Scouts on the JMT

[David Thomas]

Let’s make this a Throwback Thursday.  My cousin Ken has been sorting photographs from multiple generations and digitizing the more interesting ones.  He posted this on Facebook:

Troop 391 (Oakland, California), 1964, John Muir Trail. Ediza Lake, under the Minarets. My Uncle Bill is on the left, Ken (12 years old) is 3rd from the left and the older son Mike is far right.

Ken reports: “I was using a pack frame made by my Dad. He made it out of steamed bent oak.  One week on the John Muir trail & we crossed no more than a dozen hikers! That was back in the day. No fancy gore tex or MSR stoves, GPS, bear cans or freeze dried food.”

By their pack volumes and stances (no one is leaning far forward), they look to be pretty UL.  Perhaps because almost nothing sold for backpacking now was available then?

[Alex Wallace]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

I love that area:

[Matthew / BPL]

Great photos! That’s a beautiful area.

Interesting that you are all wearing cotton but you lived through it.

[W I S N E R !]

Great pic.

I want Bill’s hat.

[Kattt]

That is such a beautiful photograph. I sure love the fact that these days we can take lots of pictures without worrying about the cost to develop and print them, but this photo shows the other side of that.

Thanks for sharing.

[Author]

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