6/7 days worth of food in a 50 Lt backpack.

Hi guys I don’t know how you can say that I could fit a 7 days worth of tramping inside a 50 lt pack. For me it’s impossible. In this “Black Friday weekend” I went to the macpac shop and paddy Pallin(a famous shop here in Sydney) and yes I took all my gear with me to try it on the shop. Even if I take out my camp/hut jacket from my 50 lt I still don’t have enough space on my pack for 7 days of food ....literally none. I don’t know about you but after a day of long walk I get pretty hungry so I need to take at least 700gr/900gr worth of food per day . In the paddy pallin shop I tried suggested by @berend and @pro active the osprey aether 70 lt . Pack it’s quality for sure and I really like the possibility to opening the pack from the middle without open the top part. But honesty the side belt left and right are very uncomfortable around my hip bone and i tried the 2 size M and L. Then I went to macpac shop and tried the Torlesse 65 and the cascade 75. In the Torlesse 65 (I own already a Torlesse 50) I could easily fit my gear but even there there I didn’t have a lot of space left for food or an eventual tramping in winter. With the cascade 75 everything was perfect,space for gear,very comfortable,space for food for long hikes and I could say looks very durable. The cascade 75 on his own weight 2.6 kg which is not bad I suppose. Thinking as well to do the overland track in Tasmania during winter probably can be a good compromise. I still didn’t buy it though...I just want to make sure to do the right choice this time.

Some of these suggestions may be obvious but they will help with saving space: Do you pack your clothing in to dry bags then squash all the air out? This saves a lot of space. Do you pack stuff in side stuff? Eg make sure your billy/pot is crammed full of other items. Mine has my gas canister, cooker, mug, spork, tea bags plus some other small easily compressible stuff shoved inside it. Do you remove packaging from food? A box of muesli bars is a third the size without the box, breakfast cereal is half the size etc. Also, you can take advantage of stowing some items on the outside of the pack. I'd never advocate putting a sleeping bag or clothing on the outside as you want them to stay dry, however, my tent always goes on one side as does my water bottle on the other to help balance the pack out. My hut Aqua shoes tuck into the mesh on the front. I could never get away with 36lt with the tent inside. I also own a lightweight Sea to Summit pack-away bag which I will often wear on my front for the first day. This means I can bring some fresh food (mmmm steak...) for the first night without overloading my pack. Generally after the first or sometimes second day once a bit of food has been eaten I can pack it away inside the main pack (I squashes down to about half the size of my fist). Pack Jenga is an art form when it comes to longer trips on small packs.

some packs you need to count the pockets to make up teh 50 litres. i dont know if all brands do that. what one brand calls 50 litres can be smaller than what another brand calls 50 litres... packs with big sleeve pockets can add a fair bit of extra space , by counting the space on those pockets when they are crammed full... at the end of the day its about fitting your gear into the pack and treat teh pack volume as around about whatever litres it says , give or take several litres. if most or all of your gear is ultralight gear it will be a lot easier to get close to the 50 litre mark... in drier places overseas they often use the flimsiest raingear because they dont need to use it as much and its more just for an emergency backup, in damp areas , you get colder than in drier areas and you may need more clothes to cope. they use quilts instead of sleeping bags, with simplier designs that use less space. in dry areas you can get away with using down jackets and similar war clothing, it dries... in damp nz they often dont dry so you need extra layers like fleece or heavier synthetic fills...

Totally nailed @wayno I always try to carry a bit of everything for tramping in NZ Weather danger cold and nasty even in summer so things get space in the backpack. Better safe than sorry.

@dodgydave thank you so much for your explanation. I wouldn’t ’ve carry a small pack in front of me...I need to feel free when I walk and I would love to get everything inside my pack. I won’t carry a tent because we will stay in the huts.. I’ll probably would hang the sandals but that’s it for me. I might be able to squeeze everything in a 65LT but an eventual hike in winter probably I won’t have enough space.. Let’s see...but a 50 it’s definitely out of question at least for me.

"Would you be able to pack a 50 Lt with 6/7 days worth of tramping with food and gear?" I'm sure that a lot of the of people on this forum can and do, but the problem is that they have different gear, experience and priorities to yourself. It sounds like you are on the right track with your visits to the local camping shops, but if I was you, I would select something that suits your priorities (comfort 'v' weight 'v' durability 'v' value for money) and is the best fit for your hiking aspirations. In addition to the winter aspirations mentioned, I also get the sense that you are increasing your hiking time each trip. Other forum topics suggest that you are also starting to investigate harder tramps, so it will not be long before you are packing a tent. If this is the case, then the 75L is probably going to be a better fit for you at this stage of your hiking journey. I was lugging around a full 90L pack when I was at a similar point of my journey, so you are doing much better than I was. These days, I have somehow fine-tuned my gear, food & packing system and in summer can carry 10 days of food+tent+gear inside my pack without going over the top of the shoulder straps. I still have the same 90L pack I started out with a long time ago, but have never had the urge to downgrade to a smaller size because I've discovered that having some spare space adds versatility. A counter argument to this is that a smaller full pack would allow for optimum load distribution, but to me, my pack weight still feels fine when not full On the other hand, if you can afford it, as the need arises, you could buy a range of pack sizes/types/weights, each tailored to a particular situation. I am sure there are some people here on this forum who own 50L, 65L and 75L packs for this very reason, and there is nothing wrong with that. I would probably do it if I could justify it to the family :) My 2 cents, Moh.

Some real good advice in here. Go with a larger pack if you can. A 75L will give you more options in the future. For many years I’ve used either a 65L for weekends, or 90L for everything else. As someone who almost exclusive tents, I’ve always found having too much room in a pack is better then not enough.

one issue with trying to achieve a smaller pack size, is you might be abl to fit your stuff in, but you're more likely to have to cram it in and spend more time packing it to get it all in, for me it becomes too much of a hassle, takes longer to get to stuff when you need it as you're more likely to hav to remove other stuff and faff around repcking it, which isnt ideal when its crap weather and you're exposed, you want to have quick access to the gear you need and get going again.

@moh_Oz what you said is absolutely right. And thank you for the fact that you remember my old post. And yes I do increasing my hiking trip...quite confident to do 3 days but I want to push a bit more next Feb...I feel guilty that I need to spend this money again for a backpack...but thinking for future hiking long trips I think that at the end would be a good investment. @waynowsky which backpack you use for long hikes ?

depends on the season 75L usually, my next one down is 60L i might be able to use that at a pinch but i prefer to have enough space to play with