Packing your bag – Jam2

First in is my bag or quilt in a slightly loose, home-made, silnylon stuff sack. This goes in horizontally. On top of that goes the food, usually in either an Ursack or a Bear Vault vertically. This will slightly compress the bag or quilt. Next the tent (Contrail), clothes and rain-gear are stuffed vertically around the food. The cooking setup goes on top of the food. Small items in ditty bags are either in the main body or the outside pocket depending on whether I think I'll need them during the day. Snacks and lunch go on the top of the main compartment. My sleeping pad (Thermarest Prolite-3 short) is rolled and contained in another home-made silnylon stow sack. I put one end of the rolled pad in one of the mesh side pockets and then secure the top of the pad with the upper compression strap. My trail water bottle (Schweppes 1 liter club soda bottle) goes in the other side pocket. The lower compression strap on the bottle side helps to secure the bottle.

Added note: If I anticipate wet weather, I use a trash-compactor bag to help keep the food, bag and clothing dry. A wet tent will ride in the big outside rear pocket.

Here's how I do it if my pack is going to be pretty full, typically when I'm carrying a bear can, and when I don't expect rain.

first, my torso-length thermarest goes in, fully deflated, as a cylinder, with the overlapping ends against my back.

then, a trash compactor bag goes inside the cylinder.

i then put my sleeping bag loose in the bottom of the trash compactor bag. i guestimate how compressed the sleeping bag will need to be, and compress it that much, squeezing excess air out of the trash compactor bag and then sealing it up just by twisting the top around a few times and tucking the end between the bag an mat.

Then tent, plus any clothes that I don't expect to change into until the end of the day.

Then I drop the bear can on top. Even when I've gone out with a decidedly non-UL three-person tent packed in my bag, there's room for the bear can to sit inside the cynlinder formed by the pad at least part way.

On top of and around the bear can go things I think I might want during the day–maybe windshirt, puffy vest, etc. If I'm carrying a stove, it tends to start out on top of the bearcan, and quickly move inside. Pot gets tied on outside my pack (I'm using an old pot that isn't the right size to nest with anything). My idea is to make it pretty easy to open the bear can without removing it from my pack, as this encourages me to keep everything that should be in the can actually in there/keeps me from forgetting to put things in at night.

Platypus bottle in one or both side pockets, or occasionally, one 2L platy strapped down across the top. Almost nothing in the front pocket, because this is a POS on the original jam.

There are some drawbacks with my system–for one, it makes the pack almost totally cylindrical on the top. But this system works well enough that I've stopped really experimenting with other options.

Thanks guys. I guess the problem I was encountering was that my food bag wouldnt fit horizontally on top of sleeping bag and puffy vest in drybag. So i guess i will put it in vertically with other stuff around it. I was afraid that it wouldnt be comfortable right against my spine but maybe I can put something in between it and the spine