Colin Fletcher: backpacker, author [split from Choosing the ideal Sleeping Bag]

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

highdesertranger

R.I.P HDR
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Messages
22,892
Reaction score
89
I don't know if there are any old backpackers here but in the 60's and 70's the go to backpack guru was a guy named Colin Fletcher ... highdesertranger
btw his books are great reads.
 
Colin was my comrade for our hike on the Appalachian Trail. 1970 some.
 
so there are some old backpackers here. good to know. boy cc that would have been cool. anybody read any of his books? highdesertranger
 
highdesertranger said:
so there are some old backpackers here.  good to know.  boy cc that would have been cool.  anybody read any of his books?  oh I know all about synthetics being superior in wet conditions but most people here are inside a vehicle.  highdesertranger

I never got into the backpacking thing.  I did read his book The Complete Walker, and adapted some of his advice to camping off the back of my motorcycle, where both the weight and the space was tight.  I spent the Bicentenial Weekend visiting the Saratoga Battlefield and Fort Ticonderoga with that setup, and camped around Maine another time.

Oh, and I enjoyed his writing so much I eventually read The Man Who Walked Through Time.

You know, this thread inspired me to check him out on Amazon.  I hadn't heard of The Thousand Mile Summer before.  I think I'll order it.  Thanks for mentioning him.

Regards
John
 
"The Thousand Mile Summer" is a great read, he walked the backbone of California from Mexico to Oregon along the eastern border. this is/was my stomping ground so I really related. I was in high school when I read it the first time, I couldn't relate to most of my classes but I couldn't put that book down. I think we have derailed this thread. highdesertranger
 
thanks moderator or whoever split this off. as I was typing that last reply I had to go back and read what the thread was about. at that point I knew a major derail was going on. highdesertranger
 
I thought for a moment I was in the Twilight Zone with the replies. And then I see the moderator split if off for you. LOL, HDR, I thought you were having a forum thread flashback.

I read The Complete Hiker in the late 80s and it moved me further along the path of living in a state where I could camp in the wilds. That turned out to be in Montana for the 90s.

I'm putting some of his other books on my reading list for my travels next year.
 
I think I had portions of the Complete Hiker memorized and read a number of his other books (yes, I did cut my toothbrush in half). In the mid ‘70s, the REI catalogue had these great sidebars that would explain the pros and cons of different types of equipment and products that were super informative, especially for an ignorant 18 yr old.  As Guy mentions, the technology has really advanced but I feel overall quality has gone way down. I still have a serviceable puffy coat and wool jacket from the late ‘70s. These days, I am lucky to get a year or two before outerwear starts to disintegrate and at this age I am a lot less abusive to my clothing (and body).

kelly
 
A quote from Mr. Fletcher that Bob would surely approve of:

“But if you judge safety to be the paramount consideration in life you should never, under any circumstances, go on long hikes alone. Don’t take short hikes alone, either; or, for that matter, go anywhere alone. And avoid at all costs such foolhardy activities as driving, falling in love, or inhaling air that is almost certainly riddled with deadly germs. Wear wool next to the skin. Insure every good and chattel you possess against every conceivable contingency the future might bring, even if the premiums half-cripple the present. Never cross an intersection against a red light, even when you can see all roads are clear for miles. And never, of course, explore the guts of an idea that seems as if it might threaten one of your more cherished beliefs. In your wisdom you will probably live to be a ripe old age. But you may discover, just before you die, that you have been dead for a long, long time”.- The Complete Walker
Regards
John
 
Starbuck said:
I think I had portions of the Complete Hiker memorized and read a number of his other books (yes, I did cut my toothbrush in half). In the mid ‘70s, the REI catalogue had these great sidebars that would explain the pros and cons of different types of equipment and products that were super informative, especially for an ignorant 18 yr old.  As Guy mentions, the technology has really advanced but I feel overall quality has gone way down. I still have a serviceable puffy coat and wool jacket from the late ‘70s. These days, I am lucky to get a year or two before outerwear starts to disintegrate and at this age I am a lot less abusive to my clothing (and body).

kelly

buy llbean  seems to still hold up forever.
 
I backpacked all over Alaska in the 70s and of course read everything by Colin Fletcher. My longest trip was when a large group of us flew into the Shenjik River valley in what is now ANWR, this was before it was Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A bush plane (Heliocourier) flew us in and dropped us off on a sandbar and for the next 6 weeks we never saw another human being. We backpacked and hunted as we rafted down the river and then 8 weeks later he picked us up on a lake on floats. I brought a Marlin .22 lever action and we ate a lot of ptarmigan! Couple of the guys were big game hunters so we ate Dall Sheep and caribou as well.

I still have my pictures from that trip, and one day it wlll be a blog post.

Oddly, while I know I read Fletcher, I don't remember it as having a big impact on me mentally or emotionally. On the other hand "One Mans Wilderness" changed my life, I wanted to be him and at that time in Alaska I could have been.

My heroes were the Bush Pilots and bush rats who were actually living truly wild and free lives.

Instead I followed the civilized way. Tragic mistake.
Bob
 
My first inkling of how "cool" it would be to travel in a van came from reading "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon. I've never read "PrairyEyrth" but should add that one to my reading list, too.
 
Akrvbob -- outstanding life you keep living.
 
Boy , there's a name from my past !
I read all his books back in the early 70s and got as much identical to his gear as I could.
They were my first insight into a minimal lifestyle , plus the trip through the GC he described was totally mesmerizing.
I also joined REI back then so I could get the sleeping bag and also lost interest in them as they "evolved"
My pack was 60+lbs !!! None of it has survived to present day.
LL Bean is 4 miles from where I grew up , got a lot of that stuff there , It was a way cooler place back then too.
 
Great memories, I read the complete hiker, but mainly for the gear notes. I've always been a gear junkie, which is kind of funny since my dream is to walk through the woods with nothing but a rifle and a knife. There are some good gear manufactures out there still, but the stuff is pricey. For hunting I'm going into my 14th year using a Kifaru pack and Tipi. Both are still going strong and the pack has held up to 140 lbs of elk for 8 miles with no issues - for the pack anyway!
 
MasterPlumber, I'm very interested in the Kifaru Tipi because I think it may be the most practical tent for the desert wind. Would you consider being so kind as to have a thread on it?

If you noticed I set up a tipi as a potty tent at the RTR and it only cost $100 but after the first year in the desert the zippers have already failed. I've considered a Kifaru as a replacement.
Bob
 
Hey Bob, I'll definitely do a thread, but it will need to wait just a little bit. I need to set it up anyway, to prepare for hunting season. I'll take some good pictures then. I lost a lot of pictures a year os so ago due to a random computer incident. I could only find a couple still in my files. I definitely do a better job of backing up in multiple places now!

HDR, I hear you, Although I was in my early 40s when I packed that elk out. Now I prefer these guys to do the work.
8351000-R1-042-19A copy.jpg

And just to wet your appetite, a couple I did find of the tipi and stove.
DSCN1342 copy.JPG  DSCN0385 copy.JPG
 

Attachments

  • 8351000-R1-042-19A copy.jpg
    8351000-R1-042-19A copy.jpg
    515.6 KB
  • DSCN1342 copy.JPG
    DSCN1342 copy.JPG
    360 KB
  • DSCN0385 copy.JPG
    DSCN0385 copy.JPG
    111.8 KB
Top