How do YOU pack your pack?

[thebex]

I was just starting to pack up my pack for my upcoming Long Trail hike, and was wondering how everyone else did it. I have found that, with my pack and gear, it works best to have my sleeping bag in the main pocket and my tarp, bivy and rain gear in the sleeping bag section. My "essentials" stuff sack (first aid kit, head lamp, knife, gloves) is in an outside pocket. Both large pockets are lined with garbage bags.

I know this is very dependant on what your personal pack and gear are like, but I'm sure that, especially on a long hike, everyone develops their own way of packing... so how do YOU pack your pack?

[Marta]

I try to put everything I think I'll need to use during the day outside the main compartment; everything I won't need until evening inside the main compartment. The mix of what's inside and what's outside varies a bit depending on the weather, etc. I almost never have to open the main compartment during the day. It works for me.

Marta/Five-Leaf

[Doctari]

First "rule" I follow is: everything in the same place every time.

Then:
Top pocket - tarp & stakes, net carry bag.
Main pocket - R side; over quilt & under quilt (in same stuff sack, like a sleeping bag would be), bottom L; clothing bag, middle L; hammock in snakeskins, top L; first aid / tool kit, food bag.
R side pocket - cook set & stove, head bug net, hat.
L side pocket - TP, snacks, water treatment, 50% empty space.
Behind L side pocket - flute.
Front net pocket - rain pants & jacket, fuel bottle.
Sporran (belt pack) - camera, ID, snack.
My water bottle hangs on my hip belt R side, & the hydration bladder is on the front of the pack.

FWIW:
The side pockets come off just as soon as I get & put together my Ray Way quilt.
The MOST important thing I do is the same place for everything, where I put the stuff seems to work best for me likely cause it's where I put it each time.



Doctari.

[burger]

There have been a few previous threads on this topic:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12417

This one was good, too:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14378
especially this comment:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...81&postcount=5

[Frosty]

It doesn't really matter. Pack any way you want. By the third or fourth day, you will have worked out a system unique to you, and that works just the way you want.

FWIW, I keep my tarptent in a large pocket on the outside of my main bag. When packing up on a rainy morning I don't like a wet pack in with my other stuff. Also on the outside, I keep things I will need that day. Lunch, snacks, maps/guidebook pages (in a ZipLoc), water filter, water bottles. Anything else goes inside. No need to keep headlamp out. If you need it, you'll have plenty of time before darkness falls, and you'll be in your bag getting out a long-sleeved shirt to hike in at night anyway. Ditto things like first aid kit. Any emergency you have where you cannot survive for the two minutes it takes to doff your pack and get the kit is an injury you will be unlikely to survive in the backcountry anyway.

But as I said, you will very quickly have THEBEX System of packing, which will be unlike anything anyone else does.

I was just starting to pack up my pack for my upcoming Long Trail hike, and was wondering how everyone else did it. I have found that, with my pack and gear, it works best to have my sleeping bag in the main pocket and my tarp, bivy and rain gear in the sleeping bag section. My "essentials" stuff sack (first aid kit, head lamp, knife, gloves) is in an outside pocket. Both large pockets are lined with garbage bags.

I know this is very dependant on what your personal pack and gear are like, but I'm sure that, especially on a long hike, everyone develops their own way of packing... so how do YOU pack your pack?

[Footslogger]

There are probably several different packing philosophies out there, all of which have merit.

One thing I have learned over the years is that a pack "carries" the way it is packed. Symmetry and load distribution are key to a pack that carries well. Put all your heavy stuff in one place and on one side of the pack and that is how it will carry. If a pack looks "wonkey" it will most likely carry wonkey.

One of the best things I started doing was organizing contents into stuff sacks based on thier purpose. I then distribute what's inside the stuff sack and place them horizontally inside the pack. That simple approach has done wonders for how the packs feels on my back and how it carries.

'Slogger

[gumball]

I really don't have much in the way of pockets on my GG V. Ki, but I pay careful attention as well to how I pack. It makes a difference in how it feels when I hike. I don't let anything hang off my pack. I put things I'm going to use in the evening toward the bottom, things that are the heaviest on my mid-back, and easy to access items on the top. I utilize silnylon stuffs to help me organize, too. I separate out the days snack from my regular food bag and put it on top, too, so I can grab those quickly. A map in one outside bottom pocket and a nalgene in the other.

If I get sloppy in my packing, I have to stop and readust--so I try to do it right for myself the first time.

[mnof1000v]

My Vapor Trail has little in the way of "extra" pockets, so it requires a conscious effort to pack properly. I think it helps to pack the same way every time, so that you know exactly how much stuff you have. If you've misplaced something, it becomes obvious while packing up. And like others have said, proper packing esures a good distribution of weight.

I typically pack everything in stuff sacks by use. I put my sleeping bag and clothes bag at the bottom, both in separate compression sacks, then my tent above it, then my food bag and stove. My stove fits in my cook pot, along with my nighttime essentials (ie - toothbrush, toothpaste, vitamins, etc.). I have a small Sea to Summit waterproof bag that holds my Body Glide, first aid, ibuprofen, and mini sewing kit (with pin for blister popping). I keep a separate water bottle in an outside pocket, along with my pack cover. And the other pocket holds my guide book, journal, and maps. I generally carry my headlamp in my pants pocket, along with my knife, camera, and potable aqua plus.

[Programbo]

I think in general people need bigger packs...I spent most of Saturday and Sunday parking and making short little trips up and down the AT at various points between RT 9 below Harpers Ferry and the MD/PA line and saw a LOT of hikers and I would say the majority had way to much stuff hanging off the outsides of their packs..Geez..Just carry the extra pound or two and get a pack that holds all your gear and has enough compartments/pockets

[soulrebel]

one hole bag all i can do is stick it in

[Tipi Walter]

On long 2 week backpacking trips without resupply I carry a 6400 cubic inch pack loaded with food and all the rest. On the outside of the pack I strap my tent and my stuff sack-covered thermarest and my Crocs, all the rest is inside the pack.

The bottom compartment of course holds the sleeping bag and the two back pockets hold tent poles, tent stakes and two white gas bottles. All the rest goes into the main pack body and the lid pocket.

It doesn't really matter how you pack as long as you take that pack and get out in the woods with it. One of the big joys of a new pack is figuring where to put everything. After long use a common routine develops and there isn't much deviation, sometimes at the end of a long trip when the pack is closer to empty, outside objects can be put inside like the thermarest and the Crocs. I like a high and tight arrangement with no random gear movement, everything has to be strapped down tight.

[greentick]

...saw a LOT of hikers and I would say the majority had way to much stuff hanging off the outsides of their packs..Geez..Just carry the extra pound or two and get a pack that holds all your gear and has enough compartments/pockets

I hate the "gypsy-pack." All that stuff swinging around with every step is wasted energy.

... everything has to be strapped down tight.

Me too. A tight ruck is a happy ruck is what we said in army. If you are just trail walking it is less important than if you are bushwacking.

I pack with the bag of bags technique with things grouped according to their purpose. More frequently used stuff in outer pockets or on top.