When I was in college, I backpacked the entire Long Trail across Vermont. The first week, the aluminum frame in my backpack cracked -- probably because I was carrying too much weight. We hitchhiked down to the nearest town, and I was able to get the aluminum backpack frame welded for about $10-20. It held the rest of the trip -- about 6 weeks and hundreds of miles. I also got rid of some of the extra weight I was carrying during that first town stop.