A look at the flyers kit bag. A surplus store special that makes trip organization easy.
In the past, when I was getting ready for a trip. I’d have a large pile of “stuff” near my door so I would not forget anything. My pack, of course. But also shoes, camera, map, hat, clothes worn while hiking and so on.
I’d look like a walking version of the old Beverly Hillbillies show. Esp in winter when my ski boots were schlepped with me down to the car. I also found out that a travel coffee mug fits just right in a leather ski boot…
from Wikipedia
But then I became much more intelligent and thought: “Self, the big bag you use for car camping can swallow up your climbing gear or your backpacking gear or skiing gear, too.”
Whowouldathunk it?
So, I consolidated everything I needed for a trip in one bag: the flyers kit bag.
More cargo space than a standard duffel, it can swallow everything. Ski boots are thrown in, my loaded pack for the day, my camera, and a change of clothes for the all-important apres-ski (beer and burgers, naturally). Naturally for backpacking trips, with my typically small pack, EVERYTHING fits inside the bag, too.
The large, full-length zipper makes the opening of the bag very wide and convenient, too.
Everything is consolidated into one easy load by the door for the following morning’s travel.
And at about $30 used from your friendly military surplus sellers such as found on eBay or Amazon, they are quite the bargain too.
Another durable, versatile and inexpensive item that can make the pre- and post-trail time a lot easier.
This summer I learned about the difficulty of organizing multiple backpacking adventures within a single trip. We’d take a 3-4 day trip, then get back to the car, and drive to our next trail. Then trying to find all the gear scattered through out the car became an ordeal. I know you’re probably thinking “Just put it all in the backpack” but different trails required slightly different gear, and then we had to launder stuff. This idea is perfect for that. Everything goes in the flight bag and when you’re prepping your pack you just dump all the contents on… Read more »
I’ve had one of these since I was back in Rhode Island. First was an old school canvas one that was so beat up by the time we married, Mrs Mags made me get rid of it. 🙂 And the second one made of nylon. Unlike a typical gym or duffel bag, it is so much easier to shove stuff in. Great item esp for the price!