Shoutout to the PCT hiker who told me my pack was riding too low

Last month on a section of the John Muir Trail near Reds Meadow, a thru-hiker just stopped me and said hey, your hip belt is sitting wrong. I'd been carrying my Gregory pack the same way for three years, always had sore shoulders after day two. Turns out the belt should be snug over your hip bones, not riding below them. Tightened it up and walked 12 miles that afternoon without the usual ache. Anyone else get a simple gear fix from a stranger on trail?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadeyoung1d ago

Three years with the same Gregory pack and you never once thought to check the hip belt adjustment yourself? I mean c'mon lol, that's day one stuff right there in the owner's manual or even a 2 minute YouTube video. But yeah, I guess the trail stranger angle makes a better story for Instagram than "I finally read the instructions" does. Glad it worked out for you though, seriously. Still, I bet half the people reading this are gonna go adjust their belts and act like they discovered fire for the first time.

ray2101d ago

Huh, you know what nobody's brought up yet? That "trail stranger" probably saved that guy from a lifetime of back pain, not just a sore neck. I've seen folks with packs set way too high or low for years, and they just think hiking's supposed to hurt. A quick adjustment from a stranger can fix bad habits that an owner's manual never will, like how to actually load the pack for your body shape. So yeah, reading helps, but sometimes you need a real person to point out what you're missing.