[pct-l] PCT Hiking in '65

Wed Apr 7 16:48:36 CDT 2010

Wow,

He was way ahead of most of us at that time.  As a teenager in 1965, my pack
was an old wooden framed, canvas army surplus rook sack, that weighed a
ton.  And to get away from canvas pup tents, we sewed long narrow single
person tents out of 3 sections of old war surplus silk parachutes, and
wrapped the whole thing in a painter's drop cloth if it was going to rain,
holding it all together with clothespins.  The silk guy lines were still
attached and were used to stake it all out.  That tent was "ultra light" at
the time, cheap and worked really well, and was probably my first piece of
"geeky" gear, as it looked like no one else's tent back then.  I used that
sucker in deep snow over Emigrant Pass into Yosemite, and to keep from going
snow blind, made Eskimo goggles out of bits of card board as none of us had
sunglasses.  (Actually I made those for a group of already snow blind guys
who got caught at the top of Forest Pass a few years ago late in the season
in a big dump with no sunglasses.)But with steel pots and mess kits, heavy
rain gear, cotton and wool, the whole lot weighed over 60 lbs.  Oh, and the
boots that only got comfortable after walking wet for days so they could
eventually mold themselves to your foot.  Before that, it was just plain
painful to walk in them.  I sure felt prepared for the big bad wilderness
with all that stuff.  But at that age, I still fell in love with the
experience and the places.  I guess it's worth going out with whatever you
have, just so long as you do go out.

I wish I'd had that book back then however.  Then again, it might have just
seemed crazy, and down right dangerous.  I was probably to young to listen
to anything as radical as that.  We really thought we needed all that gear.

Great quotes.  Thanks for a trip back.

Scott

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 12:21 PM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

> Good afternoon, all,
>
>
>
> Recently it’s been cool, damp, and windy here in the Pacific NW, and I’ve
> been pouting because I’m not attending the Kick-Off, so to take my mind off
> the gloom I revisited some of my older PCT reference books.  One that I
> hadn’t thought about in years is, *Home In Your Pack*, by Bradford Angier
> circa 1965.  From the ‘50s on I’ve enjoyed Angier’s books on self-reliant
> wilderness living and survival, but this was his first book on backpacking.
>  I was impressed with this book in ’65 – that also the year I became
> serious
> about hiking -- so I thought I’d see how well some of his ideas hold up
> today.
>
>
>
> His focus at the time was on hiking four significant trails:  The Long
> Trail, California Riding and Hiking Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and
> Pacific Crest Trail; particularly the two big ones.  The PCT didn’t yet
> exist as a “National Scenic Trail”, but it certainly existed as a hiking
> trail system.  The book says the PCT – at the time -- was 2,156 miles long,
> and the minimal map included shows the old routing from the area of Mt.
> Shasta straight north to the S. end of the Cascades rather than the current
> zig west through the Marbles, etc. and back east again near Ashland.  In
> this there were no surprises considering the era.
>
>
>
> Angier discusses a variety of options in hiking gear and methods --
> including many of the traditional, old-time methods -- but there were a few
> surprising comments that predate the lite-weight hiking craze that
> supposedly began 30 years later in the mid’90s.  For example, quoting
> Angier:
>
>
>
> “*Hiking in Canvas Sneakers*  -  Ordinary rubber-soled sneakers and
> basketball shoes are popular along fairly smooth wilderness ways, such as
> the Appalachian Trail and in comparatively dry country such as that found
> along stretches of the Sierra Trail…. The chief advantage afforded by such
> footwear is that of lightness, which is a joy…. They are not durable.  A
> hundred miles over tough terrain is about the limit for most. But they are
> comparatively cheap.  Sneakers soon wet through in the rain, even in the
> morning dew.  But this makes no particular difference, for they dry out
> quickly and without becoming stiff.”
>
>
>
> Those statements above are understandable considering running shoes, as we
> know them today, had not yet become commonly available.
>
>
>
> “*The Eiderdown Jacket*  -- A light eiderdown jacket is one of the most
> comfortable garments I know to put on when you stop …. for the night.
>  These
> are even handy on the desert, as most desert country gets surprisingly cold
> as soon as the sun sinks.”
>
>
>
> *“You Don’t Always Need a Tent*…. Tentless camping, particularly if you
> include some provision for emergency shelter in your outfit, is also
> practical…. And no wilderness nights are more memorable, in good weather,
> than those spent entirely in the open.”
>
>
>
> And now for the most interesting comment; and remember this was published
> in
> ’65:
>
>
>
> “*Appropriate Backpack Weights*….  For backpacking, everything should be
> cut
> down in weight and bulk to the absolute essentials…. Briefly, the total
> weight of the backpack for mountain travel should not exceed about
> thirty-five pounds…. As for proportions, the equipment proper in the
> largest
> pack should not weigh over fifteen pounds – thus allowing a food load of at
> least twenty pounds.”
>
>
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>