yucca pack packing

[willysjeep]

OK, here goes another one. I just recently got an old yucca pack to fool around with. Mabey some of you experienced folks could help me out here. How in the heck do you lash all of your gear to them? I have boiled it down to rolling my bedroll and tarp tent into a big sausage and wearing it "civil war style" ontop of the bag and held down by the flap, and lashed to the bottom D rings on the sides. This makes the pack pretty compact, but for some reason it doesn't seem right to have that big roll of blankets lashed to the outside of the pack. So, how were the old canvas yucca packs actually used in the field back in the good ol' days?

[Bob White]

Sounds like you did it right. This was primarily a youth starter pack. next you moved to an exterior tube frame thata shelf to help support your sleeping bag below the pack. Finally to a military style canvas pack.

 

You learned to pack minimal gear. The materials used for just about everything at that time was very heavy compared to today. Plastics were rare, Even ponchos were heavy and made of rubberized fabric.

 

It was difficult to keep your gear dry, and the pack could mold with great ease.

 

This is an excellent example of how old ways are not always better ways. My old yucca pack proudly hangs on a wall on display. If it ever tried to get onto my back again I would shoot it.

 

 

 

[willysjeep]

It's kind of funny. I have an old handbook that shows a hypothetical backpack with the blankets and tent neatly packed in the bag with food and a mess kit and all this other stuff. Apparently they had tents and blankets about the size of handkerchiefs at the time because my blanket alone just about fills the pack to capacity. Other than that, it looks like I won't be hurting too much for room if the tent and blanket stay outside. I also did a little research o tump lines and if I ever give this pack a real life trial on the trail then I will give the tump line a shot too.

[VentureScoutNY]

I have an old Yucca from the forties which was my unlces. They are rare, and I have not seen many of them. They are much smaller than the ones from the fifties. They have none of those rings you see on the one you have. I couldn't imagine how they put up what that small thing.

 

I also have my dads from the late fifties early sixties and it is a bigger one, the one I would assume you have. And I bought the one they released from the catolog a few years back.

 

I brought it camping it's not a bad bag. I prefer it better than most normal size day packes. And its a great pack for camping but in my opinion, its only good for camping in the spring, summer, and maybe the fall. In these seasons its nice not having a huge framepack to lug around. For the winter I need my framepack though. Love the bag though!

 

Yours in Scouting

VentureScoutNY

[Be_Prepared]

I still have mine. We used canvas shelter halves for tents then. We would roll the sleeping bag lengthwise, then roll the shelter half around it. We would then tie it horsecollar style around the pack. This would free up space for food, clothes, trenching shovel, etc. in the pack. A big problem was the shoulder straps were small and unpadded, so we put a folded shirt or towel under the straps.

[willysjeep]

I hear ya about the shoulder straps. I solved some of the problem by sewing up a nice wide tump line to take some of the load off my shoulders. Also, I am carrying a 9X9 foot canvas tarp tent I made from some old plans in an outdated handbook. I bet this tarp is a bit larger than the average shelter half. Of course I am also using a 3 point wool blanket which is probably smaller than the average sleeping bag. I guess it all evens out.

 

I am sort of trying to simplify my camping experience. I have spend years hauling way too much. Now I am looking at things from a more minimalist perspective. What I have discovered to some extent is that older gear is strikingly similar to what minimalists use today. Frameless packs, tarp tents, blankets....plus it gives me a chance to see what all of these old timers experienced back in the day. Again, with a smaller bag I am restricted in what I can pack. Even before I made "the switch" in my thinking I was packing about 25-30 pounds for a summer hike a week long. Even then I brought some useless junk that I could have done without. I will have to give my yucca a try this summer with some of my other older style gear as well.

[Be_Prepared]

It is a trade-off: less gear vs. more impact. We used shelter halves, which were only the sides of the pup tent. That meant we had to dig trenches around the tents for water runoff. We had no sleeping pads, so we piled up loose leaves, to put our sleepings bags on. In addition, we cooked only over fire or hot rocks, so no stoves to carry.

 

One boy, who had no pack, used to roll his gear up in the sleeping bag lengthwise, and wear it over his shoulder. He carried food and other things in a 'Grit Newspaper' bag over his other shoulder.

 

I can recall strapping things to the outside of the Yucca pack, since it was so small.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Yucca pack and I went to Philmont many moons ago. I saved about $60.00 for most of my gear that was on the official list. I went to the local used military store and purchased the bulk of it. After we got to Philmont, we had a "shakedown" where we made the decision that we needed only about 3/4 of the stuff we brought with us. I have never quite figured that one out. Nonetheless, I stowed the items I didn't need in a locker to be picked up on return.

 

The summer before, we made a 50-miler across the boarders of Arkansas into Oklahoma called the Kiamichi Trail. We carried our gear the best ways we could. It was kind of funny. I remember the first quarter mile, we had Scouts stretched from car to trail head. Equipment was all along the trail and several Scouts quit. We had lashed the equipment on in all sorts of combinations. I had a home-made wooden pack frame that allowed several ways to tie my stuff on and it worked.

 

Later, a friend of mine, Mr. D. made a light weight metal pack frame. It made for an easier and lighter load to carry. He loaned it to me for the trek. I was excited because it was much better than the Green Bar Bill one that my brother built out of wood and canvas. The metal weighed less and it distributed the weight instead letting the pack lump up on your back when you didn't have a frame. It was slightly curved around the back to allow the canvas straps to form to your back instead of pushing flat against it.

 

After we got to Philmont a guy that was leaving sold me a set of 1/2 inch thick foam shoulder pads. They made the 60 pounds of weight feel much lighter and the load felt easier on my shoulders. I finally had arrived in Backpacking Heaven.

 

The Ranger that helped us at the start, showed us the "Diamond Hitch" that allowed us to carry our sleeping bags at the bottom of our pack and frame and other gear at the top. This large hitch secured the gear and we were then able to complete our hike across the South loop without too many problems.

 

Since we were hiking in patrols, we divided the equipment up so one would carry the tent and another part of the cooking gear and so on. The Yucca pack was the standard but one Scout had a new type of pack and a special frame made of tubing that I had not seen before. He had the best of everything. He didn't fit well into the group because of a bad attitude he had developed from an excess of personal wealth but he mellowed a little after a few days on the trail.

 

I brought two pair of pants that somehow didn't fit quite right. Each day, I would bust out the seat and each day I would sew them up. It became a ritual that came with the afternoon rain, the daily search for a good camping spot, the Melba toast, the side hikes up to see something extra, the boiled Kool-aid, and the nightly bear bag.

 

It was my first time to hike in the mountains and I was filled to the brim with being in God's Country. My new friend David and I shared a tent during those two weeks. He didn't talk much but we grew on each other. I haven't seen him since. Our crew adviser, Mr. R., and I visit every other year or so. He still remembers that hike and feels that somehow it really was special. I agree.

 

My Yucca pack is still with me today and is still being used. It carries a load of memories and does a good job even without a frame.

 

FB