2006 was a happy day. The now-ancient original Rivendell sign from the church in Victor, Idaho rests alongside a brand-new Jensen pack. The occasion was my visit to Eric Hardee's shop in Monroe, WA. Eric was quite excited about this new color for the pack, and I agreed with him, it's as beautiful as my Dr. Expando was, oh, so many years ago when I bought it at Rivendell's headquarters in an old church at the base of the Tetons in Victor, Idaho. Shown is the interior of the converted church in 1975, with Seattle packmaker Mike Schonhofen of Flatland Packworks. He's there to talk with Larry Horton about Rivendell making Flatland packs to increase Flatlands' production capacity. The second picture shows the exterior of the church; I visited there myself in 1978, but it was summer and no snow! Both pictures courtesy of Bill Edwards.

Since 2006, the revived Rivendell under Eric Hardee has moved into high gear, Click here for more information.

Please Note: All Material on this page, and in all my "History of Gear" webpages, is copyrighted, and no usage of my material is permitted unless explicit permission is granted by me, Bruce B. Johnson, owner of OregonPhotos.com -- Contact: brucej@Oregonphotos.com

GEAR ALERT: Rivendell/Jensen packs are available on a custom basis (see page bottom).

Eric Hardee and Don Wittenberger have been "Keepers of the Flame." Eric has had legal use (via Don Wittenberger) of the authentic Rivendell pack blueprints and has been sewing/selling custom Jensen/Rivendell packs via word of mouth advertising for many years.... Eric can sew up a gorgeous original Jensen or Giant Jensen for you--- Contact him! He is a true lover of this pack. His email is ewak3@juno.com. Tell him that you heard about him from Bruce at OregonPhotos.com. .. Eric has a fine Rivendell pack website, see Eric's own Rivendell website.