Field Report:  Gossamer Gear Mariposa Pack

Tester:  Rosaleen Sullivan

Age:  54 years

Gender: Female

Height:  5’ 9’’ / 1.75 m

Weight:  180 lb / 82 kg

E-mail:  rosaleen43 (at) aol (dot) com

Home:  Eastern Massachusetts, USA

Date:  February 1, 2005

Manufacturer:  Gossamer Gear

URL:  http://gossamergear.com/

Size:  Medium

Color:  Royal blue and black

Year of Manufacture:  2004

MSRP:  $129.95 US

Product Specifications are listed in my Initial Report.

General Description

The Gossamer Gear Mariposa Pack is a very light backpack that employs carbon fiber arrow shafts as internal support stays, and the user’s own sleeping pad for back padding.  If all the removable options are in place, the pack weighs 17.08 oz / 484 g.  Appropriately shaped pieces of closed cell foam are supplied and can be inserted into hook and loop fastened pockets within the shoulder straps and hip belt.  Alternatively, the user may stuff spare clothing, such as socks, into these silnylon-lined pockets as padding, avoiding the slight extra weight of the foam.  Four mesh outer pockets allow quick access to the user’s water bottle and other small items, or a place for wet or smelly gear to have some exposure to air.  The mostly silnylon pack has a more wear resistant fabric on the bottom, a feature I have already come to appreciate, a piece of shock cording and several strategically placed loops for some compression, as desired, and an interior pocket for a water bladder.   There is no “lid top pocket,” but the drawstring top can be folded down, and then secured with a “Y” shaped strap.  The juncture of the “Y” has a slide adjustment and is intended to provide secure lashing for items such as bulky sleeping pads, bear canisters, etc.  The shoulder straps do have a connecting sternum strap, which features a whistle integrated into the connecting buckle.

Results of Field Testing

Production delays pushed the start of this test into the “winter holiday season,” flu season, and a time of abnormally severe weather for much of New England.  All of this, in turn, cut into my available testing time.  Since mid-November, I have been limited to one weekend along the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts and some short local hikes for testing the Mariposa.

For the first weekend, I used the supplied optional foam pads inside the shoulder strap and hip belt pockets.  The shoulder straps seemed a bit wide for me, and I am accustomed to shoulder straps with tapering curves, so they felt “foreign” but were not a problem in use.  I think that using the sternum strap helped increase my comfort level in this instance.  For the back pad, I used 6 sections of Z-rest, per one of Gossamer Gear’s recommendations.  The folded sections helped to keep the back side fairly stiff and prevented my feeling the carbon fiber rods that are part of the pack’s frame.

My hiking partner and I were able to set up our cars close to the trail for easy resupply, so my pack weight was not over 15 lb (~ 7 kg) at any time that weekend.  We did traverse some challenging rocky scrambles, some of which I managed by scooting down crab-style.  I felt and heard the Mariposa dragging a few times on some of the rocks.  As much as I tried to baby this pack, I was afraid I’d find some holes in its bottom by the end of the hike.  I lucked out and found no damage!  I attribute this escape to the heavier fabric used on the pack bottom.  I find the slight weight penalty of this versus keeping to silnylon very worthwhile.

For my short local hikes, I’ve tried using some of the other options for padding the Mariposa.  Using a deflated ¾ length Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4, I also had good comfort results.  Finally, I tried using a Gossamer Gear Thinlite Pad for a back pad, and removed the closed cell foam pads, replacing the 2 shoulder pads and 2 hip belt pads with wool socks.  The Mariposa instructions warn that repeated insertions and removal of the pads could result in damage to them.  Well, I managed to tear one in half the first time I took all of the pads out, so the warning was appropriate.  I had to work a bit to get the socks inserted and was skeptical, then happily surprised, that the lumpy looking “padding” was effective.  I was quite comfortable with the pack loaded to about 20 pounds (~ 9 kg), including 5 days of food and 3 qt (~ 3 L) of water.  The Thinlite pad and the Prolite 4 are thin and flexible enough that the pack took on the look of a large cylinder when these were in place.  My concerns that this would be uncomfortable have not been met, so far. 

Long Term Test Plan

I will continue to experiment to find the best configurations for me as I use this pack.  I am curious how the pack will feel as I carry it in warmer weather and I wear fewer clothes that otherwise might have been helping to pad pressure points.  I am also accustomed to a pack designed to allow some of the ventilation that this design appears to sacrifice.  It also has no “load lifter” straps, so I’m wondering if my chronic neck spasms are being set off by the way the pack hangs on me rather than being coincidental occurrences.  I need more time with my heavier loads to know if this going to materialize into an actual problem for me.  Then, I want to add, but not permanently attach, some water bottle loops or some form of pockets to the shoulder straps in hopes of counterbalancing the load to see if that helps. 

Test locations

Our weather, snow depth, and possible flooded trails will help determine where I will be hiking in the next few months.  At this point, I am leaning towards staying to local trails in Eastern Massachusetts.  In mid April I have a section hike planned along the Appalachian Trail from Hot Springs, North Carolina, to a few miles south of Erwin, Tennessee, USA.  I will need to carry food and supplies for six days, so I anticipate the pack and I will have quite a workout then. 

Likes, So Far

• Light enough to pick up and hold with one finger when empty
• Elegant simplicity
• Multiple options for comfort/cutting weight
• Comfortable with loads tested, to now
• So far, easy  removal and replacement of  back padding
• No sign of wear at this point

 Dislikes, So Far

• Possible re-aggravation of my chronic neck spasms from weight effects
• Cumbersome stuffing of clothing into pad pockets (This may get easier with experience or other socks.)

 List of Questions for Which I Will Continue to Seek Answers

• Any signs of wear
• Sweat build up or collected heat problems under back pad
• “Water bottle pocket” easy to access
• Water bottle/bladder to pocket compatibility
•  “Y” strap effectiveness for holding large objects
•  Ease to load/unload/ use pack

 Tester Background

I’m an aspiring Ultralighter.  I do most of my backpacking over weekends in New England.  Additionally, I have been lucky enough to experience hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and a 110 mile (177 km) stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Pennsylvania to northern Virginia.  My preferred gear at this time includes a hammock, alcohol or tablet stove, mini or no-cook home-dehydrated foods, and the least clothing and gear that I can feel comfortable carrying for that trip.

Respectfully submitted with appreciation for the opportunity to test the Mariposa Pack,

Rosaleen Sullivan