The Ozark Trail: A Guide to Hiking Missouri’s Mountains

I don’t make it a habit of buying my gear from Walmart, but this was a excellent purchase. I use this pack on a daily basis to carry my office clothes while I ride my bike to work and to carry light loads while out Geocaching. My favorite way to keep kids happy on hikes is to invite their friends. It’s amazing how much complaining happens on a hike with only one family.

I have noticed that when I fill the bag up full or close to full it puts stress on the stitching. To resolve this issue, I do not fill it completely up with heavy stuff. Honestly, most of my trips it’s a quarter full and the water bladder and extra water bottles are what makes it heavy. After the last few trips and hiking with a near empty bag, I decided to get a 20-liter bag since my gear only fills up about that half my normal bag. My suggestion is to get a smaller bag for shorter trips so can save on weight.

ozark trail backpack

It has an open top side pocket, a vertical hidden pocket and a large zippered main compartment. It is also designed to hold a 15″ laptop in the padded pocket. I’ll be totally honest, I was not expecting this cooler to be as nice as it was. It’s easy to get caught up in brand perception and often times very difficult to break away from what you think you know about a brand.

We had our shoes, trekking poles, and water bladders. This pack fits me fine and is very comfortable for lightweight loads. I use it as a day pack when doing multi-day hikes. It’s light enough that I don’t mind putting it in ozark trail chair my backpack and it takes up almost no space at all. And on summit day, I sure am glad I have a daypack! For day hikes this is just as good as (and lighter than) my Osprey Daylite that retails for almost four times more.

When I first got the bag, I had issues with shoulder straps that pulls the bag up higher/lower on the back. But now ozark trail chair it’s settled and almost never moves on me. In product design, UX gets a lot of attention—and for good reason.

I plan to pick up another if/when this one wears out. All told, I’ve had the pack on my back for about 50 miles. Keeping the load under 15 pounds seems to be the key. I really wanted to use it for our fall two-nighter on the AT, but was unable to fit my bivy with a 20 degree Kelty Cosmic down bag inside. I contemplated stepping down to the 45 degree bag, but thankfully, did not. I know some will immediately dismiss my review simply because I bought this pack at WalMart.

For the end-door variants, one has to toss their sleeping bag down the tent when getting ready for bed. Other items that you may want to keep at the foot of the sleeping area are also hard to access or reach if your head is near the door. For these styles, it seems most people want their head at the door side and so they have a constraint for which way the tent is set up if the ground is not flat. On the other hand, accessing the tent from the middle, or on the long side, gives one more degree of freedom. Assuming a symmetrical tent, like the Ozark Trail, my head could be placed at either end and both options would feel equally comfortable.

Prior to taking it out on the trail, I did give it two coats of silicone spray so that it would shed water. Packing-wise, I chose to line it with a garbage disposal liner. Before you leave home be sure to let a friend or family member know where you’re going and what you’ll be doing. Indicate how many days you will be gone and approximately where you plan to stay each night. A backpacking stove is a convenient way to boil water for dehydrated meals and instant coffee without adding a lot of weight to your pack. One of the best parts of hiking is settling around a campfire at the end of the day and enjoying a hot meal.

We hike anywhere from 3 to 4 miles at a time up to 7 miles with a goal of a 10-mile round trip day hike. Sometimes it’s a single trail or we combine multiple trails at a state park. During these longer hikes I found it useful to have a large hiking bag and not just a school backpack.

My kids were toddlers the first time we went backpacking on a short, level trail where I carried everything and I knew they could do the hike with no problem. My four-year-old wanted to know when we could go again but my three-year-old was uninterested in another trip. Now he’s 12 and carries almost the same weight as I do and loves to help me plan trips with 10-mile days. Back in 2020 my wife and I decide on a last-minute backing trip to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. Because of this we realized we didn’t have all the gear we needed.