Great topic, Erin!
Allison, Chuck ROCKS! I'm totally digging his vintage water bottles -- the soft type that didn't contain hormone-altering PBA (or whatever the hell it was) that we were imbibing from the "modern" plastic bottles... of course, there was probably some OTHER chemical bleeding in from the old, soft bottles...
Okay, so at the ripe age of 49, I'm old enough to RESEMBLE this topic -- and will post some of the vintage gear that I've actually CARRIED ON A HIKE in my lifetime (keep in mind that I've been hiking since I could walk, and my first backpack was at age 5):
Let's start with squeeze tubes -- you filled these with peanut butter and/or jelly, then packed crackers to spread them on:
I think they still sell these, though I haven't used them since the 70s. They were famous for leaking out the bottom... and your crackers were reduced to fine crumbs after a couple days in the pack, making the "spreading" part tough...
Let's see.... army canteens! Complete with canvas sleeves (which you'd get wet to cool the water inside, neat, eh?)
Army surplus mess kit to go with the canteens:
By the way, for those who remember G.I. Joes, that company started out as an army surplus store, and along with Andy & Bax and an old chain called Wigwam, was where Portlanders got a lot of their camping gear.
Continuing the army surplus theme, some army tents -- my dad actually CARRIED a family-sized tent (pictured here) on his pack clear through the 1960s:
I carried a pup tent size a couple times, but switched to nylon by the time I was really doing much backpacking (age 11 or 12).
The ubiquitous poncho -- you used to see herds of these marching around on the trails in the Gorge in the wet months - they actually worked quite well as a loose, all-over cover to keep your pack dry:
My beloved Vasque boots -- I'm still waiting for today's "sustainable" generation to figure out just how consumptive it is to replace high-tech, highly synthetic footwear every 2-3 years. My last pair of leather Vasque boots lasted from 1976 until the mid-1990s, with periodic waterproofing (using Sno-Seal, of course):
But in deference to modern boots, the old Vasques were heavy, for sure. I guess that's why they lasted so long?
I had this particular GAZ Bluet stove -- used propane canisters, and a lot less scary than carrying/using white gas, that's for sure:
Yes, we carried these - also army surplus:
The Aussie Hat, though few wore this cool leather variety -- most of us wore canvas:
Dextrose "survival" tablets:
Supposedly, a the quickest source of energy for hikers -- but basically, just sugar.
I still carry one of these:
Many carried these -- a folding army shovel, and probably just as rusty here in the PNW:
Also army surplus -- and they really were back in the day -- cargo pants!
Cotton-poly blend... you can imagine what a pair of these weighed when fully soaked in Oregon rain..!
For around the campfire... a little luxury:
And yes, we actually ate these in the early 70s... sort of a preview of the Clif Bar, I suppose (and based on the Space Bars of the Apollo era):
If you didn't have a waterproof, glow-in-the-dark scuba watch (with many indicators that you had no idea how to read), you really weren't a serious hiker back in the day:
And finally, a Silva Compass -- one of the essentials before the age of GPS (and still a pretty good idea for when the batteries run out):
Okay, I think I've dated myself adequately, now....
-Tom
