Preparation and a Good Daypack May Be All You Need For Extended Outdoor Adventures
A large daypack is a good compromise between the smaller and more restrictive 1500 cubic inch packs and the massive internal frame backpacks. Those extremes are great in their own way, but sometimes a happy medium is needed.
Small daypacks are a good light option for partial day hikes, and when you’re gearing up for a week-long backpacking trip you have to be pretty expert to get away with something less than an internal frame backpack.
But a backpack with around 2000 cubic inches of space provides a large range of uses for those experienced in the outdoors. So here are a few daypacks you could take hunting, hiking, or, with some careful planning, even backpacking.
Chinook Phantom 45 Technical Daypack
The Chinook Phantom 45 Daypack is pretty straightforward. It’s top loading with a front buckle, so you can keep it in a snug fit. In fact for some purposes it might almost be too simple. The only other compartment aside from the main one is a large pocket on the front. The detachable holder on the shoulder straps gives you a little more utility storage for your cell or radio, but for the most part, what you’re looking at is a big pouch with a couple fancy add-ons. The bright side of this is that the advertised 2745 cubic inches is actually usable in the main storage.
NC Star Assault Backpack
NcSTAR makes some high quality, practical packs, and the Assault Backpack is one of our favorites. It has a lot of different sections, so if you’re the type who likes to stay organized this is a pretty good pick for you. It has around 2200 cubic inches of space, which is plenty for your weekend camping trip, unless you’re very resourceful in which case you could make it work for backpacking for a few days. This pack comes with a lot of bells and whistles like a hydration bladder and different buckles and adjustments and zippers and D rings. This makes it pretty versatile, and a great option for different types of excursions.
Alps Mountaineering Outdoor Z Pathfinder Backpack
This camo daypack gets fancy. The Z Pathfinder was made specifically for hunting. It’s designed to break down into two different types of packs: fanny pack and day pack, with straps on the back for holding a hunting bow. If there’s a drawback to this pack it’s that you don’t get 2700 cubic inches of uninterpreted space. It’s spread out between the main section and the fanny pack, so it might not the best for stuffing for a extended trips. But it’s hard to beat for bow hunting, and we bet it would come in pretty handy for fishing in a pinch too.