For a two day trip over moderate terrain would you take a internal or external frame pack?

Blake

This is a typical question that comes up a lot when shopping for a pack. The first answer is always another question - What do you plan on carrying in/on your pack? Without knowing the answer to that question, we have to make assumptions based on our own needs and items carried and make generalities. That may or may not match your requirements.

My personal pack for 2 days will vary a fair bit with the weather. For winter where I can't resupply, I might just take my 72 litre MEC bag, as heavy as it is, just so that I have a little bit extra space. Otherwise I would probably use my 50 litre Ospery bag. The smallest I would consider is my 30 litre bag but that depends on the weather, terrain, expected items to carry, whether I could resupply on a daily basis or perhaps I am eating very little. But like I said, this is all my recommendations for me and my equipment.

Nearly everyone has moved to internal frame styles...the external is really limited to very specific uses ( hunting, etc)

I have an external framed Berghaus Freeflow light 32 Litre backpack, it is very light and weighs in around 800 grams.

For 2 Days I would add the following

Platypus 2 Litre water carrier and drinking tube and Pure Inline water filter. @ 200gms
Millbank bag. @ 100 gms
Vango Down Bag @ 850 gms Comfort 3C - Extreme -9C
Sil nylon ground sheet @ 90 gms
Thermarest Neoair short @250 gms
SOL Escape Bivvy @250 gms
Alpkit Carbon Walking Poles @300 gms
Sil Nylon Basha - Terra Nova Competition Tarp 1 @ 300gms
Bug head net. @50 gms
Alpkit Titanium Spoon and 10 tent pegs (i.e mix of MSR 7075 and Alpkit Ti)
Alpkit 1.4 Litre pot and frypan + Stainless Steel wood gas stove @ 400 gms
250ml Firedragon fuel. 250gms
Lighter, LMF cadet Ferro cerium striker and 20 BCB Windproof matches
Vargo Titanium 700ml Water bottle. @ 130 gms
Enzo Camper Knife @ 185 gms
Silky Pocketboy 170mm saw (without plastic case) 190 gms
2 days of food. @ 750 gms per day = 1500 gms (mostly freeze dried from Expedition Foods in the UK)
FAK @ 200 gms
Map and compass @225 gms
Tooth brush + Tooth Paste + Soap + microfibre towel @ 250 gms
Swingflex Solar Umbrella @ 230 gms

Total Weight is approx 9.5kg (21 lbs) with 2.65 litres of water

You may also want to take a Goretex Jacket and over trouser @ 600-700 gms

I haven't seen an external frame pack in a backpacking store forever (decades maybe?) So based on that alone, I'd go for an internal frame. I always associated external frame packs with carrying very heavy or oddball shaped loads. Something you wouldn't normally run into on a two day trip. Back when I was young and backpacking, external frames were very prevelant. But that was because they hadn't invented internal frames yet...

Actually internal frames predate externals and the early forerunners of both types that were in use about 100 years ago were pretty bad compared to those that came later. In the 1950s Dick Kelty boosted modern backpacking with his development of a great external frame. I would still be using mine if it hadn't been stolen.

Really good external frames came along in the 1970s (North Face et al). Built and packed right, they carry just as well and are easier to use in rough brush and rocky situations, hence are generally more versatile. I still use an external frame for really weird loads like fossil mammoth parts and the like.

Use whichever holds the load you plan to carry and that fits you best. Fit trumps everything.

PS. If you will have the need to stow your gear in a plane, helicopter, or boat, the internal frame pack rules...