What do you Fiddlebackers store your kit in while out in the woods?

[Englishrob]

Yup, nothing of the sort quite like that out there yet. If only Frost River could add a weight efficient (and preferabley adjustable per one's torso length) suspension to the Isle Royale line, I'd buy the Jr. in a heart beat as I've been eyeing them for awhile too. I think in general, they're priced very well, say...compared to Duluth packs. I even prefer the looks of the Isle Royale to Duluth (e.g. just don't understand why they (Duluth) decided to use nylon straps for compression when everything else is of traditional material...of course here I am asking for an inclusion of modern suspension to an oiled canvas pack, but to my defense, I think this can be done with minimal deviation from the overall look).

In the end, I must choose comfort over looks and certain storage methods that the classic designs offer, hence I continue to look. As another stab at such a compromise, I'm planning to try out the Sweet Pea Pack by Mystery Range. I think the 3zip access design may provide accessibility and storage functionality that mitigates some of the downsides of having a modern pack. And again, it is nice to have a less conspicuous pack as I inevitably run into the more "normal" crowd in my outings.

I think the FR are well priced for the materials used and the lifetime guarantee. They have got to be worth a shot.i guess if one is bought and it's not right then can always be sold. I cannot quite understand the Duluth packs. I think if you go with traditional material then it needs to be across the whole of the pack. Any more modern material e.g integrated frame could be "hidden" in construction to retain its overall old school looks. The mystery ranch looks good. But what about dragon slayer as an alternative? Also are FR and Duluth in the same town? Could make for interesting living at the local grill on a Friday night

 

[Englishrob]

Hey Rob,
So far so good re: the back of the back soaking oil/wax into my shirt, no problem at all with that. Also, in all the You Tube vid's I never heard anyone bring it up either. You may want to email them and ask them directly though. My guess is that isn't an issue or no one would want to buy them. The canvas doesn't have an oily or waxy feel to it either. If I could change one thing it would be to have them customize one with a waist strap, that would make them a little more ergonomic.

Now that sounds good. I did mention it to a supplier here and they said was a possibility. However as you have used one then this doesn't happen. Great stuff. Now just one other thing do you think it is oversized as a day sack or is ok in your opinion. Thanks again for the input is appreciated.

 

[Englishrob]

Hey Rob,
So far so good re: the back of the back soaking oil/wax into my shirt, no problem at all with that. Also, in all the You Tube vid's I never heard anyone bring it up either. You may want to email them and ask them directly though. My guess is that isn't an issue or no one would want to buy them. The canvas doesn't have an oily or waxy feel to it either. If I could change one thing it would be to have them customize one with a waist strap, that would make them a little more ergonomic.

Now that sounds good. I did mention it to a supplier here and they said was a possibility. However as you have used one then this doesn't happen. Great stuff. Now just one other thing do you think it is oversized as a day sack or is ok in your opinion. Thanks again for the input is appreciated.

 

[catalystman80]

Yeah, as far as I can tell, I think the dragon slayer is essentially a big brother of sweat pea, essentially the same suspension system but with greater capacity. I personally am thinking of getting the sweet pea as the 30L capacity is about the sweet spot for me, ha just realized what i wrote, no pun intended (the listed height is an inch below the height of my longest backpacking axe in GB Small Forest Axe, but I'm hopeful I can position it diagonally and it would still fit inside. If I go any bigger, I'll just carry my Granite Gear Blaze AC 60 which is pretty versatile even for loads way under its capacity.

Yeah, I had thought about the same thing about the two companies being near each other! And Granite Gear is in a nearby town in Minnesota as well. Makes me wonder what is it about the area that makes it a hotbed for packs....makes me wanna visit the area. I've gone to MN once about 10 years ago, but it was for business and didn't get to check out all its glorious nature.

I think the FR are well priced for the materials used and the lifetime guarantee. They have got to be worth a shot.i guess if one is bought and it's not right then can always be sold. I cannot quite understand the Duluth packs. I think if you go with traditional material then it needs to be across the whole of the pack. Any more modern material e.g integrated frame could be "hidden" in construction to retain its overall old school looks. The mystery ranch looks good. But what about dragon slayer as an alternative? Also are FR and Duluth in the same town? Could make for interesting living at the local grill on a Friday night

 

[Englishrob]

Yeah, as far as I can tell, I think the dragon slayer is essentially a big brother of sweat pea, essentially the same suspension system but with greater capacity. I personally am thinking of getting the sweet pea as the 30L capacity is about the sweet spot for me, ha just realized what i wrote, no pun intended (the listed height is an inch below the height of my longest backpacking axe in GB Small Forest Axe, but I'm hopeful I can position it diagonally and it would still fit inside. If I go any bigger, I'll just carry my Granite Gear Blaze AC 60 which is pretty versatile even for loads way under its capacity.

Yeah, I had thought about the same thing about the two companies being near each other! And Granite Gear is in a nearby town in Minnesota as well. Makes me wonder what is it about the area that makes it a hotbed for packs....makes me wanna visit the area. I've gone to MN once about 10 years ago, but it was for business and didn't get to check out all its glorious nature.

