Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Ultimate Direction Cohiba > Thomas Peltier > Field Report

I have been in the outdoors since I was a toddler. My mother introduced me to backpacking when I was in the backpack. I in good turn joined the Boy Scouts to get away from Mom on the weekend hikes. My first backpack trip with the Boy Scouts was down a dirt road to a park and campsite. That was my last trip with the Boy Scouts. Since then I have been backpacking mostly in the Sierra Nevada.

I have been a professional river guide and kayak instructor for the last 11 years; however, I currently work at a family establishment in Bakersfield, California. Working a "Real Job" keeps me away from the outdoors a bit more than I would like. My summers are busy between city work and river guiding. Much of my packing is done on the river in the summer. This has driven me to long winter trips and short summer trips for the last several years. I took up snowshoeing to help get into winter packing. I have found that less is often more in my backpacking and my summer trips I find myself as happy in a pair of Chacos carrying my pocketknife as I do with a heavy pack and big boots.

I must say I have enjoyed having the Cohiba on my back. The Cohiba just seems to be at peace in the woods, perhaps the forest green color of the pack is an indicator that this pack likes to be in the for rest. The Cohiba sits high on my back and seems to just nestle right down and hold on wherever I go. While plodding up hill on my ski is using my arms for pole plant after pole plant the pack never leaves it's place on my back. When it's time to ski back down the Cohiba stays right were it belongs, even when I don't stay on top of my skis like I belong. When trail hiking I can hop over logs or creeks and the pack just seems to hold on and stay put.

The reason that the Cohiba stays in place so well is the great suspension system that Ultimate Directions endowed it with. The shoulder straps are joined together around a dowel at the base of the pack (Initial Report). This allows the straps to move very dynamically and in concert with my shoulders. When I role my shoulders over and engage my torso onto pole planting or other activities the suspension moves with me and allows the pack to stay put on my back.

I have only been able to take one overnight trip with the Cohiba. As the weather warms up I expect that the Cohiba will become more effective for multiday hiking. The one opportunity I've had was a short snow hike. We stayed the night near some hot springs in the Eastern Sierra and headed home the next day. The weather was cold and clear and the temperatures got down to 15 F (-9 C), and I was glad to have my big sleeping bag and ground pad. My sleeping bag is down and I was able to compress it into the bottom of the Cohiba without to much trouble. The sleeping pad however was another matter. I had great difficulty strapping the pad onto the Cohiba. There is no way to strap it to the bottom and when I strapped it to the side it would slide around toward the back and just not fit well. The straps on the Cohiba are not designed to run over things on the outside of the pack. I used a couple of my own straps to rig the sleeping pad on but this was not clean and I just didn't like how it turned out so I folded the pad in half, rolled it up really tight and placed it inside the Cohiba. This worked out but with the bag and pad inside the pack space was at a premium. Since it was just an overnighter I didn't have much gear and I was able to make it all work out. I think that once the weather warms up and I start using my hammock I will stop using a sleeping pad and that will solve that problem.

I was not completely sure about the Cohiba's removable compartments but I have found them to be quite handy, when I can find them. It's not like they are always lost or permanently lost just not always right were I remember putting them (For those of you who are not organizationally impaired this may not be a problem). On the flip side of that the removable compartments have actually helped me with organization on the trail. For example I store all of my kitchen in one compartment and when we set up the kitchen I can just remove the compartment and take it into the kitchen. I keep all of my toiletries in one of the side compartment and I have a easy to take bathroom kit. On hikes when I don't need a kitchen or a bathroom kit I just take them off of my backpack and leave them at home.

We have had a wet cold winter here in California and I look forward to a wet warm summer. The wildflowers I have seen this year are amazing and I am really looking forward to toting the Cohiba along with me over the next several months. The summer time in the Sierra Nevada's will bring warmer weather and I intend to carry this pack everyplace I go. Whether I'm day hiking in Sierra meadows or trekking deep into the high country of the Sierra Nevada I expect this pack will hold up to my demands. Over then next four months I will be living in Kernville Ca and guiding river trips on the Kern River. I expect to have plenty of time off for hiking but as yet have made no specific plans. I have already experienced below freezing temps while using the Cohiba and for that quick overnight trip it was a great pack to carry. Soon I plan to carry the pack in hot weather and see just how it does at the other extreme.

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Reviews > Packs > Internal and External Framed Backpacks > Ultimate Direction Cohiba > Thomas Peltier > Field Report