Oldest camping gear you're still using?

[Scoutn79]

Please post pictures!


The oldest bit I use that I bought new is a North Face down sleeping bag from 1975 or so. As a junior in high school we cooked up a plan to hike the Appalachian Trail for a month (the Virginia section) and I was working after school in a garden center. Bought the bag when I had saved the cash. It was $125, a huge sum to me at the time. It's still warm, very decent and still used regularly.

The oldest gear I use are Coleman items. My go to stove is a 426C triple burner from about 1961. Still works as new. I have a 242B lantern that fits inside the stove from 1938. Neither of these is used as a relic, they are just used as camp gear in the back of my truck.

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I so wish they still made a white gas lantern that size. I looked and looked last year to no avail. Seems up until a couple years ago one was still available but no longer...at least not new. I have to look for used now.

Darrell

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I still have an old Hillary dome tent that my family slept in on our first ever camping trip back in 1997 (I was five at the time). Still going strong, though it doesn't get as much use these days. I'll be holding on to that indefinitely.

 

[MojaveKJ]

I have a no name brand/knock off double burner camp stove that I have used for 25 or so years. One burner works great and the other is a bit flukie but it works juuuuust fine for me. A gift from my "long lost brother".

 

[SmoothLC]

BSA mess kit (don't ask how many years old).

Used a couple weeks ago but am retiring it this summer.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Depends on the trip but in some cases (RelicRun.com) every piece of gear I bring is 30+ years old

 

[concretejungle]

I don't have any pictures of it and i honestly don't use it hardly at all anymore, but i have one of the original North Face dome tents. Cool little story about it:

My dad and his buddy used to travel out west each winter to hunt. They would backpack, so my dad purchased this big yellow tent. Growing up every time we would camp we would use that tent. So as i aged and got out more and more, i kind of inherited the tent. I used it A LOT! Took it to college with me and after my freshman year the front door zipper broke. So, i decided to see how good the north face's customer service was and decided to mail it in and see if they would replace it.

About 3 weeks later a FedEx tube showed up at my dorm. It was from the north face. They replaced the zipper and put a little note in with the tent that said they were extremely excited to see that this tent was still in use. They said that it was the original dome tent that they had designed (early 70's IIRC) and were amazed that it was still in use. They replaced the zipper at no cost. Pretty cool.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I just started collecting vintage Coleman gear so when we go on one of our Teardrop trips I typically take along a lantern and a water jug. The water jug is 5/76 and sometimes I'll take one of my birthday 228 lanterns (12/61.)

 

[JackW]

1963 Thermos brand military single mantle lantern - Olive Drab green and in perfect condition. I also have a 1973 Coleman twin mantle lantern that I don't use anymore.
Late 1970's? Coleman 413G stove
1977 Snow Lion down sleeping bag (and a 1976 Snow Lion synthetic bag)

I miss my old eight man Eureka Draw-Tight canvas tent - it was big enough to park a sports car in but my sister borrowed it and it got washed away in a flood.

A friend of mine still has his old Trapper Nelson wooden backpack frame - very cutting edge hot stuff in the mid- 1960's