The Ideal Day Pack for the 2013 National Jamboree

Exciting to open boxes with new gear inside

REI Flash 22 Day Pack & Go Bag

Yesterday the box from REI arrived and inside was two new ultralight day packs, the REI Flash 22, one in Parrot and one in Titanium.  We believe that these are our day packs for the 2013 National Jamboree. (Update: to add sale link to REI, $33.99 (regularly $49.50) sale on until May 27, 2013)

Two packs in a box: The
REI Flash 22 in Titanium and Parrot

 We have lots of packs and a couple of favorite packs we use most often.  Kimberly's favorite is a 2010 Camelbak (in about the 30L size) and Steve's is a REI Lookout 40.  The size of the lookout is great and with heavy straps and waist belt any load is well managed.  However, the idea of hauling the heavy 3 lb. 3 oz. pack around in the WV heat during the 2013 National Jamboree is unbearable. 

The 18 bag and the 22 bag on the right showing both
cinch at the top and showing 2 water bottle pockets on the 22

So at Christmas Kimberly got Steve a REI Flash 18 (see the black bag in the picture to the left).  A super lightweight bag (11 oz) that holds 18L, has a hydration port and hydration pocket and reverses to a stuff sack. The straps are quite lightweight and comfortable.  Steve has started using it for almost everything.  The drawbacks include no pocket for a water bottle and no small outside pocket for easy to grab items and the biggest is the top cinches up to a pucker that is covered only by a small slip of leather.  Basically that top of the REI Flash 18 says if it rains, your stuff gets wet.

The 22 has a top "brain" with outside
zipper pocket that covers the cinched bag.

So enter the REI Flash 22 which has all of the great qualities of the 18L and solves all of the problems with it as well.  The Flash 22 is only 1 lb. and the 22L bag is much larger than the 18L, that extra 293 cu inches seems to make a huge difference.  The 22 includes a full flap with pocket to cover the top, shield from the rain and add a much needed outside pocket for small quick to need/grab items.  It also includes two water bottle outside mesh pockets that seem generous in size.  It includes the same daisy chain strapping as the 18L for clipping on gear and includes a tool hook permanently attached, perfect for holding the hiking poles we might want with us.

One neat feature of both bags (18 and 22) is a backing that slides out of the back of the pack and gives you a "sit-upon" or is discardable giving you an even lighter bag, but with out the padding the backing gives you.  The backing in the 22 is heavier and stiffer than in the 18 giving a little more support to the bag, but also not allowing it to roll up to almost nothing like the 18L.  If you want to roll up the 22 and put it in your larger duffel or pack you might pull out the backing first.

Both bags have identical straps, very comfortable
and the sternum strap and waist belt do come off.
The 22 on the right also seems like the "holes" will
add comfort in the heat.

We have encouraged our Venturers and Scouts to maintain Go Bags for camping and for those times you just have to grab and go.  I like the idea of keeping this pack packed and ready to go. You can see a list of what should go in our Go Bags at http://trooponeakron.org/gobag.html.

We may have to create a post on what goes in our go bag too. for now here is the list of what is on page 264 of the Boy Scout Handbook:

1. pocketknife
2. first aid kit
3. extra clothing / insulation layer
4. rain gear 
5. water bottle 
6. flashlight /headlight
7. trail food 
8. matches
9. sun protection
10. map and compass

To that we would add insect repellent and our 1.7 lb. BSA UL Chair (ultralight-camp-chair-1.7-lbs-of-pure-pleasure.

See you on the trails of the Summit Bechtel Reserve
Steve and Kimberly Myers

Love the Platypus Big Zip SL Hydration System.

In today's box on my porch!

Platypus Big Zip SL Hydration System

I love looking out front of our house and seeing a box on the porch.  Today's box included a battery powered razor (to test for Jamboree), 2 more pair of Exofficio Men's Give-N-Go Boxer Briefs (definitely for Jamboree) and the star attraction is the Platypus Big Zip SL 1.8 liter hydration system.  I wanted a smaller system to fit in my REI Flash 18 pack (love it) and to fit in my REI Flash 22 pack which ought to hit my porch in a day or two.  The 3.0L is way too tall and takes up too much volume for the little day pack.  I love using the 3.0 L in the full backpacks.  (Platypus does also sell a 2.0L version, but the bag is the same size as the 3.0 L.

You are going to love the large
opening and easy to use big blue clip

I have used a Platypus Big Zip 3.0 Liter system for over a year (possibly two) and absolutely love it. The other bladder(s) I had in the past suffered from one or more of the following maladies:  the mouth valve leaked, some did not have a turn off setting and still leaked, the flow was so hard I was working to suck water in, the hose did not detach, and my biggest peve is they were difficult for my old fingers to open or were hard to fill.

