Getting Real ... and Getting Real Value
The Backpack Guide Story

For many of us, our favorite backpacks help us cling to the memories of our travels and adventures, whether to foreign countries, national parks or daily treks to campus or work.

My all-time best backpack companion was a simple canvas Camp Trails pack that held itself together with two metal internal stays. I bought it for my first trip overseas to Europe. By today's technology it would be considered a glorified grocery sack.

My traveling partner and I decided to buy a smaller pack to lighten the load and create less havoc on crowded buses, trains and hostels. That pack endured dirty railway stations, messy cargo bays, and the grime of dozens of European cities from Norway to Greece

A decade later, a friend borrowed the same Camp Trails pack to travel to the Middle East. A customs agent remarked that the pack should be retired, but that only confirmed how much character the pack had.

Since then I've used dozens of backpacks in my travels and work. Having lived in East Africa and Southeast Asia, my personal gear got tested on the matatus, mountains and Serengeti plains of Kenya, the deserts of the Sudan and the rainforests, rivers and islands of Malaysia.

Most of us love our packs but treat them like crap. We expect them to perform after countless hours of outdoor hauling, dragging, stuffing, heaving, sliding and sitting in the mud and rain.

The Best Backpack Guide is just my way of providing some additional information on how to choose the right pack for the right purpose or person. The backpack reviews reflect my own experiences with using various frame packs and daypacks, as well as, tips from wildlife researchers and other friends who use gear in the field.

All of the backpack reviews try to filter out the most pertinent details from real users that pinpoint the problems, not just the fancy features.

Online buying has its downside, but there are usually exceptional bargains on all types of backpacks from outdoor outfitter sales and Amazon.com. If you don't have a local outfitter store or can't find a good fitting pack, the right model, size, color, or fashion statement, then the choices online are a better option.

Sign up for the free Backpack Alerts to get a personal email to know when the best backpack sales start and end for discounts and super savings.

That's enough nostalgia from me. I hope that the backpack information on this website helps you to decide on your next pack that will carry the memories of your own journeys.

Get Outdoors .. Get On the Road .. and Travel Safe.

P.S. That Camp Trails pack is in semi-retirement in the closet ... it's still good for at least one more road trip.