The GB in horizontal position? I think it should be ok if it overhangs down in vertical position if you secure it to the pack. The thing is that isle royale jr or what about mini? We haven't spoken about mini over jr that has that sleeve for GB. I think the jr has approx 50l so the mini mabe around 35l. Could this be a possibility?

 

[catalystman80]

It's a tough call between the jr and the mini (and mind you I haven't gotten either of them....yet...damn I have a sickness). Here're the things that go through in this crazy head of mine when I look at the entire Isle Royale lineup:

1. I'd likely never get the full sized one, because even with the waist belt, I'm afraid I won't be very comfortable if I were to use it for applications that its size warrants. I'm just a little doubtful of the efficacy of the waist belt in its ability to distribute the load. And even if someone comes out and says it is, doesn't necessarily mean it'll work for me. And honestly, if I'm going on 3+ days of backpacking, I'm not going to take my bushcraft gear, I'm going mostly ultralight.
2. So it comes down to Jr. vs. the Mini, which are both suitably sized as a day pack, but still suitable for 2-3 days of expected (or unexpected) trips. Neither of them come with a waist belt (though as you discussed earlier, could perhaps be tailored/modified to attach a waist belt).

The Junior is certainly the more versatile option as it has little more capacity at the expense of 1.1 lbs, and I could put just about everything into the main compartments (including a 100% wool twin sized blanket) except perhaps an axe (but obviously there's a sleeve for that), and just keep stuff that I use frequency, or need to access to in the outer pockets. This could however get the base weight to easily over 20 lbs, do I want to carry 20 lbs (plus food & water) and hike 10+ miles a day with all the wait on my shoulders? And when I use less stuff, I can just cinch it up so it doesn't look all flappy, but it could look a little off too visually (I can be very vain at times). So this essentially results in the Jr being a jack of all trades but master of none deal (at least for me....theoretically speaking).

So I'm kinda leaning towards the mini as I'm very much about having dedicated tools for specific tasks, a dedicated day pack, and if push comes to shove and somehow I gotta use it for an overnight trip, I'll lash the bedroll to the bottom of the pack, run a belt through the bedroll, and tie it around my waist in hopes of distributing a little bit of the weight to my waist.

Not sure what point I wanted to make here, but the above was what popped into my head....

The GB in horizontal position? I think it should be ok if it overhangs down in vertical position if you secure it to the pack. The thing is that isle royale jr or what about mini? We haven't spoken about mini over jr that has that sleeve for GB. I think the jr has approx 50l so the mini mabe around 35l. Could this be a possibility?

 

[Englishrob]

It's a tough call between the jr and the mini (and mind you I haven't gotten either of them....yet...damn I have a sickness). Here're the things that go through in this crazy head of mine when I look at the entire Isle Royale lineup:

1. I'd likely never get the full sized one, because even with the waist belt, I'm afraid I won't be very comfortable if I were to use it for applications that its size warrants. I'm just a little doubtful of the efficacy of the waist belt in its ability to distribute the load. And even if someone comes out and says it is, doesn't necessarily mean it'll work for me. And honestly, if I'm going on 3+ days of backpacking, I'm not going to take my bushcraft gear, I'm going mostly ultralight.
2. So it comes down to Jr. vs. the Mini, which are both suitably sized as a day pack, but still suitable for 2-3 days of expected (or unexpected) trips. Neither of them come with a waist belt (though as you discussed earlier, could perhaps be tailored/modified to attach a waist belt).

The Junior is certainly the more versatile option as it has little more capacity at the expense of 1.1 lbs, and I could put just about everything into the main compartments (including a 100% wool twin sized blanket) except perhaps an axe (but obviously there's a sleeve for that), and just keep stuff that I use frequency, or need to access to in the outer pockets. This could however get the base weight to easily over 20 lbs, do I want to carry 20 lbs (plus food & water) and hike 10+ miles a day with all the wait on my shoulders? And when I use less stuff, I can just cinch it up so it doesn't look all flappy, but it could look a little off too visually (I can be very vain at times). So this essentially results in the Jr being a jack of all trades but master of none deal (at least for me....theoretically speaking).

So I'm kinda leaning towards the mini as I'm very much about having dedicated tools for specific tasks, a dedicated day pack, and if push comes to shove and somehow I gotta use it for an overnight trip, I'll lash the bedroll to the bottom of the pack, run a belt through the bedroll, and tie it around my waist in hopes of distributing a little bit of the weight to my waist.

Not sure what point I wanted to make here, but the above was what popped into my head....

Now this is starting to get us really thinking. I think we are getting down to the crux of the matter. Honesty. I think we need to honest with ourselves, in that what do we need the pack to do. I mean really do. Is it going to act as a day pack only. I know we can get caught out, but if you think you are going to get caught out then I think you may likely pack more to counter that possibility and hence use a bigger pack. Ok, so we are down to the mini. Perhaps a mini modified by the good people at FR with waist belt, so some of the load is better distributed. Am wondering what this mod might add to the overall cost. Could this throw another curve ball, and a deal breaker? Food for thought though. Perhaps we need to head down to Duluth grille this Friday and grab a few beers and work this one out. Sound like a plan?

