Wednesday, January 4, 2012

An Improvised Day-pack

While on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters this summer my wife and I took a day trip to see the Picture Rocks on Crooked Lake.  We took a lunch of crackers, summer sausage, cheese, and trail mix along.  My satchel that I use as a day pack did not have quite enough room for all that and my EDC gear so we improvised a day-pack for my wife to carry.  Know what it is?  It is a large compression sack!

I shortened two of the straps (facing camera), and lengthened the other two (not seen) to act as shoulder straps. Once the food and a couple of water bottles were stored inside and the drawstring was tightened it is placed on your back and then you tuck the drawstring end beneath the "lid" of the compression sack and you are ready to go.

It worked great with the light load and we did not have to take along an extra pack that would have been taking up space during the rest of the trip.  Let me know if you try it out!

3 comments:

Bill Giles said...

Nice thinking. It doesn't look like a compression sack in the photo.

Anonymous said...

The idea just hit me. My wife had been carrying the compression sack over her shoulder by one of the straps, but it was hanging down, and bouncing all over the place. This was a much more comfortable way to carry the bag.

Anonymous said...

I find the compression sack/day pack combo to be very versatile. I recently picked up a REI Flash 18 Pack combo and it works great. Definitely recommend it.