Come on Grandpa, tell us about the good old days.

[Enigma]

I was able find the old SVEA123 and NatGeo that started it all for me. The stove is the only surviving piece of original "Modern" gear...prior to that it was campfires. IMG_20151215_144952.jpg

[soilman]

Here's a picture from Aug. 13, 1977, cooking breakfast on Charlies Bunion with the SVEA.081301.jpg Some other things that might be interesting. Only treated water once. Trail names were not common. I am not claiming we started the half gallon challenge, but we ate a half gallon of ice cream in Allen, PA in the middle of the road walk across the Cumberland Valley.

[fiddlehead]

Hiked 1,200 miles of the trail back in '77.
Differences from today:
Most all used frame packs with heavy leather boots.
There was no raingear that worked, except those who carried rubber.
I used an "instant tube tent" that I paid $5 for.
Worked for a while but eventually bought a $25 cheap pup tent at K-mart instead.
Travellers checks were the norm, but the word "VOID" came out on them once they got wet. (and everythng got wet eventually)
I used a SVEA, until it blew up, then I built fires.
Most towns had a free place for hikers to stay. Usually fire houses or church hostels.
Climbs were steeper (they added more switchbacks as time went on)
I never treated water. My girlfriend got dysentary and left the trail for a week, I kept going and she joined me in Waynesboro, VA.
Rusty's wasn't there yet.
I carried one of the lightest weight packs I believe.
Mostly because a friend of mine had read up on the trail a lot and wizened me to the benefits of less weight.
For example: both my girlfriend and I had down bags with lightweight foam pads.
My tent was super light, even light by today's standards (instant tube tent was probably about 6 oz)
We had some freeze dried food that a friend gave us to start out with.
But mostly carried mac and cheese with a can of tuna (for 2 of us)
Cheese and crackers for snacks.
Instant oatmeal or grits for breakfast.
2 of us sharing equipment made for much lighter loads. (it worked for us back then, but I wouldn't recommend it anymore)

Another major observation was the fact that trail registers were our ONLY means of info on what's coming up: towns, water, locals attitudes, etc.
And were the bible for us. Almost everyone wrote in them and spent hours reading them.
There was always one at each shelter.

It was GREAT!

(i don't think I could hike the AT in the present day and age of all the hordes of people, spoiling the water sources, crowding the shelters, pissing off the locals in towns, etc.)

[TexasBob]

Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker" was the go to book in the 70's.

[Venchka]

Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker" was the go to book in the 70's.

Still is. Too bad nobody reads anymore.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Traveler]

Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker" was the go to book in the 70's.

That book was my bible in the 70s and got me moving into more progressive gear that I needed as opposed to wanted.

[Kerosene]

I started my long-distance backpacking career during spring breaks in the early 70's, hiking 50-100 mile sections of the mid-Atlantic AT. My trail journals for those trips can be found here: http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=259368 Finally completed all AT sections on October 4, 2014 atop Katahdin.

My recollection is quite similar to those posters above: hiking in jeans and cotton; heavy leather boots; huge heavy sleeping bags and tents; Kelty Tioga; 1-lb Optimus 8R white gas stove, etc.

[Lyle]

Reading one of the above posts reminded me. Who remembers the bright blue rinse water you would get after eating your morning instant oatmeal, then rinsing the cup/bowl with iodine treated water?

Also, nothing in today's experience compares to the absolute, exquisite pleasure of taking off your heavy leather boots at the end of a long, difficult day.

[soilman]

... rinsing the cup/bowl with iodine treated water?

Also, nothing in today's experience compares to the absolute, exquisite pleasure of taking off your heavy leather boots at the end of a long, difficult day.

I only remember treating water once and iodine tablets were the chemical of choice back then. Taking off your wet, heavy, leather boots, drying them over the campfire then Sno-sealing them was at least a weekly ritual.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I forgot to mention paying the 10 cent pedestrian toll to cross the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge. I think the pedestrian toll was ended around 1980. At the time, it was the only place you absolutely HAD to legally pay anything to hike the AT, as at that time there were no Backcountry permit fees in GSMNP.

[soilman]

I forgot to mention paying the 10 cent pedestrian toll to cross the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge.

You only had to pay the toll if NOBO. SOBO didn't have to pay.

[4eyedbuzzard]

You only had to pay the toll if NOBO. SOBO didn't have to pay.

