High Sierra Topix

As another geezer, I love this thread. It was fun searching through old photos. Since I took most of the family photos back then, there are almost none of me, but lots of great ones of my wife many of which I had forgotten about. Here's one I found of me in the Minarets in 1981.

Here's a photo my brother Mike took of me as I begin the swim through Muir Gorge. I'm wearing Levis cutoffs, tennis shoes, no socks, and an Alpine day pack. I carried my camera and snacks wrapped in a garbage bag. Mike snapped this photo and joined me on an eerie float through the gorge which for a very short stretch was a dark steep slot. The water was cold, but tolerable. 1976 was a drought year, so the water was low. Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, Yosemite.

Mather Pass, July 1989 during my second JMT hike



before anyone knew what micro spikes were , descending from Monte Rotondo, island of Corsica, 1984



staying warm, somewhere off trail near VVR and lake T Edison, after a bear woke me up, July 1989

Back when long hair was in, before short hair was in before long hair was in again. What's in now?
I could always eat lots of fish!

Kid Lakes 1974. The fish were larger in 2003.

Here's an oldie I came across...1960 campsite on Rock Creek

Two photos from 1969. Wind River Mountains. I did not get to the Sierra until the mid-1990's.

WD,
Nice to see that you went ultralight way back then...ouch!
BTW, Is that an old squeaky Kelty under that hat?
Mark

To be fair, that was not my normal load. A student got sick that day so I had to carry his sleeping bag on top of my pack.

Yes that is a Kelty. Here is something you can do with a Kelty that you cannot do with today's internal frame packs-- covert it to a baby carrier. Both my kids got to ride in that Kelty!


1975- my oldest daughter on a 2 week trip in the Tetons

1977- my younger daughter. By this time with 2 kids we had horsepackers take in our supplies.

Thanks for posting the Kelty baby carrier photos. I remember fondly using mine. My son had a propensity for leaning out to get a better view and since he rode so high in the pack, it made for interesting hiking. Somewhere there's some Kodachromes of me carrying my son on his first backpacking trip, but I don't know when I'll get around to digging them out.

I converted my standard Kelty to accomdate my kids. First I had a friend weld an extra bar onto the extension bar so that I could attach a canopy that I had sewn. The canopy had a top pocket for diapers and had mosquito netting. I suspended a seat in the top. As they got bigger I had to make a slit in the back so they could hang out there feet. I needed all that space under them for my own gear. My most trying trip was taking them both out for a weekend by myself, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old, carrying everthing including the youngest! I must say that was not something I ever tried again! My problem was not the kids hanging out the back, but that they slept like logs while being packed. This really messed with bedtime when I was beat!