In the thread about Luke Schmidt’s: Bob Wilderness trip, Luke asked me this question,
“Nick I’m glad you enjoyed it. Your comment makes me think FS maps used to be the standard. Is that what it was like in your younger days?”
So I thought I would start a thread and not hijack the original. Some of what I am about to share was over 40 years ago and my memory maybe a little cloudy, but it is pretty much what I did. I am sure some folks can add to this and maybe point out errors in my recollections.
In 1971 I got out of the military and decided to head into the Sierra for about 6 months. Really didn’t have a specific plan. In the service I was trained on the use of topo maps and lensatic compass, so I was expert at using them. But USGS topo maps were hard to come by. For the most part, you needed to mail order them from the USGS and the wait was several weeks. Plus they were expensive.
So I had to rely on USFS and NPS maps, as did most backpackers. I had never heard of a trail guide and that genre was probably rare. If my memory serves me right, the USFS and NPS maps were free at ranger stations.
I suspect, from what I have read in recent years, that back during this time local hiking clubs and maybe local Sierra Club groups may have more detailed maps for their members, but I have no experience with that.
You might also find it interesting that prior to 1973 road maps were also free at gas stations, but that changed in 1973 with the gas shortage (along with gas stations discontinuing trading stamps from S&H Green and Blue Chip – another history story that many of you may never heard of).
Also back then, backcountry rangers were really knowledgeable and helpful (today they seem more like auditors and policemen). When you ran into a ranger they could help with routes, suggest great hikes, and generally were awesome and knowledgeable people.
So on this trip, as I moved from unit to unit, when I went into a town for supplies I would get a map of the new section as needed. Also backcountry ranger stations usually had maps.
My trip started when I hitchhiked to the little town of Kernville in the Southern Sierra and waited for the snow in the high Sierra to melt. My wait actually was a hike up the lower Kern Canyon to Tobias Creek, a hike up out of Tobias and then a walk to the Greenhorn Mountains. After this I planned to hike back down towards my next stage, which was the Dome Land Wilderness and the Golden Trout Wilderness.
From the Greenhorn Mountains I hiked back down near Tobias Creek, up the Kern passing the small stores at Fairview (still in operation) and Roads End (no longer there & not the one in Kings Canyon) up to the one-way bridge (still there but closed to traffic) below Johnsondale. I continued the hike up the Kern Canyon, pulled myself across the surging Kern River in a hand trolley somewhere around Durwood Camp, hiked up Lower Peppermint Creek to Lloyd Meadows that included wandering around the Dome Land Wilderness and Golden Trout Wilderness. I did have to re-supply a couple times at the lumber mill store at Johnsondale and at Quaking Aspen. Eventually I walked up through Tunnel Meadows and got close to Mt Whitney.
In those days you didn’t need a permit to hike Whitney, or along the John Muir Trail, or anywhere for that matter. Before summiting Whitney, I had to go down into Lone Pine for supplies and, if I remember correctly, get a map. After summiting Mt. Whitney, I decided to hike the JMT to Yosemite. I had never heard of the JMT, but there it was on my new map. I got to Tuolumne Meadows and on my way down to Yosemite was put off by all the crowds of people. So I turned around and hiked back to Kernville; taking different trails whenever possible. Often I would hike cross-country to get from one trail to another.
The thing to keep in perspective, I suppose, is this what backpackers did. No one told us it was dangerous or there was a better way. The maps were fine, not as good as a topo, but manageable. Also, it was not unusual for backpackers to go 14 days or more between supplies.
On this adventure I made big re-supply trips down to Lone Pine, Bishop, Mammoth, and Lee Vining. Also made many shorter trips to small towns along the way.
I did a similar 6 month trip the following year in 1972.
Sometime in the 70’s REI built a store in Torrance, CA that had a selection of USGS topo maps, but I was pretty selective of what I bought – cost was an important consideration – so I would just buy maps that were a filler for areas on a USFS or NPS map I needed more detail. When I moved to desert in the 70’s I found a map store in Palm Desert, CA that had a pretty complete inventory of USGS maps for most of the southern desert areas, plus they would order anything you needed from many sources other than USGS. They are still in business and I buy a lot of topo maps there now. In the 80’s I got to the point where I could afford any topo map I needed, plus my desert trips had gotten to the point where I really needed that kind of detail. Then of course we entered the computer age.
Another thing to keep in mind is back then, as a society, we were less pressed for time and less risk adverse. We didn’t have seat belts, bike helmets, you only went to a doctor when you broke a bone or were deathly ill, and aspirin fixed everything else. When I was in high school I would head to the Sierra and tell my parents I would be back in a week or two. They didn’t even really know where the Sierra was and would simply tell me to have fun and be careful. We didn’t have a phone, so there was no way to call them or update them, and it didn’t seem necessary. Today we need to absolutely get back by a certain time or a whole chain of domino effect events create a multitude of problems, and taking a spur of the moment extra couple of days is unacceptable. For me I would just take off to a new place with almost no advance planning and just figure things out along the way. This is what people did. My son, who is in his mid-twenties, is on his own. When he tells me his is going on a trip, I say, “Have fun and be careful.” just as my parents did.
