Mountainsmith

A few years ago I was awakened to the concept of an all-purpose bag. It was my former roommate, the one and only Altmix (now Mr. Altmix), that opened my eyes to this dreamworld. He used to carry this bag (or one like it...I think it was a Tour) with him everywhere and it was so appealing due to the nature of it's simplicity, yet efficiency. The idea that you could have a bag that held everything in an organized manner, looked nice, and was heavenly in the ways of comfort was foreign to me, but that was soon to change. I wanted a Mountainsmith bag, too.

So I surveyed the options and decided on the one that would suit me best, the Cairn II. It was unobtrusive, had plenty of storage space with two large compartments, it had a hydration pack, two inside smaller pouches for pens and coins and such, it had a place for an mp3 player, two pouches for Nalgene like bottles, a place to strap a jacket to the bag, and a hide-away rain jacket for the bag itself. In every situation, this was the bag for me.

I am a youth minister, which means that I usually have a lot of crap that I need to keep with me...books, computer, birth certificates, consent forms, extra water, beenie weenies, firecrackers, music, entertainment, bibles...the works. This bag was perfect in every way. And I used to for everything. If you saw me, more than likely I had this pack with me. It weathered through many a storms due to it's impeccable workmanship and multipurpose use...

The reason I bring this up is because it was stolen back at the beginning of February when my car was broken into. Thus, I have been two months without my bag of many treasures. However, I do have a praise. Today in the mail, I received a new Mountainsmith Cairn II bag from our good friends at MooseJaw. It was hard to track down and I had to get a new color because they don't sell the Cairn II anymore, but nonetheless, I look forward to many memories with my new bag.

May my old Cairn II rest in peace...or pieces...whichever the case may be.