Mystery Ranch

Radix 57L Backpack - Women's

Used on JMT -good with some annoying things

I just spent 19 days on the JMT with this pack and so have enough experience to really review it. To give you my background, I own five large capacity backpacks and have done 50+ miles on one trip a year for several years now and I run outdoor programs as part of my job. I got this pack about a month from my JMT hike because of the longer torso option. To answer the big question I had, this pack can fit the BV 500 upright and the Bearikade Weekender horizontally -but you’ll really struggle to get it in and out of the pack so I carried it upright as well. These bear canisters will leave enough room for your tent and pad next to them (if upright -see pic) with room to shove in jackets and other small items. If I had carried the Bearikade horizontally, I would have put my tent in a side pocket or strapped it to the bottom of the pack. PROs: -I LOVE the side zipper more than I thought I would. I kept my rain jacket and cover next to the zipper and it was always easy to grab them for afternoon storms without pulling apart the pack or having to keep them in an outer pocket. -I am so happy a company is making packs for women with long torsos. If you are like me with problems getting a women’s pack to fit, this is probably going to work for you. I’m not quite 5’10” but I have a torso that is just over 21” -most manufacturers think women’s torsos max out at around 20”. This pack fit like a dream and had enough structure that heavy loads didn’t change the fit. -The strap keepers are both amazing and annoying. I plan to buy a bunch of them to add to my other packs, but they aren’t quite big enough for the waist strap and were annoying on the two straps that hold down the brain given that I regularly needed to adjust those as I ate through a food resupply and moved items into my bear canister to use up empty space. I never took them off those two straps, but I probably will for future long hikes. They were super helpful for all other straps on the pack so I put them on the list of pros. -The back outside pocket is spacious and the cords and straps help to hold things down really well. The lack of a back outer pocket was a major deal breaker for me with another pack I own when considering which to use for the JMT. -The brain has just enough organization and room to be helpful. I was able to keep my wallet, keys, and other critical items in the zippered pocket and still have the things I needed regularly on hand in the main section. The loops on the outside made it really easy to attach my solar panel and charge my battery while hiking. -I was not gentle with this pack and it held up beautifully. I got the white color and my hiking friends regularly commented on how it didn’t look as dirty as they expected it to. Of course the bottom and pocket where I kept my camp shoes got fairly brown over the course of the hike, but I live in the desert and didn’t want a black pack. -The back outside pocket isn’t flexible, but it is capacious. I could stuff my sit pad, bidet, trowel, pee funnel, wet groundcloth, wet pack cover, and more in there easily and never felt that I didn’t have enough room. The fabric also makes it more sturdy than pockets made from stretchier material. CONs: -The compression straps that make it easy to cinch the bag down when it is less full can make it tricky to use the side pockets for larger items -they catch on the straps when they are at the limit of wha will fit -it’s annoying, but not a deal breaker. I do wish the side pocket openings were maybe an inch larger in diameter and a little baggier toward the bottom. You can fit two smart water bottles in a pocket, but I struggled to fit a bottle and my cold soak container (a mug just a tiny bit bigger than the classic gelato containers many use) in one pocket and my camp shoes needed to go in before I filled the main part of the bag. -The Mystery Ranch rain cover that should fit based on pack capacity really doesn’t fit if you are filling the outer pockets. I made it work, but I also made sure that the items in the side pockets could get wet since it didn’t cover them perfectly. Size up or go with a different brand cover. -I also tried to add on a Mystery Ranch sidekick and it didn’t work well for me -it just wasn’t comfortable. I ended up using an older pocket I had from another company. -The biggest annoyance with this pack is that the fabric rubs on the frame at the top of the pack. I took the pack on several gear shakedown hikes and was convinced that I just needed to figure out the best way to load things, but I realized that I could make the noise just by pulling lightly on the load lifters even when the bag is empty. The noise is loud enough that people around me could hear it and I found it really annoying some days and would drown it out with music. For me, if they can figure out the squeaking noise, this is a great bag with a few minor issues. Maybe I got an odd bag and the others don’t make the noise. I would make sure you give the pack a few months to see if your pack squeaks before committing to using this bag on a longer hike.