I started in the Boy Scouts in 1946 with a WW-II surplus pack and a kapok sleeping bag. No stove and a tin can pot with a wire bail. For shelter and rain gear, I used a surplus GI poncho. I only used the poncho for shelter if it was raining; I slept out otherwise. I slept on the clothes that I wasn't wearing. Shortly after that, I acquired a German Army surplus rucksack and the inner bag from a GI Arctic bag. This served me until the early 60's. For a while, I had a Trapper Nelson pack board but I didn't like it so sold it. I bought my first stove in 1955; it was a Primus 71L. I used a Bergans Rucksack for a lot of hiking and climbing in the 60's and 70's and finally bought a Kelty external in about 1975.