My neighbor had a yard sale the other weekend and the one item that caught my eye was the bright orange external frame pack. I want to say it was a Trailwise pack. 95% sure it was.
I like some of the "retro" gear showing up, like the lightweight canvas "three-pocket" w/zippers ruckrack, my first "paid" rucksack from Pike Street, Seattle, REI.
The "good ol' days"?
REI had "flood sales". I asked one time: the store is on the upper floor. How do you have "flood sales"?
I also went in the Seattle REI one time, wearing almost entirely worn out hiking boots. The employee showed me the "used gear" rack of "rental gear" and "returns" and brought out a recent slightly worn "return" pair of hiking boots that fit me.
REI membership #23-119
I hiked half the trail in '77 and grew up in the 60's hiking the section where Eagles Nest shelter is in PA> with the boy scouts.
The biggest difference I see is boots (mostly leather, heavy boots back then) and framed packs (heavy)
We still had down sleeping bags, ('77 anyway) and lightweight tents (under 5 lbs).
I used a svea until it blew up from using unleaded gas and then switched to only fires.
Boy scouts taught us to build shelters with pine boughs, and dig a trench around our tents. (60's anyway)
I don't remember treating water myself but remember some people using iodine.
Many of the shelters back in the '70's used the baseball bat floors, and some of them, just the ground for a floor.
I had the AT guidebooks but remember a hiker who was only using the state highway maps (that you got at gas stations back then), as the trail was marked on them.
Almost every town had a fire house or church that would let you sleep somewhere for free.
We had a great time, but I can still remember how heavy my pack was.
Ray Jardine changed hiking over to UL more than anyone else around 1995
I had done 2 thru's on the AT by then and was on the PCT (in '96) when running shoes started being worn by thru-hikers.
I gladly joined in and never looked back.
Don't let your fears stand in the way of your dreams
I personally consider 1979 to be the beginning of the "modern era" for the AT. That's just a subjective distinction based on the fact that it was the year of David Brill's through hike. Brill's As Far as the Eye Can See is the most beautiful book about the AT that I've read. He was a late teen and still encountered things from the "old days" - like old mountain women in dresses searching for ginseng or wild ramps. Yet it was the dawning of the modern era as the trail was really catching on by '79. Besides, that's the year that I graduated from high school. Regrettably I didn't hike the AT.
I began section hiking in the mid 1990s. I bought a Jansport external frame pack. I am still using that pack today. Both of my boys, who are 21 and 19, use external frame packs. We get odd looks from shuttle drivers and young folks, but I far prefer external frames. I don't have any specialized gear or apparel at all. I use a Coleman sleeping bag and a 4-pound Sierra dome tent. I wear sneakers and shorts and light weight fabric. I keep gear that needs to be dry in plastic trash bags. I buy regular food. On the first night, we often carry in some weight and eat decent cooked meals - fajitas with freshly cut (at the campsite or shelter) vegetables.
When I hike the trail today, I often compare it to Earl Shaffer's hike in the '40s, Brill's in 1979, Jan Curran's in 1991. I know they Shaffer still met mountain folks who drove their livestock into the mountains during the summer season. They found old fences and chimneys and sometimes falling apart barns. Vestiges of those things can still be found today - traces of the mountain communities and old timers that existed into the mid 20th century and even later. And you can still pass through old apple orchards and the occasional graveyard.
Lovers of history walk into the past on the AT, with people and ways of life long gone. So find and read the old books and journals. As others have mentioned, Kephart's Our Southern Highlanders is magnificent. But Brill's is my favorite book. He description of the seasons - especially spring - is Appalachian Trial literature that rivals Shakespeare.
I typically bring a highway map, or the relevant portion thereof, in some form, on my section hikes. It's always useful to know about towns and the roads running on either side of, or across the trail in the vicinity of your hike. Most decent maps of sufficient scale will show the trail.Originally Posted by fiddlehead
If it's a New England state, I take a photo of the relevant page(s) from the DeLorme Gazeteer. Modern digital cameras (and some smart phones) have sufficient resolution to "scan" a map that way. I load the image onto my phone as a JPG. Sort of mixing old tech with new.
