Thanks, I’ll take a look.
FWIW, I purchased a tarryall for exactly the same reasons. I had a framed pack, but it was overkill for shorter trips. The tarryall seemed like a good overnight/2-night/whitetail pack. I had used an express for years for these purposes, and although I loved the cut of the pack, it felt slightly too small because of the layout (hard to access stuff at the bottom of the pack because the top opening was too narrow). And I wanted front-loading access. I purchased an X-ray, but it was too small. (I also bought and returned packs from kuiu and stone glacier.) I sold both packs when kifaru released the 14er, but I just couldn’t get past the incomplete front zip. After much deliberation and a lot of money lost on shipping and depreciation, I went with the tarryall instead.
And sold it after a two-day scouting trip. I found it to be too bulky, awkward, and big—I could live for a week out of that thing. (Like you, my base-weight is in the teens or or less, not counting firearms.) You can’t add or subtract pockets—and one of kifaru’s main attractions for is (or used to be) its modularity. Also, I scraped the tarryall up against a rock as I was scaling a low cliff, and cut a hole in the pack. The express I had went with me to a half-dozen countries and through all sorts of terrain, and it looked good as new the day I sold it.
After toying with the idea of picking up an old late season, I went with a used Xing instead. Couldn’t be happier. It’s slim and fits right to one’s back, like the express/spike camp but is larger and has slightly longer stays; has panel- and top-loading access like the tarryall, but you can add pockets (which you can’t do with the tarryall); and I like that it’s 1000d.
So, my 2 cents: the xing is really hard to beat for what you’re describing. You could hang it from a tree, and use the panel for access. Or live up to 5 days out of it with extra pockets and compressible gear. But it’s so g—am expensive that I could only bring myself to purchase one after years of buying and selling (and loosing money on) the alternatives.
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