Hiking Backpack Links
Your gear choices have to fit your backpack, and vice versa. We have separate reports on
Among owner reviews for kids' backpacks at REI.com, top marks go to the REI Comet Pack Kids (*est. $85).
Experts recommend renting a backpack for the first trip or two, if you're not sure how much you'll enjoy backpacking. Quite a few outdoor-gear retailers rent backpacks, offering helpful advice for good measure.
With the right sewing machine, it's possible to make your own backpack (and other hiking gear). This seems to be especially popular among ultralight backpackers. You can find instructions for several different backpacks at the "Make Your Own Gear!" page on Backpacking.net, one of the sites for ultralight backpacking.
Fogdog Sports offers a backpack buying guide called "How to Buy A Backpack."
Backpacker Magazine offers a Gear Finder backpack selection tool that helps you sort through the dozens of packs they've reviewed by name, weight, capacity and price.
Another interesting guide called "How to choose an internal frame backpack" has some details others have left out, and is written by an Epinions user.
Here's a guide to selecting the right size Gregory backpack called "The Importance of Proper Fit."
For backpack news and reviews, check the sources in our All Reviews section. Also check The Gear Guy section on the Outside Magazine site.
Backpack manufacturers:
Coleman (Exponent)
EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports)



