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Read Thread: Best pack?

Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60017 by Lock Wench
Jan 1, 2007 7:06am
Thread (disabled) Board
I carry an Eddie Bauer backpack with three main compartments and two netting-style bottle holders, one on each side. Sometimes it is a little heavy, as on long jaunts I need two bottles of water and may also bring a picnic lunch. On quick jaunts, it is much lighter. It even has a CD/MP3 holder in the large compartment at the top with a slit in it to allow for the use of headphones. In the winter, using this backpack is great, because it actually helps my back to stay warmer than it would otherwise.

I'm very much about compartmentalizing these days. So I have everything separated in various sizes of cosmetic bags. My logbook, compass, brush markers, pen, box with cat's eye ink pads, and personal stamp are in a single clear cosmetic bag so that I can grab them all at once when I get to a box. Other cosmetic bags hold things like sugar and Splenda packets and a travel-size Republic of Tea tin, one contains a first-aid kit, another serves as my wallet, and so forth. The nice thing about all of these separate bags is that it is very easy to transfer things from backpack to shoulder bag after boxing, and it also means I spend less time looking for small items at the bottom of either bag. Need a bandaid? I just pull out the little blue zippered pouch.

All of this compartmentalizing originates from my sister, fat lady, who a couple of years ago gave me a Nancy Drew get-away bag (a really nice soft-sided Samsonite overnight bag) with much of this stuff in it. Whenever we read the stories as young girls, we loved the fact that Ms. Drew carried a packed bag with one change of clothes in it so that if a mystery required an overnight stay, it didn't matter, and resolved that someday we would do that, too. So now, at a moment's notice, if we want to do an overnight letterboxing trip, it's easy as pie.

One other idea stolen from fat lady is the use of Levenger boxes as ink pad and personal stamp container. Levenger (levenger.com on the web), if you haven't encountered it before, is this wonderful--if pricey--company that caters to readers with just about every kind of accesory you can imagine. Everything you order from them comes in these little olive green boxes with lids and an elastic strap attached to the outside of the box. The smaller flat ones are great for keeping everything very easy to find.

The Levenger box I'm using right now is the one that came with their "pocket briefcase," but my great-nephew is using my older inkpad/stamp carrier which originally held the 50-card-capacity leather business card holder, and is therefore smaller. (We use small blank business cards on which to write notes, in addition to the index cards which fit into the pocket briefcase.) Personally, I like these boxes so much, I would be tempted to order something of a particular size just to get the box. ;-)

Pied Piper
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60017 by Lock Wench
Jan 1, 2007 9:05am
Thread (disabled) Board
For my letterboxing adventures, I use a "Forward Observer," or F.O. bag that I had in the Army. You can likely find one at an Army-Navy store for roughly $10-20. I prefer the older ones that have metal fasteners, and are likely less expensive than new ones with plastic parts.

I like it because:

1. It's Army green and doesn't show dirt.
2. It's very very durable
3. It has a shoulder strap
4. Under the flap, there are several loops for pens and pencils.

This bag is made to carry all the supplies of a Forward Observer, a person on the battlefield that spots enemy targets and directs artillery (indirect) fire. That position requires map reading and computations and this bag was designed to accomdate these.
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60027 by Crazylegs
Jan 1, 2007 1:09pm
Thread (disabled) Board
The "Forward Observer" bag you mention sounds intriguing. I'm going to have to go see what it's like--I love bags that have been thought out in terms of "What would the person who does this job need to carry?" Thanks for that suggestion.

My favorite reason for using this bag is this one:

Quote 1. It's Army green and doesn't show dirt


You can't say enough about something that doesn't show dirt! I wish that my fingernails could manage it, but it seems like they get dirty anyway, even though I always wear gloves.

Pied Piper
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60017 by Lock Wench
Jan 1, 2007 2:52pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I like my small A.L.I.C.E. pack. I got it from uscav.com

In the main compartment I carry a roll of regular duct tape and a roll of camo. My sig stamp,logbook,ink pad and pencil are in a ziplock bag. If I go after an urban box I jut grab that bag.I carry at least one water bottle in one of the outer pockets and no battery/hand crank flashlight/radio/cell phone charger in one pocket. I have a compass in it own pouch attached to the outside.

Shiloh
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60073 by shiloh
Jan 1, 2007 3:59pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote In the main compartment I carry a roll of regular duct tape and a roll of camo.


Why do you carry around the regular duct tape?

-- Kirbert
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60092 by Kirbert
Jan 1, 2007 5:23pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Regular duct tape ( the silver kind) once weathered, looks just like old concrete. VERY COOL.

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60109 by Lock Wench
Jan 1, 2007 5:39pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I hid one of my plants under some small pieces of concrete, I should have used regular duct tape instead of the camo tape. It would have blended in better. But as it is now, with all the other blocks of concrete in the area, its will be diffucult at best to find.

