I'm so old that I remember....

[JimmyLyding]

Gatorade in glass bottles
Sleeping bags that were as-big-around as a spare tire
Salt tablets instead of Gookinaid/Vitalyte

[Jim]

I still use an old 1973 REI sleeping bag my parents gave me. Too cheap to get a new one. Might just try to get away with 2 bag liners in the Gila at the end of May so I don't need to lug that bulk thing with me. I hope I don't freeze at night.

I also remember when cell phones weren't "everywhere" to be a back up for back country emergencies, but that wasn't very long ago.

[joebartels]

the good ol' days
when we all (all 6 of us) counted down to the day HAZ would hit 1,000 photos
life before Google
when you couldn't get enough AOL
bellbottom corduroy pants with sandals in a VW bus
movies worth watching

oh yeah it's a hiking site...
when my sister asked me to go hike and I looked at her like she was friggen nuts

[Al_HikesAZ]

military surplus metal canteens on webbelts.
and we hiked in Levi's

canvas two man puptents with those two heavy 5 pound wooden poles. and we were taught to dig a trench around our tent to channel the water away. I never did understand the logic of that - especially in AZ.

Popular Surplus existed and Piestewa Peak did not exist.

US60 was two lanes through cotton fields.

No backpackable airmattresses or thermarests - we slept on the ground with a small rock for a pillow.

You youngsters really don't want to get me started. I better go brew me a big cup of STPU.

[rally_toad]

Gatorade in a glass bottle holy feces

[DarthStiller]

how about coke in glass bottles with the deposit? I used to empty our house as a kid to get the deposits from the grocery store as spending money.

Full service gas stations.
Decent Sat. morning cartoons.
phone booths.
a network tv premiere of a movie.
Pong, space invaders, merlin, caleco head to head football, atari, intellivision, commodore 64.

[DarthStiller]

Actually, I am old enough to remember when everyone in Pittsburgh hated Terry Bradshaw. Now we hate our rapist QB. :yuck:

[JimmyLyding]

I remember committing crimes before rally_toad was born

[joebartels]

I tried to get a proud Flagstaffian to get a current version of this photo.
How about the football game that you'd setup all the plastic figures, turn it on, and watch it jiggle. That was horrible.
PacMan and Asteroids were cool. I remember this kid on our street saying they'd never succeed in replacing pinball at the arcades. He was right, the arcades vanished

[Al_HikesAZ]

Hey - I was sticking to hiking & backpacking.

Lew King Rangers on KPHO Channel 5 - the only TV station in Phoenix,
Cell phones - bahhh - We had Party Lines and phone numbers started with letters. Electricity and sewers had not been extended to my Uncle's parents' house and the soil was too rocky for a septic tank. And a big wood oven.
Mary Coyle Ice Cream.
Helsings. Bob's Big Boy at Central and Thomas with the waitresses on Roller Skates. And Detroit made real cars with big engines and fins for cruising from the Library up to Camelback and back and back and back again.
The Indian School.
The Phoenix Firebirds, the Phoenix Roadrunners. The Beans.

What was that big amusement park that was just west of Papago Park?
The stockyards.
Terminal 1 at Sky Harbor was the only terminal and you had to walk across the tarmac and climb the stairway up to the plane.
Park Central opened with Goldwater's and Diamonds. The Carefree Sundial Grand opening. The Hi-Liter opened. Mr. Lucky's, Toolies. What was that place on the River Bottom where Waylon played?

There was nothing north of the Dreamy Draw and the pavement ended at about where Tatum & Shea is today.
You left the Phoenix City Limits at Bethany Home Road and entered Sunnyslope at Dunlap.

Back before Elvis and the Viet Nam war came along.
Before the Beatle's and "Yesterday"
Before Nixon lied to us all on TV.

The Mexicans controlled everything south of the Gila River.
And too much more to bore everyone with. I think my cup of STPU is cooled down enough now. Adios.

The Vandals played the Tigers in their big rivalry every Thanksgiving.

[chumley]

13-channels on the tv.
and "fine -tuning" a channel.

[JimmyLyding]

<<What was that big amusement park that was just west of Papago Park?>>
Legend City. Al, you are really really old. Were the mastodons pretty cool, or did they just smell really bad?
I also remember Ladmo Bags, but I never got one

[fotogirl53]

leather ski boots and my skis were 185's (I'm 5'5")
my new fancy hiking backpack had an aluminum frame!
my first pair of "athletic" shoes--white adidas with red stripes

[The_Eagle]

13-channels on the tv.

