If you could only have one pack Part 2

[Ken Thompson]

Nick's post does nothing but make me want a McHale even more. Jedi powers or no, I believe I know what I want in my next pack. Which I hope is my last.

[Nick Gatel]

"My only question would be do you miss the mesh netting that a lot of ultra light packs have on the back for easy storage and drying? I see on their website that they offer something called a kangaroo pocket and I am assuming it is for the same purpose but more durable?"

Mesh is nice to easily see stuff for quick retrieval. Nowadays I have such a small amount of gear there is little I need during the day except for food and water. Yes the Kangaroo pocket (and a lid) is nice to keep things you may want quick access to during the day. I suppose that all mesh is not the same, but the mesh I have used stretches out of shape and becomes baggy, not to mention gets torn on Acacia trees and the like. Most of my shelters are small and light, so I can shake off most of the water and throw it into the Kangaroo pocket. I find that I don't use the lid or Kangaroo pocket much unless I am on a fairly long trip. I like to keep my food in the main pack under a down jacket. Even in the desert it keeps stuff like chocolate from melting.

[Nick Gatel]

Casey,

"1. Even if a McHale pack lasts a lifetime (I haven't heard otherwise anywhere), it won't be your last pack since you, the consumer, don't know what you want. In other words, next year you'll want a new color, fabric, feature, size, etc. As an example, I believe Nick bought his McHale under the "last pack you'll ever buy" assumption, and is now on his second."

This is somewhat true. The LBP is the only pack I need and could fulfill the needs of every trip; especially in regards to this topic. The Bump is a lot smaller for those little trips, and being near retirement age, I can afford it. It is a little luxury in my life. Plus I have everything I need in life, so the Bump allowed my wife to buy me a present that I would use. Also, Dan did not make this pack when I first discussed the concept with him. Also remember, I pretty much used one pack for 35 years, so you can believe it. And I still have that pack (actually right now Kelty has it, they are repairing the first failure (a seam tear), and it has now served me for 41 years. External packs do have many limitations. The problems with internals or frameless packs is that most do not meet the marketing hype. No hype from McHale.

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"2. Furthermore, you can not trust people who spend their own money on gear to give a proper review; they are too biased towards justifying their purchase."

I agree here. Hard to be unbiased. And remember, I said I was an advocate, not a satisfied customer. Few companies develop a large following of advocates.

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"3. Nick Gatel has Jedi powers which allow him "conjure" a two page post in under 10 seconds which will make you believe whatever he writes. I have found that viewing his posts through polarized lenses negates this effect."

I don't know much about sunglasses, us desert rats usually just wear a hat and dispense with the unnecessary weight of sunglasses. :)

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A lot of my hiking is in the remote southern California Mountains such as the Bristol, Providence, Bullion, Coxocomb, Eagle, Pinto, Chuckawalla, Santa Rosa, and McCoy. Week long trips where water is rare and re-supply is not an option. So the LBP is the only pack I would consider these days, or I could be miserable with the Kelty Serac or Gregory Whitney. Nothing else can carry the needed water, and the McHale works great for the short trips too. Again all of this is in reference if you only had one pack. BTW, Dyneema is pretty stiff material when new, mine is now nice and supple with all the use it has gotten.

[Nick Gatel]

"A big +1 to the Vapor Trail for 20-25 lb loads. Still using it 8 years later, still only cost $75 (barely) used."

I am sure it is a good pack for you. However, if you would like to do a week long trip with me, your water alone would meet the maximum weight. Again, we are talking about one pack that can do everything. I have a zPacks Zero I bought to test out the cuben. I will probably keep that one for some of the XUL trips, until the seams and material fall apart, which it will. That is the price of really UL gear.

[Brett Peugh]

Who the heck take a week's worth of water with them unless they are in the desert? That is not even medium let alone light or UL or even sustainable. I never really take more than two liters and find it along the way.

I have lived out of my pack for three weeks bebopping between small towns and hitting natural areas I wanted to visit. What are you doing?

[EndoftheTrail]

Nick is merely saying that if you can only own one pack, then it has to be one that can perform the toughest of duties. I would agree with him, given OP's premise. But all this begs the question of just how useful the exercise really is!?! Yeah, maybe fun for some and an OK time killer for others… but useful it is not. Because such a premise simply isn't realistic. Reminds me of that other "cerebral Masturbation" exercise a year or two back — if you can only buy your "UL gear" from REI (or Wal Mart or whatever) and nowhere else, what would your choices be…

[Dave T]

Re: week of water. I hear ya on that. On a recent trip in the mountains in Death Valley, I had to carry 2.5 days of water, and that's just not much fun, especially on steep, loose slopes. Pretty sure I wouldn't want to try to carry seven days worth (e.g. 4L a day x 7 days = 28L or 60 pounds or so!).

And a big thumbs up for rambling in the desert mountains. My favorite place to be.

[Nick Gatel]

Brett said,

"Who the heck take a week's worth of water with them unless they are in the desert? That is not even medium let alone light or UL or even sustainable. I never really take more than two liters and find it along the way.

I have lived out of my pack for three weeks bebopping between small towns and hitting natural areas I wanted to visit. What are you doing?"

:)

Here is the thing, some people go 7-14 days without re-supply. Been doing it for decades. Kircher, one of our more senior hikers does a more than 7 day trip almost every year from what I have read.

Everyone is different. I for one do not want to hit any towns or re-supply points if possible, it interrupts the flow and solitude of my hike. But that is me.

