[pct-l] backpack question

[jjolson at uwyo.edu (Jeffrey J. Olson)]

This is such a personal question, usually based on years of trial and 
error.  I have a little museum of backpacks going back to the early 
70s.  My sixties pack, a big old red sack on a frame, is long gone. 

I like the Golite Gust style of frameless pack.  A lot of packs have you 
use a z-rest and place it in a slot to serve as a kind of frame.  I've 
not tried this, but it sounds popular. 

I sleep with a sleeping blanket, not a sleeping bag, and hence use a 
full-length blue, closed cell foam pad.  I put a garbage bag into the 
pack, then the rolled up blue pad.  I put in food I won't be eating 
while hiking, and clothes at the bottom, and then everything else. 

I pack everything but the sleeping bag really tightly.  For a five day 
trip, this fills the pack up about half way.  I used to use a Sierra 
Designs Ultralightyear tent and it would go against my back for a 
seriously rigid frame.  Now I have a Lunar Light, and it's really just a 
soft stuff sack. 

It's really surprising how comfortable this arrangement is.  There can 
be little and no weight on the shoulders using this method of packing - 
the pack is so tightly packed it is totally stiff. 

The last thing I put in is the sleeping quilt inside its own garbage 
bag.  I dont' "stuff" it.  It fills the top half of the pack.  It looks 
like I'm carrying a huge load, but actually for five days, it's about 25 
pounds with food and a couple quarts of water.  When the food gets low, 
the weight goes down towards the base weight of about 13  pounds, so it 
doesn't quite matter as much that the pack rides on the hip belt and no 
weight is on the shoulders. 

The design flaw with the Gust in my opinion is no mesh pockets for 
water.  I carry four gatorade bottles, sometimes all filled, and I have 
to stick them down underneath the sleeping bag and on top of the packed 
gear.  It's a bit awkward to stop and fish for water, underneath the 
sleeping bag.  I put up with it because the system is so comfortable to 
hike in. 

Jeff Olson
Laramie WY...