I totally agree, FinallyME.

One of the reasons that I like backpacking is that I like the illusion that I could live without civilization. Having to carry a bunch of expensive, industrially manufactured stuff with me kind of ruins that. Sorta like seeing the wires holding up a spaceship in a SciFi movie.

Besides using stuff that I made myself is its own source of satisfaction AND making it is also my idea of fun. So the labor envolved counts as recreation.

Not everything can be justified by a cost/time calculation. If it was, there'd be no point to backpacking at all.
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"Just enough to stay warm, dry, hydrated, and fed."