Keeping Gear Handy on the Trail with Multi-Use Accessory and Utility Pouches

For a few decades now I have used:

1. side pockets-> fuel and stove stuff, water purification stuff,1st aid kit, toilet kit, potty kit, etc.
2. “wet rib” pocket/pouch-> bike bottle with electrolyte drink, map compass, snacks, bug repellant, sunscreen
3. shoulder strap pouches-> left side – TG 4 camera, right side – GPS

It not only makes it fast to get these items but frees up space in the main pack body.

For accessible “pockets”, I like my Zpacks Nero with 2 side pockets, 2 roomy hip belt pouches, and 2 shoulder strap pouches and a total weight of only 15.1 oz (427g).

I still think that the Aarn pockets offer a lot more.

inside a similar pair to those I had water/camera/nut bars/hat/rain jacket/map/cup/toilet kit/first aid.(and less than half full.)

All with quick easy access and as a bonus the 5 lbs or so balanced some of the weight of the main pack.

I’m pretty intrigued by Aarn pockets as well. I wonder why more people haven’t adopted “Aarn”-style load balancing.

For me personally, I find them to be a little bit unwieldy while off-trail (scrambling steep terrain, thick brush) but it seems like they’d be ok for on-trail use.

Also they’re heavy, and I wonder if the weight isn’t worth the functionality they offer.

Aarn claims enhanced performance through load balancing, which in theory makes sense, but I wonder how practical the advantages are if you’re just carrying a light pack anyways.

Not sure if I should post here or in the Zerk thread but here goes:

I’m not thrilled with how the stretch mesh pockets overlap on the Zerk after my first hike wearing it today. I had hoped to move some significant weight up front using those pockets. I was imagining InReach, battery, phone and some food. My experience so far is that if you put one largish item (meaning even a 10000mah battery) in one pocket the other one becomes hard to use. Perhaps the best way to move weight forward is to carry water up front but that doesn’t achieve the goal of “keeping things handy”.

yes, they make more sense when your pack weight is over 20 lbs or so and in particular if you need to carry extra water.

Even so I could have saved over a pound in pack weight using another pack but the convinience of easy access works for me.

Franco, how is the airflow with the Aarn pockets? They hang away from your body and don’t get sweaty like a wetrib or MUP right?

If used with an Aarn pack there is a gap between the chest and the pockets. Looks to me that the universal type may not have that gap.

(not my photo)

It is really nice having a light-weight pack; it is so easy to take off and on. I don’t hesitate to drop it if I am stationary for a few minutes. If I added the two Aarn universal front pockets to my Arc Blast it seems I would have to deal with 3 bags every time I put the pack on. Is that correct?

Franco says, “yes, they make more sense when your pack weight is over 20 lbs or so and in particular if you need to carry extra water.” That sounds right to me.

Erica – After wrestling with running vests for years, I can say that the extra pouches on the straps will definitely complicate putting the pack on.  Lightweight shoulder straps naturally twist as I shove my arms through them.  Add twisting gear and bottles to the equation turns the whole mess into a Rubik’s cube.

I like the convenience and ability to keep hiking during lunch, snacks, water, sunscreen touch-ups, etc.

A bit different than the focus of this article, but related:  I like a 3-ounce, 15- to 20-liter silnylon daypack as 1) a daypack, 2) overflow volume on my chest after a resupply, clipped to my backpacks shoulder straps, and 3) for better fore-aft balance.  It’s also a really cheap way to take your, say, 35-liter UL pack to a 55-liter pack when a longer trip or colder weather requires the added volume.

This is the most common kind of accessory holder I see in use on my local trails:

Not my cup of tea and bear spray has better outcomes AND WEIGHS LESS, but still, pretty common up here.

Seems like the more pockets, the more fiddly. I use a couple on the hipbelt, and that’s enough, most of the time. But I am light on electronic gadgets, so don’t need space for that. I hate fiddling with stuff all the time.

David, pepper spray holster is so much lighter! Maybe I’ll regret that some day. I’ll take my chances!

I used a Zpacks multipack rigged to ride up near the chest strap of my HMG 3400 SW pack on my last section hike.  I enjoyed having it there, but next time I’ll see if I can further rig it to help eliminate the swinging/ flopping/ bouncing and/ or I may try carrying it lower and around my waist.  I have a newer style HMG pack with the updated hip belt pockets, but I still wish they were as far fwd on the belt as possible to make them easier to access.  The chest pack essentially eliminates the need to get into the hip pockets which is a big plus when they’re hard to reach or use because they’re place too far back on the belt.

