just curious should we be leaving our gear in the backpack during winter months or taken it all out, and storing it that way???

thanks

Almost all backpacking gear should be removed from the pack and stored loosely in a dry place. Insulated items such as the sleeping bag, vest, etc. will be damaged by long storage while compressed. Tarps, tents, groundsheets and the pack itself should be allowed plenty of air circulation to avoid deterioration of polyurethane coatings and the development of mold or mildew.

I've always read (and been told) that you should empty the pack during your off season (if you have one). You'll need to do regular cleaning and maintenance on your stove - well most stoves. You'll need to at least thoroughly air out your sleeping bag if not actually wash it. It'll will need to be stored loosely. Your pack probably will need at least a good shake out, maybe a spot cleaning, and possibly and real wash. It's also a great opportunity to access each piece of equipment for wear and tear and whether it was literally "worth its weight."

Yeh, what Spock said, too. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I like the idea of being ready to 'bug-out' though.

If I was organized the way I would like to be, which I'm not, I would have everything in the pack ready to go except for my sleeping bag and clothes and food, and I would have a totally separate kit for my day-hikes.

So to 'bug-out' for an overnight I would just grab my Jam2 pack, throw in a bag of food, throw in my sleeping bag, and then get dressed in all my layers for the most extreme conditions I might get and then de-layer to what I wear for fine weather and pack those other layers. Everything else would be cleaned and packed days or weeks in advance. Maybe double check it before I throw stuff in though. I'm pretty quick on food. I can grab 3, 4 days of food at a grocery store in about 15 minutes as I tend to buy and pack everything in bulk.

For a day-hike 'bug-out' I use the same pack I use everyday. I work at a university in research as dress is casual enough that I can more or less wear what I would on a day-hike. Trouble starts when I want to dig into my weekend hiking stuff. I really need two separare kits. It's all mostly dirtbag stuff anyway.

If you have a list to work from and all your gear stored in a central spot, you should be able to 'bug out' in the time it takes to assemble your food + approx 1/2 hour. No need to keep it all in your pack. Especially since seasonal weather doesn't stay still, and whatever you stored in the pack might not be exactly right for the overnighter or two-nighter you want to 'bug out' for.

I never store anything in my packs--mostly because I take different packs and different gear depending on the conditions, terrain, etc. I like to keep everything organized and select specific gear that's most appropriate for the specific hike.

Ditto. Emptying the pack, cleaning the gear, and putting it on the shelf is the first thing I do when I get home.

I wish I had more storage in my house. No basement. I need some man space.

I have several packs and I keep them packed with the gear that goes in that specific pack for it's particular uses. I have my hunting packs and they all are on a specific shelf (each) with the bivy and tarp or tent plus pads that I muse only with that pack, the various bits of specialized hunting gear for that hunting, grouse is different from elk and so forth.

I DO store my bags in large cotton sacks and have a specific bag for each pack/gear setup as I travel around BC and find certain gear works best in certain regions. It is easier, more efficient and less stressful to do this, it is an adaptation from the "fire packs" of my misspent youth working in forestry and fire control.

I keep each setup apart from others and packed, I air my bags monthly, keep all my gear on stacking plastic ventilated shelving and it works well for me. My winter gear is used ONLY for winter as I like to cook just outside my tent or in the vestibule and this gets food odours into the fabric. I DO NOT use this tent in Grizzly country as I have no interest in attracting bears, there was just another attack this morning up the coast here and taking chances with these animals is just foolish.

I sometimes think that one spends almost as much time looking after one's gear as using it, but, given the high cost of fine equipment, only a fool does not look after it.

With my backpack, everything comes out and is cleaned up right after a trip. I would rather not store anything in the backpack. That's because my sleeping bag (which comes out of its dry bag, is aired, fluffed up and then put into its big cotton storage bag the instant I get home) normally goes in the bottom of the backpack. Everything else has to come out anyway so I can clean out the pine needles, dog hair, etc. that remain in the bottom of the pack. After a summer of dusty or muddy trails, my pack usually needs a wash anyway. All the items that go into my backpack, except for the sleeping bag and tent, reside in a plastic bin. When it's packing time, one of the beds in my guest bedroom is commandeered as a place to lay everything out and check it against my list. I can actually pack up a lot faster if the backpack is completely empty when I start. If I left anything in the backpack, I would have to take it out first to insert the sleeping bag.

My day-hiking pack, though, is always fully loaded and ready to go--all I need is lunch and water. For the most part, I have separate items for the daypack than I do for the backpack. The only items in common, at the moment, are my headlamp and first aid kit. Eventually, I'll have duplicates of those for my daypack, too.

The main difference here is that (1) there is nothing in my daypack that would be harmed by being stored compressed, (2) I dayhike, or at least exercise-walk around home with the daypack, several times each week and (3) my daypack has a bunch of small compartments, while my backpack is one big cavernous (relatively) hole, in which small items tend to drift to the bottom. It's therefore much easier to check the contents of my daypack (to make sure I haven't forgotten something important) without unpacking it.

I do have different packs for different things, but I never leave any thing inside my packs when I am at home, especially my sleeping bags. I usually use a "check list" that makes sure that every thing that I need on any given trip goes with me when I leave, so that I do do not forget any thing. Well I use the same sort of system for taking the my gear out of the pack that I use for putting it in. That way I can inspect every thing and make sure that it is in good working order before I have to worry about the next time. You know, alcohol bottles filled, new batteries put in electronics or whatever needs to be done.. If I have a piece of gear that is not functioning properly I either start to use it as a spare or use it for something else and replace it, or, if it does not work at all, just dispose of it and replace it..

The first step that you take will be one of those that get you there....