Backpackin'

A smart person learns from their mistakes.

A wise person learns from the mistakes of others.

I on the other hand...

I’m telling you, don’t buy a backpack online. Fit is everything, even more important than weight, capacity, features and trail fashion. It is critically important to go to a really good outfitter where they have staff that knows what they are doing, preferably because they are highly experienced backpackers, who can properly fit a back to you specifically.

I’m telling you, just as I have been told and have read and have told others.

You know where this is going. I bought a pack online. I didn’t even go to an outfitter and go through a fitting and find what is perfect for mine and then order it online, mostly because I could not stand the guilt I would feel putting a working person through all that when I have no intention of buying from them. It’s also a long drive to the nearest outfitter I trust and I’m lazy.

I wanted a Granite Gear Nimbus Merdian as soon as I saw one in a catalog. It's a 3800 cubic inch, 3 pound 8 ounce internal with a removable top lid. The story goes that the people at Granite Gear built the first one for a guy trail-named Trauma (real name Justin Lichter) who used it to hike 10,000 miles in one year. The pack looked dirty but otherwise perfectly servicable after all that. Plus, the top lid is a big pocket that converts into a fanny pack, there are two hyper-stretchy pockets on the sides and a neat sort of yoke thing that make it very easy to attach stuff like a tent or sleeping pad quickly and very securely.

I had to have it. Granite Gear sells it for $269.95, a fair price as far as I'm concerned but too rich for me at the time. No dealers in my area carry them. Then I saw one from an outfitter in like Colorado somewherwe for I thinkl it was $150. Caution to the winds, get out the Visa card, the pack is on its way. Wrong hip belt. Wrong shoulder straps. Wrong size pack.The outfitter didn't have either the shoulder straps or the belt, I forget. So I spent I don't know how much of what I saved and a whole bunch of weeks sorting this out.

Still, I really love that pack.