Old external frame packs. What do you do with them?

I'd look at ebay if you can I.D. your frame. Some are still very useful;some rare.There is always Goodwill or the Salvation Army. I'm sure others will suggest the Scouts too.

What kind of pack? I had a K2 Shortbed (Dana Design) that I sold on gear swap for $125. Some of the old packs are collectable.

Traditional backpacking forums? :D

If there's a chapter near you…Sierra Club Inner City Outings?

http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/

Keep using them for a once in a while nostalgia trip :)

They are great if you need to carry 3 gallons of water across the desert too.

If they are really old, you might be able to sell it on eBay?

I know that they get used pretty often on trail crews.

Sometimes you need to carry 80lbs of lumber into the backcountry. Or a bunch of tools. Lots of heavy stuff is used in trail construction.

Hold on to them until they come back in fashion.

Agree on trail crews. I use an ancient external frame pack to carry my chainsaw up the hill for trail maintenance.

I gave away my Camp Trails pack I got in the early '70's. I would like to have it now for a nostalgia, retro gear trip.
Duane

Use it to haul stuff, not for backpacking but just as a work horse. Install a shelf and rope some firewood to it, go gather trash and lash the trashbags to the frame. If you are a hunter, use them to pack out meat.
And use them in winter when you want to carry extra heavy loads for camp comfort (large tent, wood stove, ect.)

Walk to the grocery store and carry groceries home in them.

I sold mine on ebay.

Plan to pack them yourself in a flat, mirror type box. If you go to the UPS store they will tell you the only way to do it is in a huge box that will measure higher volume and ship like a 80-90lb package costing a hundred or more dollars. Instead I put it in a flat type box like you would package a picture or mirror, input the measurements and weight and they shipped for about $25 bucks from GA to CA. Bot my packs were aluminum frame Gregory packs, over a decade old and sold for around $100 bucks each plus shipping.

Please do contact your local Boy Scout "District" or "Council" office: many of them offer a beginning backpacking course (where they do go over UL practices and goals) and for which they like to offer loaner backpacks so that participants can hike before buying. Even adult-sized leaders can benefit from your old pack!