Buy the Right Backpack (and how to pack it)

hey y'all Dixie here in this two-week back to the basics of backpacking series I have talked about a lot of gear and with all of this gear if you go backpacking you have to have something to put it in so today I want to talk to you about picking a pack to go back [Music] one of the first things that should we consider when shopping for a pack is the volume of the pack so this is how much space you have to fill up with your gear on the inside of the pack this will really depend on how many days you're aiming to be out backpacking so how long your trips gonna be and then how big as far as bulky and heavy your gear is my best advice for somebody who is currently shopping for a pack just so you know that all of your gear will fit inside is to take all of your gear with you to a store where they sell packs and practice kind of packing different packs with different volumes to see what works best for you as a bit of advice I would say when you go in there and pack all of your stuff in the pack if you think well I might go one size up really from what I need just to have some extra space just in case I think that in most instances that might be a good idea but with packs you're then carrying the extra weight of the pack like the pack itself because it's bigger than you need and then you'll be more likely to cram them a few more things in before you go on your trip because you have this extra space so why not fill it up so really try to go with what you think will fit your gear kind of perfectly and not get something that's a little bigger just so you have the extra space I feel like most beginning backpackers aim for the range of 50 litres to 70 litres for up to 5 day trips of course means clothing is going to be a little bit bulkier than womens especially if you're bigger and taller than you know a short slender woman so you might want to adjust some of that again to your specific gear but that's the range that usually works for people when they're first starting out up to 5 days or so anything bigger than a 70 liter pack is probably gonna be considered in the expedition pack range so this is for trips that are going to be potentially a week or longer and maybe even for people who are doing some winter backpacking because they're gonna be carrying more heavy weight gear and probably more layers to keep warm next let's talk about weight not just the weight of the pack itself but also the weight that the pack is designed to carry it seems that the heavier a pack is itself the more weight that it can stand to carry also Comfort plays into this so the pack that I carried on the Appalachian Trail which was an osprey or a 50 liter was about three to four pounds as far as the pack itself but the pact that I carried on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail was only a pound and a half and they actually make a lighter version of it I carried the z-pak Sark haul because it was designed to carry up to 40 pounds but the 21 ounces our blast is designed to carry up to 35 pounds I knew that I would be having longer water carry so I wanted to have more water holding capacity and I wanted the pack to be able to hold up to carrying those heavy weights and not tear up quickly the pack that I carried on the Appalachian Trail definitely could have carried up to 40 pounds also and I think that there were times when I was carrying a lot of water that the Osprey aura would have actually carried the weight more comfortably than the z-pak Sark halted but that's a trade-off so overall the gear that I had and everything was more lightweight and the pack itself was more lightweight but there were times where it probably did not carry as comfortably as the Osprey or did so with volume it's important to consider how bulky your gear is but you have to also consider how heavy that gear inside your pack is so while an ultralight pack that might have a 55 litre capacity might carry all of your gear as far as fitting it in there it might not carry as comfortably so when you look at ultralight packs you definitely want to make sure that your gear that you're carrying inside of it too is pretty lightweight itself so just be leery of that because it could be real easy to look at a pack weighing go of course I'd rather have a pack that weighs a pound and a half instead of 3 or 4 pounds but it's important how comfortable you're gonna be while you're carrying that weight another factor to consider is durability of your pack are you going to be going through brushy areas where you constantly have briars and twigs snagging at your pack are there mesh pockets on the outside that can be damaged easily or are you going to be traveling through areas like the Appalachian Trail Pacific Crest Trail Continental Divide Trail Colorado Trail all the trails that have a lot of traffic and more trail maintenance where you're not going to have to worry about that and a mesh pocket or other more fragile components of the pack would be okay just something to consider it's also good to consider what material is my pack made from a lot of lightweight packs today are made out of nylon the packs that I prefer the more ultralight packs are made out of Dyneema now nylon is fine the packs that I used on the Appalachian Trail to Osprey aura was made out of nylon but it was not a waterproof material so I had to make sure to use a pack cover and also line my pack with a compactor bag now the pack that I carried on the PCT and the CDT was made out of Dyneema which is pretty much a waterproof material but I still took extra redundancies to line the pack with a compactor bag just in case my pack were to get a hole in it other than the extra redundancy of having a waterproof layer I think having a pack made out of Dyneema is great because it doesn't soak up water like my nylon pack tended to so I don't have that extra water weight weighing me down after I've already been trudging miles in the rain you may hear people refer to your packs frame most packs either have an external frame internal frame or they are frameless external frame packs are really kind of a thing of the past there are still