I’m interested in trying one of the new HMG Versa pockets.  They look like they ride better than the multi pouch and are divided up rather than one large open pouch which will help with organization and easier locating items.

I used an Aarn a few years ago on a Grand Canyon hike (brief comments in that link later on) and I sort of bought into the hype.  Sort of.  At the very least it was very nice to balance the load when you’re carrying absolute tons of water weight.  But, yes, I thought they were overbuilt, and definitely not light.

@Dave- I looked into the studies that were being proposed as proof that bear spray works better than firearms a few years ago, and found them all to be either obviously biased or misrepresented.  The one everyone tries to quote, for instance, compared 17 (?) instances where bear spray was deployed to a couple of hundred instances where firearms mostly were present but not used.  That’s hardly a fair comparison.  So I think we still can’t say that we know what works, though admittedly I haven’t done a literature search since then.  No doubt, though, that spray is lighter and comes with fewer legal entanglements, as well as having the benefit of not being fatal.  I’m all for bears, wolves, and whatever else being reintroduced wherever possible.

My prior TL;DR discussion is here.

Tried one of those chest pouches when I first started backpacking in the “bombproof” ‘90s, but it blocked a partial view of the ground when hiking.  Found it a little unsettling.

Anymore I keep electronics in upper shoulder pouch(es) and gloves/bug net handy in hipbelt pockets (known location at all times).  Electronics sometimes interfere with peripheral vision but at most a minor problem.  Maybe a camera in my future but imagine I’d take camera specific protectors …  then figure a way to secure to/in the pack.  Snacks?  Not since finding flavored almond butter for lunch..

Anything else can wait for camp.

The fanny pack is back. Seeing these show up on a lot of influencers gear lists, but I’d opt for a cheaper one from Amazon first to see if actually like hiking with one.

Speaking of fanny packs,  I wear one bandolier style (over my left shoulder and across the chest) underneath my day pack or overnight pack. In my case, it’s a repurposed Camelbak Repack which I originally got for mountain biking. It holds a camera, three lenses, batteries, and a couple of filters.

This works a lot better for me than other configurations I’ve tried.  IMHO, it’s a real PIA to have to unclip anything from your shoulder straps anytime you need to take off your pack.  And as Matt observed, extra pouches on the straps complicates things when you put your pack back on.

Is the Versa 4.1oz or 2.9oz.  Their website has it listed at 2.9oz.

With the Versa on the front straps, how do you take the pack off?

I use Outdoor Research Water Bottle Tote 1L #2422703 on my backpack’s waist belt. It attaches with velcro. I had a local commercial sewing shop sew patches of velcro on my backpack waist (left and right side) belt for the bottle tote to attach to.  Just make sure the fuzzy, or pile, velcro is sewed on the inside of the belt. Now I have two pouches to carry water, food, small camera, etc.

David, re. the shooting’ iron, I recently bought a stainless steel Taurus Tracker  revolver in .44 magnum for backpacking in grizzly country. Got it almost new from my buddy who already had far too many revolvers.

BUT I also have bear spray that I carry. If I had the time I’d have the bear spray in my left hand (pouch is on the left side of my hip belt) and the Taurus in my right hand. One or both will do the job.

I’ve found an ordinary small fanny pack I also use around town when hiking Bellingham’s greenbelt uraban trails to come in really handy on longer mountain day hikes, when I want my iPhone readily available for photos, or quick access to a chapstick or other incidentals.  It can be strapped on either above or below my daypack hipbelt.  For overnight trips I have a different setup that makes any accessory storage unnecessary.

I turn a very small fanny pack around and wear it over the hip belt buckle of my pack. It weighs about 2 ounces max. I carry my Steripen, map and light lunch inside. Water bottle stays in the outside side pocket of my pack–empty, almost always. (there’s lots of streams in the Sierra and PNW.)

The same fanny pack works great for any day hike adventures that I want to take while out backpacking. I can simply tie a wind shirt or rain shell around my waist and carry a water bottle and steripen in the fanny pack; lunch in pants pocket. No need for a day pack.