Hints on how to pack a PCT lack tightly?

Is this a PCT specific pack? :)

Seems that unless there is some sort of compression mechanism (straps, etc.), perhaps the pack is too big?

This pack has only one small light one built in… Ideas on how you'd do it?

Don't use the stuff sack for your quilt. Just stuff it in and use it to fill up space. It's also better for the down.

How do you pack your ThermaRest?

Arrange it to place the valve at the top, and inflate after packing.

But, as Nick mentions – compression straps are the way to go.

And, since this is BPL –

"…want to make it tighter and more compact…."

What are you trying to accomplish? More support, less "floppiness", closer to your back …. ?

Nick's the man! I try to roll the packs top down as much as I can or tighten up the top strap, shake the pack some after loading to get items to settle. For vacations, I'm going with as few and as light of stuff I have. Spare socks and underwear can be stuffed around hard items, maybe separate shelter components to store where they fit best. I believe I'm around 8 lbs. or less on my base weight for long trips.
Food items can be repackaged into shapes that work better, less square, some cases maybe pour trail mix around other packages. Have fun out there.
Duane

I second Michael's suggestion on not putting your quilt in a stuff sack. I've been using this trick for a while, I just place my sleeping bag in the bottom of my bag (my entire pack is lined with a contractors bag to keep contents dry) and put everything else on top of it. The bag lofts to fill any unused space. It keeps my pack stable, and the bonus is that the bag lofts very quickly in my tent at the end of the day. People see my pack and think I packed heavy, and then they pick my pack up and are like "Wow!" because it's really just my sleeping bag taking up all the room.

You probably need to post a detailed gear list to get anything other than a kind of vague answer here.

If you use many stuff sacks I would start by getting rid of ALL of them, or at least all but the ones you actually NEED for some unavoidable reason – not WANT. Hint: it not the bulk of the stuff sacks themselves that causes the net bulk problem when packing – it is the packing inefficiency this causes.

If you are going to bring the PCT into it for some reason, then the classic PCT UL thru hiker packing method is something akin to "cloud packing"? This is a method that allows you to get nice compact packing that nevertheless accordions in and out as your food and water volumes vary.

I've found one excellent reason to use at least some stuff sacks. I don't like getting the black gunky Esbit sludge off the bottom of my cook pot and onto some expensive piece of gear, such as a sleeping bag.

Plus, for something with lots of pieces and parts, such as a cook kit, I like to keep everything together in one sack. Otherwise, stuff gets temporarily lost.

–B.G.–

That reminds me I forgot to mention, in addition to throwing out the stuff sacks be sure to throw out all your esbit as we'll. :-P

But I do have one for my (non esbit) cook kit too. Stoves don't usually get more efficient to pack outside a sack. But sleeping bags, clothes and shelters usually do.

> Don't use the stuff sack for your quilt. Just stuff it in and use it to fill up
> space. It's also better for the down.

What a wonderful way to get a very wet quilt.
In my book, keeping my quilt and warm clothing dry beats SUL ideology ANY day.

Note that doing it Dena's way, with a plastic liner sack for the whole pack, is as good provided you don't wear holes in the plastic bag. Much care needed.

Cheers

Yes! One big waterproof stuff sack IS definitely required, and is not just an organizational fetish. All the rest – not so much.

I've only hiked 30 miles of the PCT but this works for me.

Main Compartment:
TAR prolite inside and against my back
Bag Liner
Sleeping bag at bottom
clothes on top of that in head net. Pillow too.
(Close pack liner at this point)
Food bag
Hard shell and unstuffed shelter at top.

Front Pocket:
Ditty bag
TP in Ziplock
FAK in Ziplock
Snow stake/cat hole digger
Sawyer filter/Empty Mountain House bag as scoop, 2L Evernew Bag

L Side Pocket
1L Smartwater Bottle

R Side Pocket
Food for day minus dinner. If I have to carry more than 1L of water, Evernew bag goes here and I move food to front pocket.

With two days of food, I don't use the Prophet's expansion chingadera at all. I have plenty of room for five+ days of food but haven't used this ruck for more than weekend trips at this point.

"What a wonderful way to get a very wet quilt."

+1

"In my book, keeping my quilt and warm clothing dry beats SUL ideology ANY day."

Another +1, but you can still be, if not SUL, at least UL and keep your sleeping bag/quilt and insulative clothing dry. I stuff those items and my sleeping pad into a Sea to Summit 35 L dry bag that weighs 1.8 oz. Dry as a bone and ready to keep me toasty warm at the end of a wet day.

Edited: The dry bag is also a lot more durable than a plastic bag. It's made of sil nylon.

I have a S2S eVent bag which is great and easy to purge air out of that I use for my food. I could definitely lose an oz or so if I went to their silnylon version. Rumor has it (John Abela if memory serves) that they are going to release a new version of their event bag at 1/2 the weight.

My cuben roll top dry bag/pack liner is working so far but I'm sceptical of how well it'll do over the long haul. Cuben fiber is a beautiful thing but I think other materials are better suited for use as a pack liner.

