Nimrod Outdoors
Carbon Canyon Pack

Nimrod Outdoor – Carbon Canyon Multi-Day Pack System Over the summer, I was in the market for a new backpack for multiple day, remote backcountry hunting/scouting/fishing trips. At the time, I was using an Eberlestock Dragonfly II, which was heavy and had no method of securing game meat for long pack-outs. In addition, with my knee injury, I still have a lack of strength and dexterity in my left leg. As a result, I needed a pack system that would allow me to securely strap all of my gear, rifle and game meat to my back without the load shifting or swaying while walking. During my search, I was approached by Nate Brence with Nimrod Outdoor. We met at a Foundation for Wildlife Management event and he introduced me to his company’s Carbon Canyon Pack. Nate then let me borrow the pack and give it a test drive. Unbeknownst to him, it would end up being a torture test over three backpack hunts into remote country of California and Hells Canyon in Idaho. My first impression when I received the Carbon Canyon was the construction and light weight. With the frame being full length and composed of 100% carbon fiber, it was very, very light and rigid. When the bag was attached to the pack, it still remained very light at under 5lbs. I then looked at the material, constructed of a light nylon upper and heavy-duty lower Cordura, with double stitching and gussets for all the mounting points and attachment straps. In addition, the belt and shoulder straps were of solid construction and adequate padding for long, heavy hikes. So far, so good! The pack was looking like it was going to be a winner for my pack requirements. Trip One. I ended up going on a backcountry blacktail deer hunt in Coastal California. This terrain was steep and rugged with loose dirt and rocks on all the trails. I packed for a 7-day hunt and walked into the area we planned to use as a base camp. The Carbon Canyon was loaded down with about 70lbs of food, gear, rifle and ammo for the week. At about 70lbs, this was a good place to start with the pack. The first climb from the truck was approximately 1000’ of elevation gain in 1000 yards. We then had another mile of rolling terrain to get to our planned camping spot. I immediately noticed two things, 1) the nylon webbing for the waist belt was too narrow. At 1.25”, the webbing cut into my waistline along the beltline. At 5’11” and 200 and fit for 51 years old, I don’t have a belly. However, this webbing cut into and was chafing on what little waistline I possess, and I found that it was riding on the buckle 5.11 tactical belt that I had traditionally used for my Sitka pants. On subsequent trips, I used the thin belt system that Sitka offers with their line of mountain pants. This seemed to help with the chafing, however, my preference would be for a full 2” nylon webbing strap around attached to the waist belt. 2) the attachment points for my rifle were being stressed by the weight of the rifle. I do not hunt with a “lightweight mountain rifle”. My boomstick of choice was a custom Seekins Havak in 6.5PRC. The rifle weighs in at about 10lbs (9lbs without the suppressor in CA), and the dead weight was pulling on the suspension straps. What I observed was, the butt of the rifle was unsupported, so the lateral straps were being forced to manage all of the vertical and horizonal weight and movement of the rifle. As a result, the rifle had to be extremely tight to the bag. This caused some excessive, and premature, stress on the bag’s stitching and gussets. On the up side, this bag performed as I’d hoped. My load was secure, and the pack effortlessly handled heavy loads. On the second evening of the hunt, I’d hunted to a remote basin about 2 miles from camp. I was fortunate to locate a group of wild pigs, and shot a sow out of the group. She weighed in at about 180lbs, and I quartered the animal and took all the meat in one trip back to camp. The meat shelf, when secured to the bag, was rigid, stable and handled the heavy load with ease. The meat shelf held the meat tightly up against the rigid carbon fiber frame, and the bag attachment points prevented the meat from shifting while traversing rough country. On the third afternoon of the hunt, I was successful in harvesting a mature blacktail buck. I was able to pack-out the majority of the venison, my rifle and gear, in steep terrain with zero issues. The good news is, when I’d returned to Idaho, I brought my concerns to the attention of Nimrod Outdoor, and they created a custom butt stock holder that was semi-permanently attached to the MOLLE on the bottom of the bag. This holder took the vertical dead weight off the suspension straps, allowing the suspension straps to better secure the horizontal movement of the gun and keep it secured with less stress on the attachment points. This was a great solution, in what is now a permanent feature of the bag being produced by Nimrod Outdoor. My next adventure was into the Hells Canyon Wilderness of Idaho. I spent three days with my son in search of a mature mule deer buck. With my son’s time being limited, we focused the hunt on filling his tag. My pack weighed in at 90lbs for the trip into camp. My son had forgotten to bring some of his gear, and after a phone call, I agreed to pack in those items. This added some significant weight to my pack, plus where we were hunting, there was a lack of natural water in the area of our camp. This required us to pack in 3.5 gallons of water with us for the hunt. Again, the pack handled the load with no issues. On the first morning of the hunt, my son shot a giant buck; 150” mule deer weighing in at over 300lbs. After high-fives, photos and quartering, we had this buck packed up in two packs, with our rifles, camera gear and spotting scopes, for the hike back to camp. We lost 1000’ of elevation in the first mile of the walk, then had to regain 2000’ of elevation in the last ¾ mile back to camp. The pack-out took us about 2.5 hours and my legs were smoked by the time we returned. The Carbon Canyon, however, was unfazed. The following morning, my son and I packed-up and headed for the pickups. We had 1.8 miles, with 1500’ elevation loss to traverse. I packed up my entire camp and half of the deer quarters and headed for the pickup. I figured the load to be somewhere between 130-150lbs, total. I sent the photo of the pack fully-loaded to Nate. He was excited about how much ‘real world’ gear the Carbon Canyon would pack. My chief complaint with this size of a load…a lack of a front-loading zipper into the main bag. The bag has a single side-zipper into the main pouch, but is otherwise a drawstring top loading pack only. This wasn’t an issue, until the pack was fully loaded. Then the ability to stow gear and pack it down more compactly became a serious concern. In the end, I was able to pack the Carbon Canyon to its maximum capacity and hike out without any issues. In the end, I would highly recommend this pack to other backcountry hunters. The frame, meat shelf and rifle attachment, in my opinion, is equal to or better than many of the other packs offered today; and it is lightyears ahead of my old, retired Dragonfly II. The Carbon Canyon will be my go-to hunting pack for the future. I am planning to use it for my upcoming rifle elk hunt, in Idaho, toward the end of October, and again for a late season mule deer hunt. In 2023, look for a long-term torture test of the Carbon Canyon following the Spring Bear season.