View Full Version : Flying to Atlanta with External Frame pack?
daveiniowa
11-02-2015, 22:42
Trying to make some time to hike this year and my cheapest option looks like flying to Atlanta and renting a car to get to where I want to hike in GA and NC. Have you ever checked an external frame pack on a flight? If so, what about all the gear strapped to the outside of the pack? Would any of it even make it still attached to my pack? Not sure how to do this??? I hardly fly, ever. I hate going to the airport. Last time I went I didn't even know what to do or where to go... I was so nervous I must have looked like a moron! Now to think I have to walk into the airport with my pack??? Help. This is probably no big deal and I am getting all worked up over nothing.
Uncle Joe
11-02-2015, 22:45
I would pack it and ship it before doing that. You can ship to any post office. That way everything is in a box. Where are you planning on starting and when?
Since you will have a car, buy the cheapest duffel bag you can find that will hold your pack. Pack all of your stuff in/around the pack and frame. Check the duffel bag. Reverse the process coming back.
In pre-9/11 times I put my white gas stoves in the duffel bag. I don't think I would do it today. You're call.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
TheCheek
11-02-2015, 23:38
In pre-9/11 times I put my white gas stoves in the duffel bag. I don't think I would do it today. You're call.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Correct. It is your call if you want to break the law or not...
I'm not up on such matters.
I guess I won't be carrying stoves on planes.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
daveiniowa
11-03-2015, 00:21
Oh my god. I did not even think of my stove fuel cans. On a plane? I don't think I can ship stove fuel cans?? Not sure. Trying to pick up where I left off 20 years ago at Dicks creek gap then go north. I live so far away and really don't want to drive the 16 hours one way just to get there. Some times I just wish I still lived down there... The duffel bag option sounds pretty good minus the stove fuel? Then what, buy stove fuel down there I guess.
Trailweaver
11-03-2015, 03:21
Duffel bag. I saw several in the airport recently (flying out to Utah, lots of hikers going to parks there to hike). Don't try to fly with fuel - can't do that. I think you can take a stove if all fuel is out of it. You do then buy fuel when you get to Atlanta (or wherever you decide to stop at an outfitters). I also think you can ship your stove (again, empty) to your destination and then get fuel and stove lined up. Check airline regulations very carefully on all of this, as it changes occasionally. If you're coming to GA, you could get the Hiker Hostel to pick you up. Or another shuttle driver.
Siestita
11-03-2015, 06:30
" Have you ever checked an external frame pack on a flight? If so, what about all the gear strapped to the outside of the pack? Would any of it even make it still attached to my pack?"
If you need to strap lots of stuff to the outside of your pack, its possible that the external frame gem that you pulled off the shelf years ago may not be quite large enough to be ideal for your current hikes. Even on the trail, items attached outside a pack are not as secure as those inside are. So, if your stuff doesn't fit comfortably in the pack, remove a bulky and costly item or two, such as for example a sleeping bag, before flying. Take that with you as a carry-on item.
Well constructed 'old school' external frame packs can tolerate considerable abuse. During the period from 1974 to 2005 I checked external frame packs on flights while traveling to hiking destinations in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Spain, and California's Sierra Nevada. Altogether I did that for 34 flight segments (luggage loading and unloading) , using in turn 4 different packs. I rarely if ever tempted fate by having items externally "strapped on", nor did I ever enclose a pack within a duffel. I did not lose any items during those flights and the durable fabric of the packs never tore. And, remarkably, no straps, hip belts, or buckles were damaged during those flight segments.
Those four durable external frame packs were: an uncomfortable Bergans of Norway framed mountaineering day pack (purchased 1972); a large orange Trailwise pack (purchased 1975), the one Colon Fletcher had praised in his original 'Complete Walker'; a Kelty Super Tioga (purchased by my father in 1986; he used it to section hike all of the AT and then flew with it to Spain later, with me along.); an enormous large black and red REI brand pack (purchased circa 1990).
The frames of three of those packs withstood airline baggage handling abuse successfully, but the fourth one eventually fractured. I subjected the huge REI brand pack to a total of 22 flight segments. It was fine for the first 18 or 19 of those baggage handler maulings. Then, on either flight segment 19 (Cincinnati to Atlanta) or segment 20 (Atlanta to Reno), one of the welds on the aluminum frame broke. Fortunately, just outside the baggage claim area there in Reno I was able to improvise a "repair" using parachute cord and duck tape. Thus, "fixed', that pack then enabled me to spend two and half glorious weeks in the Ansel Adams and John Muir wildernesses. Then, after I arrived back home, the crippled beast went into the trash.
My Trailwise antique and Super Tioga relic are both still in use. I would not hesitate to check either of them on a flight again. Their frames and pack bags were built, I think, more solidly than my REI pack was. Obviously, newer (and sometimes blessedly lighter) internal frame packs need more careful treatment, both on and off the trail. If I ever fly with that type of pack, I'll probably check it inside a duffel bag.
squeezebox
11-03-2015, 10:05
What about the extra heavy duty construction grade trash bags, instead of a duffle bag.
saltysack
11-03-2015, 11:18
What about the extra heavy duty construction grade trash bags, instead of a duffle bag.
Worked perfectly returning from JMT last month...if your on a tight schedule heading out I'd mail ahead and check on way home..http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/03/2f778e29c6d857f4af33d7dd82d3fe73.jpg
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Slo-go'en
11-03-2015, 12:08
Many years ago I flew to Alberta a couple of times with my external frame pack. Air Canada supplied us with large, heavy duty, clear plastic bags to put our packs in. (it's unlikely they supply those these days) The only thing strapped to the pack was the sleeping bag on the bottom. But if you need all kinds of stuff hanging off your pack, your doing something wrong.
Trekking sticks might be strapped on as well for transportation. If you use a self inflating or CCF pad you could use that to protect the frame. Remove the hip belt if possible and place it flat against the frame.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
daveiniowa
11-03-2015, 20:51
Feeling better about this. Thanks for some good ideas here. I think I was over thinking this. This is my first time flying just to go hiking. I am really excited to get up in the morning where I live and be on the trail that same day.
When I flew to Atlanta to start my thru I had a external pack. I got some shrink wrap material, that they use to cover boats, and did my pack with tent, thermal rest and poles on the outside of the pack. It worked great. Used a propane torch to shrink the material.
bigcranky
11-05-2015, 07:19
Big duffle works.
Buy your fuel when you get to Atlanta.
When we take Scouts to Philmont we use laundry bags. We get them all the same color, makes it easy to pick out the packs that belong to our group.
When I flew into Atlanta for my thru-hike I used a duffle bag. Also I had a small USPS flat rate box to send the duffle bag home in. My shuttler took care of mailing it (thanks Survivor Dave!).
As far as traveling with stoves and fuel review this:
http://blog.tsa.gov/2014/05/tsa-travel-tips-travel-tips-for.html
Uncle Joe
11-05-2015, 09:39
Does anyone make a good quilt ready to buy? Meaning, they are made and not made to order?
dzierzak
11-05-2015, 16:22
When we take Scouts to Philmont we use laundry bags. We get them all the same color, makes it easy to pick out the packs that belong to our group.
When I flew into Atlanta for my thru-hike I used a duffle bag. Also I had a small USPS flat rate box to send the duffle bag home in. My shuttler took care of mailing it (thanks Survivor Dave!).
We've done the same (duffel bags instead of laundry bags) going to Philmont a number of times. USUALLY there is no problem.