Your New Go-To Adventure Daypack: Patagonia 26L Nine Trails Women's Backpack Review

The last few weeks I have spent using the Patagonia Nine Trails 26 L Women’s Backpack. The pack was designed as a lightweight women’s-specific, full-day adventure pack.

I’ve owned an Osprey 26L pack for several years now and have been extremely happy, but I will say this Patagonia pack gives it a run for its money. For me, the biggest difference I noticed was how lightweight the pack is. I was skeptical about its lightweight build at first, but it doesn’t sacrifice any stability and only makes it more comfortable.

I’m a big believer in 26L packs in general. They provide enough space to bring everything you need for a full day of adventure. I generally always have enough room to fit one or two extra layers, my DSLR camera, snacks, a full water reservoir, and other miscellaneous items such as a lighter, knife, headlamp, hats, etc. 

The most fun feature of the Nine Trails Pack is its asymmetrical open. You can tell that this piece was thought out. It makes for accessing the main part of your pack so much more convenient. If anything has slipped down toward the bottom of the pack, you’re not digging around aimlessly to find it.

The inside of the pack provides a sleeve for the bladder, with a styled hole to bring the hose to your pack's sleeve. It even has a nice clip to hold your hose in place. As far as space and zipper pockets go, this pack has just enough small pockets without becoming bulky. There is one on the inside at the top that is relatively small to hold your personal items. The other exterior pocket dips down the front half of the pack to hold a few more small items so they’re not floating around in your main compartment. 

The outside open pocket is stretchy and deep, which makes it ideal to hold a rain jacket or anything you need quick access to. The compression straps on the side are connected to the front pocket so your don’t have to ever worry about the pocket stretching out. You can always keep it tight. 

The gear loops at the bottom of the pack are nice to have, too, in case you plan on climbing with the pack. 

There is ventilation on the back side, and although it hasn’t been warm enough out here in Colorado to test that part of the pack, I imagine it would prove itself well.

I have a few personal preferences that the pack doesn’t fulfill. It doesn’t come with a built-in rain fly. The pack itself is water resistant, but if it starts to really downpour on you during your day adventure, you are likely to have your contents get a bit wet.

There are also compression straps on the sides of the pack, which are nice for your hiking poles or other gear, but I tend to prefer to have these straps on the front side of my pack, so that weight is more evenly distributed. 

I have been using this pack for some backcountry ski tours as well, although it wasn’t designed to be a skiing backpack. I like it better than some of the other packs I have now because I can fit my probe inside without it sticking out the top. The outside pocket also lends itself to holding my skins nicely.  

I think this pack will become my new daypack for the foreseeable future. You can really tell the design was thoughtful for a full day's adventure needs and the comfort has me sold, especially for those long 15 mile days.