The 1.8 L is 7.5 x 13 inches and weighs 4.0 oz.
The 3.0 L is 18.75 x 7.75 inches and weighs 5.8 oz.

None of that is true with the Big Zip.  Filling it is a breeze with the top clip sliding off, the zip-lock bag like opening easily open and spread leading to few spills and messes.  It locks by first zipping the bag and reapplying the big blue clip (which is tied on so you don't drop it in the mud while you are filling up).  The printed instruction on the bag says "slide shut to secure, invert to test."  Testing is a great idea. I have never experienced a leak under that blue clip.

Older 3.0L bite valve on the left and
new 1.8L bite valve on the right

The hose detaches with only a drop or two of leak, if that.  Once detached there is no leaking. Detaching helps thread the hose through the pack hydration port and means you do not have to pull out the hose to pull the bag out and fill it up.  the hoses are identical in length between the 1.8 L and 3.0 L systems.

Once difference seems to be the bite valve is redesigned.  Gone are the ON and OFF words and a plastic stop keeps you from rotating it the wrong way.  (The new bite valve is on the right of the older one)  I expect the bite valve will be as comfortable on the new as it is on the old one.  You can't go wrong with this system.  Buy it here at REI or check out our store for each model available via Amazon. 

You can get a cleaning kit here.
Steve

The Summit: October 22, 2010 to July 15, 2013

What a difference two and one-half years make

In under 60 days our contingent will start down I77 from Summit County Ohio to The Summit Bechtel Reserve. We will move from the shadows of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the edge of the New River Gorge National Park; from our current home in Akron, OH to Steve's boyhood home in Mount Hope WV.

Join us there at the 2013 National Jamboree.

I signed in and let my heritage be known.	The sun and colors and excitement of that day will remain with me forever.
I met Jack Furst and he told me how important Mount Hope Mayor Michael Martin, my first SPL in Troop 91, had been to getting to October 22, 2010	Something shiny.  Wonder if they got to keep these or are they in a case at the National Scouting museum?
Governor Manchin, Steve McGowan, Jack Furst, Bob Mazucca, the Adj General and more in the ground breaking party.	As a boy growing up in Mount Hope, it thrills me that The SBR as we now know it calls Mount Hope home too.  My Scoutmaster Mr. Joe Bragg would be so proud.

More about Mount Hope and my Scoutmaster Joe Bragg -- click here

Here are more pictures of that ground breaking day:

See you at the Summit

Steve (Toop B326) and Kimberly (Foxtrot Venturing Commissioner staff)

A Glorious Weekend for Beginning Backpacking

Troop One Backpackers on the trail at Ohio Pyle State Park
(picture by Bob Biggs)

Can 11 year old scouts go backpacking?  A few intrepid souls from our favorite troop just did.

Our patch for the
first backpacking trip.

On the first weekend in May it was beautiful in the Ohio Pyle area of SW Pennsylvania.  While it was a perfect weekend for backpacking there and possibly everywhere, a few scouts set off on their first backpacking experience. They joined a few experienced scouts and set off to walk their first 9 miles with packs that were too heavy or didn't fit their small frame just right.

The patch we would like to make
design by Gabe Hunt, all rights reserved)

Welcome to the Akron based "Troop One Backpackers."  About a year ago we recognized a problem:  The Boy Scout Troop had essentially left the high adventure to our close sister Venturing Crew 2001.  After all, all of the troop trips to Philmont and elsewhere were Crew trips since the older scouts and the coed Venturers would make up the participants.  This means that no one backpacked until they were 14 and while there are a lot of good reasons to have scout's wait (such as expense and upper body strength), it is a loss not to get the youngest excited about this fabulous sport. And excited they are.

About a year ago, Eagle Scout Sam Hyde and backpacking "pro" and assistant scoutmaster Bob Biggs helped plan out a way to engage the youngest in hitting the trail.  Our idea is that each young scout that wants to sample carrying a pack should get a chance and when they are older they will enter the Venturing Crew raring to go.  This trip represented our second trip in recent years with young scouts. Listening to the scouts we will be doing this again very soon.

Perhaps, in the future, we can engage our pocket crew (see our story on the pocket crew) so the girls will also be ready for the backpacking lovers in our outdoor Venturing Crew.

On the way back from Ohio Pyle, these scouts were very attentive to the presentation on choosing the right backpack when they visited REI in Pittsburgh.

Steve and Kimberly Myers