Quoted By:
I've been trying to decide on a new pack for days, in fact I had a near-sleepless night just browsing around.
I could drive 45 minutes to an hour to Cabela's, or Dick's Sporting Goods, or an Orvis store and find jack shit-all for selection or quality at any of them. They'll have some cheap-ass options and nothing else. Do you have to live in San Francisco to find outfitters with high-end gear you can actually try out? Pretty ironic.
The one exception I've ever seen with my own two eyes was the LL Bean flagship store when I was in Maine years back, which in fact is where I got my current 40L backpacking pack.
Anyway, every pack I'd been seriously considering was Mystery Ranch. This positive talk about them is encouraging, I'll probably pull the trigger on a tan 55L Bridger now.
Figures. You can either pay $50 for a 12-lb. canvas milsurp ruck that will be indestructible (I mean real milsurp out of some store set up in a brick shed in some tiny town), $150 for something that's probably okay but might hurt your back or have shit snap or fray, or $400-500 for something that's actually good. I have no doubt there are Swiss-made alpine packs that cost $2,500.
It's like we use rubles now, not dollars. I can even afford it, but every time I turn around with outdoors gear, it's $400-500. And the shit's still made in some factory in Asia!
Ah well, thanks for helping me decide, fags.
