Wrangler 35L UL Backpack Review
Wildland Trekking guide Liz Lucas shares her experience after testing the Wrangler 35L Pack from High Mountain Gear in Zion National Park.
Hello adventurers! I’m Liz Lucas, a professional hiking guide with The Wildland Trekking Company. I recently had the opportunity to test the Wrangler Ultralight Backpack from High Mountain Gear, and I jumped at the chance to take it adventuring while guiding Utah hiking tours in Zion and Bryce Canyon. Now, it’s time to share the results from that testing.
I’ll start with some basic specifications for the Wrangler and background information on High Mountain Gear to set the scene for this review. Then, we’ll move on to the specifics of how the Wrangler 35L UL Pack performed during hiking and canyoneering in the southwest. So, let’s take a look at what this pack offers!
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Wrangler Pack Quick Look
Let’s take a look at the Wrangler’s basic specifications to set the stage for testing it in the backcountry.
- Price: $249.99
- Capacity: 35 Liters
- Material Information:
- Main fabric: Recycled Challenge Sailcloth ECOPAK EPLX 200
- Secondary Fabric: Recycled Challenge Sailcloth ECOPAK 400
- Weight: 19.5 oz. with 1/4″ shoulder straps
- Shoulder Strap Sizing: Based on the wearer’s height
- Small: 5’4″ (163cm) and under
- Medium: 5’4″ (163cm) – 5’10” (178cm)
- Large: 5’10″+ (178cm)
- Waist Belt?: Optional
Intended Use
High Mountain Gear states that the Wrangler 35L is a thru-hiker design. But the overall utility of this pack extends to any adventure where you need to move light and fast while counting every ounce. Mountaineering is a clear beneficiary from the light, durable, and weather-resistant design, along with canyoneering and ultralight hiking.
The 35L capacity isn’t quite enough for traditional backpacking trips, but for gear-heavy day trips or minimalist overnight trips, the Wrangler has the potential to be a perfect fit for your adventures.
Notable Features
The Wrangler pack includes several important features that set it apart from the competition. Let’s take a look at these aspects and their impact on the pack’s performance.
Custom Fit: The Wrangler’s shoulder straps are completely removable, allowing you to choose one of three shoulder strap lengths to make sure you get the perfect fit.
Recycled Material: The wrangler’s Ecopak Eplix 200 material offers surprising sustainability and protection from the elements by recycling plastic bottles into durable and water-resistant fabric
Extremely Lightweight: Following High Mountain Gear’s mantra for lighter gear, the Wrangler is exceptionally lightweight while still offering impressive carrying capacity.
High Mountain Gear Company Background
This Washington State-based gear company owes its formation to Kyle Willis, who found his passion in fixing gear to keep it out of landfills. Soon after, Kyle began producing his own pieces of gear that focused on weak points in the current market, and High Mountain Gear was born.
High Mountain Gear focuses all its gear on three principles: lighter, tougher, and budget-friendly. All of their products orbit around these principles, providing new and innovative solutions to the gear industry. Additionally, all their manufacturing takes place in Washington State, using as much recycled material as possible.
THE TEST – QUICK OVERVIEW
I tested the Wrangler 35L while leading several day hikes around Utah. Specifically, I led my guests around Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks where we explored the beautiful rock formations and canyons. For these tests, I used the Wrangler as a day-pack and loaded it with everything I needed to carry for guiding.
Additionally, I also tested this pack during some personal canyoneering trips in the same area. These tests saw the Wrangler get much more intense use and scrape through some narrow, rocky walls.
The Review
Now that we’ve covered the basic specifications for the Wrangler 35L and some company background for High Mountain Gear, it’s time to dive into the complete review! I’ll cover important categories for the pack below (such as comfort, durability, weather resistance, and so on), and give each category a score from 1 to 5 – where a 5/5 is the best score possible. Along with the score, I’ll also go into detail about my testing experience and why I assigned that particular score. So, let’s see how the Wrangler did!
Weight/Bulk – 5/5
The Wrangler definitely lived up to High Mountain Gear’s goal of producing super lightweight gear. At just a hair over 19 oz. this pack is super lightweight and doesn’t weigh me down at all. Additionally, when I’m not using it, the Wrangler is easy to pack and hardly takes up any space. Of course, there are drawbacks associated with such lightweight packs. Specifically, the Wrangler doesn’t have much structure to support heavier loads, but we’ll get into this downside later.
So all-in-all, the Wrangler is exceptionally lightweight and has no excess bulk. I found it ideal for a quick, lightweight day trip into the backcountry.
Durability – 4/5
The recycled Ecopak material seems very durable. After several trips to the canyon with the pack scraping against the rough sandstone, the material definitely feels and seems strong enough to withstand a lot of abuse before breaking or ripping. What’s more, the Wrangler is a roll-top design with a mesh exterior pocket, meaning no zippers. This further adds to the pack’s overall durability since zippers tend to be the weakest point in many designs and the most common failure point.
My pack never experienced any failures or rips (yay!). However, I deducted one point from this category because some visible abrasions from the stone may have weakened the fabric. But overall, I’m extremely pleased with the overall durability of the Wrangler, especially when you consider how lightweight the pack is.
