Overnight load question

[blake_mhoona]

Still a newbie so I don't know all the ins and outs of backpacking. I'm Going on an overnight 20 mile backpacking trip. I've been training and am ready but I have a question on loading my pack. For this trip I'll be taking my kifaru markhor and 26" hunting frame, 20* synthetic bag, sleeping pad, food, water, and tent (plus other various quick access type things in belt pockets etc)

While I've been training for a few hours each day I just stuff my sleeping bag in the bottom, my sleeping pad on top of it, and my uncompressed tent and rain fly on top of that. This makes the bag appear full. However when I put my bag in a kifaru 5 string compression sack, and my tent in a 10 liter compression sack the bag is approximately half full. My question is for loading and comfort purposes do I:

A) keep everything in their compression bags and shut off the bottom of the bag via compression strap and load everything from the markhor second compression strap up

B) load everything in compression bags and stack it starting at the bottom and just run it half full

C) leave everything out of the compression bags and let the bag appear full like my training hikes

D) doesn't matter

E) something else

 

[SHTF]

All of the above really. Its going to be completely up to you how you load your pack and what works best for you. I have much better luck and I feel my gear is safer when its in its own sacks. Sleeping bag is a big one. For you its not to big of a deal the Slick bag can handle it but stuffing a down bag or quilt into the pack is a bit sketchy. But with the rhino skin and synthetic down you don't have as much to worry about. Some guys stuff their sleeping bag into the dead air spaces to fill the pack to its potential.
As you probably already have it takes practice and loading and unloading your pack 50+ times till you figure out what works best for you. When I am loading my Bag is on bottom in a compression sack then I use XL Pullouts to load the rest of my gear into so when I go to unload my pack I only have to pull out 3 to 4 XL Pullouts and then my sleeping bag and shelter. This keeps me organized and I know which bag to grab if I want to grab something.
Keep doing what your doing and test out the methods you listed above. You'll soon learn what works best for you and your needs.

 

[dec0y]

My experience is that bags always carry best when close to full volume. I like my pack to use all of the available volume I can, then fine tune with compression straps on the pack.

So, I prefer to leave the sleeping bag uncompressed in the bottom of the bag. I do put it in a garbage compactor bag for extra protection from water and abrasion. You should also know that sleeping bags will perform best when not heavily compressed for long periods of time. Unless you really need the volume, I would never use a compression sack for my bag.

Everything else in the pack goes on top of the uncompressed bag, and I top off with my my dense items (food and water) to keep the load riding high.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

I just stuff my Markhor. Only thing I pay attention to is putting weight (water) a little higher up in the pack and close to my back.