Is my ULA Circuit too small?

[Buck P]

…or am I too dumb?

I did a practice pack of my stuff in a new ULA Circuit and I ran out of room. I didn’t have enough room to pack food and several clothes items and other junk. Before I start scaling back, or returning the Circuit for a Catalyst, what do you recommend?

Here’s a list of the contents:

1. Enlighten Equipment Revelation
2. Zpacks Duplex
3. XTherm
4. Puffy jacket in a 4L stuff sack
5. Zpacks medium pillow bag stuffed with clothes
6. Food (bear) bag (doesn’t fit)
7. Pot, stove, etc. (doesn’t fit)

Outside:

1. Crocs
2. Rain Jacket and pants
3. Water bottles
4. Water filter

Everything is in a Zpacks pack liner. Do you think the liner is keeping me from using my full potential of the pack?  I could put the tent in one of the side pockets, I’m not sure, but I’m trying to reserve those for water bottles.

[Jeff Jeff]

Make sure the liner is larger than the pack body. Take everything out of the stuff sacks and shove it in loose so it packs together with fewer gaps.

[Ken Thompson]

All of that should fit. And yes your liner should be larger than the inside of your pack a bit.

 

[John H]

I have a very similar setup (Revelation, Duplex. Exped UL7, sidewinder with a Toaks 900ml pot, Zpacks food bag with 4-6 days of grub). I also use a Circuit and I have more than enough room.

+1 on larger liner than pack.

[lee kingry]

Hey buck my wife and I did the JMT in October with a zero degree Revelation for her a large bear canister Hexamid twin and full size xterm  jackets clothes  socks  everything you expect  and all the other Essentials including at one time 10 days of food I have a CDT hers is an ohm yours is bigger it will fit

[Todd T]

I too suspect all that should fit, but I don’t have a Circuit so I won’t be adamant.  But out of curiosity, what size is your Circuit?  For about eight years I used a Large Catalyst and it fit me just a hair too small.  So I finally broke down and bought an XL.  It fits better, but the real surprise is how much more it holds–it’s enormous inside.  I’m just wondering if a small Circuit has substantially less volume than a larger one.

[Buck P]

It’s supposed to be 40 liters inside.

[Buck P]

Edit: sorry I misunderstood. The ULA Circuit is a Medium.   Torso Size:18″-21″

[Matthew / BPL]

I don’t see a mention of what °rating your Revelation is.

The Duplex is bulky. Experiment with folding it into a flat phone book.

You mention your jacket is in a 4 liter stuff sack. Tight stuff sacks waste space because you end up with rigid sausage shapes. Try putting it inside the liner with the quilt.

Do you have a huge jacket?

I’ve got a size small Circuit which ULA told me is 5+ liters smaller than a size medium. I could not fit my 20° quilt and BV500 bear can into it for the JMT when I was carrying a Duplex and shared 1.3 liter cookset for my 12 year old and I so I upgraded to a Catalyst. Post-JMT I have a radically different conception of what I actually need to bring with me and I sold the Catalyst.

[John Rowan]

Just out of curiosity, do you have a picture of the pack/gear handy (i.e. one of those “here’s all my stuff” pics that’s all the rage). I have a Circuit, and what you’re describing really should all fit, at least in my imagination. Only thing I don’t know about is the Duplex, since I don’t think I’ve ever seen one packed.

A few general comments:

• Don’t stuff the puffy- I like to keep mine flat-ish to minimize the vertical space it takes up, and I also try and stuff it down and around the empty spaces formed by my stuffed quilt in the bottom of my bag.
• Probably don’t stuff clothes/break up the clothes into smaller stuffs.
• Get the food bag in (probably on top-ish of the quilt/puffy) and then stuff around that (see note above re breaking up some of the larger stuffs). I had to deal with 5-day food loads/bearcan relatively regularly on the PCT, and I was always surprised at what actually fit in around the sides.
• In some cases it’s unavoidable (i.e. XTherm), but just generally try and avoid having big fixed-shape things to try and fit in there.

One of the things I’ve learned from flying a lot with the Circuit (I pack it differently for a plane ride than I do for a hike- just tend to put things in a different order) is that the way you pack can make a HUGE difference in volume. I can easily pack the Circuit (or any pack) in a way that leaves it more or less stuffed to the gills with gear alone. I can also re-pack it with the same gear plus 4-5 days of food and have it be way too big for everything.

[lee kingry]

Hey buck after reading the additional post I feel I need to mention my wife is a packing Guru as far as making stuff fit and be neat and I think there was four or five attempts till she got her ohm to take everything that we needed including the bear canister I think the advice of others is probably more helpful than mine saying it will fit which is true but possibly seeing everything laid out and put into the pack might be helpful if possible I’ll be glad to do a quick video packing and also somebody suggested you showing us your list of what you’re trying to put in probably would help if you haven’t sorted it out already

[Jorge Villalobos]

Hey Buck,

Something’s off. I too have a Circuit, and I can fit my:

1. HG Burrow 20 (equivalent to EE Rev)
2. Zpacks Duplex
3. XTherm (L)
4. Puffy jacket (large hooded 700, which doesn’t compress as well as higher quality down)
5. Clothes stuff sack
6. Food (bear) bag (DOES fit inside, Ursack All White)
7. Pot, stove, etc. (DOES fit inside, Evernew 1.3L + Sidewinder Ti-Tri or Zelph’s TOAKs 750ml CC kit, fuel goes outside)

Outside:

1. Crocs
2. Rain Jacket and pants kilt
3. Water bottles
4. Water filter
5. Fuel
6. Polycro footprint
7. Day’s food
8. First aid kit

I use a large trash compactor bag for liner, and inside goes my quilt + puffy loose (no stuff sack, this saves a lot of space), XTherm (folded flat against my back, again, saves space and carries better) and clothes. Then, on top of the closed liner goes my Duplex, food bag and stove (which sometimes I’ll pack outside for convenience). And I still end up with plenty of space left-over inside.