I saw the ALICE bag on one of the Armynavy surplus web site, looks like what I'm looking for. We have a surplus store near me in Tacoma WA, called the Foxhole. They should have it.
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60120 by TerraKacher
Jan 1, 2007 7:25pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Prior to being weathered, regular duct tape is quite reflective. We saw the shimmer of a letterbox from way down the path this fall. "Oh, there it is..." I said. :( We certainly hid it better than we found it. It's a miracle the thing wasn't muggled.

LG.
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60092 by Kirbert
Jan 1, 2007 10:27pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Why do you carry around the regular duct tape?


For the things that you usually use duct tape for. Emergency repairs and such. It's cheaper than camo tape for that use.

Shiloh
Re: Best pack?/Duct Tape
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60140 by LibraryGrrl
Jan 2, 2007 4:06am
Thread (disabled) Board
Well you don't plant a duct taped box and then WAIT for it to weather. You have this really cool area in your back yard with empty boxes laying about...waiting for them to weather enough so you can fill them and plant them somewhere.

Am I obsessed or what? :)

LW PhD * who has 4 kinds of tape in her supply room*
"Nice Counts"
Re: Best pack?/Duct Tape
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60185 by Lock Wench
Jan 2, 2007 1:38pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote LW PhD * who has 4 kinds of tape in her supply room*


I wanna see your supply room. :)

BTW, I was looking through my new American Science and Surplus catalog. They have those tiny little zip bags that folks like and they have some tiny back packs on key rings. Think Barbie sized. You people that create cooties should be able to find a use for them.

Shiloh
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60259 by shiloh
Jan 2, 2007 2:11pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Thanks for all the input about the best pack. I think it's down to the Do-It-All Diaper Bag from Land's End or the A.L.I.C.E. bag from uscav.com. They both have lots of pockets. Another super-cool bag on uscav is the CamelBak Talon bag, http://www.uscav.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=8300&qty=1&editMode=1&editID=1220468&tabID=1&CatID=1
but it's $153 so I guess that's out.

Since I want to be able to hike with it, I think I'm going to go with the A.L.I.C.E. for its backpack style. I wish it wasn't camouflage, though, because I don't want to lose it in the woods. Sometimes I've been known to drop things (to come back for later) in the excitement of the letterbox hunt.

Any other suggestions before I click that checkout button? This has been fun :)

-Murray7
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60267 by Murray Herd
Jan 2, 2007 2:14pm
Thread (disabled) Board
The cool thing about the A.L.I.C.E. pack is you can attach pouches to the outside if you need more 'pockets'. I got the small black one, the cotton canvas not the nylon.

Shiloh
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60268 by shiloh
Jan 2, 2007 10:42pm
Thread (disabled) Board
So many different pack and bags to choose from. Diaper bags, Alice and totes, backpacks. I have looked on line and now just have to figure what is going to work for me. Plus I'm trying to get my wife intrested too, she isn't much of the out doorsy type, but she might actually do this. So I'm actually looking for a pack for her (and me) but mostly her. I will let you all know which one I finally choose.

TK
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60332 by TerraKacher
Jan 2, 2007 10:47pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I'm a bit late chiming into this, but here goes: I asked this question a few months back and got many of the same replies.. plus the bag that I finally found and bought. My backpack has a folding frame that pops into a stool. I have found this to be absolutely Wonderful in the damp PNW... I can either sit on it to stamp in, OR at least I have a nice dry, flat surface to use for same purpose. I think I saw one at Walmart, but I got mine on ebay for like $17 (including shipping!) It has the big center pocket and 3 rather large outer pockets that I use to hold my logbook, stamps, markers, cooties, hh's, compass... anything I need to be handy.

So, there's one more option for you :-)

HP
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60334 by Pi
Jan 2, 2007 11:10pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I was at the Sportsman Wharehouse in Silverdale, and briefly looked at those. Finding a suitable place for my toosh to plop, in the wet NW, isn't all that fun. Sitting on the ground is easy, getting back up is the hard part. Bad knees and a little overweight has something to do with it too. I have contemplated the stool backpack as an option. So now I will have to get the Alice and Diaper bag in a stool backpack, I think I have it all covered now. Thanks
Re: Best pack?
Board: Tools of the Trade
Reply to: #60334 by Pi
Jan 3, 2007 11:38am
Thread (disabled) Board
After the last discussion, I retired the fanny pack I'd been using (too small and awkward to get into) and got an Overland Equipment Donner Bag from REI

http://www.rei.com/product/47694892.htm?vcat=REI_SSHP_WOMENS_GEAR_TOC

I absolutely love it! It has a front open flap with zipper pouches and pencil/pen pockets, two water bottle pockets and it goes over the shoulder bandolier style, which I find more comfortable. All the things I need to stamp in - logbook, markers, sig stamp - fit nicely in the front flap area and are easy to get to, and there's lots of room inside the main bag compartment for snacks and bandaids and paper towels and hitchhikers etc. I did have an REI refund check to use though.

And it looks like a purse so I can wear it in urban areas without looking out of place.
(Why is that lady with the backpack looking behind that phone booth?)

Mariette
(dbltall of Team Garlic)