Bushwalk Australia

I'm surprised that a separate 'sleeping bag' compartment at the bottom of a bushwalking pack is the norm. Nobody I know likes it because:

1. they use a full pack liner anyway;
2. the zip allows water into the bottom of the pack more easily than having intact fabric;
3. they would rarely want to get their sleeping bag out before they put up their tent (e.g. to air it at lunchtime);
4. it adds unnecessary weight to the pack.

I've tried stuffing my tent in last in the said compartment, when packing up in the rain, but it's not as easy to do this when the pack is full than it is to put it in the top like normal.

When I've mentioned it in outdoor shops, they seem to think I'm in the minority. What do y'all think?

I love this topic. I think if the lower compartment was appropriate to your needs it makes a lot of sense. I think it makes more sense to use that compartment for your tent when it's wet than the sleeping bag though.

I also stopped using them once I had a full size bag liner, but I would love a better way to store things so that you didn't have to unpack your entire pack to get to whatever is at the bottom - maybe that might look more like a front opening panel or another design though.

Tortoise wrote:I'm surprised that a separate 'sleeping bag' compartment at the bottom of a bushwalking pack is the norm. Nobody I know likes it because:

1. they use a full pack liner anyway;
2. the zip allows water into the bottom of the pack more easily than having intact fabric;
3. they would rarely want to get their sleeping bag out before they put up their tent (e.g. to air it at lunchtime);
4. it adds unnecessary weight to the pack.

I've tried stuffing my tent in last in the said compartment, when packing up in the rain, but it's not as easy to do this when the pack is full than it is to put it in the top like normal.

When I've mentioned it in outdoor shops, they seem to think I'm in the minority. What do y'all think?

It is a common feature. I have the said "pack divider" with shelf in my old Berghaus pack. It is zippered, with the zipper also undoing the 'shelf' which optionally allows access to everything else above the sleeping bag. Not true in my experience for the zip to allow water in, and even if it did, the SB is protected by a hypalon roll-lock sack for additional proofing. Why? "Because I was at Noojee..."

I have recollections of a pack with this dual-compartment feature as far back as my first ascent of Mount Bogong in 1987 (I had a loaned bushwalking pack from the VNPA, the group I joined on that walk), so it is not new in terms of pack design. Conventional wisdom is that you pack the sleeping bag first in its compartment, then everything else on top. This protects the SB from rain while you get everything else organised, whether or not that stuff gets wet. Unpacking is the reverse: the tent comes out first, then once that is up, the sleeping bag. I think there is agreement the tent is the last to go in, for the planned airing at a convenient lunch stop (by which time the storm clouds of adversity will have parted to reveal bright sun and blue sky!!). There have been occasions when I have taken both my sleeping bag (sans-Hypalon stuff sac) and tent out to air-dry during an inordinately long lunch stop (3 hours of enjoyable gin and lamingtons ...).

So Tortoise, all you need to do is to think of that compartment as being where you store your gin and lamingtons. Happy camping, indeed.

I put all my sleeping gear in the bottom compartment of my pack:
Hammock
Top Quilt
Under Quilt.

Fits perfectly and allows me to put everything else that I want to access in the top compartment.

Note I keep my tarp in an outside pocket so I can grab it quickly if a shower comes through.

I haven't had one of those packs for yonks - they aren't worth the trouble.
Quilt/sleeping bag goes at the bottom because it's one of the two least likely to be wanted items I carry (along with the mat). But separate compartment for it is pointless.
If the pack is going to compartmentalise things, give me a separate waterproof top section for the tent and groundsheet. That would be far more useful.

I, too, haven't had a traditional compartmentalised pack for a long time (aka yonks). My original was a Lowe Alpine pack from the late 1970s which was cordura with a waterproof (ish) PU coating on the inside of both compartments (and a zipped connector between).

In the bottom section, I always packed the stuff that didn't mind getting wet - tent, cooking gear, o'pants & jacket, etc. All the dry gear went in the top section. I figured a wet tent sitting above the sleeping bag all day was too much of a risk.

These days, with an Aarn pack, a wet tent can strap on the outside of the pack (or slide in between pack & integrated w'proof liner). Sleeping bag is in a dry bag inside the w'proof liner - I'm not risking it for nothin' !

I agree with NNW.
I haven't used a pack like that for years but when I did I didn't seperate it for for my sleeping bag, just shoved everything in like normal.

I reckon the retail workers have that view because the majority of their customers are newbies who haven't been overnight walking yet. Based off how much 'used once' equipment I see for sale, alot of people must either only do one walk or after their first walk realise there is a better way than a 2.5kg pack and tent.

You hardly ever see lightweight stuff for sale 'used once'.

Yeah, more trouble than it's worth. I used to stick my food and cooking in that bottom section which made lunch a bit easier.

What I wish my pack had was a compartment lid. I use the outer front pocket for bits and pieces but be nice to have that stuff in the lid and wet/weather gear/extra water... in the front, just to stay better organised.

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Only one of my current packs has a sleeping bag compartment, and it's the heaviest pack I own and consequently the least used. But having said that, I've always thought the separate sleeping bag compartment is useful, because it allows you more scope in distributing the weight up or down in the backpack. Towards the end of long walks in particular and with most of the food gone, I invariably end up with a bottom heavy bag. A sleeping bag compartment gives me the ability to bias the remaining weight back towards the top of the pack where I prefer it. That to me is of more benefit than another access point. I wouldn't consider it an essential feature though.

Each to their own of course, but I think some form of dividers or additional pockets can definitely make life easier.

For over a decade I used a very plain-Jane Mountain Designs 70L pack - a tall, narrow single bag with a small outer pocket and small top brain - while my then-girlfriend had a fancier Macpac with separately accessible top and bottom compartments. Packing and accessing gear always seemed *much* easier for her, and she didn't have to tear apart half her pack to get at certain things like I did. Mind you, I carried our tent (a ~3.5kg Snowgum) everything else had to be packed around to fit properly, which definitely didn't help... especially packing up in the rain.

Upgrading to a Arcteryx Bora AR63 with the "kanga pocket" on the back (front?) of the pack a few years ago was a revelation. Having your tent and wet weathers separately accessible in a waterproof, externally accessible section that was accessible without opening the main compartment was simply awesome in wet weather. Having that weight far away from your backbone/centre of gravity, maybe less so.

Ironically I'm back to a single bag-style with a HMG Junction these days, with a (much smaller/lighter) tent in the back (front?) pocket. Their pod system, though ridiculously expensive, definitely makes managing a "single sack" design easier. Figuring out what to put at the top just comes down to planning and experience

I do wish more pack designers would put pockets on their front straps. Cottage designers like Atom and Red Paw really have it nailed.

OP no didn't use one/don't want one. Specifically avoid it as a feature.
More likely to put a wet tent in there if I had such a compartment.
For that I have an Exped tough dry bag with side daisy chain, can separate and also lash outside pack if required.

I am totally in love with the standard UL pack design. One roll top compartment, mesh pocket on back and side pockets. Nice and simple, reliable and light.

Totally agree, "haven't had one of those packs for yonks - they aren't worth the trouble.
Quilt/sleeping bag goes at the bottom because it's one of the two least likely to be wanted items I carry (along with the mat). But separate compartment for it is pointless.
If the pack is going to compartmentalise things, give me a separate waterproof top section for the tent and groundsheet. That would be far more useful."
This is me, "Don't use one/don't want one. Specifically avoid it as a feature."

peregrinator wrote:So Tortoise, all you need to do is to think of that compartment as being where you store your gin and lamingtons. Happy camping, indeed.

Thanks for your inputs, folks. Interstwesting. I feel somewhat justified. Trouble is, it's very hard for me to avoid these packs, because a dodgy sacroiliac joint severely restricts the range of packs I have to choose from. And they all have the divider. So as much as I wanted to avoid one, my previous and current packs both have one. I cut the 'shelf' out of my last one, to save a scrap of weight, but I'm not going to attempt anything with the zip.

Biggles wrote:Not true in my experience for the zip to allow water in

Ok, so maybe it only happens in serious Weather, but I've experienced substantial puddles in the bottom of mine, in spite of a pack cover. Think SW Tasmanian horizontal torrential rain. I also worry about the extra water getting in if I go deep in a creek crossing. Not that hard to do for someone of my stature.

I do love other compartments - lid and side pockets that allow easy access to a bunch of things I may want during the day.