastic tarp around that. tied of both ends like a saltwater taffy (jersey thing). hooked up a sling and we were off.
to this day when be get together, 40 years later, we still talk about those days. :sun
so thanks to: Shnock, Squirrel, Nuggs, Gona, Maffi, Nuggs, Frankie, Spankie, Skill, B, Kevin and any of the gang a may of forgot, for the GOOD days.:sun

Don't want to do the 70's camping thing again. it would NEVER be as good:)

mudhead
01-17-2008, 18:53
Now you know food tastes better cooked in a #10 can. Coat hangers were thicker back then too.

Jim Adams
01-17-2008, 20:46
I'll bet you will be shocked at how comfortable and fun it is...new technology is wonderful but it also kinda spoils you. My 2002 pack was 20lbs lighter and equipment far "superior" to my 1990 thru hike but it seems strange that 2002 wasn't any easier, more comfortable or more fun.

geek

slow
01-17-2008, 21:48
MY dana is my best friend of packs.It may be old and heavy but it work's great.Now i have a, ula,smd,osprey, but they dont have the comfort.I can load that pack from 15-50 and it's still the same...comfort.

You must have had a good pack also in the 90's.

Boudin
01-17-2008, 21:50
I think an old farts retro weekend would be fun. I wonder how long it would take me to grow that 70s porn star mustache?

The Doctor
01-17-2008, 21:56
I would go but i think i'm to young (1983). I do however have a nice halloween disco costume that i've been dying to wear out hiking. Something about pointy collars, permed hair, bell bottoms and goldfish heel shoes makes me want to the trail.

slow
01-17-2008, 22:03
I would go but i think i'm to young (1983). I do however have a nice halloween disco costume that i've been dying to wear out hiking. Something about pointy collars, permed hair, bell bottoms and goldfish heel shoes makes me want to the trail.

Heck, you put the cosume on and i'll lug the gear in my dana.:D

Jim Adams
01-17-2008, 22:09
I think an old farts retro weekend would be fun. I wonder how long it would take me to grow that 70s porn star mustache?


hey!!!!
...never shaved mine off!!:D

geek

Jim Adams
01-17-2008, 22:10
....work'in on the mullet!

geek

Newb
01-17-2008, 22:29
striped tube socks? Butt cut? transistor radio?

River Runner
01-17-2008, 22:57
OK, just wondering.

Any one willing to consider something like this?

No thanks. I like my modern equipment.

kayak karl
01-18-2008, 08:01
striped tube socks? Butt cut? transistor radio?
a tie-dye party with a fondue pot and black lite:D

:-?aluminum pot, soda can simmer stove, titanium forks:-?

SlowLightTrek
01-18-2008, 09:37
Hey it doesn't matter how you get there. Just get there.

mudhead
01-18-2008, 10:16
Just don't bring any of that "members only" stuff with you! I still have high school history teacher nightmares. Powder blue still turns my stomach.

dessertrat
01-18-2008, 10:37
I'll bet you will be shocked at how comfortable and fun it is...new technology is wonderful but it also kinda spoils you. My 2002 pack was 20lbs lighter and equipment far "superior" to my 1990 thru hike but it seems strange that 2002 wasn't any easier, more comfortable or more fun.

geek

Hmm. . . but what if you had had the 20 pounds lighter pack when you were 12 years younger, in 1990. . . ;)

Gray Blazer
01-18-2008, 10:43
Hey, I'm retroeing it everytime I go out.

sparky2000
01-18-2008, 11:04
Go farther back - wear all leather, bear blanket, musket w/powder and back-up bow and arrow, hatchet, bowie knife. NO horses! Trap your own food and pick roots.

Gray Blazer
01-18-2008, 11:08
Go farther back - wear all leather, bear blanket, musket w/powder and back-up bow and arrow, hatchet, bowie knife. NO horses! Trap your own food and pick roots.
I'm flashin' back every time I go out. I might think I'm hallucinating, too, if I see you dressed like that.:banana

Mags
01-18-2008, 13:59
Go farther back - wear all leather, bear blanket, musket w/powder and back-up bow and arrow, hatchet, bowie knife. NO horses! Trap your own food and pick roots.

Well, there was some canoeing and horse packing involved on this trip. The co-leader of this trip was known to walk 25+ MPD consistently. He also took a walking stick and a dog.

http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/

NICKTHEGREEK
01-18-2008, 14:11
How the heck did Lewis and Clark get across the continent without sil nylon and gore tex?

Gray Blazer
01-18-2008, 14:42
How the heck did Lewis and Clark get across the continent without sil nylon and gore tex?
The woman, Sacacawhat's her name? That's why she made it on the dollar and they didn't.

Hikes in Rain
01-18-2008, 15:21
I'm still trying to figure out how that's different than what I do every time I go out now. Are you saying I need new gear?

Mags
01-18-2008, 15:36
The woman, Sacacawhat's her name? That's why she made it on the dollar and they didn't.

Sacajawea's main contribution to the Corps of Discovery was not as a guide.

