Remember when a good tent was just a heavy canvas bag with poles?

I was cleaning out my garage last weekend and found my old 2005 Coleman 4-person tent. That thing weighed 18 pounds and took two people 15 minutes to set up. I took it on a trip to the Pine Barrens in 2010 and a storm blew in. We stayed dry, but the whole thing sagged so much we were practically sleeping on the wet nylon. My new 3-person backpacking tent weighs 4 pounds and goes up in under five minutes by myself. It's wild how much lighter and smarter the basic gear has gotten. Anyone else have an old piece of gear that feels like a relic now?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_schmidt531mo ago

Found my dad's old external frame backpack from the 80s in the attic last year. The thing is basically a metal ladder with a sack on it, and the hip belt is just a strip of nylon. Carrying that on a trail now would be a form of torture. What's the oldest piece of gear you still have?

kai46329d ago

A strip of nylon for a hip belt? That's not a belt, that's a wish. I had a pack like that and it would saw right into you after a mile. The whole thing would sway side to side with every step. It's a miracle anyone made it out of the woods back then without a chiropractor on standby.