Savotta backpack guide: Day hikes to multi-day expeditions

Hello,

If you’ve landed on this blog, chances are you share the same passion I do: a love of adventure, the outdoors, and dependable gear - especially anything bearing the Savotta name. Whether you’re a longtime Savotta fan, a first-time buyer eager to hit the trails, or someone seasoned in outdoor pursuits, I’m glad you’re here among friends who get just as excited about robust packs as they do about wild places.

You may find this blog a bit different. I don't want to assume this is the first piece you've read on backpacks or the outdoors. I believe writing is only worth doing if I can add to the conversation.

Instead, I will share the same lesson I give at my talks and courses worldwide: “We don't pack gear, we pack fear.” It explores why we carry what we carry - the backpacks, the kit, and the mentality. This talk has become the pillar of my outdoor speaking over the years.

Joe Price
Survival Instructor & Wilderness Skills Teacher

So, first things first, and probably the main reason we are here. “Why Savotta?” Most outdoor gear approaches the outdoors with the main focus being on comfort and convenience. Not a bad thing by any means. But these tend to sacrifice dependability and also introduce weak points into the whole system, and that's how you should be thinking about your kit and backpacks as one unified system.

The most common trip of all, and often the hardest one to set your pack up for. Most people carry too much on day hikes because they pack for anxiety rather than probability. Simply because it's the most varied trip. Is it up a mountain, into a forest, and a quick stop at a restaurant for a bite to eat on the way home?

This is why I chose the Niukka 20L from the Savotta range. Simply modified with the closed cell foam back pad swapped out for the Savotta sitting pad and adding the Suur-kukkaro hip pack to the front. High speed, low drag, and plenty of options.

I operate a system where the kit I carry on day hikes is the base kit of all I carry. So, I focus on “fire, shelter, and water”. I also try to have more than one use for my items. Not entirely possible with everything, but it's a good way to look at your gear and a great way to save money.

In the Suur-kukkaro, I keep a snack, my first aid kit, a lighter, and fuel for my Trangia. This saves me from having to carry a full fire kit, ain't nothing that can't be set on fire with fuel and a lighter. But it also keeps the fuel separate from my kit inside the pack. Also, this keeps the things I need first where I can grab them. The less time you have to access the main part of your pack, the better. It's worth spending some time thinking about this.

In the main bag, I have two of the 10L Rolltop stuff sacks. One to keep my kit separate and accessible, and two, a bit of protection from rain. It's important to remember that Savotta packs are highly water-resistant but not waterproof. Plus, sometimes it's just nice not to have your sandwiches smelling like old socks.

In one, I keep my shelter, which, for day hikes, should be mainly clothes. A poncho, hat, socks, briefs, and a buff usually are enough to see me right in the spring and summer months. In the second stuff sack is my water. A 1ltr stainless bottle, water purifier, Trangia, some coffee, and one freeze-dried meal.

In the front pocket, I keep my map case, and in the rear is a 1ltr hydration bladder and the super comfy Savotta sitting pad.

This kit may seem a little overkill for a day hiking bag. But it removes for me all that time spent thinking about the what-ifs and allows me to just pick my bag up and hit the trail. Even the food items aren't perishable, so when I come home, I can drop the bag there till its next adventure and not worry about coming back to a sandwich I forgot about that has now become a sentient life form.

The favourite of us all, I think. The beloved “over-nighter”. For me, the pack of choice for this is the Kantamus 40L. Replacing my long-carrying (7 years and still looks new) Jääkäri M.

The Kantamus 40L has some amazing upgrades to the Jääkäri. A padded hip belt with a Berg buckle, adjustable and changeable shoulder straps are the most obvious, but the front also has a brilliant clam shell setup with access to a full-length pocket on the front and the inside of the pack on the other. A kit nerd like me loves the introduction of the Berg buckle, as it really makes this pack perfect for all year-round use. I added two 6L Side pouches, a Multi-tool pouch, and a Tourniquet pouch to the front.

For my two-day load out, I simply add to my base kit a sleep system, beef up the clothes and food, and bam your ready to go!

This is why I put so much focus on the base kit, as I hope it shows that once you get that down, it can simply travel up pack sizes. The foam pad is now in the Kantamus; my fire shelter water kit is in there, too. All we have to think about here is sleeping warm and eating well. It also removes the biggest stress of all, and the one that causes the most problems when we are overpacking.

On longer hikes, comfort stops being luxury and become efficiency. This is why when we get to this stage, we want our base kit and two-day kit to be really dialled in and our backpack to be as bombproof as we can make it. That's why for me it's an easy choice with the Kantamus 60L in the spring and summer months.

Set up in a combination of my one-day Niukka 20L pack and my two day Kantamus 40L pack. I keep the side pouces but have made them smaller, choosing the 4L size for better balance. Then I add the Hatka 12L backpack to the front to give me that mobility away from base camp. Balance and load distribution are key on these longer trips. So those lighter pockets higher up on the pack help keep the heaviest load centered along your spine and shoulders. When setting up a modular pack it’s always best practice to follow your body's own natural muscle structure.

Inside my pack, I now have the two-day trip equipment. I simply swap out the hammock for a tent, add necessary tools, and beef up the food and clothing to suit. But some things do change and become so much more important on the 3 - 5 day expeditions. You really want a pack that's tough and easily repairable because a small pack problem on trips of these durations becomes a major issue to deal with. So, the Kantamus is a clear winner here in what we call “anti-failure thinking”. The longer a trip becomes, the less your backpack is judged by comfort in perfect conditions… and the more it is judged by how it behaves when things stop going to plan.