The Palisades Pack
Remember this?
 |
| Sneak Peak picture |
It belongs to a Ruff Wear
Palisades Pack! I found one at Cabelas (in AZ) for $70 which is a steal for this pack. Normally they retail around $125, so a Palisades for half off was something I couldn't pass up.
If I had been thinking when I first saw the pack, I would have bought the two that were there. But like Conker's Approach II, I was not, and when I went back the next day one of them had already been bought.
Anyways...
 |
| Palisades pack and harness. |
At first glance the Palisades appears to be very well built. Sturdy material, good stitching, some nice features like waterproof zippers, refletcive trim, etc. make this pack very attractive.
The pack is a multi-purpose, high capacity pack meant for longer backpacking trips. It comes with two water bladders that have their own pockets and can easily be accessed for ease of water delivery.
The Palisades, unlike the Approach and
Singletrak, has a really cool feature that sets it apart from the other packs. The bags can come off leaving a fully functional
Web Master Harness still on the dog.
 |
| Web Master without pack. |
The Web Master is perhaps one of, if not the best, dog harness out there. I have seen many others but this harness is the only one that really got my attention. Ruff Wear uses the Web Master as a frame for their packs and it works out very well. In the Palisades' case, you get two items in one. Which is probably why the pack costs to much.
 |
| Pack without the harness. |
The other half of the Palisades, the actual packs, is a pretty good piece of dog gear as well. The pack is held in place with four buckles and two optional velcro straps that attach to one of the harness straps to prevent the packs from banging your dog's sides as he travels along. The detaching feature comes in handy if you need to cross a river and don't want the gear inside to get wet, or if you want to give your dog a break and don't want to take off the whole harness.
The Approach Pack
 |
| Ruff Wear logo strip |
After I got the Palisades and took it on a couple short hikes, I decided I needed another pack for whichever dog didn't have one or was left at home. I scoured the net for a good deal on whatever I could find and found one at
Backcountry Edge for $60 on sale. That is a pretty good price since the Approach retails around $75. I could not find another Palisades for less than $80.
On the site, if you joined up and became a new member you'd get an additional 12% off, so that knocked the price down to just under $53!
It was actually a tough decision between the Approach and Singletrak which was also on sale for just $67, or $59 with 12% off. I went with the Approach this time, but still want that Singletrak.
(The sale is no longer on. It ended some time ago.)
 |
| Profile view |
The
Approach comes in blue and green. It is meant for day hikes or shorter backpacking trips. It does not come with water bladders and is not detachable, but is still a very high quality pack and has the same other features as the Palisades. Reflective trim, waterproof zippers, awesomeness...
 |
| Top view |
|
|
The Approach can hold somewhat less than the Palisades and is not as bulky. It is designed to be a day hike or overnight pack. The Approach can still be used on longer hikes and trips, it just isn't as convenient.
 |
| Upside-down |
The harness of the Approach is the same excellent Web Master used on the Palisades, only lacking a bit of reflective material that would otherwise be covered up by the bags. It also has loops for the straps (not velcro though) to keep the pack from banging against your dog's sides.
 |
| Why you make me wear this... |
I am looking forwards to giving these two packs a nice thorough testing out in the coming months. Probably not over night trips (not until it warms up), but hikes longer than 2-4 hours will be taking place.
Both of these packs are size Small. They fits dogs with a girth of 21-30 inches which is bigger than most Shibas. The Palisades does not come in XS but the Approach does.
Keep an eye out for a future post that will explain how to turn an Approach pack (Approach II) into a Palisades if you want a Shiba sized pack that can detach from the harness.
Edit: Instructions for modifying an Approach into a Palisades:
Version 1 and
Version 2.
I am a pro dog walker and my own dog comes on all the walks. She wears the approach backpack which carries a first aid kit. It's a nice well made pack and I have no complaints. But I read that you want the singletrak pack. I can't say it's to the same quality. While the approach has nice large padded covers over the straps the singletraks' padded covers are tiny and doesn't offer the same protection as the approach. Also I found the backpack's clips on the singletrack didnt hold well enough and the straps would slip through so after an hours walk they'd get slack and I'd have to tight them up again quite considerably. I love the singletracks urban brown colour but it's not a patch on the approach backpack and is not suitable for anything else but as a drink holder cause if you add weight to it like I did when I put first aid kits in the pockets the singletrack would become too top heavy and fall to one side or the other too easily!
ReplyDeleteMy dog ruby with her approach pack: http://www.bdws.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/dog-with-backpack-in-snow.jpg
DeleteMy dog ruby with her singletrack pack: http://www.bdws.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ruby-first-aid.jpg
Delete