Final Day Packless System

I call the above clip the Nitty Gritty. If you've been following along and perhaps even revamping your external frame, today is the day we put it all together.

It can get a little strange at first, making sure everything is secure, will carry well and fits. Silnylon is slippery, so having the main bag full creates a ledge for the top bag to rest on. This helps when cinching it down.

As you can see in the video, my tent is in a long skinny bag. This helps keep things on as well. If you want, you can add the anchoring loops in the long seam as well to pass the cinching straps through.

You can use bags that are not necessarily waterproof. Just be prepared to cover with a pack cover. You can get ultralight silnylon pack covers at Campmor for a very reasonable price.

Even if all you bags are waterproof, pack covers are recommended. Those three day rains on the Appalachian Trail have a way of soaking everything unless you seriously compensate. I always line the stuff sack which will contain the sleeping bag and sleeping clothes with a plastic bag.

Its good to have this project completed. Write me if you have any questions.

Packless System-Day Three

Today we did a lengthy blog at

http://www.brawnyview.blogspot.com/

on the steps involved in making your own stuff sack to serve as the central, main bag. I sewed a mesh pocket onto the fabric before sewing the side seams. This main bag can be removed and used as a day pack. For that reason it is vertically oriented, instead of horizontal as the other bags will be.

The short clips here are showing how to add anchor points to your existing stuff sacks. As we know, the packless system is all about using what you have and just strapping it securely in place via cordage of some type.

If you've been using an internal frame, you probably stuff your sleeping bag into a stuff sack. Your food would also be in a stuff sack, as well as the tent, the cook system, and hygiene kit. Then, all these various sacks would be placed into an internal frame.

My extensive testing on the Pacific Crest Trail of the Packless System led me to the conclusion that 3-4 stuff sacks properly ordered, were sufficient for a long distance hiker's needs.

Tomorrow, we will put it all together on the pack, and by Friday have a complete video uploaded to my channel at YouTube.

Packless Conversion-Day Two

Today we take measurements and analyze our assortment of stuff sacks and gear. My pack is 14 inches wide. The stuff sacks need to be close to that length to cinch on. If you don't have them, you can make them, buy them, or modify existing gear.

Check out my video on how to make stuff sacks at my channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/brawny03

or view it at my Alternative Gear page at this blog.

I have several sleeping pads to choose from. Even if I take the thermarest in its stuff sack, it will fit. My tents are all in stuff sacks that can easily be strapped on via your common cinch strap.

Several stuff sacks would work if they had loops sewn in the bottom, but my main need is for a large central stuff sack. As long as I am making it, I will add a few perks.

Stuff sacks can be oriented either horizontally or vertically. My main bag for this system I've decided to make horizontal, so that I can add a pocket for water bottles.

See http://www.brawnyview.blogspot.com/

for more information on the Packless System Project.

Tomorrow we will make the Main Bag because I do not have a stuff sack large enough for the central bag. If you have a bag on hand which only needs modifying, we will show you how tomorrow.

Packless Systems Explained

My Packless System was first tested and streamline for my Pacific Crest Trail hike in 2001. Testing, results and conclusions can be read at the link above.

My homepage at http://trailquest.net/BRindex.html

is full of trail journals, gear designs, links and stuff.

Hard to describe it all.

Starting next week, I will show you how to strip your external frame pack and create a packless system. All you need is an external frame, fabric, and sewing machine. If you want to use some larger stuff sacks you have on hand, and a few hand sewing moves, that will work too.

I posted this information at http://www.brawnyview.blogspot.com/

Included at Brawnyview are links where to get fabric, hardware and ideas where to find inexpensive, used external frames.

It should be a fun project and very cost effective.

People have asked me for years to demonstrate this. Our end goal is a workable system for my readers as well as a complete How To video for YouTube .

An external frame pack can be updated, modified and customized to fit the specific needs of the owner. Because external frames last forever, you can share your pack with family and friends, adapting it to each trail as needed.

Each day next week we'll post until the video is completed and uploaded. Join me here next week as we delve into this project.

Packless Pack

This is a photo of me and my Packless Pack. I designed this configuration for my Pacific Crest Trail hike in 2001. The details for the whys and hows can be found at my website homepage. Scroll down until you see the appropriate link.

http://trailquest.net/BRindex.html

I hiked over 800 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail with Rainmaker July -September in 2000. This hike began at Sonora Pass and finished at Crater Lake. It was Rainmaker's second section, having completed the first thousand miles the previous year. He invited me to come along for the mid section. I was given my trail name during the winter while in a chat room, but it was during this hike I really earned it. Brawny was born.

I love trail life. In order to complete the PCT with Rainmaker the following year, I needed to complete the first 1000 miles first.

So, the next spring in April I got on a plane, armed with my Whitney Permit, trail guide and data book, a host of other things, and began at the Mexican border. I did the first thousand miles, re hiked another 80 or so miles up to Echo Lake, hitch hiked into South Lake Tahoe where I caught a bus to Reno, Nevada.

Rainmaker flew in to Reno, we rented a car, and eventually got back on trail at our tag point at Crater Lake. Brenda and Ralph, wonderful people we'd met the year before, were instrumental in these logistics working out.

Trail people have trail angels, a wonderful group of selfless people who have a vision for the quest. Sometimes we quest for the unknown . They help us in unexpected gifts. Perhaps they are missives for the trail gods themselves. I haven't figured that out yet.

Anyways, once back on the trail from Crater Lake, we spent a couple more months crossing Oregon and Washington state, until finally just 89 miles from the Canadian border, September 11, 2001 happened. We were in Stehican at the time. The border was closed, all flights suspended.

At any rate, we continued onward, crossed the border and completed our Pacific Crest Trail hikes, the entire 2,658 mile National Scenic Trail.

My journals for that hike can also be found on the website address listed above. I have a gear list there as well.

My ultralight systems, gear choices and ultralight philosphy can be directly traced to these experiences on the Pacific Crest Trail, a truly life changing experience.