Classic Backpacking: Concept and Theory

For several years now I have been writing and trying to practice a concept that I have been referring to as The Modern Woodsman. At its base is the assertion that woodsmanship did not end or peak at some point in the distant past, but that it has continued to evolve and develop over the years and into the present day, resulting in better equipment and more skills. To that end, I’m sure many readers have noticed my preference for modern gear and theory.

As a result, many readers of this blog don’t associate my writings with more traditional forms of backpacking or camping. I do however, and always have had a significant interest in historical trekking and traditional skills, in particular the late 19th and early 20th century; the time of Nessmuk and Kephart, Nansen and Mallory. I have done a fair amount of backpacking with more traditional gear, as well as research on the topic. My reluctance to write on the subject in anything other than a historical sense, has been due to the fact that I haven’t been able to find a good context for it.

My main interest is in the time period between the end of the American Civil War, 1865, and before the wide scale introduction of petroleum based products such as plastics and nylon, about the 1940s. In my opinion this is the birthplace of what will eventually, at a later time, come to be called backpacking. It is a time when traditional skills, which were primarily utilized in commercial ventures like trapping, prospecting, logging, etc, which utilized pack trains and canoes to achieve their goals, were combined with emerging technological products of the Industrial Revolution and were transformed into a set of skill and gear that would allow an individual to travel through the wilderness under his own power, carrying his own gear, and do it all for no reason other than recreation. In that respect, much of what we read by people like Nessmuk, Kephart, Kreps, Holding, Miller, etc, is not the culmination of wilderness knowledge, but rather the beginning of a whole new frontier in wilderness exploration. Their struggles to come up with new skills and create new gear is a reflection of that new beginning.

Since I want to experience and better understand those struggles, when doing Classic Backpacking trips I want to strive to keep the gear and skills as authentic as possible. Of course, I will have to make compromises for different reasons, not the least of which is money, but I want to keep the experience as authentic as possible without being hyper precise. By that I mean, I don’t want to use any gear that is designed to look “old-timey” while using modern designs: no canvas backpacks with hip-belts; no canvas tarps made waterproof and flame resistant with the use of modern chemicals; no ferro rods, no cooking pots with nesting stoves, etc. I also want to make every effort to avoid using modern skills and knowledge and applying them to the past. For example, I can certainly take the materials available in the late 19th century, and construct a pretty decent equivalent of a modern sleeping bag. That however, wouldn’t give me an authentic experience. I want to do it in the “traditional” way. I want to do it with the skills an equipment actually in use during that time.

In doing this, I am relying on several sources for my information on how things were done during that period. Here is the list of publications that I have read so far and on which I am basing my opinions:

• Scrambles Amongst the Alps by Edward Whymper, 1872
• How to Camp Out by John M. Gould, 1877
• Travels in Alaska by John Muir, 1879
• The First Crossing of Greenland by Fridtjof Nansen, 1890
• Woodcraft, George Washington Sears, 1892
• Farthest North Vol I and Vol II by Fridtjof Nansen, 1897
• The Camper’s Handbook by Thomas Hiram Holding, 1908
• Abercrombie & Fitch Catalog, 1911
• Camp and Trail by Stewart Edward White, 1911
• Camp Craft by Warren Hastings Miller, 1915
• Touring Afoot by Claude P. Fordyce, 1916
• Camping and Woodcraft Vol I and Vol II by Horace Kephart, 1918
• The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft by Dan Beard, 1920
• On Your Own in the Wilderness by Col Townsend Whelen and Bradford Angier, 1958
• Blizzard by Jasper Rees, 2006 (1911/1912 Amundsen/Scott Expedition)
• Mallory Myths and Mysteries: The Mallory Clothing Replica Project by Mike Parsons and Mary Rose, 2009 (1924 Malory/Ervine Expedition)
• Benchmarking Functionality of Historical Cold Weather Clothing: Robert F. Scott, Roald Amundsen, George Mallory by George Havenith 2010 (1911/1912 Amundsen/Scott Expedition and 1924 Malory/Ervine Expedition)