>>2535369This pic is from a pamphlet published about 100 years ago. I think the title is “Going Light,” or maybe “Camping Light.” Notice the weight. The idea that saving weight is a new concept is simply wrong, but so is the idea that we need modern materials to do so.
I think the image we have of the over-burdened Backpacker acktyually comes from soldiers who carried everything they needed to live outside while fighting a war at the same time. It could also be from the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s, when recreational backpacking really hit its modern stride. It was the blind leading the blind, where everyone thought the mega-heavy pack with stuff swinging from the back was just a part of hiking because that’s what every other idiot was doing.
