[at-l] re:Hiking the Appalachian Trail

[charles at uswnet.com (Charles Copeland)]

I started backpacking as a Boy Scout in 1970.  I remember being very excited 
when I bought my first backpack in 1974 and it had a *curved* frame!!  I 
still have that backpack - it carried everything I owned for many years.  I 
don't hike with it though - the canvas is too fragile.

My sleeping bag was a Korean War surplus down bag that weighed about 8 lbs! 
I used that bag all the way up to a year ago when I finally had to throw it 
away.  The down was essentially crushed to a powder!

When I left Scouts in 1975, we still used fires to cook with and we drank 
water straight out of the streams.  When I returned in 1979 as an Assistant 
Scoutmaster, I started a fire on a campout and the boys ran up to me and 
asked me what I was doing?!?!

Turns out all the kids had brass stoves that they had to put their hands 
around to get the evaporation to start so they could light them.  They had 
dehydrated food to eat.  I had a quart bottle of coke, a steak, and a 
potato.  They were aghast!   Mmmm... that was a good meal!


Charles