The good folks from Stone Glacier provided me with their new Tokeen Day pack to review. What Stone Glacier says about the Tokeen: “The Tokeen 2600 is built from the chassis of our ultralight Terminus packs with a minimalist design specialized for scouting, day rips, and endless everyday applications.”
Stone Glacier Tokeen
The Tokeen is a 42 liter (2600 cubic inches) internal frame pack and almost exclusively constructed of ULTRA (UHMWPE) and X-Pac fabrics–both are waterproof. The stated weight of the Tokeen is 2 lbs. 15 oz, and this is exactly what I got when I weighed it. Breaking the weight further down—the frame weighs 9.2 oz and is fully removable, as is the padded waist belt, which weighs 6.8 oz. If you were traveling, you might want to remove both of these, reducing the weight by a full pound.
The Tokeen retails for $349 and can be seen here.
The frame is a lightweight plastic sheet with two (crossed) carbon fiber stays. It measures 22” in length.
My Use
I received this pack in early April. Since then, I’ve used it almost daily on my local single-track trails, several long (10+ mile) day hikes, and even a few overnighters, racking up 300+ miles.
As you can probably guess, this pack was designed to be used as a day pack, not as a meat hauler. It does, however, mate up to any of their hauling frames if hauling meat is on the list of tasks. I tried the Tokeen out with several different loaded weights and found 35-ish lbs to be comfortable, but much over that, it was not as comfortable. I do think that if one was hunting and wanted to get some meat out (switching to a frame at your vehicle) it’s doable, just keep the weight in the 35 lb. range.
Overnighting
While the pack probably wasn’t designed with overnighters in mind, with some judicious packing, you can squeeze a 2-3 day trip in. I did a couple of overnight trips with it, spring bear hunting. If I had happened to kill a bear, I’d have been back for the majority of it with a framed pack.
Tokeen Organization
The Stone Glacier Tokeen has two exterior pockets: a small one on top and a little larger one below it. The small one is good for stashing sunglasses, beanie/light gloves, headlamps, smaller water filter—smaller stuff you want handy. The other pocket I found works well with flatter items like maps, TP, & lunch in a gallon Ziplock, etc.
The main bag has a rather roomy interior zipped pocket up top–I kept my first aid kit, fire kit, repair bits, etc. in it. There is also a place to hang their optional swing-out or camp pockets. This is also where you would hang a water bladder if using one.
At the interior bottom, there is a small sleeve that will help secure a Nalgene bottle or a small spotter (I kept a Swaro’ ATC in it).
Compression Straps Add Capacity
The exterior of the pack has three straps that allow securing items on the side of the pack and/or the front of the pack. I found out how useful that was on a day trip with my wife, when I realized at the trailhead we’d need snowshoes. She had a very small daypack so I had to secure both pairs of snowshoes on the Tokeen (and a small snow shovel too!).
The side straps were nice for securing a tripod, trekking poles, etc.
The bottom has a pair of lashing straps. I found them rather short. I could fit a small pad (Thermarest Z-seat) and a compactly rolled hard shell, but barely— another 4-5” of strap would be much handier.
No Belt Pockets
What the pack didn’t come with is pockets on the waist belt. I want pockets for snacks, sunscreen, and spare ammo- stuff I want handy and don’t want to take the pack off for. Stone Glacier did send me a pair of belt pockets for their Terminus line (exact same material as the Tokeen.) The pockets work OK, but not optimally; I had one fall off on a long hike (the strap pulled through, allowing the pocket to fall). I think my duct tape fix might cure that from happening again; we’ll see.
The pack would greatly benefit from an inward belt pull. I was able to rig something up to allow this, but it wasn’t very easy. I think it would be pretty easy to do at their shop; their hauling packs all have this feature.
A word or two on Ultra Fabric
This stuff is waterproof, but the pack’s seams aren’t taped, so they can’t claim the pack to be waterproof. In all reality and from my experience, the pack is waterproof. I still use very light dry bags, just in case. The durability of Ultra is very good, especially considering the weight. I’ve seen some crazy tests (like dragging a loaded pack behind a bike over different surfaces for long periods) and it appears the claims definitely have merit.
In the noise department, the Ultra falls between Cordura (slighter quieter) and X-pac (louder). I can’t base this on hard data, but I believe the Tokeen I’m using is quieter now than the day I received it—a little break-in of the fabric I suspect.
Conclusion
In my opinion, this is a very nice little pack. It’s not a meat hauler and wasn’t designed to be, but it could haul some meat (and weight) if needed. If the intended use is hauling meat on a day hunt, it can readily be mated to one of their hauling frames. This is a day pack that can be used year-round in all conditions and would also be a very nice travel pack.
Comment or ask Mike questions here.
