Gear Review - Gossamer Gear QuikSak

QuikSak at Cherry Pond, NH

General description:
The Gossamer Gear QuikSak is an 8 oz day pack best used for light-minded day hikers or for hauling a few light items around town. It has no internal structure or padding, hence the need to keep it light and free from pointy, hard edged objects. It has two large, mesh water bottle pockets (9" tall), a haul strap, a top lid with a small pocket and an internal back pocket for a water bladder or sit pad... and not a whole lot more.

Top Lid/Fold-In Pocket
The pack is designed to stuff into its own zippered top lid, making it ideal for travel as a summit pack - and in my opinion, works far better than a convertible top lid...which has an awkward waist placement and no water bottle pockets. There is a small tab to hook a key ring inside the pocket, which is easy to access and useful for an assortment of small things like sun screen, key, map, etc. I like that the zipper isn't set sideways, and that I can reach into it without stuff falling out. Attached to the lid is a buckle, which snaps together with the other end to secure the pack and keep it closed.

Folded into their own pockets: Gossamer's QuikSak & RikSak size comparison.

Back

Front

Body, Front, Back
It's made with a lightweight, 50 Denier ripstop nylon, which is rather slippery at first blush. There is no pack padding or structure within. The pack itself measured about 23" long inside. A drawstring cord keeps the closes off the top - and the top pocket folds over, clasping with a daisy chain webbing strap and buckle closure to keep it shut. There are several tiny webbing tabs on the front and sides to lace cord through (as well as 3 more inside the top neck of the pack, not sure why exactly). The water bottle pockets are big & secure enough for 1 LT plastic bottles and a pole can squeeze in there too. There's a reflective stripe on the front as well.

Shoulder Straps
Perforated padding touches the skin on each strap, a stretchy, darker material faces out. The straps are 2.5" wide. There is a small horizontal fabric strip on each strap to latch on a biner, a watch, etc. 

Stabilizing Straps
There is the usual sternum strap on this pack, as well as what I like to call, a "Belly Belt". Gossamer is the only pack maker I know who has this strap, and after thinking it quite odd at first, its starting to grow on me. It's placed right over the belly and helps keep the pack in place. Since most loads in this pack will be minor, there is no hipbelt, so the Belly Belt is there instead.

Internal
Not much here except the large pocket against the back, which could hold a water bladder or small sit pad.

Testing in the field

Testing
City: I took this pack out to the street s a few times and found it comfortable yet slippery. The pack, if not full, would slip along my lap in the subway abd onto the floor if I wasn't watching or with a sudden bump in the train. However when the pack is full, it holds itself mostly-upright as a structured pack would.

Side view

Country: I hiked for several days in the White Mountains this May with it not-quite fully loaded. I hardly noticed I was wearing it...it was light and comfy. The shoulder straps worked well on my 5' 4" frame, distributing the small amount of weight I carried (maybe 8lbs?) I stuffed a Kumo sit pad inside for better stabilization and a little cushion. Without the sit pad it may not have been as comfortable to carry for 25 miles over 2 days, especially if I had anything pointy in it, but with a little foam it was a perfect fit and just the right size for a day hike. I had strung some extra stretch cord through the side tabs to stabilize a hiking pole (or a tall bottle), which worked perfectly. It's good to have the tabs there, not an issue if you don't use them, they're tiny enough. If you don't use a sit pad for a little structure, it's still a nice pack to carry, so long as you keep your load light and hard-edge free.

Conclusion
Overall I really like this pack for a variety of uses and I can see it replacing my old REI Flash Pack 18 easily - actually it already has. I plan to use this pack some more this summer and will return to review it again. It's simple, no fuss, a great size for me, and just the right amount of pockets. My only gripe is superficial... the color: two tones of grey. What happened to the fun moments of orange GG?

Thanks to Gossamer Gear for sending me this pack, as well as the Riksak and others, for testing.

Crawford Notch to Jefferson, NH - Cohos Trail Section Hike

A Section Hiking Adventure 
Section #2, May 2014

Crossing a farm field to the Presis

Spring has finally sprung in New England! While there is still much snow in the upper reaches of NH's White Mountains, Chris and I set out on a rainy Friday night for a 2 day section hike of the Cohos Trail, a 25 mi low valley jaunt we missed last summer. We camped at Zealand Falls where the rain fell hard, relentless. But I couldn't have been much happier listening to the rain. I was in the woods where it always feels like home away from home, a place I hadn't visited in several months due to catching a nasty cold, getting ready to move from my residence of nearly 12 years, and planning several hiking trips for the spring and summer.

