Laughed at the pickle story, mostly cause I resembled that story at one time. Haha.
Shortly after getting my drivers license in the early 90's, me and a pard did an overnight hike into the north Monashees. While I don't recall all my gear choices, I do recall a couple items.
-2 1/2 pound fallers axe(really handy above treeline)
-Aluminum coffee pot with a couple rocks to warn bears
-8" cast iron fry pan(lake we were heading towards had no fish, but I might have brought potatoes. Regardless it never got used. LOL.
-Steel toe Rocky work boots adorned my feet and a 90liter Outbound pack was mounted on my back.
Never made the lake, slept on 3' of snow(July long)and my pack weighed 90lbs when I got home. The good old days, when I could stand on a 250lb bathroom scale with a loaded pack and not wrap the needle....
Come a little way since then for sure.