Stitches appeared evenly spaced and of uniform distance from the fabric edges. There is a lack of reinforcement on the pack’s taffeta bottom, though. Shoulder straps are lightweight mesh-lined with very little padding. This hydration compatible backpack has a connection for a water bladder built in to the design. It also includes loops to hang your trekking poles when not in use. Similar to many of the other thru-hikers, I downloaded the OTA’s excellent GPS maps, but I loaded them into the Gaia GPS app on my iPhone.
I was also surprised by the amount of trail maintenance on such a ‘less talked about’ trail,” Tils said. Because it’s basically a single compartment stuff bag, I did have to make sure the items inside were distributed properly. I have used the hydration compartment for items like my iPad. My shoulders did not chafe nor rub or irritate while walking and I did not get any bruising on my hips. I only walked about a mile away on a dirt trail to the showers but it was not a flat surface and the equiptment on my back was stable. Fast and easy to adjust and all buckles and webbing are in good quality.
Packing-wise, I chose to line it with a garbage disposal liner. If you need a large pack, or are heading on a days-long adventure, this pack won’t work for you. While this pack won’t work for everyone, it’s a practical size for day trips, light travelers, and kids. Trailspace’s community of gear reviewers has field-tested and rated the top daypacks.
The set-up was understandably a few steps shorter, which is always nice when setting up in the dark. More than once in the dark I’ve attached a rain fly upside down and we had to restart that particular step. This tent was close to foolproof when it came to the rain fly because it was already connected. He averaged 25 miles per day, with his longest clocking in at 32 miles.
Although I saw many diggings from feral hogs, I was fortunate to have never come across any. I did meet a hunter in the woods whose hands and arms were covered in blood. She had just ozark trail backpack shot a wild hog and had cut out the “back straps” to eat. My first night out I heard coyotes howling just before I fell asleep, which half startled me but was also beautiful to hear.