Now there is a place I go, very remote, that has over 2,000 Native American Hieroglyphs spread out over a wide area, and a week in this mountain range is indescribable. And no, I am not posting where it is :(

[Dave T]

I think he was asking about a week of water, not a week of food in the wet Sierra. Week of food, no worries. Week of water, yikes.

[Nick Gatel]

I think it was about "beboping" between towns. I avoid towns except for the longest of trips. Ten days of food is probably going to be 15-20 lbs alone for most folks.

But then I try avoid all people on trips whenever possible :)

[Ryan Smith]

I'm not a huge fan of McHale styling and they are way overbuilt for my needs. With that said, that green panel loader on his site is drop dead sexy.

Ryan

[Anonymous]

"Week of food, no worries. Week of water, yikes."

Yup, that would take all the fun out of it for me alright. Even at 3 liters/day you'd be up over 40# just for your water. Do you still do that kind of trip, Nick?

[Nick Gatel]

Tom,

If the highs are in the 60's or maybe low 70's I can easily get by with 1/2 gallon per day, but I am not cooking (there is a little bit of balancing — non-cooked food can be heavier). Also remember I have been living and hiking in the lower desert for well over 30 years, and have acclimated somewhat. Wisner and I did a hike last year and at the end of the first day I had only consumed a little over a liter.

If I find a spring (usually unreliable till you find water), then I can adjust and sometimes adjust my route to make a loop(s) back or even cache some water after filling up at the spring and dump some of it.

Last December I did a trip and went 2 days between each water re-supply, with a 64oz Gatorade bottle in each of my side pockets, the gallon carried extremely well in the LBP, and I had a Mountain House dinner each night, oatmeal & coffee for each breakfast. Desert hiking in the spring, fall and winter I can stretch 3 gallons over 6 days, and each day the pack gets about 5 or 6 lbs lighter with food and water consumption. So for a 6 day trip we are looking about 31 – 33 lbs of food and water (picked 6 days because it was easier to calculate in my feeble mind). Add all the gear and it is pretty easy to get in under 40lbs total. By day 3 the total pack weight is around 25 lbs or less. The alternative is not taking the trip I want, or hiring a Sherpa, or buying a burro. I don't think any Sherpas live in the lower desert, and I know diddly about pack animals — other than wild horses and burros often foul water sources and leave road apples (non-edible) all over the place :)

Oh, and did I mention I will probably not have to share the experience with anyone else except for a few coyotes, rattlesnakes, and hopefully a big horn or two? And even rarer, I get to see one of these once in a while.

or acres of these too thick to walk through

[Anonymous]

"If the highs are in the 60's or maybe low 70's I can easily get by with 1/2 gallon per day, but I am not cooking (there is a little bit of balancing — non-cooked food can be heavier). Also remember I have been living and hiking in the lower desert for well over 30 years, and have acclimated somewhat. Wisner and I did a hike last year and at the end of the first day I had only consumed a little over a liter."

That is the context I was looking for. A combo of seasonal timing and long term adaptation makes a lot of difference. I figured there had to be more to it, because a gallon/day, or even 3 liters takes the whole exercise into a whole different realm, as you mentioned: burros or Sherpas.

[P. Larson]

McHale, McShmale. I have a jet pack.

[Rakesh Malik]

You have fun with that. I'm going to pack my camping, cooking, and photography gear in my SuperSARC pack.

[sandy boyd]

Im a little late…but Diego, the Zimmerbuilt Eugenious pack has a removable hip belt, maybe it would work for you after all!!
sandy

[Randy Cain]

I absolutely LOVE my McHale LBP (Little Big Pack)!!! At just a hair over 4 lbs, t's not what some would call "lightweight," but here's the deal: I have an old injury in my thoracic spine (upper back between shoulder blades). If I put even 6-8 pounds in one of the lightweight packs and carry it on my shoulders for a few miles, my back pain will flare up so bad that I am no longer enjoying the trip and am wishing I could just "beam" myself home. It's imperative that I carry most of the load on my hips, which the McHale allows me to easily do and practically forget that the pack is even there. I've gone through quite the evolution (still in progress) in lightening up my gear, mostly due to the influence of BPL, but I can only go so far when it comes to lightening up the pack itself. Ultimately, the suspension MUST adequately transmit the weight to the hip belt for me to be comfortable. OR else I have pain that far outweighs the enjoyment of the backcountry. Not everyone has a jacked-up spine like I do, but for me, the McHale pack rocks because it keeps me from hurting!! I've dealt with Dan in the creation of 2 packs, and both times he was fantastic. I even used the demo LBP on two backpacking trips this last fall to truly take it for a test drive before he started making one for me.

[Stephen M]

Hi,

I have used my Aarn Mountain Magic 55 for all my trips since last September, my only other pack is a ULA Catalyst which I am holding to incase I plan any trips longer than 4 days.

Cheers,

Stephen

[Doug Smith]

My first McHale pack just got completed and I'm awaiting it in the mail. I'm exceptionally pleased with the quality of Dan's packs. The demo I used on my last trip was outstanding. My new pack is an LBP40, in white dyneema/ spectra, with 1000d forest green cordura pouches. It is the top 4 photos most recently added to Dan's website:

http://www.mchalepacks.com/letter/index.htm

This photo is courtesy of Dan McHale:

[David Ure]

Nm

[Stephen M]

Have you had issues Dave?

[Jason Elsworth]

Have you had issues Dave?

Intriguing:).

[David Ure]

Yes but nothing that a bit of Psychotherapy can't help.

[Stephen M]

I hear you on that Davey :-)

[Author]

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