Over the weekend I had the time and inclination to dig through my accumulated backpacking gear. It is amazing to see the changes in gear. I started backpacking in the early 1970's with a home made pack, pup tent, rectangular flannel sleeping bag, and an old aluminum mess kit. Dehydrated food was either too expensive, too tasteless, or unavailable.
My home made pack, gave way to an H-frame without hip belt. Then I added a hip belt, which then gave way to an internal frame pack.
The aluminum mess kit gave way to a stainless steel kit. Stainless steel turned into hard anodized aluminum. Hard anodized aluminum became titanium.
Open fire cooking turned into a Peak 1 400A stove with a factory windscreen. Peak 1 gave way to a WhisperLite International. The WhisperLite into a canister stove. Canister stove became an inverted canister stove. The inverted canister stove morphed into a stove system.
Drinking water straight from the source gave way to a ceramic filter cartridge. The ceramic filter changed into hollow fiber.
Rectangular sleeping bag became a synthetic mummy bag. Synthetic bag gave way to a water resistant down bag.
I have kept each item, and each item is still completely functional. I still use my 20 year old WhisperLite (with original pump) for winter camping. I have, however, given up lugging the Peak 1 stove around. I have also given up lugging most of the older equipment. You couldn't pay me enough to carry the steel framed home-made pack again :)
My point here. You do not need the latest greatest equipment to have an enjoyable time in the back country. Get the gear that works for you and your budget, and go have some fun!
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