Having the right gear for the West Coast Trail is essential.Here is a breakdown of what you should bring.It has either been moved or something is wrong with the link. If you ended up here after clicking a link, please let us know! We've tried to find the closest match for you below, and included some other popular Travellerspoint pages for your convenience. Popular pages on TravellerspointIt’s easy to get carried away when organizing your backpacking gear and use more stuff sacks, dry bags, or compression sacks than you need. While stuff sacks are useful for keeping small items together, it’s beneficial and more space efficient to use as few as possible.What is the harm of using more stuff sacks than you need? Besides the unnecessary added weight, packing puffy items like sleeping bags, quilts, or insulated jackets loose takes up less space than if they’re packed in waterproof roll-top stuff sacks or compression sacks.Consider this stack of logs. Lightweight dry bag style stuff sacks, like the popular Sea-to-Summit Ultra-Sil roll top stuff sack or the Sea-to-Summit Ultra-Sil compression sack turn into solid log-like tubes or balls inside your pack, resulting in unused space between items inside your backpack – just like the space gaps in a stack of firewood.

While stuff sacks can help compress puffy items, you can usually get the same amount of compression without them by piling heavier gear on top of them and tightening your pack’s compression straps.When packing a backpack, I always line it with a scentless white plastic garbage bag before I pack any gear in it. The white color makes it easier to find items inside and the plastic provides perfectly adequate waterproofing if it rains. If you want, you can use a commercial pack liner like the 44 liter Hyperlite Mountain Gear cuben fiber pack liner or the 45 liter Exped Schnozzel which doubles as an inflatable sleeping pad pump. They both work well in my experience, but they cost a lot more than a plastic bag. If you like to keep a hydration reservoir in your backpack, a pack liner can be a life saver when they leak.You need a pack liner because most backpacks leak at the seams when they get wet in the rain or you put them down in a puddle. It doesn’t matter if you own a pack made with a waterproof fabric like cuben fiber. 

When manufacturers attach a hip belt and shoulder straps to a pack, they need to sew them on, creating needle holes which leak.Next, pack your sleeping bag, top quilt, hammock underquilt loose at the bottom of your pack. Mush it around so it fills every corner and abuts the interior walls of your pack’s main compartment.Next up, pack the heavier dry items that you don’t need during the day on top of your insulation. Items like a hammock, a tent body, your sleeping clothes, mid-layer insulation, loose outerwear, first aid kit, gear repair kit, stove, fuel, or cookware.nike cheyenne vapor backpack for saleIf you want to use a stuff sack to group smaller items, pack them a stuff sacks with a draw strings, instead of a roll top stuff sack or compression sack that traps extra air and assumes an awkward shape. cesca backpack

Gear stored in draw string stuff sacks is more malleable and will conform better to the items adjacent to it.You can also save a little money and use plastic sandwich bags or ziplocs to organize items instead of stuff sacks. Just poke a small hole into them with a pin so that they can vent air more easily like a draw string stuff sack. Plastic bags are great because you can see what they hold.Fold the top the plastic bag liner over to seal in the items you don’t need during the day and to ensure they stay nice and dry. backpack tamalpaisAll of the items you’ve stacked above the insulation layers in the bottom of your pack will compress them so they take up less space.peli u105 urban laptop backpackIf you have food bag or a bear canister, pack it next (above the odor barrier created by your pack liner) layering items that you’ll want access to during the day and can survive getting wet, closer to the top of the main compartment like maps, navigation tools, hats, gloves, or rain gear.skyrim daedric backpack

Wet items like water filters or tent flies should be backed on the outside of the main compartment to keep them away from your dry stuff. If your pack doesn’t have external storage, put them into a waterproof sack near the top so you can pull it out and dry items during rest stops or sunny breaks.If you can consistently reduce the amount of space that your gear requires, you can switch to a lighter weight backpack and save yourself an additional pound or two of gear weight. Backpacks in the 40-50 liter range weigh a lot less than 70-80 liter backpacks. skyrim daedric backpackPacking more efficiently also means you can carry more food than before, so you can stay out longer and have more adventure!pgcps backpack challengeDisclosure: Philip Werner received free product samples from Hyperlite Mountain Gear and Exped some years ago which are mentioned in this post.

