When the JMT Was Just 9 Years Old

[foodwaterattention]

Here's a wild vintage short film to check out this weekend. Shot in 1947 it shows one family and a pack of mules along the legendary trail.
Super interesting to watch.

http://www.foodwaterattention.com/feed/ ... -years-old

When do you think through hikers will be getting on the JMT this summer?

[bobby49]

Excellent.

[Timberline]

Remarkable! I never completed the entire JMT or the HST, but spent two whole summers exploring them while working for USFS, and sporadic shorter visits in the NP's among other parts of them in later years. The film captures the "culture" of wilderness travel in a more innocent(?) time, when you could still drink right from the streams, fires were OK at higher altitudes, and you didn't need a permit to go there. I was blessed to share some of my experiences in high country with my oldest sun when he was 12. My grandsons are now 9 years old, like the boy in the film. Wish I could take them there today! Thanks for sharing this interesting find.

[freestone]

Thanks for sharing this gem. Even the sound quality and classical music (Grand Canyon Suite) adds to the charm.

[foodwaterattention]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and I'm happy you like the film. Definitely a different time. It reminds me a bit of old surf movies of empty breaks that are world famous and jammed today.

[ironmike]

This was fascinating, so I was motivated to do a little digging. Turns out William (aka Bill) Albee and his wife Ruth had quite a colorful history of amateur exploration. Check out this link:

http://www.explorenorth.com/library/bio ... lliam.html

...in which you'll read about his exploits (missing in Alaska for a while), his book (Alaska Challenge), and his family. Based on the documented birthdates of his kids, this places the date of the JMT video in 1941, NOT 1947 (if indeed they are 9 and 6).

In any event, doing the JMT would have been the proverbial walk in the park compared to things they'd done in Alaska or the Yukon. Puts the film in considerable context as you have all noted how adept the kids look in the back country.

[TahoeJeff]

I absolutely loved the kid getting all those trout on grasshoppers he caught for bait. True old school.

[Jimr]

This was fascinating, so I was motivated to do a little digging. Turns out William (aka Bill) Albee and his wife Ruth had quite a colorful history of amateur exploration. Check out this link:

http://www.explorenorth.com/library/bio ... lliam.html

...in which you'll read about his exploits (missing in Alaska for a while), his book (Alaska Challenge), and his family. Based on the documented birthdates of his kids, this places the date of the JMT video in 1941, NOT 1947 (if indeed they are 9 and 6).

In any event, doing the JMT would have been the proverbial walk in the park compared to things they'd done in Alaska or the Yukon. Puts the film in considerable context as you have all noted how adept the kids look in the back country.

1941 makes much more sense considering the birth of their children in 1932 and 1935. Just watching the beginning (I will continue to watch), Nevada falls is raging in June. True that the falls are in full force in June, but it just seems tremendous, so I looked up snowpack data. I found Donner Pass data. 1941 max snow depth was 30' while 1947 was 20'. Another clue is that when you consider they started in June (I don't know when they finished because, see above), it would take some time to edit and produce the narrative. Ruth was traveling the country during 1941 with their exploits of the Yukon in 1940, probably personally narrating the film. Last, but not least, The archives of SF Library indicate it was published in 1947, not filmed. This was likely a back burner production that took 6 years to get around to editing and narrating.
Give or take a quart.

[bobby49]

Gee, if it was 1941, I wonder how long it took them to get their wilderness permit application approved.

[Jimr]

"Wilderness permit? We don't need no stinkin' wilderness permits".