Review: Mystery Ranch Coulee 30 Day Pack

One of the great skills every adventurer needs to hone is packing. It sounds trivial—just throw some stuff in a bag, right? No. Adventures go awry because of poor packing. The ice ax needs to be where the ice ax needs to be. Learning where the ice ax needs to be is part of the adventure, but once you know, you know. This is true for everything you bring, no matter where you go, whether you're backpacking the PCT, climbing crags in the Wind River range, or sailing for Tahiti.

To pack like a master you must study how the masters pack. For me, this has meant years of hanging out with river guides, trail crews, forest service employees, and sailors. This is how I've come to find things like NRS straps, Helly Hanson foulies, and Mystery Ranch packs. Almost everyone I know who works in the backcountry relies on a Mystery Ranch pack. I've yet to try one of the company's larger packs, but the Coulee 30, which Mystery Ranch launched last year, is one of the best day packs I've ever used.

The Coulee 30 strikes the right balance between weight, comfort, organization, and capacity to make an excellent day pack that's capable of overnight trips if you have lightweight gear.

Design and Fit

The Coulee 30 is not the kind of ultralight day pack that trail runners will stop and ask about (which has happened with my Mountainsmith waist pack). At 2.7 pounds for the men's L/XL I tested, this is definitely on the heavy side for a day pack, but that weight translates to a solid pack with an incredibly comfortable suspension system. I've carried as much 28 pounds in this pack, and it was still comfortable.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

The suspension is adjustable, allowing you to customize the fit (something of a rarity at this pack capacity). There’s a hook-and-loop fastener that moves the shoulder yoke up and down to wherever is best for your body. It's not the easiest thing to adjust, which is good, I suppose, since it means it won't move around, but it is something of a pain to get adjusted. Luckily you should have to do this only a few times to get the fit dialed in. If you're between sizes (I'm between the S/M and L/XL), I suggest sizing up. It's easier to make the larger pack fit a slightly smaller torso than it is to upsize the S/M size.

Both the back panel and S-shaped shoulder straps are nicely padded, and once you have the fit dialed in, the Coulee 30 is incredibly comfortable, even with heavy loads. There are adjustment straps at the shoulders to transfer weight forward and back as needed, and while there aren't true straps like that on the waist belt, the way the belt is constructed makes it easy to transfer most of the weight to it by loosening and tightening the main buckle. The sternum strap is a little smaller than I'd like, but it does the job.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

The hip belt is entirely optional. You can unclip it from the buckles and slide it out in situations where it would get in the way (when wearing a climbing harness, for example). I primarily use the Coulee with the hip belt, in part because I find the two stash pockets incredibly handy to store all the rocks and other trail findings my kids are handing me during hikes.

The back pads are aerated to some degree, though if I had a gripe about this pack it's that it gets a little warm and sweaty at times. Not enough to be a huge deal, but it might not by my top pick if I were heading in to the Big Thicket in late summer.

Y Factor

Much of what I love about this pack is Mystery Ranch’s signature Y-shaped, three-zipper access design system. There are three zippers, two on each side of the pack lid, and one running down the middle of the back of the pack. They all meet in a Y below the lid. There are nice long pull loops on all the zippers, which is handy for closing it up, but to open I stick my hand in the Y and pull the lid up. If I'm after something deeper, I'll unzip the middle zipper to find it.

The internal organization of the Coulee 30 ... doesn't exist. It's just one main pocket. As I've written elsewhere, this is how I like packs. I prefer to build my own little kits using smaller bags to organize (it's bags all the way down people). If you like lots of little internal stash pockets, this not the pack for you. Most of the time I use a couple of Evergood's organizers, the Access Pouch 2L ($75) holds my lenses, and the Access Pouch 1L ($75) keeps smaller items together. Mystery Ranch also makes some organizers, like the Zoid Bags, that I have not tested.

The outside of the back is a different story. In addition to the two side pockets on the hip belt, there's a top pocket with a zipper right behind your head. This is quite large and features a mesh bottom so you can see the contents when you open the main compartment. There are four pockets on the back of the pack as well. Two side pockets made of stretchy nylon are nice for water bottles, tenkara poles, and other longer items. One of the two side compression straps passed right above these pockets, so you can use that to securely hold larger items you put in these pockets.

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

There are two additional expandable pockets on the back of the pack that are good for smaller items (each has a 2L capacity). I like that these pockets have expandable fabric folds, which means stuffing them full doesn't steal volume from the main compartment. I tend to keep smaller, frequent-access things in here: snacks, rain jacket, second water bottle, etc. The side compression straps are attached to these pockets as well, so you can cinch them down nice and tight.

There's also a variety of webbing and loops around the pack—three loops on the bottom and some webbing with shock cording just above the four outside pockets. To be honest, I have never attached anything to the stitched webbing. Unlike everything else on this pack, the webbing is very thin and does not inspire confidence. About all I've done with it is use the shock chord to keep a travel tripod (otherwise secured in the back pocket) from moving around too much. My only other gripe about this pack is the top handle, which is a single thin piece of webbing that also isn't up to the standards of the rest of the pack.

I do like that the Coulee is compatible with most of Mystery Ranch’s organizational extras, like the Wingman AFP, which attaches to the shoulder straps to give you somewhere to put your sunglasses, or GoPro, or whatever you want to have always at hand.

This ultimately is the Coulee's greatest strength (aside from the phenomenal comfort): It's a very flexible pack, able to adapt to the way you pack. Find the perfect internal organizer for your camera lenses? Throw it in. Need to strap down an ice ax? Haul a climbing rope? Temporarily ditch the hip belt to knock out a quick 5.8 crack? The Coulee can handle just about anything you throw at it.