I hiked up to emerald lake in the Trinity Alps, CA over 4 days. Great views and saw some really awesome wildlife. The Kakwa is my first real ‘Ultralight’ pack and it weighed in at ~20lbs fully packed with food and water. I felt like it carried great, and was super comfortable for the whole trip. I have a few gripes with the pack though: the front pocket could be longer, and stretchier IMO, the right water bottle pocket didn’t securely hold my nalgene, and the pack isn’t seam sealed at all. It seems like a bummer to have a pack made out of waterproof material and have no seam sealing at all. I used a pack liner and all my down gear stayed dry through the rain but water definitely came through the seams. I’m thinking of trying to seam seal the pack myself but I’m not sure how to go about it. Does anyone have tips on products and application?
Looks like a great spot to hike to whatever the pack!
As far as the water bottle…most ultralight hikers I know have abandoned nalgenes in favor of lightweight disposable water bottles - looks like the Durston web site shows a pair of 750ml Smartwater bottles in that pocket. Might be worth a try, and cheap to find out if you prefer that to a nalgene.
I usually figure if it’s raining hard enough for seams to leak stuff is going to get wet when I pack/unpack at camp anyhow, so I just go for keeping clothes & sleep gear in a plastic bag and don’t worry about the rest. But if I were to seam seal a pack, I’d definitely go for the outside - trying to do the inside would have problems with the seam binding being in the way of the actual seam I think. Probably stuff the pack with something first too, though not something I cared too much about in case some of the sealant gets through. Old blankets maybe.
I know about the smart water bottles but I guess I was hesitant to give up my trusty nalgene 😅. Another commenter posted a link to a BPL discussion on seam sealing ultra and many people came to the same conclusion - external sealing being the most feasible. I might give that a shot.
I feel ya on the nalgene hesitancy. It took me quite a while to ditch mine, but the weight saving is considerable. FWIW, I’ve never had a Smartwater/Lifewtr bottle break in the field, have used them for hot water bottles at night without leaks, and reused dozens of times. Just don’t let them sit wet between trips.