Michael: Yes, Another Pack

Into the rhythm
Of our shadows moves a fog
That obscures the light.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

With just cause I’ve given into my ingrained American desire to purchase, which I’ve been fighting semi-successfully to overcome, and bought a new running pack despite owning two of the best packs I’ve ever run with. Those near perfect packs are the Ultra-Aspire Revolt and the Osprey Rev 1.5. Unfortunately, I’ve needed to replace the Osprey because I loaned it out two months ago to an aspiring trail runner to try out and haven’t seen it since. I’ve decided to replace it with the Gregory Tempo 5.

But if the Osprey is a perfect pack why not just replace it with another one?
Because all packs are only perfect for their intended use. The Osprey, with it’s liter and a half bladder is good for about 3 hours on the trail. I’d like to go a little longer than that. The Revolt has even less capacity, so if I want to go for runs over 4 hours without carrying a filter or worrying about where I’m going to fill up, I need a pack with a bit more capacity. The Gregory fit’s the bill with a two liter bladder and mesh pockets on the side that’ll allow me to stash an additional flask or water bottle.

Oddly, one of the selling points of the Gregory is supposed to be it’s well designed dedicated hiking pole pocket. That’s not much of a plus for me as I don’t use poles when I trail run. I have used them fast packing, but then I use a larger pack. But I intend to make good use of the pocket by stuffing my poncho into it. My poncho, though made of extremely light cuben fiber, is somewhat on the bulky side. Right now I’ve jerry-rigged a belt system to carry it by stuffing it into an arm sleeve that I slide through a race number belt. It’s light and it works, but I’d prefer not to have a belt around my waist if I can avoid it.

I miss my old Osprey. It was a hard decision not to get another one. I hope it finds it’s way home. But I am excited about taking out my new purchase next week to see if it lives up to my expectations of being a comfortable pack that’ll allow me to extend my runs a few more hours than the Osprey was meant to handle.