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So I've been doing my research about packs and Swaygo/Lost Creek both seem to come up quite a bit. Though somehow neither of them appeal to me in terms of aesthetics. I'm curious to hear if any experienced cavers use something like a more traditional backpack or camelbak.

A large over night style back pack is often used to transport caving gear to a cave or pit but is not appropriate for actual
caving. However, a small pack like students use is okay for use in easy walking sized caves. However, anyone wanting
to do harder caves that require dragging a pack through crawl ways will likely need a Swaygo or Lost Creek type pack which
is much tougher, and is less likely to spill out contents. A camelbak might work in easy caves but if there are any fluid hoses sticking out, they could catch on protruding rocks.

Bottom line is that easy horizontal or vertical caves are okay for the kind of packs you asked about but for hard core caves
you will need a much strurdier pack. When dragging a pack with lots of outer pockets, zippers or velcro closures, all of
those can open or rip open and lose contents. I hope this helps you with your decision.

phxexplorer wrote:So I've been doing my research about packs and Swaygo/Lost Creek both seem to come up quite a bit. Though somehow neither of them appeal to me in terms of aesthetics.

It ain't a fashion show. Swaygo packs are super tough, but have been discontinued. I don't know if Swaygo or other vendor's still have any in stock.

I like using Landjoff packs - https://www.wvunderground.net/product-c ... ing-packs/. For items that I don't want to get wet in my landjoff pack, I use a Darren Drum, which can be purchased at Inner Mountain Outfitters (http://www.innermountainoutfitters.com/ ... rren-drum/). The Darren drums come in two sizes, 3.5 liter and 6 liter. The 6 liter works great for longer trips or survey trips where you need more gear.

And of course, On Rope 1 also makes a lot of caving packs that are popular - http://onrope1.com/store/index.php?p=ca ... nt=70&pg=1

for me it just depends on what sort of cave I am going to be in, and what I will be doing while in the cave. I've accumulated several different packs and pick which one I want to take depending on the cave. All the brands mentioned above are excellent, some better suited for different tasks.

You are a caver, Mr. Phoenix. The word "aesthetics" should not be in your vocabulary! Go with what is comfortable and the proper size for the trip you're going to be on (ie, have a bigger pack for vertical trips so you can stuff gear into it and a smaller one for the couple-of-hour horizontal trip).

What can I say? Lol. I like my packs black. Not bright colors. In either case there. Which pack would ya'll recommend. Clearly I'm new to the scene! Something all around.

Swaygo was my first cave pack and it's still my favorite. If you can find one, that is what I would recommend.
My only Lost Creek pack is one of the older large ones and I don't use it much so I really can't comment on them.

I wouldn't recommend using one of those camel back packs, with the water pouches in them. I don't know, but it just seems that is a wet, ripped up mess waiting to happen.

phxexplorer wrote:What can I say? Lol. I like my packs black. Not bright colors. In either case there. Which pack would ya'll recommend. Clearly I'm new to the scene! Something all around.

If you want a BLACK pack, I have used the Gonzo Guano Gear ones. They come in black and two different sizes: the personal pack and the vertical pack.

However, I have just started using the Landjoff packs and they are much superior to the GGG ones. They do not come in black but they do come in a nice blue, it's about as dark as you are gonna get with them - https://www.wvunderground.net/product/speleo-22/.

The Landjoff packs do come in Black, but WV Underground does not sell the black ones. Neither here nor there I guess, but if you're dead set on a black one from Landjoff, they are produced. My Speleo 28 is black, as is my Landjoff Banana.