pack hood

Cool — the ultimate “hands free” umbrella.  Need a cuben one, LOL!

Looks like it would be quite welcome at the royal wedding, they love those crazy hats…

I did see something very similar for sale briefly around the late nineties, early aughts. From SoCal marketed for shade.  Maybe by the same guy that came up with the stick pic.

No shortage of them on baby carrier backpacks.

Would not be nice in a headwind.

Didn’t Sally Field wear one? …

I like the idea. Keep your glasses dry.

“Would not be nice in a headwind.”

That’s my memory too.

That’s quite the mustache you used to have Daryl, and it kinda looks like you had long hair too. Was this pic taken before your Marine days?

Doug,

Post Marines.  Went with the flow and let it grow.

Dana designs used to make a pack cover that also included a hood. Ah, I see that they still do (Mystery Ranch, it’s Still Dana):

https://www.mysteryranch.com/hooded-pack-fly

Paul,

You hit it on the head.  That’s just what I was hoping to find.

Thanks,

Daryl

Would not be nice in a headwind

You just need a couple of tie-downs that attach to your front belt loops. Sure, it could lead to a Mary Poppins effect, but some people might like that.

LightHeart Gear

The Dana Designs, as well as the LightHeart gear are really different beasts. They are basically ponchos.They may mold over the pack better than your average poncho, but that is all they are.

The original picture is a pack umbrella. You have air flowing between your head and the pack hood (as with any umbrella). There are disadvantages to that (it can get caught in the wind as mentioned) but you aren’t wearing a hood. Some people don’t mind a hood, but there are many (myself included) who really don’t like it. I prefer having more peripheral vision, which is why I’ll wear a fleece hat for as long as possible before putting on a hood.

There have been a number of companies (and individuals) that have played around with the pack umbrella concept. I think there are also a lot of people (like me) who thought of the idea independently, but never got around to even building a prototype. The designs usually take two different directions. Some build things to hold a regular umbrella, while others try and work with the pack as Daryl did. I haven’t seen anything quite as elegant as his solution, though (or if I have, not for a few years).

I think one big reason his design is so solid is that it is custom to the pack. Making a generic pack umbrella is tricky. Packs differ in terms of attachment points as well as height. You would probably want something that adjusts, which greatly complicates it.

I think the biggest issue, though, is that packs usually don’t rise above the head that much anymore. I assume that Daryl’s old pack is an external frame. I assume that the “frame” for the pack hood (shown in the picture) consists of only a couple poles coming down from the top of a pack. It leverages the frame for the pack itself really well. I’m not sure if that will work for most packs these days. If a backpacker does have gear above their head, it is usually “soft” (and is just stuff overflowing the pack). In other words, it isn’t supported by a frame on the sides. That means that something similar to what Daryl built would need more of a frame, to extend up as well as out. Maybe the best option is basically to build a small dome tent above your head, with solid attachments to the back. It sounds tricky but I think it could be done. It doesn’t look simple or necessarily extremely light, but it  would be really nice. That setup looks more comfortable in the rain than just about anything out there.

It’s decidedly NOT UL, but the Nubrella might give someone a design idea… Terrible name, IMHO — will it make you numb? Does it dispense Nutella? (Wait, that would be good.)

Ross,

You pretty much addressed the design issues with the hood.  And yes, the one in my photo was attached to a 4.5-5lb, tall MSR External Frame Pack using a couple of fiberglass wands inserted into the 5/8″ thick-walled aluminum tubing inverted-U top bar.

The links and photos posted should be helpful in tinkering around with a hood that might work with my current 1 lb , shorter pack.  We’ll see.

Thanks to all for the info and ideas.

nice – ancient Daryl pic : )