[Buck P]

Wow.  I had originally planed to get a HMG 3400 pack because it is inherently water resistant but decided on the Circuit. I want to include some kind of protection for my  bag, clothes and down jacket, that’s why I bought the Zpacks liner. I can always switch to a contractor bag if I can’t get the Zpacks liner to work. I’ll try again tonight and stuff and hopefully have better luck. I’m more optimistic knowing that many of you have been successful with similar gear.  My EE bag is long AND wide. Hope I don’t regret it.

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Demobags-42-gal-Contractor-Trash-Bag-20-Count-DB20-PROPACK/100661692

[Jorge Villalobos]

My HG Burrow 20 is also long and wide BTW, though actual measurements likely differ between the 2 companies.

[Matthew / BPL]

I have the standard ZPacks Cuben Pack liner and it fits great in my Size Small Circuit. ZPacks specifically mentions compatibility with this pack in their description and Stick’s video in the review mentions it as well.

I don’t think the pack liner is the problem unless you didn’t get the standard size. There’s been tons of useful advice in this thread, Buck.

I’ll echo what others have said here, it takes me a few tries to get used to loading a particularly backpack.

Also you want to use a trash compactor bag not a contractors trash bag if you decide to go that route. It’s about $5 for 5 of them at my local Ace Hardware. They are much more durable and have the benefit of being white which makes it MUCH easier to find things inside the liner.

[Steven Paris]

A quick note: some trash compactor bags are scented, so take care when you buy to avoid those!

[Buck P]

Still no luck. I put the sleeping bag loose in the pack liner along with the puffy jacket and the clothes. I then compressed it as much as possible and closed it up. It was a tight fit sliding the pack liner bag into the pack and there was no space on the sides to squeeze in other stuff. I couldn’t even get my hand down the sides. Then I put the tent and sleeping pad in next. There was no room to add the food. After closing the top of the pack, there is only about 3 inches of space left.

 

It looks like a lot of space in the picture, but I need to be able to close the bag to keep the rain out.  I tried both folding it over and rolling it dry-bag style.

 

 

[Buck P]

Do you think it would be worthwhile to get a compression sack for the sleeping bag? If so, what size? Would that help my situation?

 

https://www.rei.com/product/730882/sea-to-summit-event-compression-dry-sack

[Matthew / BPL]

Put the empty pack liner into the backpack first then start stuffing things into it.

[ben .]

i just wanted to throw it out there that my medium circuit will also fit very similar items to what you are bringing, along with a large bearcan. i don’t use any compression sacks. with a bearcan my gear comes up to near the top of the extension collar.

that said, i only roll the opening once or twice. if it’s pouring, that water is getting into your circuit whether you’ve rolled it twice or twenty times.

and like matthew said, put the trash/compactor bag in the circuit first, spread it out inside, and start stuffing.

what kind of pack are you coming from where this stuff fit more easily?

 

[Buck P]

This is my  first pack. I’m a noob (can’t you tell?)

I think part of the problem is that I’m bringing too many clothes. I’m going in April to the AT and I don’t like to be cold. I could put some of the poorly compressible clothing in a waterproof stuff sack and attach it to the outside of my pack. I might look dorky, but hey, who cares.

Lee Kingry suggested I post my location in the hope that someone lives nearby – I’m in Indianapolis.

[Greg F]

Another option would be your tent on the outside in the stuff pocket.

i have a Circuit and find it cavernous with a similar big 4 to what you are putting in.

I also use the circuit for my familiy trips where I add all the kids pads and clothing and 20lbs of food.  In that scnario I strap a bag of food on top of the roll top sack and the tent to the outside.

for the roll top 3 rolls max.  You have a dry bag inside for your gear so it doesn’t matter if water gets in.  Also to compress your dry bag better grab it by the buckles push down compressing everything then pull the buckles out tight creasing a seal and lift up.  This should create a vacuum affect on the bag and the unused portion will cling together.  Do that a few times and then roll it down.

[Link .]

Buck, Watch some of these FREE VIDEOS by Mike Clelland they might help you. Watch at least the one on clothing, the entire contents of his pack and the dinky stuff part 1 and 2, and here is a link I post that gives new people a lot of info to help them GENERAL NEWBIE HELP (the Mike Clelland videos are included in the newbie link also).For some reason in my newbie help link the Oregon Field Guide Ultralight Hiking video link is down so if you want to watch it(it is worth watching)HERE  is another link for you so you can( it starts 8 min 30 sec. into the episode)HERE is Lint’s blog.

Here are a few more articles

this one is several pages of gear lists for different trails, weather and parts of the country and world

. Archive | Lightweight Hiking Gear Lists .

. Simply Start Lightweight Backpacking .

. I’m ready to start! .

. Don’t just Focus on a Backpacking Gear List .

Andrew Skurka’s website with specifics on clothes and his video is in my newbie link also, along with several articles by others on clothing and clothing systems for hiking.

[Greg F]

I also put the stove system in one of the side pockets

[bjc]

Sounds like clothing issues, not pack issues. See Skurka’s early spring list for the AT. It will serve you well.

http://andrewskurka.com/2015/backpacking-clothing-systems-3-season-conditions/#appalachian-south

[Author]

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