I made a simple silnylon bag for my down quilt to stay dry

It has crude shoulder straps so I could use it to day hike out of a base camp – rain jacket, water, bit of food, some survival type items

I can use it to hang food from tree

I coated the inside with mineral spirits/silicone

Weighs a couple ounces (I forget exactly how much)

Yeah, Sea to Summit for your sleeping bag * any long johns used for sleeping. The eVent works pretty well. Silnylon can leak if things get really wet. They will bleed.

Thanks for the thought provoking ideas. I did 250 miles on the PCT last year and about 110 so far this year. Goal is to do all of Cali over next three years.

Responding to specifics. Too tired to list all items but that is really it. I go stoveless. This is still Cali and there are stops for hot food every two or three days. I'll trade off the weight and trouble for decent cold, dry food.

I already use no quilt stuff sack. That is a great tip though. Great when I figured that out. This PCT is pretty dry so I feel ok about this wetness factor.

I split my FlyCreek 2 into separate prices to fill spaces.

I'm mostly looking to have a tight kit and to not have my big floppy mass on my back. This pack only has one super thin compression strap as a said (it's actually a custom Zimmerpack but I asked him to model it on my Six Moons light pack and he did successfully).

I put the rolled Gossamer Gear sleep pad in. I put the Thermarest inside of that. I slide the tent poles in. Then cram sleeping quilt in behind the grey pad on the outside away from my back. Then cram in the rest. The Whisper has a big outside pocket that I use for water and sawyer mini filter. I'd just like to walk around tighter in my organized pack method. I may have to live with the bulk that I've had. The most proficient guys I've seen on trail look like they can travel cinched up better. I'm aiming for that. Got to aspire to something I guess!!

> The dry bag is also a lot more durable than a plastic bag. It's made of sil nylon.
Yeah, I know, but silnylon LEAKS above a certain pressure. Not good enough for paranoid me I am afraid.
I use an MYOG silnylon stuffsack, but I line it with a new plas bag. 100% success rate, and the plas bags weigh grams.

cheers

>What a wonderful way to get a very wet quilt.
>In my book, keeping my quilt and warm clothing dry beats SUL ideology ANY day.

>Note that doing it Dena's way, with a plastic liner sack for the whole pack, is as good >provided you don't wear holes in the plastic bag. Much care needed.

>Cheers

Well that doesn't sound cheery. Do you have a hard time determining when your pack is wet or when it will rain? I just look at my pack and look at the sky. If either look wet, I use a trash bag liner which sits in the bottom of my pack in dry weather. Only using it when it looks like rain keeps holes from being worn in and tears from forming from use. My suggestion had nothing to do with saving half an ounce of stuff sack, but feel free to interpret it that way.

If I use a sack for my quilt or sleeping bag, it is a large cuben sack, not a stuff sack. This is for times I might fall into a river. Most of the time I don 't use one. If it rains my poncho keeps me and my pack dry. You know, the multiple use thingy.

"I'm mostly looking to have a tight kit and to not have my big floppy mass on my back. This pack only has one super thin compression strap as a said (it's actually a custom Zimmerpack but I asked him to model it on my Six Moons light pack and he did successfully)."

If it is already a custom made pack, I would consider adding more compression straps by myself or by sending it in to Zimmerpack and asking him to add some.

how about a photo of what you have going on?

Think I may have had a brainstorm here (or maybe a brain fart). You said your pack had just one compression strap? If it is on the back of the pack then, while it can be used for compression, its usual function is to hold things temporarily on the back of the pack. If you do cloud packing effectively in a pack like that it should just feel like a big, fully-stuffed, but not super-hard pillow. If you can't get it to work that way, or what you really want is for it to be smaller in addition to not having stuff flop around then I'm thinking you need a tiny bit more pack. The good news is that if Chris made it he could probably do the mods for you.

I'm thinking that you may need the added side compression straps (if I am correct from my reading that you do not have these). Actually most UL packs have these – ones without are very specialized in my experience. Even most of my day packs have these. The only packs that don't are my G5(SUL) and Ascentionist 25L(designed for climbing). If you decide to do this mod I say get the three separate straps on each side design rather than one zig-zag each size as the weight is the same and it works better with separate ones. But the one side strap fans are now gonna flame me. :-)

Another thing you could do yourself is replace the the existing compression strap/cord with a heavier bungie as that might at least keep stuff from flopping. If there are any other loops on the outside you could add extra bungie-compression straps there as well. I assume this pack has a roll top closure?

Sending a pic would help.

"I put the rolled Gossamer Gear sleep pad in. I put the Thermarest inside of that."

I'm guessing here…
You have a cylinder of sleep pads inside the pack, and you then stuff that volume with gear?
And it Sways side to side as you walk?

If that is an accurate description, try a different packing style.
Try to get the pack to resemble a rectangular box versus a cylinder.

At the extremes, a cylinder with a narrow contact area against the back will be hard to stabilize. A 12"+ wide contact area will do much better.

Try folding the pads, with one against the back and the other elsewhere. If they are both against your back you end up pushing the weight away, inducing more sway.

Does this pack have a waist belt with "tensioners" attached to pull the pack into your back?
How about compression straps between the top of the pack and the shoulder straps? (erroneously called load lifters, on a frameless pack)

As mentioned above, pictures, sketches, and more verbage will help nail this down.