MY TIMBERLINE AND THE WHOLE EARTH PROVISION COMPANY

I received so many comments from folks telling me the story of the Eureka Timberline(s) they've owned, I decided that I'd tell the story of where the Timberline I used in the video came from.
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[@behindthespotlight7983]

4:42 this channel has become one of my absolute favorites on youtube

[@sargevining]

Crux of the biskit is one of those phrases that folks understand even if they've never heard of Frank Zappa, its why I love using it as it comes with a kind of "I'm a member of the tribe" thing---

[@00Klingon]

I was a boy scout in the 80's in a troop that was very active camping and hiking, doing frequent 50-mile hikes all over. I lugged a Timberline with a 70s hand me down Jansport frame back (blue) with an aluminum BSA canteen, mess kit, and a military surplus foam pad to sleep on and a vintage camp stool with green fabric and an aluminum frame just like you show! How I made it so many miles with all that heavy gear, only youth can tell but I did it!

[@sargevining]

When I was younger, all we had was WW2 surplus pup tents. Things gradually get lighter and light until now we have the whole "ultra-light" thing. I do love my little stool. Hangs off my Kelty just right and one has to think that maybe the folks who made it intended for it to be used that way. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesgunter9100]

As a teenager in the 70's, my overnight "backpacking trips" into the Pennsylvania woods involved sleeping without a tent, or use of a cheap nylon pup tent; not much of an upgrade and in some ways worse than sleeping without a tent. In the early 80's I bought a Eureka Timberline 2 tent. What a world of difference! That tent went with me all over northern Pennsylvania, and into Wyoming, Utah's Wasatch Mountains, and Canyonlands. I've had a few other tents since then, and they are (or were) good tents and I liked them. But last year I just had to once again have a Timberline tent and now have a Timberline 2 and a Timberline 4. They're still my favorite tents!

[@sargevining]

My experience pretty much mirrors yours, and probably millions of others. It was either sleeping under a WW2 pup tent or the stars. Once the "rain vent" design for tents came out carrying tents into the woods became enjoyable, and the Timberline led the charge. Thanks for watching!

[@filmic1]

Thank you for your personal history with the Timberline. Cool production! Boy the early seventies sure ring true. Here in Canada, I just got out of Naval Reserve and started tripping across the country. I recall having a nice tent but forget what it was. The fellow I was hitching with lost it when we went our own ways, unfortunately. My next was a TNF copy, but it served me well until the late seventies. Then my wife and I got the Eureka Alpine Meadows that we loved, and I still have. Thank-you.

[@sargevining]

I moved around a lot in the lates '70s as I mention in the video and didn't get to keep my camping gear, the responsibilities of school, marriage, and kids taking precedence at the time. The Timberline I bought in '82 was actually my first tent purchase after leaving Active Duty in '75. Had it for a while but moved on to domes. Thanks for watching!

[@chrisholle5531]

I have an orange timberline. strong winds Broke the "Dog bones". I made new ones with pvc pipe and a drill. I think they turned out better then the originals. I also remember reading the 1970 whole earth catalog ,cover to cover, many times when I was a kid. Thanks for the videos.

[@sargevining]

If the hooks and metal fittings are brass, you've got an early Timberline so would hold a bit higher value than the green ones as the number made was significantly lower than the eventual production numbers. Thanks for watching!

[@57WillysCJ]

Funny my parents had a Whole Earth catalog. Dad was about 60 at the time. Not hippies but believed the back to nature movement as did my mom's parents. I always considered their items the same way I did Coast to Coast. Good working man and farmer's products. Funny Whole Foods started in Austin as did a lot of good music. My favorite song of the Souvenirs album is As The Raven Flies. Joe Walsh produced the album and plays on As the Raven Flies. I was born not far from where he was born and worked with one of his classmates for a few years.

[@sargevining]

Yah, Whole Foods capitalized on the Whole Earth Catalog in the same way that Whole Earth Provision Co. did. Kind of shows the impact the catalog had on society. I leaned towards Jesse Colin Young for a favorite song from a chick magnet artist, but not on the album shown. The guitar work on Darkness, Darkness always blew me away. Every time I hear it I'm transported back to the converted garage in an off-post rent house a couple buddies and I had in Lawton, OK. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYO2dZKrZ9qjhpY

[@57WillysCJ]

@@sargevining A songs quality is whether you like it and is demonstrated by how many times it was covered and who covered it. The Youngbloods were better than their fame. As to songs, not really a chick song but a safe song when picking up a girl at her house. You rolled up playing Muskrat Love then when you got out of earshot you could switch to Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath.

