How Do You Pack?

I remember laying all of my gear out, each in its own stuff sack, and I would practice loading it into my pack. Sleeping bag in the bottom, pad or tent standing up to give structure, then the extra clothes bag. That was followed by something, then something else. Eventually the floor was empty and my backpack was full. 

Grabbing my pack, I would sling it onto my back and walk around the room to test it for fit and feel. Over time, I got it figured out; I knew how I liked to load my gear.

While arriving at camp on the trail, I would open my bag and pull each individual sack out placing it on the the ground. All my gear, nice and organized. Everything had a place and I was in the woods. Life was grand! 

It was when I started to pack up in the morning that things would take a turn.

Where the h@!! did I put that stuff sack? 

I swear I put all of them into that one big one.

Did the wind blow it away?

“Did you see my blue, roll top, extra clothes stuff sack?” I would ask.

Eventually I would find it or just chalk it up to some deep-woods, stuff sack eating, boogie monster!

Then, on multi-day trips when my food and toiletries bags would get smaller, I found that my perfectly loaded pack started to feel different on my back. All of the individual components didn’t fit together as perfectly as they did just a few short days ago.

In April of 2014, I was on a short, solo overnight hike near my house in Central New York. I woke up on day two, had the fire going, and had just finished getting my cook kit cleaned up. As thoughts bounced around in my head, I recalled a post I had read on a forum about “cramming." 

With only six more miles to go, I decided to give cramming a try. 

As I walked out that morning, I didn’t really notice much difference. Things felt pretty much the same as when I had walked in the night before. However, when I started planning for my next trip, I decided to give it another try. I would leave the stuff sacks at home. 

It was on that five-day trip that I realized...I was a crammer.

On the third day of that adventure, as I jetted along an open hardwoods section of trail, I remember thinking to myself;

My pack feels the same as when I started, only lighter.

Shrugging my shoulders (not in a “who cares” kind of way, but in a “hey, this feels good” kind of way) I started to think about my decision to cram. A couple of days later I finished that trip, and it wasn't long after that I took another. Each of the next few months I would be found on the trail, just cramming my gear into a trash compacter bag in my pack. Eventually I figured out why I liked my new loading system. The three reasons were really simple:

1. My pack stayed the same size throughout the trip. The quilts (or sleeping bag) were only compressed as much as needed to fill the empty space.
   
2. There were no hard items (in a stuff sack) against my back. My pack provided a nice flat surface for my back to press against. 
3. I could fit more gear into my pack. There were no more voids between stuff sacks as I had experienced in the past.

Here is the loading style that I use, starting with my top loading backpack (ULA Ohm 2.0, ULA Circuit or ZPacks Zero):

• Place trash compactor bag in backpack
• Sleep clothes and extra clothes in first

• Top quilt followed by under quilt next

• Finally, my hammock, followed by a quick roll of the compactor bag

• I then place my food bag and rain gear on top of the rolled up compactor bag

Which style do you prefer? 

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