applications for those if you're really carrying some heavy loads but with the newer technology of gear and things just getting more and more lightweight they're really not a necessity in everyday normal backpacking the internal frame pack is more common now in backpacking than any other type of pack and it's just what it sounds like the frame is internal and it kind of hugs to your body inside the pack there is such a thing as a frameless pack and this is just a pack that does not have a frame for the most part these are very ultralight packs with folks who are toting only the bare necessities to get by while backpacking and this is something that people don't generally start off with it takes more experience to really learn what you need out there and to carry a load that's light enough to go in a frameless ultralight pack some of the features to consider when selecting a pack are ventilation on the Appalachian Trail the Osprey pack that I had had a mesh back to allow the pack to not rest directly on my back but the mesh did instead which allowed some airflow so my back wasn't just extremely gross and sweaty and not only just the discomfort of feeling gross and sweaty but also if you have a pack that rests directly on your back and doesn't allow much aeration it could cause chafing or rub it's really gonna depend on the individual the fact that I carried on the PCT and CDT thark Hall also had a little arc with Somesh to allow my back to get that aeration now for almost a thousand miles on the PCT I had the H and G Southwest pack that did directly on my back it didn't have any kind of ventilation or mesh to help with that and while this is definitely not a deal-breaker for me it is nice to have some ventilation and might be something if you're a sweaty ER person and you would enjoy more aeration that you want to consider when buying a pack and mesh isn't the only type of ventilation you might also notice that some of the padding on the back area of the pack might have brakes in it to allow airflow to access some packs are top-loading others have panel access or you might even notice the sleeping bag access point on the bottom area of a pack myself personally I like top loading pack just fine they can be a little less convenient when trying to access your gear on the inside but if you're gonna have anything like a pack liner or a compactor bag then those other points of entry might not really work out anyway if you have most everything inside that compactor bag that you don't want getting wet also I personally don't like the idea of zippers to access the inside of my pack simply because I feel like that's something else mechanical that can fail I haven't ever heard of anybody that had a pack as it dips up having any issues but for me personally maybe I'm just a worrywart I just think that that's something to think about before going oh this is a wonderful idea and then ending up with a zipper that won't zip shut and I generally don't put things that I want to access in the middle of the day at the bottom of my pack but we'll go over that a little bit later when we talk about how to pack your pack if you're just starting in the world of backpacking you might not know yet exactly what pouches and pockets that you would like on a pack but if you can while your test driving it in the store kind of think about what would be convenient for you and what you might want to access while on trail for example I like having big enough hip belt pockets to put my cellphone in because that way I can easily access it while I'm hiking because my cell phone also acts as a camera you might also want snacks in your hip belt pockets because I no longer use a hydration pack so I don't have a tube that comes over my shoulder to drink water out of I like having the little cup holder pouches on the side that are big enough to hold a couple of smart water bottles or a smart water bottle and my umbrella or a trekking pole while using my umbrella so just some of those things that you want to think about when you go to pack your pack what pockets and pouches might be convenient for you I also like having a big I call it a back pocket but the pocket that's big on the outside of the pack I guess it's actually the front pocket but because it's behind me I call it back pocket either way that big pocket on the pack I like having that to stuff my rain gear inside of also my toilet paper and baby wipes just things that I want easily accessible while I'm hiking in the middle of the day that I don't have to open up my pack and dig gear out and I can just set my pack down and easily get it out of that back or front pocket some packs have a brain also known as a lid that can be removed and used as a day pack I myself look at this as an item to take off the pack to save weight by taking it off of my pack that I used on the Appalachian Trail I think I saved almost a pound of weight just in the weight of the lid or brain itself but if you do need this extra space and it is convenient to have things easily accessible again right there on the top of the pack and bonus points if it doubles as a day pack because in you're purchasing a pack that you will take on backpacking trips but also one has the little lid that you can use as a day pack so it's kind of like two-in-one hydration reservoir you may want a hydration reservoir if you're going to be using something like a bladder and a tube to get your water through so you would put your water bladder in the hydration reservoir and then the pack will have a hole in it to feed the tube through so you can clip it on your shoulder strap and just easily drink out of it I got away from the system myself because I prefer using a Sawyer squeeze that can screw directly onto a smart water bottle but it's all about personal preference I have to say that even when I used a pack that had a hydration reservoir I did not use it I did use the hole where the tubing ran through but as far as the pouch to put my water blood I just felt like if I use that then my hoes tended to get cramped up on my other gear so I carried the bladder on top of the rest of my gear but the hydration reservoir