Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting A little help with a back pack

My son is going to Nepal this summer to do a research project. He is a junior at William and Mary, in very good shape/health. He will be in Nepal for 30 days, hiking 4-6 hours per day between villages. Pretty sure the trails are in good shape. He will be staying at tea houses in villages along the way. Anyway, I'd like to buy him a pack for this trip and have no idea where to start. Any help is appreciated!

Thank you!

For your son's situation, a lighter pack would be a better choice than a heavy hunting pack. Take a look at ULA backpacks. I would recommend either the Catalyst or the Circuit (my personal favorite). Good volume, very lightweight.and built like a tank.
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is this a pack he would also want to use for hunting in the future?

Most likely not. If he moves to a mountainous state, he would get something more specific for hunting. This pack needs to keep him good for a month.

Thank you. We'll check them out

I would suggest he go to a competent brick and mortar to try on packs and/or get fitted. Any arc'teryx, mystery ranch, osprey or Gregory of proper size should work.

Not many spots in Virginia Beach. We are going to hit REI next weekend. They have some of the brands you mentioned. Thank you

I would also recommend the ULA packs.I have a circuit and love it. good pack for 30 lbs. or less.

I own a bunch of packs.

I use a ULA pack now because I need a ultralight pack. It's about as ultralite as you can get at 1.5#. I've only owned mine for about a year and therefore I've only used it on 8 short trips. So I don't know how durable it's going to be in the long run. It looks kind of wimpy but seems to be holding out pretty good so far. Ought to last for a few months of heavy use. Doesn't have a lot of pockets but I guess that's what you get on an ultralite pack.

My most comfortable backpack is an Ospre Aether 85 which weighs almost 5#.

I use a KUIU backpack for hunting and it weighs 4#.

I also own an old North Face "Back Shadow" expedition pack that weighs 6.7#. Took it on three trips to climb Mount McKinley. But, I haven't used it years.

I own a Golite pack that's not really all that lightweight at 3.8#. I'm not thrilled by the way the cargo pockets are configured.

I've also owned a bunch of other backpacks over the years. I'm not going to mention them because I've either given them away or discarded them because I didn't like them for one reason or another.

A previous poster recommended that you (or your son) visit a backpacking store. I support that recommend and while he's there, have his torso measured. He should get a pack that will fit his torso. They should be able to do that at REI.

Thank you sir, for your input. We are doing just that. Ultimately, he will have to decide what feels best to him. I just want to make sure he has something that will hold up to 4-6 weeks of daily use.

Look into SWD packs as well. My buddy purchased one of their new SL40 Ultra's. He got several winter trips in with it-weight varied between 25-35 lbs and is currently about 600 miles in on the Arizona Trail where he had to pack a lot of water on stretches. One of the very few UL packs that actually will haul 30-40 lbs w/o a lot of drama.

Not a cheap pack, but he thinks it might be the last pack he buys (unlikely :D).

https://www.swdbackpacks.com/product-page/sl40-internal-frame

Is this the project: Community-Led Participatory Mapping to Support Watershed Management and Ecosystem Resilience in Nepal?

Link

You must be proud of your boy!

Will it be one continuous trek, or multiple treks from a base or hub?

The project director would probably be the best bet for you to talk to about needed equipment and type.

This site might be able to help:

Link

Link

Imagine it will be multiple and frequent elevation changes and temperatures and some climbing.

Wish him the best.


Phil

Thanks Phil.

He is going to be studying the relationship between predators and mountain livestock. Hopefully, he will spot a snow leopard!

He will be in the Annapurna region and will be hiking from village to village. They will be utilizing tea houses for lodging. He said that he will be trekking 2-4 hours per day while conducting interviews and observations along the way. So, multiple daily treks.

We are very proud of him. He is passionate about what he is doing, and his experience at W&M has been wonderful.

Thank you for your input

I'd recommend the Kuiu pack. I had a couple of nice Gregory packs and while they had a lot of pockets and feather, the Kuiu was much better for backpacking. They are offering 100$ off a pack setup. I know they are more expensive than the Osprey and Gregory packs,but after spending money twice, I'd highly recommend checking them out.

Matador makes great packs for travel. This is currently my favorite one it has a half dozen individual compartments for keeping clothing organized. A large zippered compartment. A few side compartments. Very lightweight and carry on friendly. They also make a selection of great travel accessories


Matador

longshot3;
Good morning, I trust the week behaved for you and yours and you're all well.

Looking at the question more from Irving D's response as a travel pack, I'll say this about that.

While we don't travel regularly by jet, we do enough on occasion and as well we have friends who do.

From that and them we've learned that having as much as possible in our two carryon pieces saves a whole lot of stress.

Hopefully the airlines aren't losing all that luggage on purpose, but my goodness talking to others, there are enough incidences that we can see a pattern.

That said then, if your son could fit everything into the two carryon pieces and if one was expandable like the Matador linked, then that might be the ticket.

If one is only packing a few hours a day and isn't taking an elk or moose leg in it, the demands on the user and the pack are vastly different.

Hopefully that made sense and is useful.

All the best on your quest for the pack and to your son on his trip.

Dwayne

Also look into packing cubes to keep gear organized, compression cubes. And look up military rolling clothing it works well and compacts clothes tight

I just bought an Eberlestock Renegade and love it. I own their F1 and also a halftrac. They are all great, but with different purposes. I think the Renegade would make an excellent day pack that could even be used for an overnighter. The compression straps and bottom fabric shelf make adding bulky items to the exterior pack a breeze. It would also make a great hunting pack and with a little ingenuity could haul meat if needed, though I’d pick the F1 with a modular pack if I was intending to pack game out.