Philip Hamm
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 1999
- Messages
- 6,874
I used to go backpacking with some friends a lot in the late 80s early 90s. Recently, I've started doing some overnight trips with a friend of mine. We've decided to go on a three day trip this coming President's Day weekend. This isn't our first winter trip, but will be my first in quite some time. I've got some new gear for the trip including some long underwear, polypro liner socks, and new boots (my old ones are shot!). My old backpack, a cheap boy scout type external frame pack from the 80s, needs replacing.
So I went and got a The North Face Springbok backpack from www.sierratradingpost.com (picture and description here: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sportsba.../tnf10325.html ). My initial idea was to get medium sized internal frame pack since I can only see us doing two or three day trips for the immediate future. (My friend recently went on a week long Alaska trip with his Dad, who will be joining us for this trip, and I'm a little jealous, but don't see it happening for me any time soon). My concern is that maybe I should have gone for the huge megapack instead of a medium sized pack.
My pad is a full length narrow Thermarest and my sleeping bag (rated to 15 degrees - and I know first hand that it is toasty in that temperature) is kind of large. I'm starting to think twice about the pack, since it's onle 3500 sq in. I'm thinking maybe I should have gotten a huge pack, but I don't really like the idea of a 3/4 full megapack jostling around on me. But on a winter hike I'll need more room for clothing. When we're hiking I can be fairly lightly dressed, but I'll need additional layers to keep warm when I'm at camp. Between that, my big pad, my big sleeping bag (which I have a compressor sack for and it compresses fairly small), and half of a big ol' 4 man Eureka Timberline tent I'm thinking maybe the medium size pack is too small.
So the question is, should I return the pack and get a megapack or enjoy the smaller pack that I got? This is my first internal frame pack so I'm not experienced with these devices.
I am really looking forward to the hike, it will be light, about 15 miles in three days, three of us splitting up a four man Timberline tent (GREAT tent - I love it).
So I went and got a The North Face Springbok backpack from www.sierratradingpost.com (picture and description here: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/sportsba.../tnf10325.html ). My initial idea was to get medium sized internal frame pack since I can only see us doing two or three day trips for the immediate future. (My friend recently went on a week long Alaska trip with his Dad, who will be joining us for this trip, and I'm a little jealous, but don't see it happening for me any time soon). My concern is that maybe I should have gone for the huge megapack instead of a medium sized pack.
My pad is a full length narrow Thermarest and my sleeping bag (rated to 15 degrees - and I know first hand that it is toasty in that temperature) is kind of large. I'm starting to think twice about the pack, since it's onle 3500 sq in. I'm thinking maybe I should have gotten a huge pack, but I don't really like the idea of a 3/4 full megapack jostling around on me. But on a winter hike I'll need more room for clothing. When we're hiking I can be fairly lightly dressed, but I'll need additional layers to keep warm when I'm at camp. Between that, my big pad, my big sleeping bag (which I have a compressor sack for and it compresses fairly small), and half of a big ol' 4 man Eureka Timberline tent I'm thinking maybe the medium size pack is too small.
So the question is, should I return the pack and get a megapack or enjoy the smaller pack that I got? This is my first internal frame pack so I'm not experienced with these devices.
I am really looking forward to the hike, it will be light, about 15 miles in three days, three of us splitting up a four man Timberline tent (GREAT tent - I love it).