could work for you depending on the rest of your gear and the way you pack your pack padding of course my first thought is yes I want all of the padding all over the pack but with more padding is going to come more weight and typically ultralight packs are not going to have much padding there will be ones that you can customize like the Z packs are call I had I got a lumbar pad but I would recommend to make sure that you've had padding in the areas that you feel like your body is gonna need it most and then in the other areas maybe opt for no padding just to save a little weight of the pack and that will be something you learn as you go because if you end up with a pack that's not padded properly in areas that you need it it will let you know if you buy your pack from REI if you have one nearby or even online you have up to a year to return the pack even if you test it out and it does not work for you so if you're not 100% happy with your gear from REI they will refund you up to a year after your purchase gear loops if you're going to be carrying something like an ice axe or trekking poles and you think that you might want some kind of loop to carry those at certain times then that's something to look for on your pack again for folks just getting into it I'm thinking that you might not need an ice axe immediately but if you're gonna be carrying some other tool that you'd like to have a gear loop for that's something to keep your eye open for when selecting a pack rain cover some packs come with a rain cover if they are not made out of waterproof material some packs do not come with them even if they aren't made out of waterproof material a rain cover is certainly something that can be useful for repelling water away from your pack but I would not rely on this as your sole method for waterproofing the gear in your pack because I found that even with having the pack cover on water was able to seep through that my pack was generally soaked but the gear stayed dried on the inside as long as I took other measures to make sure it did not get wet overall when thinking about features that you want on a pack I would try to find a pack that has the features that you do want and feel like you need or will make life easier while on trail and then the one that you don't really need if you can pick a pack that kind of ups out of those features because with added features comes out of weight something that most people consider while buying a pack is the press it's not out of the ordinary to pay two to four hundred dollars for a good backpacking pack you can look at getting a used pack if you're on a tighter budget there are a lot of groups on Facebook where people buy and sell used gear also Aria does garage sales sometimes they'll have somebody to return a pack that was gently used and didn't work for them so they'll sell it at a discount a good pack should last you for years so it's not like you're spending hundreds of dollars on something that you're only going to use a few times and you can also look into the brand of pack that you buy and see what kind of warranty they have or guarantee Osprey for example has a wonderful guarantee they will repair any kind of defect or damage on a pack at any given time if you have the pack so even if you bought the pack in 1974 they will honor that and repair any kind of damage or defect for you I think one of the biggest things to consider when buying a pack is how comfortable the pack is and to make sure that it's going to be as comfortable as possible it's a good idea to go into an outfitter either your local outdoor store or an REI and get properly fitted by somebody that knows what they're doing that can add weight to the pack and allow you to walk around the store and get a good feel for how it would be if you're walking down trail with some weight on your back you need to know that the pack fits your specific torso length it has more to do with your torso length than your height in general your torso length is measured from that bump on your neck where your neck connects with your shoulders and then to the iliac crests so if you slide your hands down your ribcage and rest on your hips if your thumbs are behind you and pointing towards each other then that imaginary line that's created there you want to go from that bump on your neck down to the center of that imaginary line and that is your torso length some packs will fit based on a torso length range so it'll be like a small medium or large depending on your torso length and others will have an adjustable suspension so it can adjust to fit you more specifically depending on torsa links and some might even have a combination of the two your waist size will also be important because you want the hip belt to fit you properly so there may again be some sort of range in the pack as far as sizing goes with small medium or large or some packs even have an interchangeable belt so for example the Z packs pack that I have allows for interchangeable belts so while I might be a medium if somebody else wanted to use my exact pack and the length of the pack worked for them then they could use a bigger or a smaller hip belt and use the same pack well some packs might come in a one-size-fits-all for male or female some brands also have female specific packs or male specific packs the female packs tend to have smaller frames and the hip belt and shoulder straps are generally more contoured with the female figure in mind same thing with youth specific packs some of them have adjustable suspension with a growing child in mind now this does not mean that women have to wear women only packs and Men have to wear men's specific packs in fact when I was picking out my first pack I had gone through all of the women packs that I saw in Oriya and I was on the last one and if that one didn't fit I was going to start going to the men's packs and trying those on to see if they didn't fit more comfortably but the last women's pack worked for me so I do have a women's pack but again don't be limited to you know if your female only going with female packs because you might find that a male's pack fits you better and same