Met a guy on the Pacific Crest Trail who taught me to pack my bag different

I was hiking near Mount Whitney about 3 years ago and ran into this older dude named Gene at a creek crossing. He saw me struggling with my pack and said 'son, you got your sleeping bag at the bottom, that's why you're tilting backwards.' He showed me how to put my heavy stuff in the middle and keep my tent on top. I tried it right there and walked for another 6 miles without that annoying lean. Has anyone else had a random stranger change their whole packing system on the fly?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia5734d ago

Totally fixed my back pain after a stranger rearranged my whole pack too.

evan_morgan814d ago

A buddy of mine from work had almost the same thing happen to him on the John Muir Trail. Some guy named Dave saw him trying to re-tie his gear at a rest stop and just walked over and started pulling everything out of his pack. He told him the sleeping bag being low was making him fight gravity the whole way. My friend said he felt like a new person after that, no more wobbling on the switchbacks.