The Colin Fletcher Easy Chair

I usually just build/create something with what I have on hand and what is around…lots of different ways to be comfy! That said, if camp chairs were light enough, I'd bring one.

Just a small nit to pick:

"He was the first person to hike the entire length of Grand Canyon National Park…"

He was the first person to write a book about hiking through the Grand Canyon. I'm sure many had preceded him. :-)

Actually Colin Fletcher was the first person to backpack the entire length of Grand Canyon National Park. He received a mass of information from Harvey Butchart, a math professor at Arizona State University, who had packed the entire length in 2 – 4 day trips except for a stretch at Great Thumb Mesa. Colin got to this spot and after crossing it found footprints in the new snowfall. He later learned Harvey was worried about him and did something about it by making sure you could cross these "natural ampitheaters." While people have been in the canyon since before Powell went down the Colorado in wooden boats, Fletcher is the first person to backpack the whole canyon in one trip, it took him two months. Sorry, didn't mean to preach.

Colin Fletcher masterfully wrote the 1st edition of The Complete Backpacker just as I was discovering backpacking.
Mr. Fletcher wrote with such passion from his experiences in the outdoors and objectively reviewed the latest backpacking equipment while promoting environmental consciousness.

The Complete Walker, became a kind of "spiritual godfather" of the wilderness backpacking movement. Through successive editions, this book became the definitive work on the topic, and was christened "the Hiker's Bible" by Field and Stream magazine.

Other recommended reading from the Father of Modern Backpacking:

The Man Who Walked Through Time

The Thousand-Mile Summer

The Winds of Mara

And by the way, Colin Fletcher did this in 1961. Didn't know if you thought I was lauding someone who was there last week.

Roger don't forget "The Winds of Mara"

Dan:
Many folks use the Crazy Creek style chairs, which depend on your body weight for the back to remain upright. They run around 1.5#, and some use carbon bars or tubes to make them lighter. Campmor sells several brands, including a Slumberjack which is on sale this summer for $15.
There is also another style that to me looks like a guaranteed wedgie. But it is light, around a #.
EMS has a new one around a #, but it relies on your legs and balance to keep from falling over.
The first time I ever took a steel tube LaFuma fold up canoe chair canoeing, I knew I had to have one made of alloy. It keeps your back side up off the ground and has plenty of back support. Piragis of Ely MINN used to sell a good alloy one, but no more. Cabelas has or had one in its boating line, but the aluminum was too cheap to hold up. Using the LaFuma dimensions, I made one with a Rigid tube bender from an old pack frame (my first), and used backband type mesh for the seat and back, as they don't absorb much water in the rain. My latest is a better alloy taken from a Brookstone hunter's fold up stool and converted with a tube bender to a LaFuma type chair. These chairs have been my favorite piece of gear, as they bring true relaxation to the end of day campsite, and keep me off the cold ground. They weigh 1.5 to 1.7 #. Someone should market them from quality alloy.
Sam Farrington, Chocorua NH

I still use the Colin Fletcher chair idea with my internal frame pack – I wedge a trekking pole (or sometimes two) under the top lid/pocket, and lean against the back of the pack, you know, the side that's designed to fit your back.

With a frameless pack, I don't know – my back does not like frameless packs. And if I'm going to carry 1.5+ pounds of rods and fabric for a camp chair, it may as well be in a frame for my pack to really put the weight on my hips!

As a die hard Colin Fletcher fan, I too grew up (early 70's) on his insight. I also lamented, as he did, the move from external frame packs to internal for the loss of a really good back rest.

His quote "An I-frame makes a scurvy backrest. Especially a with staff prop. Even when it's full you can rarely lean against it for more than about 30 seconds before it swivels and falls. And unpacked its's about a useful as a waterless waterbed."

Most of my trips are in the winter during short days and so there is a lot of sitting around after dark and sitting cross legged is just not suitable, especially for old backs and legs. So I have used a Thermarest chair for years with what ever pad I have. Currently I am using a 36" cut down ridgerest (6 oz.) with a 36" XS Prolite (8 oz.) in a Compack chair (6 oz.). Great sleeping and sitting comfort. Wouldn't leave home without it.

I'm kind of leaning towards the Golite Pinnacle, it,s a little heavier than say the jam2, but it has a foam frame. I don't know what that means really, and I'll have to find it in a store and try it out. Maybe with the foam frame it has some "leanability".
Anyone with experience with this pack as a backrest?

I too read Fletcher early in my backpacking career. I never understood the problem with using an internal frame pack as a backrest. I just lean my pack against a tree, with the suspension facing out, put my sit pad or sleeping pad on the ground inside the hip belt, and sit. It makes a great backrest.

I can see the issue if there are no trees, or if the pack is empty. But I generally do this while hiking during the day, not while in camp.

Both the Jam and the Pinnacle have a foam backpad, however the foam is more rigid in the Pinnacle. I don't believe it is accurate to say either pack is 'framed'. I have older versions of both packs and stripped down they weigh 17 oz and 22 oz respectively.

I lean on rocks, logs or trees. On trips where I plan to do a lot of sitting, I bring a Crazy Legs Beach Chair, my favorite camp chair.

I use a Sling-Light. 18ounces of pure bliss. I don't carry the head rest, just slouch and use my jacket.

Every time I don't bring it I wish I had.

Photo from Sling-Light ad. (Blond not included.)

The Sling-Light Eight on the PCT.