OK then; let’s get on with it! I’m the old geezer who shot the pic of the other old geezer in the photo Dave Simpson posted above. In spite of Thomas Wolfe’s conjecture that one can’t go home again, Lee (old geezer sporting the Gregory Cassin above) and I revisited the Winds (southern Wind River Range, Wyoming) in 2002, having first explored that area by way of a NOLS Wilderness Course in the early summer of 1978, and found that, “yes, by gosh, one can go home again”; although, “things” may not be where one or more may have once perceived them to have been — no, we didn’t get lost, or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it; however, as Gregory’s tag line alludes, anyone who “gets it” knows it’s all about the journey; right?

There is, however, something to be said about how comfortable one is while journeying; ergo the Gregory Pack!

I had backpacked from college days — WVU for those who give a hoot — in the early ‘70s through 1996 using aluminum framed technology; then, in the summer of 1997, I went with a Lowe pack which would have better served as a rope bag. That same summer, at the age of 46, the “rope bag” was my house during a three month long touring sabbatical of the southern Wind River Range.

I was carrying that same “rope bag” (or “potato sack”, depending on one’s attitude when sporting same) during a return to the Winds in the summer of 2002 [when the above photo was taken]. Five more years on my body’s clock, however, had made a very significant difference in how that potato sack felt on my back. During a one day 12-mile hump, out the Big Sandy area that summer, Lee and I swapped packs a couple of times and that’s all it took to “go Gregory”!

I now sport a Gregory Denali Pro which definitely “rules”!

Any question? [ha]

– Bruce Cressler
Live it large, don’t waste it !!!

I love the suspension system idea of flexing at the attachment points. One of the problems with every lightweight pack I have is getting not only the fit right, but how it moves on me or against me. Can’t wait to give one a try!