She helped immensely on the other side of Lemhi Pass in helping to procure horses. Her long-lost brother was a a chief in the Shoshone tribe (seriously!).

She also helped in finding edible roots, berries and other food in addition to her knowledge of medicinal herbs. She was invaluable as a translator. Perhaps most importantly, the other tribes figured that any expedition with a young woman and child was NOT a war party.

As a guide though? Only in a very few cases (namely to confirm they were in her childhood territory again).

BR360
01-18-2008, 15:37
Uh, maybe.

I love my UL rig (about 19 lbs. incl. food & water for 6D, 5N, depending on food, base weight of <10 lbs).

But looking at that 70's era gear made me reminisce about all the great times we had, when weight wasn't such an issue. Now my joints are happy to go UL. Not so much because I go farther, Just that I go the same distance 8-12 MPD without hurting as much.

scavenger
01-18-2008, 15:55
I don't know about 70s retro but making and using primitive gear can be fun. Ive got a buckskin backpack vest and pants- tanned the leather and sewed it myself. Maybe I should take the pack on my thru, its only a couple ounces heavier than my golite...

BR360
01-18-2008, 15:58
Ya know...part of the territory the AT goes through is the land of Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket (as well, of course of Cherokee and Iroquois). So there is a precedent for the original rig...

The Great Valley in Virginia (where I-81 travels now, just west of the Blue Ridge where the AT traverses) is one of the original "long trails" in North America.

DuctTape
01-18-2008, 19:47
Yes, wool-plaid shirts and flannels for everyone. C'mon, who can resist that?

And don't forget your canteens.

Mags
01-21-2008, 12:19
Yes, wool-plaid shirts and flannels for everyone. C'mon, who can resist that?



I now do backcountry skiing with this piece of equipment:

http://www.maddogonline.com/surplus/wholesale/32403.html

Find it is more forgiving and versatile than more modern jackets for winter use. As I wear it all day, I don't notice the weight.


Paid $15 for it, too, at a surplus store.

Rain Man
01-21-2008, 15:30
How the heck did Lewis and Clark get across the continent without sil nylon and gore tex?

Because they each had about a dozen professional porters hauling their gear for them?! LOL

Rain:sunMan

.

DuctTape
01-21-2008, 16:03
$15 is sweet, but is it available in plaid?

Mags
01-21-2008, 16:52
$15 is sweet, but is it available in plaid?

I am sure if you used some red and black markers you could have all the plaid fun you could possibly want. Pair it with some argyle socks.

atrerunner
01-21-2008, 17:38
from the proto-original-ul hiker :), who didn't carry much at all, on the outside anyway....gear list is there somewhere.....
http://www.peacepilgrim.net/ap_trail.htm

sheepdog
01-21-2008, 18:17
Go farther back - wear all leather, bear blanket, musket w/powder and back-up bow and arrow, hatchet, bowie knife. NO horses! Trap your own food and pick roots.
I know a guy who is a re-inactor. Supposedly he and some of his friends were somewhere in Texas on an early morning hike dressed in buckskins, with rifles and everything. They ran in to a lone hiker who looked a little confused seeing the men in old fashioned dress.
The re-inactor asked the man if he knew where Huston was. The hiker replied I think the city is about 50 miles that way. The re-inactor replied,"City?? I'm looking for the man. I hear he is raising an army." He then just walked off into the woods. :eek:

Montego
01-22-2008, 02:39
Retro? Retro you say? Knew if I waited enough years my gear would become the norm again :D:rolleyes:

dpage
01-28-2008, 17:56
hell ya lets start a revolution

T-Dubs
01-28-2008, 21:19
Hey! I'll be taking that same Kelty pack with me this April.
I've gone from cutting-edge to out-of-date to retro (and it's only taken me 30 years).

I'd be tempted to go look at new packs if:
a) I thought there might be a better one out there
b) It didn't violate my notion of 'very little planning'

TWS

bigboots
01-28-2008, 22:53
Well heck, at the rate you are all going you might as well pack the cast iron dutch oven. I might be to young to talk but there is a point when pain and fun meet and carrying all that heavy gear is not looking to exciting. I for one will stick with the lightweight technology over that old (although quality) crap.

Bigboots

BR360
01-29-2008, 17:33
That Dutch oven made some outstanding Chicken & Dumplings & Peach Cobbler! It was worth it if you can divide up the "group's share of the weight" among 10 people or so!

Mags
01-29-2008, 18:18
That Dutch oven made some outstanding Chicken & Dumplings & Peach Cobbler! It was worth it if you can divide up the "group's share of the weight" among 10 people or so!


We used this when I was (briefly) in Boy Scouts. Burnt cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Of course, this is more a reflection on the (lack of) cooking skills for a bunch of 12 yr old of boys. :)

In the vein of retro cooking in camp, I've had steaks cooked over wood coals from a camp fire. Yummy!

mudhead
01-29-2008, 18:31
Carnivore. That is the new retro.