SCORE! …One for the oldtimers. This is what we grew up with! Read it and revel. Read it and imagine what it was like… Our inspiration… Coming at us, nonstop, from the innovators and garages…
So here’s a guy who sees the forest for the trees.
I was just noticing my old Kelty pack the other day in the garage. Junk, right?
Roots are everywhere, they’re just hard to see. Or to appreciate.
OK, maybe it is junk but that kind of stuff was really important.
Heck, about 25% of the gear I still use comes from my highschool days! I love that. I still use boots from back then. And hats, guns, coats, sleeping bags, bikes, fishing stuff. I’m still fishing with flies I tied in high school! From the same batch as when I gave a few to John Voelker when we went fishing when I was 17 (Robert Traver). About 25% of my other stuff is ALMOST that old, including my boats, bows, and skis.
The 1970’s ROCKED FOR GEAR! Back then gear was part of the COSMIC THING. I suppose it still is, in a way, but then it was TIGHT. The spirit and the gear were inseparable. And the health care needed to get by while you put together a little start-up company with your pals, maybe funded with marijuana smuggling, amounted to only, what, $50 a year for a good policy. And Breckenridge didn’t even have ONE stoplight. And rent was cheap in Aspen. And you could easily spend the summer tenting in Yosemite. Then maybe the winter skiing there, too. Life was simpler and cheaper. Sigh. It was! THE SKI BUM LIVED! Was alive and well! No bar codes!
I’m happy I caught the tail end of it. Hopefully it’s still alive. Tell me there are still Bums in Breck. Tell me there’s still a cheap apartment to be found right off the Pearl Street Mall. Still cabins and teepees up the hill a ways.
So check out The History of Gear: www.oregonphotos.com/Backpacking-Revolution1.html.
You might recognize something.
If you’re too young you might be inspired by what you find.
It’s a treasure trove.
Frostline…
https://www.oregonphotos.com/Backpacking-Revolution1.html