[@ScottCarlson-cz7wj]

Wow, I was in 5th grade in '75'. My Dad had 40 acres in northern Minnesota and a Ford Galaxie squatting army surplus canvas tent to camp in. I lived in a similar tent on a single strip R.O.K. airbase (Korea) in '84'. Love that smell. My first tent was a single bivvy Swallow I took 10K' up to Camp Muir (Mt. Rainier) Thanks for the great video.

[@sargevining]

Yah, the smell of canvas can get addicting. The smell of polyurethane after a few years not so much. I'm fixing to do a video on how to take the pee yew out of PU. Thanks for watching!

[@gon2westexas]

Did a mid-80’s trip down the Colorado from Austin to LaGrange with my wife and orange Timberline. Got it in St. Paul and used it in MN, AZ, NM, CO, OK, KS and TX. Even used it for our motorcycle honey moon trip. It survived a tornado! Doing a 300 mile bike trip this fall but the Timberline is gone and I’ll have a much lighter tent and lots of memories.

[@sargevining]

Never did the Colorado, like the San Marcos a lot. I don't doubt that Timberline would make it through a tornado. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesellsworth9673]

I LIKE your personal connection stories, too.

[@sargevining]

I probably should do more but tend to lean towards the informational rather than the personal. But I really enjoyed making this one.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

@@sargevining Each of your videos is fine to watch and learn from. I lived near College Station, Texas for a few years. My camping contended with feral pigs, wandering coyotes, and a snake or two. Our large acre lot was located at the boundary of a multi-thousand-acre oil and cattle operation.

[@toml.8210]

The Timberline tent I used as a Boy Scout had a straight ridge, not a curved one, an orange tub and fly, and a cream upper section. I never noticed a label on it, but it had some printed stuff on one end of the tub telling to to keep away from flame, etc.

[@sargevining]

Yah, its my belief that Eureka made orange Timberlands for their private label marketing, and many had no logo tag at all for orders that weren't large enough to merit the expense of adding a logo tag. Probably sold through local department and sporting goods stores rather than large chains. Thanks for watching!

[@wetcanoedogs]

i used a timberline on wilderness canoe trips in the early 80's.to make a total shelter i put a vestibule on each end.the head end for the duluth pack and the other for a place to cook in bad weather.later on i got a smaller light weight tent and used at baker tent as a shelter and cook shack.we have a big one with the sides that open up and used it on local river floats where weight was not an issue.the timberline was easy to put up and free standing which made for a fast set up in bad weather.

[@sargevining]

Vestibule on both ends is a neat idea. The ease and speed of set up is the best quality of the Timberline IMO. I used to do dawn to dusk backpacking and having something that easy to set up meant that there was still enough light to get supper going after the tent was up and the gear put to rights. Thanks for watching!

[@ROE1300]

🤔 I would like to comment, but am almost speechless. Your description of life for a 20-something in the early 70s was very accurate. However, I feel obligated to point out UTA is University of Texas at Arlington. The mother school in Austin is simply UT. 👍 Good video.

[@sargevining]

You are correct, I did misspeak. Gig 'em!

[@ROE1300]

@@sargevining “Gig ‘em! 👍” is the phrase used by Texas A&M, are you an Aggie? The phrase used by UT is “Hook ‘em Horns! 🤘”. Thankfully now that both these long-term rival schools are in the SEC we will see them once again butting heads on Thanksgiving Day.

[@tombryant6061]

My best friend that I have been camping with for the last 52 years still has his Timberline…. We have spent many many nights in it…. Whole Earth Catalog? Mine is on the shelf in the room I am in… I can look over my shoulder and there it is. Have thought about getting rid of it many times and yet it is still there.

[@sargevining]

I've seen Ebay listings for the '68 WEC in the hundreds of dollars. But I'd hold on to it. You never know when you're going to need to know how to dig a well. The Timberline in the video has to be about the same age as Eureka pretty much stopped private label sales of the Timberline within a year as it soon became obvious that they were going to fly off the shelves. Thanks for watching!

[@MrGratefulEd]

...an album cover and a shoe box lid. If you know, you know. ;) Back packing was simpler in the 60s and 70s. A tube tent with a ridge line and 4 rocks, a GI poncho and a hi quality down mummy bag... Wish I could pack that light now. I'm afraid my old bones wouldn't take well to sleeping on the ground. I really enjoy your content.

