Thinking outside the box.

[squeezebox]

So what do you carry on the outside of your pack, and why?

[Firefighter503]

Define "outside of your pack."

If you mean in outside mesh pockets, then I carry my rain jacket and and other stuff when it is wet. I also carry snacks, bear bag line, alcohol (both gel and the drinking kind), water, and fuel in the outside side pockets (also mesh).

If you mean stuff hanging off my pack with carabiners, then nothing. I like a streamlined pack.

[Tipi Walter]

I generally dislike carrying crap on the outside of my pack but sometimes it's inevitable as shown at the beginning of a 24 day trip. I even had to hang my cooking pot on the bag in a grocery bag. NOT COOL. The green bag is filled with books (about 10 lbs) and the black/yellow thing is my down 2.5lb parka---vital at -5F. The beloved crocs. The red thing is my tent. The brown barely visible on the right is my sleeping pad. The top under-lid bag is my third food bag.


This is what a pack is supposed to look like, and eventually does near the end of one of my trips.

[GoldenBear]

I try to ensure that A.T. Bear
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/show...mageuser=13863
is outside.

[Tipi Walter]

I try to ensure that A.T. Bear
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/show...mageuser=13863
is outside.

My buddy Johnny Be likes the real thing---

[OgreJon]

Wow, 10 pounds of books! Why books instead of a kindle? Is it reliability concerns? Books not available digitally?

Just curious, that is a lot of weight for reading material.

[Tipi Walter]

Wow, 10 pounds of books! Why books instead of a kindle? Is it reliability concerns? Books not available digitally?

Just curious, that is a lot of weight for reading material.

The books (or rolled up copied internet readings) are all burned in the first week so those 10lbs can be kissed goodbye. The only time I really read is on a trip. Kindle? Naw, no spare batteries and I hear they pretty much go haywire at 0F.

[squeezebox]

I would be interested in getting a copy of your pack lists. I want comfortable camping as well as hiking. But I'm not going to carry 10 lbs. of books. Thanks for your input.

[Old Hiker]

Foam sleeping pad. Everything else is pretty much inside. On the days it (I) warmed up, I'd sling my quilted top through my shoulder strap just to
have it handy. Anything important (compass is all I can think of) that's in the mesh pockets has a cord tied to a 'biner hooked onto a strap somewhere. Snacks just ride.

I'm just too worried about gear falling off and getting lost. Like my quilted top, just before Roan Mountain !!! Thanks again, Bubble Foot, for finding it, carrying it forward and returning it !!! You rock !!

[Kerosene]

Typically I only carry gear in one of the two external side pockets of my Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone, plus a few items in a small pocket attached to a shoulder strap.

Left side pocket: 1L lightweight water bottle; Footcare ditty

Right side pocket: 1.5L inverted lightweight water bottle with hose clipped to right shoulder strap; pack raincover; Toiletry Ditty

Shoulder pocket: Point & shoot camera; lip balm; snacks for day; guidebook notes in baggie

In the past I've resorted to hanging my camp shoes off the back of my pack, or a 2-person pack strapped onto the back, but I strive to put everything inside. My next pack will likely have a back mesh pocket where I will put my zPacks Hexamid Duo and rain gear.

[Tipi Walter]

I'm just too worried about gear falling off and getting lost. Like my quilted top, just before Roan Mountain !!! Thanks again, Bubble Foot, for finding it, carrying it forward and returning it !!! You rock !!

I always double check my zippers before heading out---once left the top lid zipper open, where I store my keys and $/ID. Not good. I saw a tent once on the trail that fell off someone's pack. I thought about "taking it" but discovered it to be a Walmart Ozark Trail---Leave It Be!!

[martinb]

H-berg goes under the lid. The usual suspects (nalgene, map) in mesh side pockets. Everything else is in the pack.

[bigcranky]

I have a lot of pockets on my ULA Circuit, and I like them.

Side pockets: water bottles
Big stretch mesh front pocket: rain cover, TP and tent stake (for trowel), rain shell, maps/guidebook/journal/pencil in ziploc bag, hat and gloves in cool weather, ground sheet, shelter (1-person tent or tarp for my hammock.)

Hip belt pockets: snacks go on left side, alcohol gel and Gold Bond powder on right.

If I am using a closed cell foam pad it gets strapped to the top of the pack. I also hang a bandana from my shoulder strap -- I know people hate this, but it works for me.

[HooKooDooKu]

My two largest items are my tent and my sleeping bag. I don't have room for both inside my pack (or in the mesh pockets). So I use the lashes on the bottom of the pack for my tent.

Back before I started purchasing lighter weight and down-sized gear, I had an external frame Kelty pack where I could strap the tent to the top cross bar, the sleeping bag to the straps under the pack, and then lashed my rolled up sleeping pad to some lash connection points on the back side of the bag.

[ALLEGHENY]

Wet socks tied with 50/50 cord.
Bandanna>Ilost six.

[Coffee]

So what do you carry on the outside of your pack, and why?

Very little normally. I don't like things hanging off my pack. Water bottles on the front of my shoulder straps and a dry bag with misc. items I need during the day in one side pocket. Rain gear in front pocket. If my shelter is wet, it goes in the front pocket as well but I have room for it in the main pack if needed. (Pack: ULA Circuit)

[slbirdnerd]

Regularly: CCF sleeping pad, shockproof/waterproof camera on an S-biner on my hipbelt, flip flops. Maybe my second trekking pole.

[jimmyjam]

I have the usual stuff in the mesh pockets like everyone else: water bottles, filter, snacks, hand sanitizer, TP, and tarp. The only things actually hanging off my pack will be my wet laundry: 1pr socks, 1pr underwear-yep I am hiker trash.

[dmax]

image.jpg Day hike, snacks and foam seat.

[QiWiz]

Just about always:

ccf butt/sit pad
rain gear
water treatment (Aqua Mira or SteriPen or Sawyer Squeeze)
trail snacks
shed layers as I warm up
map
compass
water bottles

Sometimes:

Shelter/tarp
Saw (Little Buck from QiWiz.net)
Hat/headband
Gloves/mittens
Microspikes
Snowshoes