Packing efficiency

[sum41punk91]

I would just like to know how all of you profesionals pack things like your toiletries, food, clothes, and and other things you have on the trail.:-?

[Lilred]

I would just like to know how all of you profesionals pack things like your toiletries, food, clothes, and and other things you have on the trail.:-?

I'm hardly a professional, but when you find the job that pays for hiking, let me know. Here's how I JUST finished packing my bag. :banana :banana
(I leave in less than 12 hours)

I pack my clothes bag on the bottom followed by my sleeping bag. Journals, maps some toiletries get packed around them. Next is my stove, rain gear and food bag on top. My top lid has more toiletries, headlamp, glasses,etc. My outside pocket has my water filter, water pail, gaitors, rope and a plastic placemat for sitting on.

My two water bottle pockets hold my tent and fuel in one and sleeping pad and bug spray in the other.

My clothes bag and my sleeping bag stuff sacs are lined with oven roaster bags.

I'm sure I'll repack it a few more times before I leave......

[Just Jeff]

- Compactor bag in the pack as a liner
- Hammock in skins on bottom in a "U"
- Top quilt in stuff sack in the center of the U
- Clothing in stuff sack to even out the U...this pretty much makes a level platform for the...
- Food bag with kitchen stuff
- My removable top panel goes next - inside the pack if it fits, or connected to the outside if my food bag is full. It has my first aid kit, toiletries, head lamp, etc.

Tarp and rain gear go in the big mesh pocket on back of the Speed. Toilet paper goes Rock-style in a bag on the upper side mesh pocket, with hand sanitizer bottle in there. Water bottles go in lower side mesh pockets. The other upper side mesh has the day's snacks. Emergency whistle and photon light is clipped to my shoulder strap.

[fiddlehead]

Tent and tyvek on the bottom, sleeping bag and clothes and cook kit in the middle, food bag on top with my fleece top.
All my toiletries (which is small and fit in a small sil nylon zippered bag that i designed to fit my stuff) goes outside in a mesh pocket. There's nothing in there that can't get wet except perhaps my photon II light and i've already swam in the ocean with it and cleaned it out and it still worked so i don't worry about that too much.
waterbottle and raingear are in outside mesh pockets as well. I have no need to go deeper than the food bag unless i'm camping (sleeping) as i don't cook lunch too often. (once a week maybe)
The most important thing (to me anyway) is to ALWAYS put it back the same way. That way i can always find what i want, even in the dark.

[MedicineMan]

and then report about it.......
but to contribute to the non-professional clues here is rule no. 1:
if you dont need it dont take it

[NECKBONE]

This is with a 3100 c.i. pack
Sleeping bag @ clothes pack (both in seperate comp. sacks) on bottom layer inside a vapor barrier bag.
Tent, fly, & footprint in seperate comp. sacks on second layer.
Food inside an old top compartment from another pack on third layer.
A Jetboil sits along side the food bag.
These are all inside in the pack.

There ia a long pocket on each side of the pack.
These have toiletries, electronics (flashlight, radio, etc.), tent stakes & other misc.
There are also 2 front pockets which hold rain gear.
A water bottle in each mesh pocket; & a Katadyn Extream water filter bottle is hooked on to the right shoulder strap.
A pad sits on top.

This pack will hold 7 days worth of food when maxed out.
Total weight without food & water: 17 lbs.

NECKBONE

[SGT Rock]

OK, I could be considered a professional, but this is how I do my non-professional packing when I am not at work:

Pack: Moonbow Gearskin. Packs a little different than the standard pack:
http://hikinghq.net/gear/moonbow_gearskin.html

Start with the stuff sacks:

1. Food Bag - this has all my food, fuel, stove, pot, etc. Anything I need for eating is in here. It is my largest bag.

2. Clothing: All clothing except what I am wearing goes in this bag. It is large enough to hold all my summer, Spring/Fall, and Wiinter gear.

3. Sleeping quilt bag: both my quilt and underquilt can fit in this bag. it is about the same size as my clothing bag, just a different color.

4. Ditty Bag: This bag has my first aid/repair kit, journal, extra maps, fire starter, hygine items, etc. This is a fairly small bag.

5. Hammock in snakeskins minus tarp.

6. JRB Weathershield. In very cold weather I add this system in it's own bag.

**Note: all those bags above are sil-nylon stuff sacks that have been seam sealed.

My sleeping pad forms a "U" in my pack. The food bag goes at the bottom of the "U" Opening is to the right. Then on top of that goes my sleeping system bag opening to the right. On that goes my clothing bag opening to the right. On top of the clothing bag goes my ditty bag and if needed, the JRB weathershield - all those three or four bags are inside of a trash compactor bag serving as a pack liner with it's opening to the right. On top of the trash compactor bag goes my Hennessy Hammock in the snakskins. By putting all the openings to the right, I can open up the side of my pack at any level and get to anything I need without having to dig through the entire pack.

In my outside pocket goes my HH Tarp in case I want to set up a tarp to eat in the rain or to keep a wet/damp tarp out of the snakeskins and keep the hammock body dry. Also in that outisde pocket goes my stake bag, rain jacket, and some easy to reach snacks.