[@sargevining]

You can get back out in the woods the way I did ten years ago: hammock camping. Hung right with the right insulation and they are comfy and cool in summer and toasty warm in winter, with no rocks or limbs under you, and no crawling around on the ground. I've got some older videos on hammock camping, you might want to check them out. Thanks for watching!

[@MrGratefulEd]

@@sargevining I still hike, but no more long treks in my future. A canvas tent, cots and all the comforts ride in the back of my pick-up and my hikes require only a haversack, snack and a beer or three.

[@sargevining]

@@MrGratefulEd Yah, long distance is no longer in my future as well. Its one reason I've hooked on to the 1920s/30s Living History as well as the Big Steel Tent build out.

[@MrGratefulEd]

@@sargevining "Big Steel Tent build out". Is this a tease of an upcoming series or something I already missed? I'm guessing tongue in cheek... :)

[@sargevining]

@@MrGratefulEd Its building out my 2002 4 Runner as a camping/ mobile video production facility. I did a video 7 months ago, admittedly not my best work, showing the initial test run. I've made several improvements, mostly in electrical stuff. I probably should do another here soon. Trying to get it finished enough that I can go to NH to visit my Mom in October. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ2peKl6ltB5orc

[@randy-9842]

Hi Sarge. Thanks for this very enjoyable "memory-lane" video! (Just subscribed. I thought it was Blackie Thomas that referred me, but I can't find his reference now.??) I never was much of a backpacker (loved hiking, but never fell in with the backpacking groups). My green Eureka Timberline (with the vestibule) went on a lot of weekend camping / canoeing trips for a LOT of years - mostly NE Oklahoma and New Braunfels areas. I still have it, but haven't used it in quite a while. A buddy and I always went to New Braunfels several days early to grab a good site (generally far away from the "rowdy" crowds that came later - not that our group was all that tame though -- I don't want that thunder clap to strike at me too !) and to enjoy the canoeing before the tubers showed up in our camp and took over the river -- I know what you mean! That was in the late 70's. I don't remember the Whole Earth Catalog, nor do I remember for certain where I bought my Timberline. I suspect it came from the Campmor catalog as I bought a lot of my gear from there. For me, LL Bean, Cabela's, etc. came along later as I began earning more money. I kinda miss the old Campmor "cheap paper" catalogs! That was a wonderful / enjoyable time period!

[@sargevining]

Campmor or got mucho mi dinero too. But it was money well spent I think. These days you can cross just about any Hill Country river walking across the tubes. Nobody much wanted anything to do with those rivers until somebody got the notion to jump in an inner tube. Thanks for watching!

[@lordnebo]

Mine was (and still is gray) Hippies were kind of social snobs and I was just low class to them had to keep my hair short to hold a job and all that 'uncool' stuff.In any case my Timberline was on many a back 40 trips and me and my ex wife who worked as flagers used to camp out for jobs far away from home its quite the tent .

[@sargevining]

Yah, great tent for canoe trips. I had one on mine in TX, and Dad had one for our Connecticut River trip. I was a bit too young to do the actual "hippy" thing, and Uncle Sam had a LOT to say about how long my hair was going to be for a long while. Walking around campus with my hair cut to conform to Army Reserve standards did kind of limit my social circle. Thanks for watching!

[@ROE1300]

Unfortunately I don’t yet have a Timberline story, but am thinking about combining one with my Kelty A4, but the weight is holding me back.

[@sargevining]

I'm about to do a video on another tent you might want to look at. I'll make sure to weigh it before I start to let you know.

[@ROE1300]

@@sargevining Thanks! For some time I have had a Duplex dyneema tent by ZPacks with the free-standing frame. While this is a well made tent for my purposes and the ultra lightweight is attractive it just doesn’t look right with my A4. I anxiously await your upcoming video on the tent you refer to above as I would like to find a vintage tent (of reasonable weight) to pair with my Kelty.

[@behindthespotlight7983]

Whole Earth Catalog 1970 In 1970 $3 In 2024 $60

[@sargevining]

And that's just the inflation conversion--- I've seen prices for the 1968 issue in the hundreds.

[@misolgit69]

S##T Dude you could have warned us you had thunder and lightning that went up to 11

[@sargevining]

But did you die? :) My editor doesn't really show me how much louder certain clips will be and tends to "tone them down" while editing. I never know until the video is processed. But now I know 8.8 is a bit louder than it should be. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesellsworth9673]

My wife, a couple of rooms away, wanted to know what on earth I was doing when that happened.