Kestrel 38L Men's Backpacking Backpack

Coming from someone who was light infantry and had the “pleasure” of using this squeaky bastard on countless a twelve mile ruck march, I’d avoid it like the plague. If you’re interested in using military surplus gear, go with the ALICE pack instead. In complete honesty though, your money would be mu

I was between this and the osprey kestrel 58 and ended up with the osprey. Was much cheaper that way, but the main reason was the fit on my back. You gotta try it on

For dry canyons I'd highly recommend sticking with something with a proper frame. The Kolob is great, but SO expensive... Something like a used Osprey Scorpion, Osprey Kestrel, or similar works fine and can be found cheapy useconsumables. Canyon packs are a consumable.

I went to REI and tried on a bunch of packs with an associate’s help. I settled on the Kite/Kestrel model from Osprey. I ended up not purchasing in store and glad I didn’t bcus I found one on the REI outlet site for less (kestrel 38 for $136, normal $220 USD). Their return policy and I’m a member ma