This post contains affiliate links. database of Rucksack reviews. Every bit of kit featured here has been rated and reviewed by the experts at Trail and Country Walking magazines – search our vast archive by model below!A good rucksack carries the kit that's essential to your safety and comfort while constantly trying to pretend it isn't there. As always, the key here is fit, fit and fit. Search over 500 Rucksack Reviews here on Live For The Outdoors.I'm trying to pick out a pack for a 5 week trip around SE Asia. I'm around 5 ft and 100 lb so I can't carry those huge heavy bags haha. I'm hoping to shoot for 40-50 L and spend less than $100. Anyone have any pack recommendations that are lightweight but roomy and sturdy, and also won't make me broke? Here's my cut & paste rant about travelling light... First of all, whether you're travelling for 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years your backpack size doesn't change - you're bringing exactly the same stuff for a short trip or a long trip.

The only exception would be if you're camping or travelling in really cold climates, obviously that makes a difference. Generally anything over a 50 litre backpack is way too big. Think light, efficient and mobile... you definitely don't need to be hauling around a boat anchor on your trip. I travel independently for indefinite periods (several months at a time) via hotels/hostels through 3 climates with a carry-on size 46 litre backpack with LOTS of room left over - all the cinch straps are yanked to their tightest dimensions so the backpack is really only about 35 litres. And I'm a big guy. That's including a set of nice clothes to crash an Embassy party or high-end club, normal day-to-day casual and hiking wear, beach clothes, personal hygiene products and everything else you need to be safe/comfortable plus a laptop, digital still/video package and all the peripherals. I have a separate daypack that fits inside the main backpack. I use it to carry all my essentials when the main backpack is in an overhead bin, etc.

It's easily doable and you'll see LOTS of experienced backpackers doing the same - and in warm climates going even lighter. Seeing other travellers - especially smaller women - struggle with 60-70-80 litre backpacks (usually with large additional daypacks!) is insane. Going light makes sense to me because it allows me to keep my backpack with me (almost) all the time - it's carry-on size for aircraft, it doesn't need to be checked into the baggage space under the bus where it's out of my sight and out of my control - and it's obviously way easier/faster to navigate a crowded train aisle, keep with me inside the taxi, stow in a small boat, fit into a tuk-tuk, onto the back of a motorcycle and a million other situations. Everyone's needs/requirements are different though... different strokes for different folks... Have fun with your shopping/research. Good luck and travel safe. I have watched petite young ladies trying to walk with a 50l on their back and they look like they are going to topple over at any second.

Really the best way is to go in and try on the backpacks in a store - BUT fill them with 15kg of gear (good to try it with a bag of books) and then walk around the shop and up and down flights of stairs etc and practice running for a train. Thats when you will realise how much you can cope with on your back. Also consider convertibles that can also be wheely bags - for when you really cant cope with putting it on your back one more time. I live opposite backpackers hostels and honestly - what I see is just ridiculous!! Honestly, for someone as small as the OPer - and backpacking around SE Asia - the 35 litres that I mentioned in Reply #1 is more than sufficient, it could easily be barely 2/3rds full so loads of room left over for souvenirs, etc... While wheels may be nice, having wheels and telescoping handles adds a fair bit of weight to a bag before you even put anything into it. I agree that 35L should be enough, especially if you're going to a warm climate.

Personally, I do extended trips with a simple 35L duffel bag, light enough that I don't care about wheels. That plus a small laptop pack for the electronic toys. Regardless of your needs, I would not go over 35l simply because you would not be strong or tall enough to carry a much larger backpack. If you need more space, I would consider taking a wheeled suitcase. im with the other posters on this one. 35L max, or move to the wheelie bag. to all the advice here, but a few comments.. As to what one should carry - it really is a personal thing as to what you want to bring and how much you are willing to carry. Very good suggestions about trying on the backpacks with weight in them - it's key to make sure the backpack fits you properly. I also agree that a 35-40L should bee plenty. The most important factor is the length of your back, not your height or weight. Backpacks are sized by the distance between your hips and your C7 vertebrae. You can be short and have a longer back than a much taller person.

So go to a store with knowledgeable staff who can help you find an appropriate pack. While this is for travel backpacking where a larger pack is totally unecessary, there is no reason the poster or any equally smll woman couldn't carry a pack larger than 50L. It's done all the time for hiking and backcountry ski trips. I'm not much larger and have carried more than a third of my bodyweight hiking and on skis.. My large pack is 70L, and I know people with 80L+ packs. It's a matter of getting a properly fitted pack, packing appropriately and having the right fitness. You're kinda comparing apples and oranges, ksneds. A travel backpack has none of the advanced features that a hiking backpack has that allows you to carry heavy loads for long periods of time... two entirely different designs for two entirely different uses... Short answer: High Sierra Access. This backpack is 44 liters with two big compartments (think mobile hamper). You can bring your gadgets. For those sudden Southeast Asian rainstorms this backpack comes with its own "rain jacket".