Me too,
Colin was my hero.
I spent 4 months bping around the Sierras and Big sur sleeping under the stars every night (unless a girl picked me up hitchhiking). Svea came later, I always had a wood fire. Nesting pots? I coked in coffee cans... and I couldn't afford the kelty till later, I made my own pack. I covered about 450 miles of hiking, the longest trip of my life with the most primitive gear, well actually I had a US mountain regular sleeping bag - oiled cotton and chicken feathers mixed with waterfowl feathers. My mosquito net was a old dusty "sheer window curtain".
Jim - yes times were simpler and the trip was more important than the gear. PS my base pack never weighed over 18 pounds.