"How many of you started with a Kelty or Camp Trails external pack, Svea stove, nesting pots, and last but not least slept out under the stars?"

Me. And like you, it all came from taking my first trip with a Scout troop, then reading Colin Fletcher and learning how to do it "right" (or at least more efficiently.)

I'm not quite ready to go back to sleeping under the stars - I also remember coming home from those trips covered with mosquito bites! But I still do the next best thing: ever since they became available, I've chosen tents with all-mesh inners or at least half the wall and the roof being mesh (current favorites: Hubba/Carbon Reflex; Copper Spur, Fly Creek, and Seedhouse.) It captures the feel of sleeping under the stars, minus the mosquitoes.

I just passed my Svea along to my son at Thanksgiving. (The Jetboil is my current favorite.)

And I still miss my Camp Trails Wilderness internal frame pack occasionally.