I learned to backpack as a Boy Scout. Our troop was big on primitive camping using homemade trail tents.
When you successfully passed the requirements for the Second Class rank (twice – ours was a strict troop), you got to construct your own pack frame. When we went camping, you had everything tied tight to it – inside your sleeping bag, which was rolled into the trail tent.
When you were awarded the First Class rank, you were privileged to weave and stain a rectangular basket that was then bolted to the frame. Your sleeping bag would be rolled up in the tent and tied to the top of the basket, while the rest of your goods went into the basket itself – a much more convenient arrangement.
You couldn’t buy a backpack like that anywhere except, maybe, a very expensive outfitter’s.
What I learned along the way was equally priceless.
The pack on the cover of my poetry volume is a more traditional design, but it still stirs the memories.
~*~
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Jnana's Red Barn 
Aren’t those packs great?! We used to do historical reenactment in our younger days and have a backpack like that that we used during our events.