ALPS Mountaineering Bryce Backpack - External Frame

well so far all I have done is fill it up with 'goods' and put it on .... But I will say it is a very nice fit and it has several adjustable points for better comfort. the side pockets could be just a tid bit larger but not really an issue.

I Dig It! Great pack for getting away.

Hiking.

My 12yr old son needed a pack for overnighting with his Scout Troop. I shopped around a bit and he tried a few on in local stores. He didn't like any of them, and I was not inclined to spend $125-175 on a pack he did not like. As I did my research, the ALPS brand family kept coming up. Considering cost against features, the ALPS family of brands delivers the most bang for the buck. We ended up buying this Bryce pack for my son, an ALPSOutdoorz Commander pack & frame for me, two ultralight ALPS Mountaineering sleeping pads, and an ALPS Mountaineering Zephyr 3 tent. I've been highly impressed with all this gear. We've used it all for backcountry weekends and for front country camping (truck camping) as well. This pack is well made, sturdy, and has plenty of storage for a weekend and then some for a Boy Scout. The side pockets make convenient places to store items that might be needed in a pinch - such as first aid kits and trail snacks - but also for things like fuel cans for the stove (isobutane canisters) to keep them isolated from everything else. It took a few tries to get my son's pack adjusted properly for him, but after adjusting my own, I figured it out for him on the next round. Once I got the pack fit to him, he was very comfortable wearing it. Be sure to set it so the weight is carried on the hips, not the shoulders. It makes all the difference in the world. The good news is, after adjusting it to fit him at 5'6" tall, I am confident in the adjustment range providing fit for him until he's grown. In fact, in a matter of a few minutes one afternoon, as a test, I adjusted the pack to fit myself. It will barely do so, but at 6'2" with a fairly long torso, that makes this pack readily adjustable across most of the next four or five years of Scouting for my son. Figuring the cost of the pack, divided by 5yrs of use, makes this very economical. The next step up will be a bigger pack from ALPS, I'm sure. For our first overnight pack trip, I weighed his pack after we packed it, and it came to 23.5lbs, roughly. That was approaching the conventional limit of pack weight for a young Scout (~20-25% of body weight), but he felt like it was not too heavy for the trip. Our hike was down to the Walls of Jericho in northeast Alabama. That's 3.5mi with over 1000' of drop going in. That's the easy part. It's the 3.5mi and 1000' climb out that will get your attention. The pack made the trip easier, for sure, as he didn't spend time fighting his load going in or coming out. He could just focus on climbing up the well worn, but steep trail on the way out, rather than issues with his pack or load. The one thing I've noticed about ALPS packs, that I thought was a problem, is the hydration compartments are not deep enough to hold any larger than a 1L bladder in the upright position. We took 2L bladders sitting at about 30deg slant in our packs, and it worked fine. I suspect, from what I saw when packing, the deeper pocket would interfere with the capacity of the main compartment. As it turns out, it was not an issue at all. We were both able to drink the full volume of water in our hydration systems without any trouble, and the shallow pouch section was actually much easier to deal with when stopping to refill via filtering at streamside. If you're considering the Bryce pack for a Scout aged boy, I can tell you it's a great pack, and it fits teenage boys perfectly. If you're looking for other gear, definitely consider the brands in the ALPS family for tents, sleeping pads, and packs, at least!

Day pack used for search and rescue.

Gave it to my son as he started backpacking trips with the boy scouts. Has held up well to 2 short back to back camping trips. Nice color with lots of pockets. Looks to be very adjustable, and came with extra locking pins and rings. Could use a little more padding on the back. Only thing not sure of so far is if it will work well with a camelbak.

Nice, lots of pockets and room, harder and harder to find a nice external ram backpack for hiking. My wife's is a little older and made for a women, but she REALLY likes this one! It is that nice, but she won't trade her made for a woman one!

I am 6 feet tall and I was able to adjust the back for my size torso. I carried a moderate amount of wt. and the padding was very comfortable.

Comfortable, easy to pack and adjust. Does what it is supposed to do.

Very comfortable pack .