[pct-l] Cheryl Strayed's Pack in Wild

[Mary Kwart]

The pack in the movie was made to look like the pack Cheryl Strayed
carried in the 90's. It is supposed to be a period piece about
backpacking--something like shooting a movie taking place in the
1950's--you wouldn't have people driving modern cars. Although this
fine point will probably be lost on the general non-hiking public.

I don't know why the people at REI put Cheryl Strayed into an external
frame pack when she got outfitted before her hike in the 90's. I
switched to an internal frame pack from an external frame Kelty Tioga
in the mid 80's when Gregory came out with an internal frame pack.

 I have a pic of myself on the John Muir Trail in 1980--my external
frame pack had my home made frostline kit two person tent strapped on
top, with a day pack around it. The pack weighed 65 pounds. You could
carry more weight on top, which looks ridiculous now, because of the
stiffness of the frame. There are advantages to carrying an external
framepack--it carries loads better with less fussing about how you
pack than an internal frame pack. In 2011 I met a guy from Scotland on
the Colorado trail who was using a home made external frame pack that
he marketed over there--it was very lightweight. I am surprised
someone hasn't resurrected the idea of carrying a high tech external
frame pack on groomed trails like the PCT.

--Fireweed