[pct-l] Re: Old Trailwise Bag

[coyle875 at msn.com (john coyle)]

On Sunday, Sept. 25, Mtnned wrote:
 
Such a fantastic and small world we live in that we should have done  the 
same thing!  My bag is blue as well and its down is thinning and  drifting as 
well after 31 years!  I remember before buying it, laying it on  the upstairs 
floor at the Ski Hut and marveling at how much loft it had.   There was no such 
thing as 6, 7, 800-fill down back then, yet we went everywhere  with what we 
could get.
 
Speaking of Fletcher, did you, after reading the first Complete Walker,  
begin sleeping at the base of your pack, propped up against a tree, or cook your  
meals on a Svea stove at your side?
 





Sorry for the delayed response, been busy at home lately.  I think that Trailwise bag was filled with what would be 800-900 fill down today.  It was definitely one of the top of the line bags,  and it is a testiment to its quality that it lasted more than twenty years of hard use.  I never weighed it, but I did notice that it felt heavier than my new REI Sub Kilo bag, although the Sub Kilo isn't of the same overall quality.  I never got cold in that old Trailwise bag even below freezing, but there were many times I got too hot!  You know it's been a while, but I  remember  getting in the Trailwise bag in the Ski Hut to try it out for size, and also marveling  at how puffy and warm it was.  I'm not even sure if that Ski Hut still exists.

Oh yes, after I read  Fletcher I did all that stuff and bought mostly the gear he recommended.  I remember buying these insanely heavy Vasque hiking boots that must have weighted 4 lbs a pair and bore an uncanny resemblance to Frankenstein boots.  Of course we would load them up with a pound of Sno-Seal just to make sure they were waterproof.  Remember how it was a badge of honor back then to have boots with Vibram soles?  I had a Svea 123 stove that was very reliable and heavy, but sounded like an F-18 Tomcat taking off in full afterburner.  It usually scared away all the harmless wildlife within a five mile radius of your camp, while attracting the dangerous ones such as bears.  I bought this backpacking air mattress at Ski Hut that had 7-8 individual tubes of air that had to be blown up--wonderfull for building up the lung capacity, just what you wanted to do after hiking 15 miles with a fifty lb. pack up a 30% grade.  And of course we all had heavy Kelty or Jan Sport packs back then too.  Fletcher was such a fussy Englishman, but he was the Dean's peanuts back then--and still is!



John Coyle