The Backpacker

by Albert Saijo

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Genres: Nonfiction, Outdoors

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[John Schafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at an old bookstore and was intrigued by the old artwork subject. This book was originally published over 50 years ago (1972), but still captures the timeless draw of backpacking and "existing at basic survival levels in wilderness". From Saint Milarepa to John Muir, I enjoyed the stories and glimpses into the world of backpacking in the past.

The sections on gear were closer to modern backpacking than I expected. Most of the core principles are the same, and it documented the early stages of modern staples like ultralight gear, trail runners, Goretex, internal frame packs, water bladders, and butane stoves.

The most outdated thing I saw was referring to mail-order catalogs are a "distinctly modern form of literature"

If you're looking for an introductory guide to backpacking, read something more modern as there have been some significant changes. For anyone passionate about backpacking, I highly recommend this book for a glimpse into the world of 1970s backpacking.

[Michael McCue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Backpacker by Albert Saijo was first published in 1972. I would call it a very nice little book. It was in my father's collection of books on hiking and backpacking. I've had it since Dad died in 1988 but never read it before now. Much has changed since Saijo wrote this little book. Some of the advice he gives is outdated and even wrong. For example he wrote about how one could drink right out of a stream in the Sierra Nevada mountains. That was true once, I remember those days well. But for thirty years or more even in the highest mountains diseases like giardia have contaminated the water, there is no longer any place where one could safely drink out of a stream. His advice on snakebite is also not up with current thinking. However his writing about the pure joy of experiencing nature and wilderness and getting by with just what one can carry rings so true.

I think the most interesting thing about reading The Backpacker was discovering who Albert Saijo was. Saijo was in high school when in 1942 his family was interned in the Hart Mountain internment camp. He spent his high school years locked up for being Japanese-American and while he was there he was editor of the camp high school newspaper. From an early age he wrote poetry and prose. Saijo met many of the beat poets of the 1950 and was friends with Jack Kerouac. Saijo traveled with Kerouac from Los Angeles to New York and they wrote haikus together. He was one of several Japanese-American published beat poets.

Read the Backpacker to hear Albert Saijo's love of the wilderness, perhaps try some of the recipes in the food chapter, but get your health and safety wilderness advice from more current sources.