#1 complaint about packing

[Ken Thompson]

Another thread got me thinking.

What is the worst part of packing your gear up for everyone?

I find that the air mattress takes the most amount of fiddling for me.

[Hiking Malto]

Something you west coast hikers rarely see. :)

[todd]

+1 – Wet Shelter – especially when I use silnylon.

I've read posts from several folks that sil won't absorb any moisture – if that's true then I must have a hyper-active imagination.

[Ken Thompson]

If only that was true Malto. Not often, but not rarely in my case. Sil has the ability to be unbelievably cold when wet too. Weird.

[Vladimir Kucherov]

todd, I recently made a tarp from silpoly. My favorite unexpected feature is shaking the fabric gets a remarkable amount of water off the fabric before packing. Much drier than my silnylon stuff ever gets.

to answer the thread – rolling up my thermarest into its stuffsack. I didn't like it so much I just gave up on the idea and use a piece of rope to keep it wrapped inside of a garbage bag.

[Jennifer Mitol]

it used to be rolling the pad into the stuff sack, but then I too gave that up. I just fold it up and put it flat against my back. Now I would agree on the wet, muddy shelter with forest duff and mud stuck all over it.

[Jeffs Eleven]

yeah. Pad inflation.

I don't loathe it but it is a PITA

[Randy Nelson]

Absolutely my pad. I have a Kookabay DAM and it's a pain to get all the air out of it. The down tends to block the valve. When I wake up, I open the valve but don't get up. Once I hit the ground I fold in in half and do the same thing. Then roll it up, then fold it in half length wise and roll it up the final time. It's super comfortable so I put up with all that.

I don't really have a problem with a wet shelter. I roll it up and put in in a side mesh pocket then pitch it later to let it dry out if I get a chance. But it's just an SL3 fly so it dries really quickly.

[Lori P]

When I take the Exped I open the release valve. It deflates in a few seconds, I sit up and roll the rest of the air out, then close the valve and fold it (differently than last time). A NeoAir is about that easy as well. I've started to fold mattresses rather than roll, as one of the NeoAirs now has parallel lines down it from all the rolling it's been subjected to. Instead of a big bulge in the pack with spaces around it to fill, the pads become a flat layer that can be tucked in over the quilt at the bottom of the pack.

If I have anything to complain about re: packing, it would have to be weird shaped items that make irregular lumps on top of the load. A fishing reel, for example. Not so much a problem as an annoyance, I suppose.

[Kenneth Keating]

For me it’s rolling up my shelter when the bottom’s muddy. It’s a pain to remove the mud and your hands are a dirty mess. Now I drape and move the bottom over bushes or break off a small branch from a pine tree and brush the bottom off, but it’s still a pain.

[Roger Caffin]

Funny. I roll up my air mat and my wife's airmat in the morning. OK, they are a bit big and they flap around, but by folding lengthways and then rolling gently I have no problems.

Packing up a wet tent – well, yeah, but it's not that much of a problem really. Give silnylon a few shakes and most stuff falls off. Fold and roll. Wet muddy hands – seldom. I don't camp on mud anyhow.

Putting on cold wet clothing while I still have to roll the tent up – ugh!
Putting on frozen shoes – UGH!

Cheers

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I think it's figuring out where to put my stove and pot. Everything else is soft and/or sort of linear in shape and can be smooshed into place. The stove and pot just doesn't fit anywhere.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

I agree with Roger. Putting on cold wet stuff every day and getting out of the warmth of the quilt/tent. That five minutes or so before everything warms up again after putting it on. Worst part of the day!

But I'm getting better at it. I no longer put it off as I know it has to come eventually. I just do it straight away now. And kind of meditate out into a different space while I'm doing it…

[Ken Thompson]

So no one is complaining about how much time and difficulty it is to stow your sleeping bag. Interesting.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Big stuff sack. About 6-8seconds I'd say.

These ain't the roll and fold days anymore Ken ;-)

[Jennifer Mitol]

seriously ken – what are you doing with your sleeping bag? packing my quilt into my pack liner at the bottom of my pack is probably the EASIEST part of packing. Except that does mean I have to actually get out of the damned thing first….

[Ken Thompson]

John the Snakey dude says that packing your sleeping bag in a compression sack is the #1 complaint. I found that impossible to believe. That is why I started this thread.

[Michael Gunderloy]

The hardest part about packing is standing around waiting for Scouts to finish packing so we can get moving.

[George F]

It used to be my getting my sleeping pad into it's tiny stuff sack until I finally figured out last year that it didn't weigh anymore if I just squeezed out all the air I could easily and folded it in the bottom of my pack. The first night or two of a long trip I might have to get everything as tight as possible, but after that there is plenty of room.

Actually the worst part is getting started. I like early starts but never seem to sleep well until morning comes around. All I can do is look at my watch, reach back and pull the plugs on my pad then I am committed.

[Jennifer Mitol]

"John the Snakey dude says that packing your sleeping bag in a compression sack is the #1 complaint. I found that impossible to believe. That is why I started this thread."

Makes sense.

Perhaps I should watch his video. How hard could stuffing my quilt into the bottom of my pack actually be?

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I just shove my bag into the bottom of my pack. The only thing hard about that is the initial getting out of its warmth and into the cold morning part.

[Billy Ray]

Good Lord People…
complaining about how awful it is to pack your sleeping bag????????????????
Yall have way too much time on your hands.

Billy

[Bob Moulder]

Last night the relative humidity was very low, there was a breeze and woke up this morning to absolutely zero condensation inside the Duplex.

We've actually been under a fire conditions warning (i.e. dry) for a few days, but the ground is still damp, so of course there was the usual condensation on the bottom of the tent complete with dead leaf bits and other assorted gack and muck. Not a massive amount, but even in ideal conditions that is still a persistent annoyance.

About a year ago I was chided for using a ground sheet with the Duplex and eventually decided that it wasn't the end of the world if I got some dirt on it or eventually developed a hole. I stopped using a ground sheet and the sky didn't fall. But sometimes I'm still thinking it would be better with a a ground sheet… a painter's sheet or thin polycryo…

[Jeffs Eleven]

Good Lord People…
complaining about how awful it is to pack your sleeping bag????????????????
Yall have way too much time on your hands.

But thats what the internet is for!

[Bob Moulder]

complaining about how awful it is to pack your sleeping bag??

Not me.

I just stuff it in the bottom of the pack, but I've read that it can a bit more complicated than that. :^)

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