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TheKO
08-13-2008, 12:45
I have an Osprey Aether 70 backpack. I pack my sleeping bag and therma-a-rest in the lower compartment which leaves no room for much else - save some dirty laundry.

For those that have tents (I have a MSR Hubba) where/how do you pack it?

Lyle
08-13-2008, 13:07
Are you stuffing the sleeping bag in a stuff sack before putting it into your pack? If so it is using more room than necessary.

Just line your lower compartment with a trash bag, then stuff your sleeping bag along with whatever else you want to keep dry (such as relatively clean clothes) in with it. Not confining it to the shape of a stuff sack allows it to form exactly to the nooks and crannies of the pack, thus wasting less space. I've been packing this way since changing to an internal/frameless pack and have never experience any problems with wetness. Depending on what kind of thermarest you have, the lower compartment may not be the best home for it. Is it used as part of the suspension? If not, then lashed to the outside may work, in an outside pocket, standing up in the main compartment. Just have to experiment with your gear and your pack. Pay attention to how others are packing when on the trail, you'll get some good ideas and some very bad examples of what NOT to do.

About the tent, could probably stand it upright in a corner of the upper compartment or pack the poles separately, lashed to the outside. This again will allow the tent itself to conform to the available space, filling the crannies rather than having the space needed defined by the ridged poles. Anything you can make flexible will pack easier and more efficiently into the available space.

I'm sure others will disagree with me, and offer their own solutions. Take what makes sense to you, try it. You'll figure it all out.

Welcome to WhiteBlaze by the way! :welcome

jesse
08-13-2008, 14:01
That is a huge pack! What kind of bag and TR do you have?

buz
08-14-2008, 09:31
I have that pack and it is indeed huge. I am different than Lyle, not better, lol, in that I stuff my sleeping bag into a compression sack along with my pillow and fleece. Works for me. This goes in the bottom along with my BA pad. But a TR could work better in that pack rolled up and in the main compartment. Tent poles work very well in the outside main shovel pocket, or simply held in by the compression straps, when you crank the pack to its' smallest size before leaving.

TheKO
08-14-2008, 11:47
Thanks all for the replies. Buz, I am packing that way now. I have a rain cover that is a bit tight for the pack and I know it will not work with the tent poles out like that.

Pack is a great pack. It does collapse to make it smaller. I just like to have everything inside and little on the outside.

buz
08-15-2008, 08:30
Well if you have a Tr, you can roll the poles up with the Tr, the poles will be in the center of the bundle. Put in long ways on one side of the pack.