For a day’s hike in the woods there is still much to bring – but hardly the right bag for the job. Many large packs are overkill, and the smaller packs still mean jamming things in the pockets or worse having the hands filled!
Mountainsmith might have a solid solution with its Lumbar-Recycled Series Day TSL R. It is bigger than the usual waist-sized pack but smaller than a backpack – in other words just the right size for those who are going on a trek but not a serious adventure. We see it could come in handy on a trek during an adventure as well.
It features zippered main compartment with a zippered hanging pocket within. This will come in handy if you stuff the pack with food items, an outer shell jacket or just “stuff,” but still need to be able to stash some essentials such as passports, money, eye drops or those other often used items but don’t want to go “digging” to find it. The main compartment is also divided with a neoprene sleeve. This allows a place to put a tablet PC, because these day’s what is a trek without a tablet! We like that magazines, travel books and notably old-fashioned paper maps can slide into that spot as well.
In addition to the main compartment the TSL R also offers a front panel pocket as well. This includes a key loop so you don’t need to dig for keys, or access the main compartment’s hanging pocket either. Together these pockets offer room for pretty much everything you’d need on a trek – but this pack keeps giving.
It features two water bottle pockets, one on each side to balance things out. This can accommodate two 32-ounce water bottles so the TSL R will let you hike the distance. There are even pockets for additional items in the tuck-away waist belt and space for a map or energy bars (at least if those are flat) or a DK travel book in the air mesh foam back panel! With all these pockets the only complaint is that it could remain hard to know where you stuffed something.
In our hands on tests we found the waist belt to be comfortable, and the bag was able to carry what we needed with room to spare. While you’re bound to get sweaty under the back panel or waist belt in hot weather it wasn’t any worse than wearing a hydration pack or other bag. The yellow lining of the pack helped make it easy to search the bag, and find the item we were looking for.
Even with a tablet, maps, some food, light shirt, keys, mobile phone and a travel book the pack manages to distribute weight very well. The bag can be used as a small shoulder bag, which is how we liked to use it. The only problem in this configuration is that the waist belt adds bulk and weight as it isn’t removable. We know making a removable waist belt would complicate matters, especially as this is a lumbar-based system, but most of the time we opted to tuck it away.
The bag is also strapette compatible, which is offered separately. This will offer the ability to use the back for longer, and makes it more durable and with great weight inside, but as it doesn’t add any room we’d have to wonder how practical this really is, but we do like that the company realized this should be an option.
Overall the pack is light weight enough that even with the belt it still does the job reasonably well. It isn’t made in America but it is reportedly made of ReForge Ripstop PET body fabric that comes from 100 percent recycled plastic water bottles, with 12 16-ounces water bottles going into each bag. So in this way the bag – not to mention Mountainsmith – is doing its part in helping out the environment. The bag features Duramax HT Nylon and a Poly liner, so we were careful about weather conditions when we tested the bag. It will do a reasonable job of keeping the stuff inside dry but we’re not totally convinced. This isn’t exactly the most waterproof of bags.
There are those times when any bag just won’t do. As with tools you need the right bag for the job, and for those times when we need to carry a few items, whether it is a trek to a few museums and tourist sites, or a walk in the woods the TLS R backpack is the one we could see grabbing. We like to think of this as the optimum “go pack” for the those who just like to pack up and go!