Buyer’s Guide to Best Hiking Backpack
Are you an adventure freak? You probably love to spend vacations on camping sites while exploring hiking trails. Well, this is one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Hiking adventure not just brings fun to life; rather, at the same time, it takes you closure to nature.
But most of the people find it difficult to carry all essential accessories to the hiking sites. Well, if you choose the best hiking backpack for outdoor adventure hours, it can make your vacations more memorable. Market these days is loaded with plenty of hiking backpacks; this guide can help you better to choose the best one to carry your essentials.
What is Hiking Backpack?
Hiking backpack, in terms of size, usually looks similar to the regular urban backpack; but it is preferably made up of lighter ripstop fabric. It has a backboard or frame to keep your backpack in structure and the hip belt to make it comfortable on tough trails. Moreover, the shoulder straps are also designed with additional padding to ensure hiking experience for users.
How is hiking as an adventure activity growing in the world?
From the past few years, people are looking for some opportunities to get rid of the hustle and bustle of city life. They prefer to spare time to explore the natural beauty and hiking adventure is the best choice to achieve complete peace of mind.
There are plenty of hiking sites all over the world, but adventure lovers are especially attracted to the sites in India. You can plan to explore the beautiful attractions of Chadar Trek, Roop Kund, Bhrigu Lake, Nag Tibba, and many more.
What to pack in your hiking backpack?
Before you choose a hiking backpack, it is important to create a list of accessories that you should carry to the trails. It will help you choose the right size of the backpack. The list includes appropriate weather clothing, first aid kit, food, snacks, hiking boots, water bottle, navigation tools, multi-tool, hiking gear, and few other personal items.
What should be the design of a hiking backpack?
Well, you can find plenty of options for hiking backpacks in the market. Many big brands have launched hiking backpacks with unique features. But in order to buy the best one, you should consider a few design aspects. After all, your investment must promise the best returns in the long run.
Below we have listed a few incredible design features of hiking backpacks that you need to check before making a final purchase:
- Backpack frame type:
There are generally three options when we talk about the frame of the hiking backpacks; you can either go for frameless bags, external frame bags, or internal frame bags. The frameless bags are usually lightweight and allow hikers to climb tough hills faster. Whereas the external frame backpacks are useful when you want to carry heavy loads to the site. The majority of hikers prefer internal frame backpacks as they are designed with a body-hugging internal frame that stays stable even on the off-trail terrains.
- Ventilation:
Some hiking backpacks are designed with suspended mesh back panel that is good to beat the sweaty-back syndrome. Most of the hikers prefer these tension-mesh suspension backpacks for long 8 to 10-hour hikes. The backpacks with specially designed ventilation chimneys on the back panel promote more airflow to ease your hiking experience.
- Spacious pockets:
The hiking backpacks offer two types of loading options; you can either choose top-loading openings or panel access. Many brands prefer to design hiking backpacks with the zippered front panel so that you can reach up to the items placed deeper inside the back. The pocket-size matters the most while choosing a hiking backpack. There are generally four types of pockets: elasticized side pockets, hip belt pockets, shovel pockets, and front pockets.
Look for a hiking backpack that has deeper front pockets to hold your easy access, less-bulky items. The shovel pockets are designed on the front side of the backpack, and as the name indicates, it is mainly designed to hold a snow shovel. However, you can add many lightweight items, jackets, and maps into this pocket.
The hip belt pockets are useful for accommodating small items like snacks, smartphones, and energy gel. On the other side, the elasticized side pockets appear flat when they are empty; but in actual, they can hold lots of stuff, including your tent poles, water bottle, and few other loose objects.
Other than this, your hiking backpack must have a sleeping bag compartment, and it is mainly designed on the bottom of the backpack with a zippered stash spot.
- Types of shoulder straps:
The shoulder straps are required to be comfortable with additional padding. They can help you to ensure comfortable handling of your backpack on tough, including, and declining trails. Look for a backpack with multi-layer padding so that it cannot put a strain on your shoulders and neck area. This is more important for those who are planning to move to 8 to 10 hours long trails.
- Material and durability:
How can we forget to talk about the material of the hiking backpack? The most popular hiking backpacks are usually designed with Nylon material; however, that too comes with different deniers. Usually, higher denier leads to more abrasion resistance and higher durability. But much higher value may end up making your bag heavy so, manufacturers usually prefer nylon with denier lower than 210. Some good quality bags also have durable Cordura fabric that is preferably used on abrasion prone areas.
What should be the criteria for the selection of the overall height of the hiking bag?
After checking all the above features, it is also important to talk about backpack fit, and it is possible if you choose the right length and height of the bag. The right fit means the hiking backpack size is right for your specific torso height, and it should snug grip your hip with higher comfort.
Some backpacks are also designed with an adjustable suspension system; their size can be modified as per specific torso length. Furthermore, it is better to check the waist size and overall weight of the bag. The women-specific bags and youth-specific bags may have different design and fit. Prefer to choose hiking backpack with additional options to make height and size adjustments. It can ensure more comfort on tough trails.
Summary:
Now you have gone through all the essential details to choose the best backpack for a hiking adventure. It is time to choose the best one in the market and place orders online. You can ensure fast delivery at your doorstep.