 

[Bamboo]

I am a happy Camelbak owner for many many years. Camelbak Linchpin or Ridgerunner for shorter hikes. Also check out Mystery Ranch packs. I have several of his old Dana Designs packs and I think this new line of stuff is light years beyond that.

 

[Englishrob]

I am a happy Camelbak owner for many many years. Camelbak Linchpin or Ridgerunner for shorter hikes. Also check out Mystery Ranch packs. I have several of his old Dana Designs packs and I think this new line of stuff is light years beyond that.

Mystery Ranch appears again within discussions here. It seems that the guys really rate a number of quality brands.

 

[catalystman80]

It's certainly fun to discuss with like minded individuals, especially since I picked this hobby up only 3-4 years ago, and most of my friends I only golf with or talk about football, baseball, the usual stuff. For some reason I remember reading Frost River doesn't do custom work but I could be wrong. That's another reason why I'm leaning to the mini as even if I don't have the waist belt, the weight to carry will be less than those of the bigger models. Question for me will be get the mystery ranch first or the frost river. Either I'm being a little frugal this year so it'll be a little while (maybe early fall) before in decide.

Now this is starting to get us really thinking. I think we are getting down to the crux of the matter. Honesty. I think we need to honest with ourselves, in that what do we need the pack to do. I mean really do. Is it going to act as a day pack only. I know we can get caught out, but if you think you are going to get caught out then I think you may likely pack more to counter that possibility and hence use a bigger pack. Ok, so we are down to the mini. Perhaps a mini modified by the good people at FR with waist belt, so some of the load is better distributed. Am wondering what this mod might add to the overall cost. Could this throw another curve ball, and a deal breaker? Food for thought though. Perhaps we need to head down to Duluth grille this Friday and grab a few beers and work this one out. Sound like a plan?

 

[catalystman80]

Oh I think they may do a little custom work, from their website:

What we won't do:
Compromise.
Throw something away that can be repaired.
Repair something not worth repairing.
Take shortcuts.
Waste a bunch of time making a one-off custom bag for someone. We have some flexibility in the bags we make and will happily talk to you about customizing an existing Frost River bag design (fill out our contact form) to meet your specific requests, but we don’t do start-from-scratch custom bags. Apologies.
Oversell our inventory. We strive to have our inventory keep pace with sales, so the bag you want is available when you want it – or we can make it in a couple days.
Apologize for our prices or policies.
Take ourselves too seriously.

 

[gtr60]

Mystery Ranch user here. I have a 3DAP (military version of the sweet pea) for heavy day hikes/overnights and just recently got a Terraplane for multi-day excursions. Their stuff is absolutely bombproof and most importantly, it's comfortable while carrying a heavy load. For light day-hikes I have a Tom Bihn guide's pack that I really like. It doesn't have the adjustable suspension or burly waist strap of the MR, but for carrying a lightweight kit it works well and looks considerably more like a normal hiking backpack.

 

[crewbot]

I've been using a Gregory Baltoro for multi-day trips for three or four years now. The most comfortable pack I've found yet.

I am a happy Camelbak owner for many many years. Camelbak Linchpin or Ridgerunner for shorter hikes. Also check out Mystery Ranch packs. I have several of his old Dana Designs packs and I think this new line of stuff is light years beyond that.

Thank you for this! I'd never heard of Mystery Ranch. Born and raised in MT, support any business I can that is based there, and happen to be in the market for a new day pack. ooooh ya!

 

[catalystman80]

An update as I just started transitioning to a new day/overnight pack for bushcrafting.

For the past two years, for bushcrafting, I had been using Granite Tactical Gear Special Mission Assault Pack. I use the lightweight Granite Gear AC Blaze 60 for backpacking, so I knew the suspension (which I historically valued as the top priority in packs) in the Granite tactical would work well for me. Long story short, I wasn't digging the overly military look, and started a search for something with a classical look to it. I was apprehensive about not having the benefit of a modern suspension, some of which do a very fine job of distributing the pack weight between your shoulders and waist. But to me, bushcraft is about slowing down and enjoying the present, hence, I decided to give the Frost River Isle Royale Bushcraft pack a try (got the mini version).

The following picture shows the items that I took with me for the first time with this pack (just this morning), and most likely will go through several iterations before I settle down on a set packout for warm and cold months.

And the following is a list of everything shown and their respective weight (only thing missing is the ramen noodles and some scallions I brought to cook in the pot):

Carrying 25 lbs all on my shoulders felt a bit too much during the first mile, but I remembered I'm not backpacking and slowed down my pace a bit and it became somewhat bearable (the weight itself wasn't a problem, but all that weight on my shoulders isn't something I'm used to). I'll likely reduce the weight down by about 5 lbs (perhaps even more) which should be about perfect for a day/overnight trip. Some different angled shots from today: