One of my primary goals for December was to try out and select a new backpack. I received a Summit Hut gift card for my birthday, and had a $20 off coupon for SH that was good until the end of the year, so I wanted to make my choice by New Year's Eve.
For the morning of Christmas Eve, I rented the Deuter Act Lite 60+10 backpack from Summit Hut. I used a couple of 100 oz Camelback bladders in a drysack for part of the dummy load, along with my old backpacking sleeping bag (this bag is about 40 years old), and the various small items I usually carry on day hikes. With the third Camelback bladder holding my drinking water, the pack weighed in at just under 30 pounds.
With the Deuter pack on my back, I headed up the Sweetwater Trail in Saguaro National Park West. This trail climbs about 3.4 miles from the end of Camino del Cerro road to the Sweetwater Saddle, where it meets up with a couple of other trails. The trail climbs about 1100 feet through the beautiful desert scenery, much of it along the side of one of the ravines between peaks.
While the weight of this test load was on the low end of what would be carried for a short backpacking trip, it's the most I've carried up a trail since the summer of 1980. It was also sufficient to get an idea of how the pack felt loaded on a real hike, rather than just walking around the store.
By the end of the hike, my muscles were telling me about having not carried a loaded pack up a trail in 34 years. The oddest sensation was taking the pack off after nearly 7 miles and feeling off-balance without the load on my back.
On December 30th, I carried a rented Osprey Volt 75, loaded to 30 pounds, up the King Canyon Trail to Wasson Peak, a round trip of 7 miles with an altitude difference of 1700 feet from the parking area to the peak.
The King Canyon trail heads towards the Sweetwater Saddle from the other side of the mountains, with the trailhead just across Kinney Road from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Wasson Peak is about 800 feet higher altitude than the saddle, and the grade is not consistent along the 1.2 miles of that section of the trail. For a decent percentage of the distance, the trail switches back and forth across the hillside, with periodic stair-like levels of rock to step up.
The view from atop Wasson Peak, which is the highest point in Tucson Mountain Park/Saguaro National Park West, is well-worth the climb, though. The vistas are beautiful, and if you make the hike, I strongly suggest taking a camera along.
Both packs are of similar size and configuration, with minor differences in features. The Deuter has two separate main compartments, and carries the hydration bladder inside the top main compartment. The Osprey has a single main compartment with an adjustable divider flap near the bottom. The pocket for the hydration bladder on the Osprey is outside the gear compartments, between the carry straps and the pack. Both offer a great deal of adjustment on the fit, and have small pockets on the hip belt for such things as a P&S camera, trail snacks, etc.
Overall, I found the Osprey more comfortable to carry, which is a big consideration when selecting a pack. The time to find out that you can't seem to get the fit correct should not be partway up the trail on an overnight trip, particularly after dropping the money to purchase. I bought my own Volt 75, and with some of the gear that I received for holiday gifts this year, I'm now around 80% or so equipped for my first overnight hike in over thirty years.
That, however, will wait until the weather starts warming up a bit.