I have my water bottle with a small caribeener clip attached to my hip belt so I can get to it anytime.

The last couple of items in my pack are my platypus and my rain pants. The platypus goes on the outside of the pack - and outside my sleeping pad but inside the pack, this way if there is ever a blow out there is a pad, pack liner, and then stuff sacks to protect my stuff and it is easier to load there anyway when I do tote water. My rain pants go on the other side that is against my back but between the pad and the gearskin. This way it makes the back just a little more padded (feels like a pillow on my back) and they are accessable if I need them.

In my left front pocket goes the page of the trail guide and map of the section I am on. In the right is my camera in a soap dish to keep it protected. In my back zippered pocket is a zip-lock wallet, lighter, knife, and any keys I may need.

[ARambler]

OK, I could be considered a professional, ... .

I don't want to be a professional. I want to be so famous that I have a poorly paid intern. Then I could just push speed dial #1 and say "Lilredmg would you be a doll and bring my eVent jacket to Thoreau Springs and a decaf Late if it wouldn't be too much trouble. By the way, did you book me for that benefit for the poor endangered white gas stove?"

Not exactly sure what the question is since everyone's gear list and pack are different. The following items are not in a stuff sack (or a ziplock for several small items): camera, TP, raincoat, rain pants, water bottle, fuel bottle, sunglasses, Platypus, headlamp, pen sleeping pad.
Rambler

[verber]

I use a granite gear vapor trail which has no useful org. features, so if you want to find it, you better put in into something findable. In the last two years I have switched to using sea2summit ultralight drybags. Love them!

Bottom of the pack:

13L drybag: quilt or sleeping bag, all clothing that I won't need while on the trail. In milder conditions I could easily use a smaller bag, but it's easier for me to stick with the same thing through-out the year. I just have to roll the top down a lot.

Left side:
Air mattress in provided stuff sack
tarp+stakes+ground cloth in stuff sack that came with the tarp

Right size:

8L drybag: clothing that I might want on the trail. In milder conditions I could easily go smaller.

Middle:

My stove, utensils, and fuel go into the pot's stuff sack or sometimes just rubber bands, and the food goes into a watchful eye odorproof bag. If I am using a bear canister / ursack them all food and cooking supplies going into that container.

Top:

2L drybag (bright red): Emergency & Repair Kit, First Aid Kit (in adventure medical ultralight 0.5 bag, Bathroom items (ziplock bag), Wipes (ziplock bag), Kelty Triptease Rope, Treo 650 PDA/Cell Phone, Wallet & Keys, PrincetonTec EOS, Aqua Mira Water Treatment, 1L platypus container+scoop

[Dances with Mice]

I would just like to know how all of you profesionals pack things like your toiletries, food, clothes, and and other things you have on the trail.:-? I put them into my pack (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=194359#post194359).

[sum41punk91]

another thing im curious about with your packing, is what compression sacks do you use for everything

[fiddlehead]

Compression sacks are just extra weight. What do you need them for?

[MedicineMan]

but he's right they are extra weight===BUT there is a manufacture that is making big ones that are a little over an ounce (of course cant remember the name but will look at the one at home if interested and get the name to you), but i've been playing around with a butt pack....very small and i'm using a compression sack in it to smunch down the quilts and the hammock...i'm hoping to get enough in this butt pack to do a 4 day hike....and if your curious about the butt pack here it is (oh waterproof) so good for use in a kayak too:
its the 'Serac' near the bottom of the page

http://www.fire-end.com/Truenorth_SearchandRescue.html

[MedicineMan]

http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?productId=47792047&storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&langId=-1&addon=708886-708885&ext_cat=undefined

[Just Jeff]

I use the JRB compression sacks.

[firefly]

I have seperate stuff sacks for my bag, clothes, shelter and food. I have a small ditty bag for the small stuff. I use to line the stuff sacs that held my bag and clothes with a trash bag but now I use the Sea2Summitt dry sacs. Since I use a frameless pack I fold my DAM 4 times and use that for the frame sheet then I stack the stuff bags on top of each other. The rain gear goes in the top along with any trail guides or maps I may have. My water bottles go in the side pouches.

[mrc237]

Using different colored sil-nylon stuff sacks helps keep things organized it helps if you put the same things back into the bag you got it from.

[wilderness bob]

Regardless of how you pack your gear there are simple unwritten rules to follow. Lighter stuff towards the bottom, heavier stuff towards the top. The things you need during the day, make accessible near the top (camera, hat, gloves fleece top and the like) The idea is that the center of gravity for a male hiker is at the shoulders, that is why heavier items are carried there. For a female it is lower, more towards the mid back. Finally make sure your measured by someone who knows what they are doing and that your pack fits you properly. Make sure that all straps are adjusted as well, waste belts pull the load on to your hips, chest straps pull the shoulder straps away from the shoulder joints, etc. Always keep an even load and avoid packing items in a way that they can poke you in the back. Comfort helps build tolerance, tolerance equal miles. Good luck and have fun, WB