Backpack
REI Traverse 70
$239, 4 lbs. 13 oz. (men’s medium, including rain cover)
Sizes: men’s S (66L/4,028 c.i., fits torsos 17-19 ins.), M (70L/4,272 c.i., fits torsos 18-20 ins.), L (74L/4,516 c.i., fits torsos 19-21 ins.)
rei.com
Much as I really prefer carrying a light backpack, I have many times hoisted a pack weighing 50 pounds or more, because sometimes that’s the price of a worthy adventure. With no water available along the route of my family’s late-March, overnight backpacking trip into the canyon of Utah’s Dirty Devil River—except the heavily silted river, which would strangle any filter—we had to carry all we’d need for two days. And guess who’s the family porter? As I loaded 15 liters of agua into the Traverse 70, I did some quick math: the liquid weight alone reached just about 32 pounds. With gear, food, and clothes, my pack tipped the scales at nearly 50 pounds. That’s a pretty good test for a pack that weighs under five pounds empty.