USMC ILBS Gen 2 Pack

I’m an avid backpacker and hiker. I know a lot of Marines who basically decide once they get out of the Corps, they don’t ever want to see another pack for the rest of their lives. Years of road marches over ridiculous distances take their toll on your knee joints, ankles, and feet. The average infantry load is about 120 pounds. This breaks down your shoulders and causes back problems too.

For some of us — we tend to walk naturally on the balls of our feet. I used to get fussed at often in the Marine Corps because I didn’t dig my heels in when we marched anywhere, as I was supposed to do. The jarring effect of walking that way really made my legs ache.

Hiking the Maine woods

Years of road marches didn’t break me down as it did so many other Marines — and probably Army infantry as well. Walking naturally the way I did seemed to cushion my foot falls and didn’t beat my lower body joints to pieces.

At the trailhead

Since becoming a civilian, I’ve continued with hiking and backpacking. I’m not much on being a gym rat, so I’m not a weight lifter. I get bored with sweating in a room full of other guys in front of a mirror. It just doesn’t appeal to me. But I can burn the woods trails up for miles. I have asthma these days and I can’t run fast or far. But while I’m out hiking, I get my exercise in. I can just tune out the civilized world and enjoy being in the backwoods. And since I am familiar with military packs, this is what I’ve used for years in the wilderness in Maine.

Large ALICE pack

My earliest military pack I was issued was the old ALICE pack from the 1980’s. But I realized that it was kind of uncomfortable with heavier loads I needed to carry when I disappeared for days at a time in the Maine wilderness.

Then I picked up a surplus large ALICE. After a couple summers, I realized it wasn’t what I needed either.

I’ve tried civilian soft packs, day packs, all sorts of gear. But for the really heavy loads, I prefer the old surplus internal frame pack — the ILBE as made by Arcertyx for the USMC. It can carry my supplies on longer trips without killing my back. Sometimes I take a week’s vacation from work and hike 10 miles per day, depending on the terrain. I’m not setting any speed records, I’m not a long distance through hiker, and long distance for me is about 50-60 miles per week. I’m a serious diabetic so this is how I make sure I burn off extra sugar levels. Not to mention that I’m getting on up in the years these days.

Hiking with a small civilian pack

I like hauling the little luxuries with me while I’m out in the woods. I might haul a small bottle of wine, some steaks, my mini oven — and bake pies and bread and other really nice foods out in the middle of nowhere. Sitting by a campfire at night with a fat lip full of Skoal Xtra mint snuff, while I’m sipping on a tin cup of fine single malt scotch is the way I roll.

At the top of Tunk Mountain in Downeast Maine

I’m not into blasting my way through miles of wilderness. I’m more into meandering along trails and taking in the sights. So unlike the ultralight hikers that many folks are — I don’t mind playing pack mule for a while. I’m into this for the fresh air, the views, and the occasional hidden trout fishing to be had far off the beaten path. I’m into listening to the crickets singing, the birds flying, and running across the occasional deer or moose.

And who doesn’t enjoy the warmth of a crackling camp fire, and getting chased in a circle around it by the smoke ?