Cherry Pond

While the rain continued, we decided to eat a leisurely breakfast and hike the shorter of the 2 sections, from Cherry Mtn Trailhead on Rt 115A to Jefferson Village. The rain ended by 1pm when we spotted my road bike in the village and drove the starting trailhead. We hiked along the old B&M train line and through the Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw many, many ticks (on us!), a diving snapping turtle, lots of frogs, a garter snake and had a surprisingly fantastic day on this little used section of trail. At a viewing spot on the pond you can find a little cache with a notebook for writing down your thoughts and a stamp and inkpad for your own notebook. We enjoyed a lovely stop on a farm's flatbed truck before walking a section of road to Jefferson to finish up the day. The weather was perfect and the day bright, a far cry from forecast and day before.

Red Roof Inn

Our second day consisited of 15mi, starting at the Edmunds Path Trailhead on Mt Clinton Rd. A new taxi/hiker shuttle, Notch Taxi Service, got us there that morning (friendly service, call to make your reservations in advance). We crossed through the trails of Bretton Woods XC Ski area and through the backyard of Mt Washington Hotel where we enjoyed a late breakfast on the veranda. We soon passed the gushing Upper Falls of the Ammonoosuc River, where we couldn't help but to stop and admire the sheer power of water as it bubbled in and out of the giant pothole known for it's swimming and sometimes tragic endings.

Upper Falls

Pushing on we walked along more old B&M rail trails to Old Cherry Mtn Rd which after a 3 mi slog  lead us to Cherry Mtn Trail up Mt Martha. The views of the Presi's from Mt Martha and Owl's Head are not to be missed, so quiet and lovely, we only shared it with one other for a brief moment. After a little nap, we made our way down to Rt 115A, tumbling past scores of wildflowers, included Red & Painted Trillium, Bluets, Star Flower, violets, and one of my favorites, Spring Beauties.

Sassy on Martha

For both hikes I carried a lightweight backpack from Gossamer Gear called the QuikSak. Review to follow.   

Thank you GG for sending this pack along, and thank you C. Osgood for sharing all your photos from the day!

Bluets

Lighten That Pack - Slideshow & Potluck

I volunteer for the Appalachian Mountain Club's Boston Chapter, as a 4-season Trip Leader, and for the past 5 years, as a Volunteer Coordinator of a slideshows & potluck series called the AMC Boston Slideshow Series. Through word of mouth, email and online, I gather friends, acquaintances and strangers to do all the hard work of going out on a great trip, making a coherent slideshow and telling us all about it. The slideshow attendees, or enthusiasts as I like to call them, bring a food to share... and all together we have a nice monthly event. I host about 9 shows a season, with as varied topics as a hiking trip to Japan, using only public transport to get around, a trip by bicycle across Mongolia, skiing first tracks skiing through desolate areas of Canada, an expedition to climb Mt. McKinley in the 1970s, a movie about a blind hiker's achievement of hiking all of NH 4ks in one winter season... among other inspirational trips taken by local Bostonians and New Englanders alike.

Last night was the final show of the season, which runs from Sept - May. As a real treat, I was not only the hostess but also the speaker. I've only presented 1 or 2 slideshows before, but despite that I wasn't nervous. The title was "Lighten That Pack", and I intended to discuss my own embarrassing story of lightening my backpack weight from a heavy 39lbs to 19lbs over the course of 5or so years. I thought if I can do it, anyone can lighten their load, by a little or a lot, through being efficient, creative and earnest with yourself.

Don't let this be you. Heavy!

I met up with Philip, Ryan and Allison at the auditorium, all 4 are local Trail Ambassadors for Gossamer Gear. Between us, and especially Philip, we amassed a load of lightweight gear to display including lightweight stoves, tarps, tarp tents, a hammock, water purification methods, and lots of day packs and backpacks. The crowd of about 50 ate, socialized, and inspected all the gear before the show, which lasted about an hour. My presentation also discussed the finer points of Light/Ultralight principles (simplify: rethink, repackage, replace), the key notion of multipurpose items, DIY stuff, places to go online to shop, gather info and discuss light hiking ideas.

Lighter, better!

After the talk we answered a few questions, and people were let loose to see the gear up close and try some packs on for size. The fact that we had a 20% discount for Gossamer Gear packs might have helped give them a boost to try lightening their load, or at least let people know these small companies exist and have big fans! I hope the hikers that were there last night will like GG packs and going lighter as much as the 4 of us do.

From those attendees that reached out to me after the show, I got the sense that hikers just need a little knowledge, a little encouragement, and a few tips to get the ball rolling to a lighter, happier hiker. If we can do it, you can too... its not so hard (though it may take a few years and some trial and error, ok... maybe alot of that!)

If you missed the show or are interested in downloading it for yourself, see the link below to the PPT or PDF:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y7rwtrv9l6d3fet/FJNKiiJ4Jy