A couple of weeks ago I was out on my regular walk/run, typically about 5.5 miles, some in wooded park and most on the suburban streets. It had been raining, so I took a light rain jacket and some zip-lock plastic bags and a few odds and ends in my Red Rock Sidekick Sling Bag. Turns out this was one of the few times that the precaution really paid off, much later, on my way back, I got caught in heavy rain and needed the gear.
In the quiet woods on the way out, though, I kept detecting a “thump” coming from the pack with each stride, and over time it really got to bother me. It didn’t go away with re-positioning the pack, and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. This was far from being a wilderness walk, but I’ve learned that in the woods sounds that are barely noticeable can make a huge difference to the wildlife around you- once on a walk I ended up cutting off the hard plastic ends of my bootlaces because they were slapping against my boots with each stride, and that made a difference, one of the many experiences that finally led me to barefoot hiking, an experience I could write a lot about, and maybe will someday.
In any case, the longer I walked the more the constant noise got on my nerves. I kept pulling the little pack around front and even taking it off and holding it up and shaking it to figure out where it was coming from, but I couldn’t see anything. Re-positioning the contents didn’t do anything. I was beginning to think it might come from some slight creasing and uncreasing of the pack fabric itself while I was walking, maybe making a sort-of popping noise with each step.
Finally it occurred to me that most of what I had in there was a stuffed-in lightweight rain jacket, so the surface of the pack was stretched taut but without anything very solid behind it. It wouldn’t take much striking that surface to make an audible noise, and, given that, a possible source became obvious. I moved the two zipper sliders for the main compartment to a different side, and the noise went away. It was just one of the largish metal pull-tabs on the zipper slider hanging straight down and tapping the taut pack surface with every step. I hadn’t thought of it for so long just because the volume of the noise seemed so out-of-proportion to the tiny source.
The real Maxpedition packs that Red Rock copies, and the Hazard 4 packs that are mostly what I buy these days, don’t use metal pull-tabs on zippers at all, they thread nylon cord through the sliders and use those as pulls instead. It turns out that it really does make a difference. That’s exactly what I’ll do, get some heavy wire cutters and get rid of the metal tabs, thread nylon cord through the sliders instead. I might even use smallish quick-hanks for pulls on the main compartment, so I can tell which zipper it is by touch or when I’m in a hurry, and to provide an instant source for a few feet of cord if really needed.
– Robert the Wombat