Hiking backpack

[BernardLanguillier]

Correct.
With the Aarn I used it was possible to set up the two front pouches so I could look down and see my feet. But ground visibility was reduced.
Edit: I said I'd never let these photos out. Never mind, this is what the pack looked like:

Thanks for sharing your experience with Aarn, David.

Surprisingly I didn’t know the brand and have decided to try ordering their 33L pack and I am really impressed by the fit and quality. Quite remarkable really.

Cheers,
Bernard

[sbay]

Can anybody make suggestion for a lightweight bag (in the vein of ultralight gear) with a rear access panel? Doesn't have to be specifically for photographers as I can always get a separate ICU to stuff in there. The closest I've seen is the moment mountain light (1kg for 45l, not including the weight of the ICU) but the opening is too small.

[MattBurt]

I have a shoot coming up this weekend that I'm figuring out the how's and what's for this week that touches on this subject a bit.
The event is a 50 (yes, 50!) mile running race through the San Juan range in a loop around Lake City. My assigned location is a high alpine ridgetop at 12,500'. The race director originally said it was a one hour hike from the trailhead and campground and the runners will be coming through this area starting around 6:30am. So my plan was to camp at the campground with all the comforts of having my truck right there and then get up early and hike to my location. That way I could take my usual photo pack (Mindshift Backlight 26L).
Over the past couple of weeks I have been hiking and scouting the area. It turns out from the trailhead to the photo zone is 5 miles and almost 3500' of elevation gain which I can hike in about 3 hours. So that kind of puts a damper on my plan because instead of starting the hike at 5 I'd have to start at 3 instead. That's a painful time to start a hike. The race director is alo an ultra runner so I think that hour he referenced must how long it takes to him run down from there.
So now my plan is to backpack up to about 12,000' the night before so I'll be close to my location when I wake up in the morning. But that throws off my plan to use my regular photo pack. Instead I'll be putting my cameras and lenses in a ICU and carrying that in my 65L Osprey backpacking pack with all my overnight and survival gear. I'm going to have to pare down the kit and bit and bring just the necessities to shoot the race and maybe some starscapes while I'm up there. But I still want to bring two bodies, UWA zoom, a middle ground prime (43mm), and a 70-200/2.8 so it's going to be a hard hike. But at least I won't have to rush that really long and difficult part and can take my time.
So despite having this nice camera pack I'm going to have to change things up. I guess that's my point. Be ready to be flexible and change your approach as the job and your survival (and relative comfort) requires.

[David Sutton]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Aarn, David.

Surprisingly I didn’t know the brand and have decided to try ordering their 33L pack and I am really impressed by the fit and quality. Quite remarkable really.

Cheers,
Bernard

A pleasure Bernard. Glad you like the pack.
In my teens (before the Napoleonic wars  ) we used A frame packs on 8 day hikes. That would absolutely kill me now, I don't know how we did it. The Aarn in the photo looks like a lot of gear, but I wasn't doing more than 12 to 18 km a day and I was surprised how comfortably it worked. Also the waterproofing was welcome for river crossings, and in NZ you need to carry extra gear in case of snow. I've been caught in a blizzard in the middle of summer here, and if you can't get to a hut you want to be able to bed down safely where you are.

[BernardLanguillier]

A pleasure Bernard. Glad you like the pack.
In my teens (before the Napoleonic wars  ) we used A frame packs on 8 day hikes. That would absolutely kill me now, I don't know how we did it. The Aarn in the photo looks like a lot of gear, but I wasn't doing more than 12 to 18 km a day and I was surprised how comfortably it worked. Also the waterproofing was welcome for river crossings, and in NZ you need to carry extra gear in case of snow. I've been caught in a blizzard in the middle of summer here, and if you can't get to a hut you want to be able to bed down safely where you are.

Yes, I remember walking the Routeburn track with my wife early May 10 years ago or so and we had brought a lot of snow gear with us... in the end it didn't snow at all.

Amazing memory though, such a beautiful place. Since it was after the end of the season we met only 4 people in 3 days... :-)

I am planning on spending 10 days in the south island in May 2022 with my wife and daughter. I'd love to walk Milford this time around. A day in Kaikoura for the whales, some Sauvignon tasting in Blenheim,...

Let's hope we can make that happen.

Cheers,
Bernard

[David Sutton]

Let's hope we can make that happen.

Absolutely. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
May can be a lovely time of year to visit. The Autumn colours are still beautiful in many places and the last sigh of summer can linger in the air. My wife and I like packing a tent and travelling at this time of year.
We passed through Kaikoura a few years ago. It was amazing (after the 2016 earthquake) to see the old road we knew up the hillside and to know the new road we were on used to be below the water line.
The whale watch tour in Kaikoura was where I found out the dangers of photographing in a small boat in choppy weather. It was such a nice breakfast too.
If you make it over and have an afternoon free in your schedule send me an email if you like.
David

[BernardLanguillier]

Absolutely. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
May can be a lovely time of year to visit. The Autumn colours are still beautiful in many places and the last sigh of summer can linger in the air. My wife and I like packing a tent and travelling at this time of year.
We passed through Kaikoura a few years ago. It was amazing (after the 2016 earthquake) to see the old road we knew up the hillside and to know the new road we were on used to be below the water line.
The whale watch tour in Kaikoura was where I found out the dangers of photographing in a small boat in choppy weather. It was such a nice breakfast too.
If you make it over and have an afternoon free in your schedule send me an email if you like.
David

Thanks David,

Very kind of you.

I was in Kaikoura once in 2003 or 2004, obviously we drove on the old road. It was the year another quake damaged the church in Christchurch.

Fortunately the sea was calm and/or the breakfast adapted, there were no incidents to report. :-) But it is true that spending too much time looking through a viewfinder, be it the stabilized one of the 80-400mm VR I was using back then if I recall correctly, can be a bad idea on a boat. We were lucky, we saw several sperm whales up close, too many dolphins. Such an amazing place really.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Benny Profane]

Just saw this:

https://petapixel.com/2021/06/30/shimoda-launches-new-travel-backpacks-designed-for-carry-on/

I'm not one to get involved with Kickstarter (can't established companies just go to the bank?) so, I'll wait for the pack to be sold in a normal manner, but, I like the design and size of the smaller pack.

[nokk]

so if you hike a lot it might make sense to just use a hiking backpack with a photo insert.

this is what i use, too.  though it's usually with a mil spec backpack with a photo insert or camera/lens wraps.  the 5.11 rush backpacks (my favorite) have a hydration pouch.  i've used the molle system to add additional storage for filters or whatever when i need to take everything but i'm not hiking so weight isn't as big of an issue.  i've also used regular backpacks and hiking backpacks.  i choose the bag for the adventure and slip the insert in if i'm just taking photo gear or use the wraps if other items are going in the bag as well.