Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and to backpacking. I have a lot of coworkers and friends that backpack and being an avid camper I have been wanting to backpack for a long time. My first question is about packs.

I get %50 off from Gregory packs (as well as Nemo,big agnes and helinox) , which I have been reading are great. What Gregory pack would suit me for 2-5 days of packing? I am leaning toward the baltoro 65. Any tips? Im sure I will have more questions about future equiptment.

Your best bet is to buy your equipment first, then see how big of a pack you'll need.

Second that. The general advice is to wait to buy the pack (rent or borrow meantime) until you have the rest of your gear. Then box it up (include the weight/bulk equivalent of a week's food and a day's water) and take it to the store with you. The pack needs to fit your body, fit your gear and fit you with your gear loaded inside.

I personally would not buy a 5 lb. pack when there are much lighter packs that will do the job. However, pack fit is as individual as shoe fit, so I certainly can't speak for all.

Before investing in gear, you might want to read the articles and gear lists on the home page of this site, left hand column.

Gregory's are great packs for some people. A pack is one piece of gear that people will rarely give specific recommendations. The only thing that is important is fit, fit, and fit. How the pack fits you, how the pack fits your gear, and how the pack fits you with the gear.

As mentioned above, the standard recommendation here is to get all your other gear first, then bring it all into a shop during slow periods of the day and try on packs with your gear inside. That could get a newbie into a bit of trouble, because newbies tend to bring too much stuff initially. If you follow the standard advice you could end up with a massive 85+L pack that's really comfortable for the first 10 minutes of the backpacking trip. There is some advantage of getting a smaller pack first and then being forced to only pack the gear you need in it later.

Even at 50% off, the Baltero 65 is more than you need to spend for a pack. And at 5 lb 10 oz, it's not likely you will use it long.

The summer is close to over, and if you want to get some backpacking in this year, I wouldn't spend too long doing research. Whatever you buy, you will replace in a few years if you keep backpacking.

Before buying gear, it helps to have a list of everything you will buy and the weights. Use a postage scale to weigh everything as the weights in specs are often wrong, especially with clothes. Once you have the list, then you can start buying the gear on the list or the equivalent. The important numbers on the list are the weights for each item. Here is one I made up a few years ago.

It's not the gear I use. It's the gear I might buy if I was starting over with some money to spend at once. This setup is for four days and 1 gallon of water.