13! 3 channels on the Black and White console, and going to the Rexall Drugs with you dad every year to test the tubes!

[joebartels]

Our TV took three minutes for the tubes to warm up when my sister and I went out to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. It really wasn't that long ago, our parents were just too cheap to buy a modern TV with color, sound and pumkin that TV sucked. Grand parents on the other hand had a remote TV in the mid 70's. That ultra sonic remote was heavy with two 9volt batteries in it.

How'd ya like to lug a double lantern-battery flash light around these days. Those things put out about two candle power I think.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Hiking and backpacking the Superstitions when the maps still had ALL the TRAILS and HISTORIC SITES on them!

[Moovyoaz]

How about dial telephones? Our first telephone # was WE-63880! Phx stopped at 43rd Ave & McDowell. The Suns played at the Madhouse on McDowell, and Colangolo gave our 6th grade class tickets to the first season, since he couldn't sell them!

[azbackpackr]

I remember when there were no freeways in San Diego, and the population was less than 200,000.

I remember when there was no such thing as Gatorade, internal frame packs, trail runners, nylon on hiking boots, etc.

Interestingly, when Scouts and others were still using canvas and wood backpacks, there were already available aluminum frame packs with nylon fabric packbags, and down mummy sleeping bags, and a lot of other very lightweight stuff, so that pack weight for a week in the Sierras could be under 50 pounds, carryable by a smallish woman. That lightweight gear was available in the 1950's, so there was no real reason to torture a whole generation of Boy Scouts with canvas backpacks with wooden frames, kapoc sleeping bags, steel entrenching tools and canvas pup tents!!!

For information about this, see Colin Fletcher books, and also see the History of Gear: http://www.oregonphotos.com/Backpacking ... tion1.html (Some of his photos are of MY gear!)

However, Scouts and others stuck to their heavy gear for many years. Aluminum frame packs, down bags, and nylon tents revolutionized backpacking. Also, Primus and Svea stoves. My mom bought me my first aluminum frame pack, a Camptrails, in 1969. Those packs weighed ONLY ABOUT 3 pounds! When internal frame packs came out, many of them weighed as much as 7 pounds! The Camptrails was very uncomfortable, though, and when Adventure 16 came out with the Hiphugger it meant I could really take off with backpacking. It distributed the weight evenly around the hips. Jansport stole the idea, tweaked it a bit, and came out with their revolutionary pack that also wrapped around the hips. The rest is history, since most backpackers in the 70s used the Jansport packs.

I have and still use sometimes:

*An original Nalgene narrow-neck bottle from around 1972. Possibly was in my first REI purchase order.
*A 1975 Adventure 16 Hiphugger pack frame (with newer belt and straps, company replaced for me) with
*A 1975 Frostline kit packbag I sewed myself attached to it. Pack bag is about done for. Zippers are jacked.
*A 1975 down vest which I had the kit for, but never sewed until about 1999, so it is in ok shape, but I can't get it very clean-looking. Clue to its age is the fact that it is AVOCADO GREEN...

I have but don't use much:

*1970's Svea white gas stove, still works.
*1969 Sierra Designs down mummy sleeping bag with a third of its down missing--we use for a throw sometimes.
*1975 Adventure 16 down bag opens flat but zips to mummy, use for a bed quilt or throw sometimes. it got damaged in washing machine.
*1973 Frostline kits Tundra Jacket, very good condition since I hardly ever wear it.
*1970's Camptrails frame pack--loan out to people who have no pack. Good condition, it works fine, it even has a hip belt.

Everything but the Camptrails backpack I bought new. That pack I bought at a yard sale. It is the same model as the one my mom bought me in '69, different color. All the colors back then were orange, forest green and royal blue. That was about it.

I recently bought an internal frame pack. After a year's hiatus from backpacking, I am going for it again this summer. So we shall see if I like the new strait jacket or not... ;)

[Sun_Ray]

Just saw military P-38 can openers for sale on the counter at the Summit Hut in Tucson..... a long ago memory for me.

[PLC92084]

*An original Nalgene narrow-neck bottle from around 1972.

Just saw military P-38 can openers for sale on the counter at the Summit Hut in Tucson

I used my bottle this weekend on a camping trip AND I still carry a P-38 on my key chain... My aluminum-framed backpack sits unused in the garage (it's forest green, Liz...).