Then and now

omg…you've come a long way huh?

That's amazing!

Care to talk about your kit then and now and how you got to where you are now? Did that monster scare you away from backpacking for part of your life?

A picture is worth…

I don't even remember what was in the pack. There really wasn't much. I don't remember carrying a tent and I only vaguely remember having to carry shared food/cooking pots on group trips. But my gear overall was car-camping stuff. Jeans and t-shirts, traditional metal flash light. A synthetic fill sleeping bag. A Bible.

I do remember the foam pad. That foam pad was a big cushy polyurethane foam pad. Looks more than an inch thick. It was longer than me and in the morning it would be soaking wet. Sweat? Condensation?

Nice pictures

I still have most of that stuff in my basement

I need to go through boxes and scan old pictures. Some of those include pictures of my mother and father (and probably me) during our backpacking trip in the "Black Forest" of north central Pennsylvania in the summer of 1942. I was 6 at the time (oops, just revealed my age!). I remember that my Dad started out with 70 lbs. and my mother (5'2" and 115 lbs) with 60. Backpacks did not have hip belts in those days; they used tump lines. I was allowed to carry 5 lbs. The tent, considered ultralight in those days, was waxed Egyptian cotton, about 11 lbs. for three persons. I don't know how much the sleeping bags weighed, but they were down with slightly waxed cotton shells. We didn't use pads and didn't know enough to fluff up the sleeping bags, which is probably why we were COLD the first night! Of course nearly all the gear was left over from before the war started–it wouldn't have been available otherwise. Clothing, of course, was cotton and wool because synthetic fabrics (except rayon) hadn't come into general use, and anything that was developed was obviously reserved for the military. Wearing cotton meant that if you got wet, you had to stand by the fire rotating as though on a spit to get dry before going to bed.

One memory is that I had to make a collection of something for school. I started out with rocks, but my parents very quickly changed it to moss!

It was a rather adventurous trip, not the least because my parents were green as grass as was, obviously, I. Somehow we survived it all with an abiding love for the outdoors! I learned how to do chores such as getting firewood and water, which were part of my permanent outdoor chores until I grew up and left home.

I had only just been born in 1978. However it was only by the mid= 80's i was backpacking with the family on the regular. I dont remember much of it as i was young. What i do remember is week long plus trips with giant packs on the adults backs and me not finding very fun!!! For example we would make pizza from scratch over hot coals wrapped in tinfoil. We carried all kinds of stuff you dont need and i would never ever even consider car camping! We sure had fun though and we always ate real very very well. A side note though Both my mother and her x-boyfriend can no longer really hike as their knees are shot!!!!

This is an interesting thread and here are some of my fotogs:

WAY BACK THEN shows me in Texas in 1963 with my standard load, a canvas Yucca pack.

BACK THEN shows me in 1980 with a North Face BackMagic pack I used for 20 years.

AND NOW: The evolution of my standard load. This was taken around December 2010 at the beginning of an 18 day backpacking trip. I was at my lightest in '63.

TipiWalter, is it me or does your pack get BIGGER as time moves forward? I have heard about you, that you carry a big load but spend a huge amount of time out there, so no criticism intended.

My pack gets bigger mainly due to seeing how long I can stay out without resupply.

I have found 21 days to be about my limit before I need to restock my fuel and food, although with a little palate management I believe I could push this to around 25 days. I noticed in your top fotog that you were using a sierra cup, and so I had to include my old favorite cup from the late 1970's. But even without the food, my kit is not light as my pack and tent alone come in at 16 lbs.