We didn’t go hiking as a family when I was a child in Estonia, just day trips. I remember my father going away on long hikes in faraway places. I guess that was one of the few benefits of being part of the Soviet Union: travelling to the far ends of that empire, from Sakhalin in the Far East to the Crimea and the Caucasus mountains in the south. I remember looking forward to being old enough to join. Unfortunately I never got to that point.

Our school class did at least two hikes together. One was to Piusa. I think we slept in the hay loft at a classmate’s grandparents’ farm. At Piusa I remember we wandered around in the sandstone caves – man-made, the result of digging for sand for glass-making. The caves are now mostly closed to the public because of safety concerns, otherwise I’d love to back and visit them again.

The other hike was somewhere near Aegviidu, I believe. I remember forest lanes and not much else. That time we carried tents with us.

It’s easy to take kids on a hike these days. Back then, equipment weighed a ton. Sleeping bags were rectangular and made of cotton – canvas on the outside, thinner cotton on the inside, some kind of wadding in between. The wadding was probably cotton as well. Cotton is heavy. One of our sleeping bags had a blue lining with a pattern of small white flowers.

Tents were also made of heavy-duty canvas and had that classical ridge shape. They weren’t waterproof at all. For rain protection you covered the tent with a piece of heavy plastic, and you spread another piece of plastic under the tent. Nevertheless the tent usually leaked and grew mouldy with time.

I had a bright green rucksack on those hikes. It was heavy, and definitely did not have a hip belt. I remember the buckles at the bottom ends of the shoulder straps digging into my hips.

The photos are not mine, but what I see matches what I remember. Both are from sites selling old stuff. The bag is a sleeping bag, imagine it being about 40 cm long.

Minu lapsepõlves me perega matkamas ei käinud, tegime ainult lühemaid väljasõite. Mäletan, kuidas mu isa käis pikkadel matkadel kaugetes kohtades. Eks see oli vist Nõukogude Liitu kuulumise üks vähestest headest külgedest: võimalus reisida selle suurriigi kaugetesse nurkadesse, alates Sahhalinist Kaug-Idas kuni Krimmi ja Kaukasuseni lõunas. Mäletan, kuidas ma ootasin, et saaksin ka piisavalt suureks, et mind kaasa võetaks. Ei jõudnudki kunagi nii kaugele.

Meie klass tegi koos vähemalt kaks matka. Üks viis Piusale. Magasime vist ühe klassikaaslase vanavanemate talus, heinalakas. Piusal uitasime ringi liivakivikoobastes – neis, mis sinna klaasitööstuse jaoks liiva kaevandamisest on tekkinud. Koopad on nüüd avalikkusele enamalt jaolt suletud, muidu oleks tore sinna jälle tagasi minna ja uuesti koobastes käia.

Teine matk oli vist kusagil Aegviidu kandis. Mäletan metsasihte ja muud eriti midagi. Tol korral tassisime telke kaasa.

Tänapäeval on lihtne lastega matkale minna. Tol ajal kaalus kogu varustus väga palju. Magamiskotid olid nelinurksed ja puuvillast – väljaspool paksem kangas, seespool mustriline sits, nende vahel mingit sorti vatiin. Vatiin oli tõenäoliselt ka puuvillane. Puuvill on raske. Ühel meie magamiskottidest oli sinine vooder valge lillemustriga.

Telgid olid samuti presendist ja olid seesugused traditsioonilise telgi kujuga. Veekindlad polnud nad üldse. Vihma eest kaitsti telk kiletükiga, ja teine kiletükk pandi telgi alla. Sellegipoolest lekkis telk alati ja kogus aegamööda hallitust.

Mul oli neil matkadel ereroheline seljakott. Kott oli raske, ja mingit puusavööd küll ei olnud. Mäletan, kuidas õlarihmade alumises otsas olevad pandlad mul puusakohas vastu keha vajutasid.

Fotod pole minu tehtud, aga asjad näevad välja umbes nii, nagu ma neid mäletan. Mõlemad on vana kraami müügikohtadest. Paks vorstikujuline kott on magamiskott, umbes 40 cm pikk.