Daypack
Patagonia Terravia 28L
$169, 28L/1,770 c.i., 1 lb. 10 oz./737.1g (medium)
Sizes: unisex S-L
backcountry.com
On dayhikes from Capitol Reef National Park to bagging Borah Peak, Idaho’s highest, Patagonia’s Terravia 28L stood out for having the capacity for longer outings, along with good access and durability, while weighing just over 1.5 pounds—a level of capacity and versatility not often seen at that weight.
I carried the Terravia 28L starting out with about 16 pounds inside on a more than eight-mile, nearly 5,300-vertical-foot dayhike of Idaho’s highest peak, 12,662-foot Borah Peak, which is steep much of the way and involves some third-class scrambling. I also carried this pack starting with 12 pounds inside on a 10-mile dayhike in Capitol Reef National Park from Grand Wash to the bottom of Cohab Canyon via the Frying Pan Trail (one of several outstanding dayhikes in a park that gets overlooked by many hikers and national park lovers).
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Most distinctive about the 28-liter/1,770-cubic-inch Terravia is that it has the capacity for all-day outings where you need extra layers, water, food, and gear—an unusual amount of volume and versatility for a pack that weighs just one pound, 10 ounces/737.1 grams (medium). Hiking Borah Peak on a windy and cool mid-July day, I packed a sun shirt, light insulation, a wind shell, pants (and wore all but the insulated pullover on the upper mountain), and a bulky fleece for my partner, and started with three liters of water plus a few energy bars inside the Terravia 28L—and I still had space to spare in the main compartment.
When trimming weight from a pack’s design, the obvious place to accomplish that is where most of a pack’s weight (empty) resides: in the frame that provides support for carrying weight. That explains the major compromise in the Terravia series.
With just a simple, foam back pad/framesheet that’s flexible enough to fold the pack in half like a slice of bread, the Terravia lacks a rigid frame or stiffeners in the hipbelt to provide structural support for carrying 20 pounds/9.1 kilos or more—the kind of weight that is common for many 28-liter daypacks, which are also heavier.
For many hikers, the Terravia 28L will comfortably carry about 15 pounds/6.8 kilos. While strong hikers could certainly carry more than 15 pounds comfortably enough—and 16 pounds felt absolutely fine to me, in part because the wide hipbelt and harness design help distribute most of the weight onto the hips—the lack of rigidity in the suspension system results in the pack’s weight hanging off your shoulders more noticeably, and growing uncomfortable, as it approaches 20 pounds/9.1 kilos.
But that design also keeps the pack light and makes it more packable—and, seeing it through a different lens, a nice size for a carry-on bag when flying.
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The breathable, perforated mesh back panel, shoulder straps and hipbelt, made from 100 percent recycled polyester, helped release moisture and cool my back when working up a sweat hiking in Capitol Reef on a sunny and hot day in April.
Organization is quite good for a pack this light. Access to the main compartment is via a somewhat unique cinch closure employing a drawcord that closes that compartment and pulls the lid down over its mouth, with a small, metal hook fed through a fabric loop on the lid’s front side to hold the lid in place. While I find the design easy to use—no buckles to deal with, resulting in very quick access to the inside—and functional, I also found that the metal hook easily slips out of the fabric loop whenever the pack is underfilled (whereas a full pack creates tension that holds that hook in the loop). That’s hardly noticeable and doesn’t create a problems, other than sometimes exposing the small hole of the main compartment’s mouth when it’s cinched shut. But an integrated rain cover that deploys quickly from a pocket on the pack’s bottom eliminates any concern about pack contents being exposed to precipitation.
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The Terravia sports an exterior, six-pocket setup that’s become virtually the default system in lighter daypacks and ultralight backpacks. Two zippered hipbelt pockets, each spacious enough for a smartphone and one or two bars, and two stretch-mesh side pockets that swallow a liter bottle and that I can reach into while wearing the pack, offer quick access to snacks and small items; I kept bars and my Garmin inReach Mini 2 in the hipbelt pockets. A large front stuff pocket easily holds a wet rain shell. And the zippered lid pocket similarly can fit a headlamp, gloves, hat, and sunglasses case with room to spare.
Even on the longest, most rigorous, done-in-a-day adventures that require being prepared for any weather, the Terravia has abundant capacity for holding everything you want to keep within reach while moving.
The only other exterior feature is attachments for trekking poles, which enabled me to tuck those away quickly when I had to use my hands scrambling on Borah Peak.
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Other than the vulnerability to tears in the mesh side pockets—common in daypacks—the Terravia is built for hard use while keeping a focus on low weight, with 70-denier nylon ripstop in the pack’s body and 200-denier in the lining, all derived from 100 percent recycled material, plus a PU coating and PFC-free DWR (durable, water-repellant) treatment.
The Terravia’s three unisex sizes fit a wide range of users with torsos measuring between 14 and 21 inches, according to Patagonia (and my 18-inch torso falls near the middle of the fit range for the medium pack, so it naturally fit me quite well). While there’s no women’s-specific sizing, that matters less in a daypack, especially one not intended for heavier dayhiking loads.
Patagonia also offers the Terravia 14L, Terravia 22L, and Terravia 36L—and in some respects, the Terravia’s design makes the most sense in the 14L and 22L packs because most users would have no intention of loading more than about 15 pounds in daypacks that size.
Patagonia Terravia 28L
The Verdict
While it’s not really designed for carrying loads of much more than 15 pounds/6.8 kilos—or for some hikers, perhaps up to 20 pounds/9.1 kilos—the Patagonia Terravia 28L offers a simple, lightweight design with plenty of capacity and good organization for dayhikes of any length in any weather.
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You can support my work on this blog, at no cost to you, by clicking any of these affiliate links to purchase a Patagonia Terravia 28L at backcountry.com or patagonia.com, or other Terravia versions at backcountry.com, patagonia.com, or rei.com.
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NOTE: I reviewed gear for Backpacker magazine for 20 years. At The Big Outside, I review only what I consider the best outdoor gear and apparel. See The Big Outside’s Gear Reviews page for categorized menus of all gear reviews and expert buying tips.
—Michael Lanza