[pct-l] Jansport D-3

Tue Feb 20 13:48:40 CST 2007

Ceanothus...
I think you're on the money...my pack 's 
wings were looped, in fact, I had a thing-a-ma-bob that had a clothes closet rod hanger on one end and a clothes pin on the other.  I could hook the thing over the bottom loop, and clothespin my wet socks or whatever to it.  Dry in no time.
And we certainly are wallowing is something, hopefully the past, and yes, these are the Model T's of todaý's world.  They were the forerunners, the link between the old wooden? packboard backpack frames from WW2, maybe?  I remember when I told my ex that my G.S. troop wanted to learn to backpack and that our two daughters and I needed sleeping bags and packs, he said we were crazy, there was no way we'd ever get him out there with one of those 'instruments of torture'  that he wore in the army.  He was amazed when he saw what we brought home...my first pack was a Camp Trails that was a comfortable fit,...before surgeries, but not after.  I started borrowing packs from Boy Scouts in the neighborhood.  The Jan Sport that Swen Wedigen lent me was the answer. The leather alone on mine must have weighed a pound, and around the Twin Lakes area of Lassen N.P.,  I had to hang it to keep the local skunks from nibbling on it. And the leather that held the wings in place just may have creaked...I'd forgotten that.
These early good packs proved that comfort was possible while wandering thru the woods, after that, making them lighter and able to carry weird stuff, like skis, climbing gear, etc, was about all you could do in terms of innovation.  Lighter weight fabrics that wore as well as cordoba cloth, and shed water w/in reason was a good place to start. These packs are like the Alpenlite packs, the old Eureka Timberline tents, the Gerry Sleep System,  the  MSR Whisperlite stoves and Frostline Kits.  They set standards for designers at The North Face, The Granite Stairway, The Marmot Mountain Works, Sierra Design, etc. to strive to improve upon.  I marvel at today's equipment, things like my neighbor, Bill Davis has shown me.  He gets his gear mostly online from Backpacking Lite.  But my old pack fits me just fine, and if it's a Model T that's  fine too.  I'm almost old enough to be a Model T myself so we go together well.  And this past summer, two section hikers came through wearing Jan Sports, newer, lighter, fabric as well as the frame.  And they were smaller clones of mine.  So...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  It's a good pack.

Georgi, ramblin' on....

Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 9:16 AM
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Jansport D-3

> It seems to me that Georgi's pack is an earlier D3 - Jansport redesigned the
> hip suspension's looped "wings" to the arms that Bob described sometime
> later.  My husband delighted in his D3 on the JMT in '82 - it was the first
> really comfortable pack he'd ever carried.  It could carry just about
> ANYTHING, including my pack on difficult cross-country talus.    It had a
> distinctive creak...
> 
> He graduated to a Dana Terraplane in '94 - another awesomely huge pack that
> was even more comfortable than the D3.  Now he hikes with a much lighter
> Dana "New World" pack, as I do - not ultralight, but 4 lbs instead of - oh,
> 8.  As I understand it, these were made in Dana's last gasp of production
> before selling out to Marmot Mtn Works.
> 
> Do I get the impression that we're wallowing in sentimental appreciation of
> the pack equivalent to the Model T :) ?
> 
> Christine "Ceanothus" Kudija
> PCT partially '94
> 
> www.pcta.org
> Join Now!
> 
> Ceanothus (see-ah-no-thus) or California lilac:  Shrubs or small trees,
> often with divaricate, sometimes spiny, twigs...[flowers] small but showy,
> white to blue or purplish, sometimes lavender or pinkish, borne in terminal
> or lateral panicles or umbellike cymes.
>                                                               Philip A.
> Munz
>                                                               A California
> Flora, U.C. Press, 1973
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]On
> Behalf Of Bob Bankhead
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:10 AM
> To: Georgi Heitman; jolson at olc.edu
> Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Jansport D-3
> 
> Sounds more like the D series' successor - the Jansport Nepali. The D series
> used a pair of metal arms on the hipbelt; the Denali replaced them with grey
> nylon with red adjustment buttons.
> 
> I've had 70+ pounds in my Denali. It can even carry a chain saw (but you
> can't zipper the big upper compartment unless you dismount the cutting bar).
> 
> 
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Georgi Heitman
>  To: jolson at olc.edu
>  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
>  Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:03 AM
>  Subject: [pct-l] Jansport D-3
> 
> 
>  Jeff,
>  Is the D-3 the bigger of the two Jansports?  If so, that's what I have
> hanging in my garage, causing much quite a kurfuffle (much laughter and
> fuss) amongst hikers visiting with us in Old Station.  It's blue, external
> frame, big upper compartment w/ an arched zipper opening and a smaller
> compartment below.  Lashings for my sleeping bag up top, over a small
> compartment easily reached by the wearer from overhead, great for maps,
> poncho, etc. and lashings for tent below the lower compartment.  Compression
> straps, pockets on both sides, and best of all for this post bilateral back
> surgery hiker, lite wt. metal wraparound 'wings'  and padded hip belt that
> really distributed the weight away from my lower back.  I love my pack.
> It's big, it's heavy, but it carried the extra gear that my young (5th
> through 9th grade) and small backpacking Girl Scouts weren't able
> weight-wise to tote.  I've carried up to 80 lbs...very briefly, the first
> two days meals came out of my pack to get it
> do
>   wn to a sensible weight, but it was quite doable for that short period of
> time.  It's covered w/ patches from both Girl Scout and Explorer Scout trips
> and trainings, including winter camping and more that one hiker has gotten
> out their camera and taken pictures of my 'dinosaur.  Love my pack, but I
> doubt it'll see service again ever on my back...these days I cook.
>  TFTM  (Thanks For The Memories)
>  Georgi
>   T.A. Old Station
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