Yes. You are correct. I think most NY tolls were (and still are in many cases) only collected for west to east Hudson crossings, heading inbound to NYC area, not outbound - I know the Tappan Zee Bridge is still this way.

[Mountain Mike]

Yes. You are correct. I think most NY tolls were (and still are in many cases) only collected for west to east Hudson crossings, heading inbound to NYC area, not outbound - I know the Tappan Zee Bridge is still this way.

When I drove truck OTR I used to joke it was free to get into NJ, but had to pay to leave & were happy to do so!

[Deadeye]

We never treated water on the LT.
Nearly every outhouse had a copy of Playboy (not many women hiked back then)

[Rain Man]

Differences from today:
There was no raingear that worked, except those who carried rubber.

And so ... what's the difference from today?!!!

LOL

[squeezebox]

Yes. You are correct. I think most NY tolls were (and still are in many cases) only collected for west to east Hudson crossings, heading inbound to NYC area, not outbound - I know the Tappan Zee Bridge is still this way.

Same at Poughkeepsie a bit farther north.

[RockDoc]

I hiked 1000 miles (HF-ME) the summer of 1974, using fairly heavy gear, a Kelty frame pack, and huge waffle stomper Reichle boots. The weight didn't keep us from being able to walk at 4 mph for long distances if we wanted to. There were a lot fewer hikers and the trail was often obscured. I got lost a lot. Towns were not very enjoyable because you felt like a vagrant, and were often viewed that way by the town people. You just got in, washed clothes and bought food, and got back out.
But there was a wonderful freedom to it, shared with the other long distance hikers.
But the country in general did not "get it" about hiking back then.
It's all gone mainstream now, for better or worse, but I have enjoyable memories of hiking in the 70's.

[jdavis7590]

I started backpacking in the mid 60's (FIFTY years ago!), and yes, with flannel shirts, jeans and my good old SVEA, still got that somewhere. Canvas external frame pack, canvas pup tents, Flannel lined cotton fabric rectangular sleeping bag, aluminum cook kits, big waffle-stomping boots, plastic ponchos, good stuff. We had a blast. Didn't do big miles though 6 or 8 a day or so. I see a map of one place we used to go all the time (Red River Gorge area in KY) and these days, even at 60 years old, with my current gear, I could do every trail in that place in about 2 days.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[rocketsocks]

We used to cook pancakes every morning, and bacon on the first morning. We often fished for dinner.

[shelterbuilder]

Well, I AM a Grandpa (twice over, thank you very much)!! Bob Proudman once told me that "grandchildren are the sign of a life well-lived", and I kind of like that. But back in "pre-historic days" (the 60's and 70's), there were LOTS of things that were different. Most of my friends were in Scouts - I was not, so I depended on my Dad for "stuff" and the knowledge of how to use it. An old Army surplus sleeping bag (2 wool liners inside of a heavy cotton shell), an air mattress, an old CANVAS pup tent, and meals cooked over a campfire using an Army mess kit and canteen/canteen cup. Dad was a hunter/fisherman, and his only real use for "walking" was to get to a good hunting or fishing site, but he humored my mis-guidedness and bought me my first (no-name) aluminum frame pack, a WATERPROOF nylon tent, and a good pair of hunting boots!! By the time I got to college in Reading, Pa. (near the A.T. ), I joined the college's Outing Club. December of '73, a group of us spent a MISERABLY COLD night camped on the Pinnacle. After that trip, we never saw half of that group again, but the rest of us decided that if we were going to keep doing this, we needed better equipment! Upgrades included a 20* down REI sleeping bag and foam pad, a Gerry 2-wall tent, an Optimus 99 white gas stove (still have it, still use it), and lots of surplus wool from the local Army surplus store down the road. Lipton beef stroganoff dinners, mac and cheese with a can of tuna or chicken, PB&J (on squished bread), oatmeal, Pop-Tarts, and tons of gorp! Books by Colin Fletcher, Eric Ryback, Ed Garvey, and others. No Gore-Tex yet (waterproof rainsuits left you just as wet as if you'd been wearing no raingear at all). And everybody wore jeans and cotton flannel shirts (the lucky ones had wool long underwear, and maybe a pair of surplus wool pants). 50 pound packs were common - my first one weighed 65 - and we still managed 14 mile days. (My, how we old folks can ramble on....)