When I was 18,I bought this Serac pack new in the fall of 1973. I carried it into the Grand Canyon in 1974 where I found the century plant stalk hiking stick. I carried it for two summers as a Philmont Ranger in the mid 1970s, and on the PCT in 1976. I used this Serac and Svea 123 stove on every wilderness adventure until 1991, and then retired both. The next packs I carried were an evolutionary lineage of many towards my current ultralight packs. The first upgrade was a Dana Design Terraplane, then Mountain Smith Auspex, then a Gossamer G4, then an ULA P2 and today an ULA P1 pack. I still have all my packs, all my stoves, and all my tents.