YO

Hey Redrocks has a lot of potential but no water. Go out there for long and you'll need to carry a LOT MORE than the mentioned tent and sleeping bag. You might even want (Oh please forgive me) an ALICE pack.


First off I am an advocate of LARGE packs. The stuff sacks and compression required to force gear into a small pack just to look cool is kinda wasted on me. And as you get new gear your needs will change and as some else said, this is why we say buy your pack last, but then no one wants to hear that.

As Wandering Daisy ponted out - its not a good thing to have your tent spread around in your pack when it comes up a storm. Better is to have the tent strapped to the outside of your pack on one side so you can remove the tent to set it up without having to open the pack in a rain. Put your sleeping bag and clothes in your pack and hang something on the side oposite the tent to balance it, like food, or your rolled up airmattress.

Of course others will tell you to ditch the tent, and everybody needs a selection of sleeping bags. Well heck a selection of packs is cool too - that way you can take one that your gear fits in. Once we ran into an injured friend in Yosemite and we split his gear into our packs - good thing we both have HUGE packs. They also make leg bivy sacks.
Jim