We learned by making mistakes and face to face conversations. If you wanted to call someone it was collect. Seems like we were wetter alot more.
More road walks, more map use, more figuring out where we were. Leather boots, heavy packs. Was fun.
I hiked the AT in '78. Wore simple leather boots with Vibram waffle soles. They made the whole trip, with a little cobbler work in Hot Springs Tenn. The mud in the Smokies was so thick it pulled one of the soles off. I did meet one girl who was wearing tennis shoes, I think she was on her 5th or 6th pair by New Hampshire.
My pack was a surplus ALICE pack. It sucked. I'm tall and the thing is meant to be one size fits most. Not to mention that "durable" and "army surplus" are not synonymous. It broke on me more than once and had to be repaired along the way. I bought an Osprey pack in the 80s that I still have that is light years ahead in comfort, about half the weight, and durability.
Most of the trip, my pack weighed between 55-65lbs, depending on how long we stayed out between towns. Down south, there were no places near the trail for much of the state, so we got used to carrying 10-14 days worth of food. I got caught in the Whites in late Sept. and it got cold at night. I carried a wool blanket to supplement my sleeping bag, as well as some extra clothes. My pack weighed 75lbs.
I used a mesh hammock and tarp for most of the trip, that saved me quite a bit of weight over a tent as most tents back then were 5-6 lbs if they were lightweight, and more if they weren't. Some of the shelters down south were pretty bad, shotgun blasts in the metal roof was standard equipment, and mice and skunks were everywhere.
It was really hard to eat enough food as there were not a lot of choices on resupply. Peanut butter and bread, Mac and Cheese, Stovetop stuffing, etc were about all you could find. I was well over 6' tall and weighed 140lbs when I was done.My hiking stick was bigger around than my thighs. We rarely ate in town at restaurants as we were broke kids.
Met lots of interesting people and had a great time. My daughter is hiking the trail this year, but with far better gear, more experience, and I'm her trail boss so she gets the best in food and nutrition. I don't think she's even lost any weight. But they do seem to stop at every hostel, restaurant, coffee shop, and bar along the way. Calories are much less of a problem for them now.
Az
Really like reading this thread, new to the board. Hiked the trail in 78 NC-Maine having sectioned hiked GA previously. Used a Jansport d3 which broke in NH and they mailed me a new one, Remember food drops and sleeping on floors of fire stations and yards of churches. Ice creams on the front stepson local gas stations and road walking down small one lane roads early in the morning. Good times! Used a Optimus 8r stove that I still bring out on occasion for a solo hike to reflect on the ghosts of the past of my partners that no longer are around.
Still cannot eat instant oatmeal
used old Rachle leather boots...man they were painful to put on frozen in the morning!!!
ON a different thought I have started collecting old AT guides on a whim and recently found a 1934 guide thou have not received it yet.
I have hiked most every major creek drainage and ridge in the Smokeys and found many a old homestead and apple tree that spoke to me of times past.
Now out in the PNW, not as many ghosts for me but the air is clean and hiking is great!
This board brings back many a memory
"strider"
Never straight just forward"
I have volume two of "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" published by Rodale. Absolutely amazing account of Thru's in the late 60's and early 70's. I cannot imagine bury food cache as some did.... but I have thought about it recently as I ponder hiking the SNP with no resupply point... but back to the book. The stories are spellbinding and although I've read many contemporary accounts of hiking the AT, there is something mystical about those early birds. I am a grandpa and have hike almost 900 miles on the AT... all in the last ten years. Thank God for UL... I started out humping an almost 50 lb pack and now hit the trail with a weeks worth of supplies of around 30 lbs. Again, back to the book... it was amazing the way most of those early birds were treated in the towns... they were "celebrities" and from what I gather treated very well.... REAL trail magic and hospitality. I look at the equipment and clothing I use know and marvel at the "stuff" they used... and still made it!..... wonderful wonderful read... if you can get your hands on either volumes you won't regret it! happy trails, john+
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