thing with men I've known men who found a good female pack on discount and they ended up trying it on and it seemed to fit them fine so I've seen men wearing female packs it really just depends on your body and how the pack fits you that's most important once you find a pack that has all of the bells and whistles you're looking for and it seems to fit you pretty well then you can tune specifically to fit the pack to your body using different straps on the pack including the hip belt shoulder straps load lifter straps and the sternum strap first you want to adjust the hip belt and the shoulder straps kind of together until you get them right and then move on to the load lifters and the sternum strap the hip belt should rest on top of your Kress to allow most of the weight to be on your hips if you find that the hip belt isn't hitting right on top of your iliac crest then you can adjust the shoulder straps up or down to raise and lower the hip belt onto your hips your hip belt should fit firmly but you shouldn't notice any pinching on your hips and it's best if the cushion extends a little bit past that front point on your hips also you should have at least one inch of clearance on either side of the buckle just to give yourself some wiggle room on how the hip belt fits to tighten your shoulder straps you want to pull down and back on the loose ends of the strap you shouldn't notice a whole lot of weight on your shoulders because again you want most of the weight to be on your hips putting too much weight on your shoulders can strain your neck and your back the shoulder strap anchor point should be an inch or two below the top of your shoulders if it isn't your hip belt might be at the wrong level or the torso size for that pack might be off again you want to play with the adjustment of your hip belt and shoulder straps until they feel comfortable for you and then it's time to move on to the load lifters and the sternum strap load lifters are the straps that connect the top of the shoulder harness to the back panel and they should sit at about a 45 degree angle when tightened most packs are gonna have load lifters but some ultralight packs do not and finally the sternum strap is a strap that comes across your chest usually they're adjustable so you want to slide it to where it's about an inch below your collarbone you want to buckle this and tighten it to give your arms free range of motion but you definitely don't want to tighten it too much because it could cause some pinching or discomfort you probably won't get the fit of your pack perfect the first time but with time and experience you'll get better at this now you've got all of your gear and you have your pack you're probably wondering well how am I supposed to put all of this gear in this pack properly it's recommended that you're less frequently used gear so maybe your sleeping bag or your sleeping pad if you have an inflatable one that can just fold up or roll up inside your pack those things generally go at the bottom because they're not used during the day so it makes sense to not have them in the way where you're having to access something that you do use a lot at the bottom and pull everything out of it so those less used gear items stay at the bottom until you get to camp in the middle goes your heavier items because this creates the best center of gravity for not throwing your balance off while backpacking maybe your food water cookware or other heavier items and then your more frequently used items are gonna go towards the top or maybe more lightweight things so some people even store their tent at the top because they like when they get to camp that that's the first thing that they pull out of their pack and set up and then everything else goes inside of it or some people just connect their tent to the outside of their pack it's really all about personal preference and you'll figure out what works best for you and your specific routine just keep in mind that if you're able to keep the heaviest items towards the middle of your pack and closest to your back without having lumps that make you real uncomfortable then it's gonna put less strain on your hips and less strain on your neck and shoulders anything that you're going to want to access quickly and easily during the day like I mentioned before rain gear I always put in the big pouch on the outside also I see a lot of folks put camp shoes like sandals or crocs inside there that way when they stop and take a break in the middle of the day they can allow their feet to air out and quickly access those camp shoes also toilet paper baby wipes or anything else that you might need for when nature calls and then I like to keep my water bottles with my filter attached in those cup holders on the side and again usually I'll put my umbrella there or a trekking pole when I'm using my umbrella while hiking all right y'all well that is all I have for you today on packs and the basic rundown of what to think about when purchasing your first backpacking pack if y'all have any questions on the things I talked about today like the features or how to pack your pack please feel free to leave those in the comments below and for you more experienced folks watching I know I always kind of leave you with a question to help the newer people so today I want to know what is your favorite pack that you've used and or if you're willing to share how you pack your pack and why that works best for you and your routine tomorrow's video will be one little extra video for the two week series and it's going to be on backcountry camping basics and Leave No Trace tied into that so for those of y'all who feel like you've been having a Dixie overdose we will go back to the one video per week on Wednesdays after this week and the video that comes out tomorrow thank y'all so much for watching and if you found this video helpful or you enjoy the content of this channel do not forget to subscribe and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 244,185

Rating: 4.9544835 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: 8Cq0A2US-Ck

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2019