Photo: Patent Pending BlogWhen I was seventeen, my father had a buddy who lived next door. Dad had been in the navy and Dennis in the army. Even though Dad seemed to feel the navy had a bit more cachet, it made no difference.
They drank rum together in our kitchen. With booze in him, Dad could be loud, but Dennis never raised his voice, at least not in my hearing. He had about him a puzzled air. As I listened to his slow speech, I imagined him wondering why nations had wars instead of being good neighbours.
I was in a camping phase. One day as I packed my gear, I complained that my pack was too small for the three day hiking trip we were planning to Sleeping Beauty Mountain.
"Say," said Dennis. "I've got a pack you can have." He went home and brought over the Trapper Nelson. I thanked him for the loan, but he said "You keep it. I don't need it any more." I was overwhelmed by his casual gift of a capacious canvas bag on a wooden frame with one outside pocket. Just what I needed.
I'd seen the smaller Number 2, but never the Number 3. Though I had to lean forward like Ape-man to carry it, I loved that thing. The new well-designed lightweight aluminum-framed nylon packs were very expensive, and I was a student. I stuck with my Trapper Nelson.
I didn't know it at the time, but when Lloyd Nelson developed this pack in 1920, It was the last word in comfort and design. Now it seems laughably primitive.
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