Went to Cabela's today with the thought of looking at backpacks in the back of my mind for my rapidly approaching Colorado elk trip... I stumbled across this sucker; man, talk about feature-laden!!!



It's quiet, waterproof, full of accessory pockets and comes with an internal hydration bladder. I also received an extra one free when I checked out due to some special promotion they had going on... The thing I really liked about it was that the bow straps in securely as pictured, leaving your hands free to negotiate terrain when you're trying to cover a lot of ground.

It's got a support belt at the waist, and the shoulder straps can clip together to make sure this thing doesn't slip off or bounce around.

The guy who I'm tagging along with for my first elk hunt said the temps in the mornings are mid 30's and it'll top out somewhere in the 80's or so by the afternoon; that sounds like I'll be stripping out of some clothes pretty fast as the day wears on, so I wanted something I could stuff them into as the sun comes up. The hydration bladder holds two full liters, so that should keep me going easily through the day since I'm planning on returning to camp every night.

I bought mine in the Realtree AP pattern, as it was the most open-concept pattern they had in the store... This thing's features rock!

I don't have that pack, but mine also has the bladder in it. What I have found out is, 2 liters of water weighs A LOT.[&:] I never fill mine all the way. and you want to get all of the air that you can out of the bladder, or you sound like half full jug of water sloshing thru the woods.

By the way how is your conditioning coming along?

I've dropped weight, but haven't had the chance to really hit the conditioning hard like I want, John... This little "minor surgery" as they called it has turned out to be not-so-minor to me; I still feel about the way I did the day after, and it happened last Tuesday. Once I get back to normal from that, I'm going to start running hard.

I'm not too worried even though I've roughly gota month and a half left to get in tip-top shape... my body responds pretty well after all the years of sports I've played, and I always stay in semi-decent shape to begin with. Hopefully middle of this coming week and I'll be able to really get after it.

8.33 pounds/gallon to be precise....

Looks like a darn nice pack Greg......I hope it serves you well!

You are over a week since the surgery and you aren't back yet? I was good to go after a couple of days of nice rest. Hope you start feeling normal again.

I actually phoned the doctor on call today IBM, a bit concerned... he called in a prescription for me in case it's some infection or something.

I want one, and get healed up man!

Prior to my elk trip in the past I picked up two packs Greg. One being similiar to that and the other a huge meat pack. It really paid out because we hiked up the mountain from base camp (2 hours by atv and then another 2 by foot) and set out a spike camp closer to the herds. After arrowing my bull at 9:00 am opening morning that year, it was after dark until we got all the meat down the mountain. A meat pack is priceless under those conditions. I was able to pack my daily pack, all camping gear etc up the mountain and about 100 lbs of meat each trip down the mountain.

I'm now set for future trips.

Nice looking pack Greg. When's the trip again? I can not wait until my first elk hunt, which I'm planning on going next year, unless I get drawn in AZ lottery this year. Anyhow, sorry to hear the surgery pains are still lingering. I was a little sore for 4 days or so, but that was about it. Best of luck to getting back to 100% and continuing your training.


Kelly

I think we leaveAugust 22nd and stay for about 11 days... It's gettin' close QUICK!