Comfort – 2/5
From my point of view, comfort is the Wrangler’s Achilles heel and where the drawbacks of a super ultralight design come into play.
To set the scene, I’m an avid hiker and very much rely on a hip belt to take some of the pack’s load off my shoulders. For me, this is critical for my shoulder comfort and overall hiking enjoyment. In the case of the Wrangler 35L, the optional waist strap is an uncomplicated piece of webbing that is more intended to keep the pack snug against your back than actually taking any weight off your shoulders. This waistbelt doesn’t have any padding (or pockets), and simply isn’t designed to cinch tightly to offset that shoulder weight since the unpadded strap would be very uncomfortable if it’s too tight. Therefore, whatever gear/weight I stored in the Wrangler weighed directly on my shoulders, which I found uncomfortable for heavier loads of about 16 lbs or more.
However, I acknowledge that this is a classic drawback to ultralight packs. You’ve got to sacrifice to get the weight down, and some of that sacrifice includes plush padding, an intricate strap system, or, in this case, a supportive hip belt.
So, in conclusion, I found the comfort of the Wrangler 35L to be a little lacking. Specifically, for a pack that has the capacity to carry a lot of great gear and tackle plenty of adventures, it lacks the support system to carry that gear comfortably. If you’re a minimalist and truly don’t mind a shoulders-heavy carry system, then this might be less of an issue for you. But in my case, I tend to rely on my hip belt to take some of that weight, and the Wrangler just doesn’t offer that kind of support, but I hope future iterations include a beefier belt.
Organization – 3/5
Overall, the Wrangler’s organization was straightforward and effective. The bag offers a large main compartment with a roll-top closure, two side water bottle pockets, and large exterior mesh pockets. Between these options, there’s ample opportunity to store gear easily and keep essential gear (water, snacks, layers, etc.) readily accessible on the exterior of the pack. There’s no industry-shattering feature in this department that sets the Wrangler apart. The organization and pockets are simple and they get the job done, no frills and no complaints from me.
Weatherproofing – 4/5
I was pleasantly surprised with the Wrangler’s water resistance. The recycled Ecopak sailcloth took great care of my gear. I even dropped it down into some wet canyons, and everything remained dry. That alone is pretty spectacular for an ultralight pack! It was also refreshing to have a pack that is inherently weather-resistant and doesn’t require me to fiddle with an additional rain cover.
Since my testing took place in dry desert conditions, I was unable to get any data in extreme rain or wet conditions. Therefore, I can’t yet vouch for how the Wrangler will perform in prolonged rain – but I’m encouraged by my test results and hopeful that it will keep all the gear in the main compartment well protected from the elements.
Ease of Use – 4/5
Overall, the Wrangler 35L was great to use! Its simple design is easy to understand and utilize without getting bogged down with intricate features. The roll-top is straightforward to unbuckle and open and does a good job keeping the gear secure. On the exterior, the water bottle pockets are huge and make it easy to grab water and put it back without having to take the backpack off.
I deducted a point in this category because the shoulder straps have less structure than other options and can easily get twisted or in the wrong position. So great results overall for ease of use, and just keep an eye on those straps when you put the pack on.
Adjustability – 4/5
High Mountain Gear has done a great job of making the pack adjustable and as comfortable as possible for everyone. This adjustability comes in the form of interchangeable shoulder straps; when you purchase your pack, you’ll also select what size shoulder straps you need based on their sizing chart. The interchangeable straps go a long way to making sure the pack is perfectly fitted to you. What’s more, it’s very easy to remove the straps and swap them out for a different size if you find that you need to change sizes.
If you opt for the UL waistbelt, it is also very straightforward to attach and adjust. Alternatively, depending on your adventure, you can also easily remove the waistbelt and leave it at home. While we’re on the subject of the waist belt, I’ll just reiterate that the belt is quite meager and isn’t the large, padded affair that you may be used to. It will keep the pack snug against your body but won’t comfortably take any weight off your shoulders. But focusing exclusively on the adjustability, I have to say that it performed quite well!
Price – 2/5
After finishing my testing, I’m of the opinion that the Wrangler 35L is a little overpriced for what it’s offering. It’s designed as a mountaineering or thru-hiker pack, first and foremost, and I feel that it hits most of the essential targets – durability, weatherproofing, and low weight – but stumbles when it comes to comfort. Mountaineering (and many adventures like hiking, canyoneering, and so on) utilizes heavier gear. For mountaineering, in particular, the gear can include ropes, hardware, ice axes, and other heavy items, and for me, it’s important to have a pack that can comfortably support that weight. For the Wrangler, the volume and design are great for carrying those items, but the shoulder strap design and the inability of the waist belt to take any of the weight off your shoulders significantly lower its use in my eyes.
If a future iteration includes a beefed-up belt to really support those heavier loads, then I’d be all in, and it would 100% be worth the price. But until then, I’m assigning a lower score in the price category to reflect that drawback.
Overall Quality – 3/5
To me, the Wrangler’s overall quality is good. Not bad, but also not blowing my socks off. For the positives, it offers great weather-proofing and an outstanding low-weight design. The durability and adjustability are also solid and lay the foundation of what can be a great pack.
However, I found the comfort/support to be lacking – especially when carrying heavier loads – and this drawback brings down the bag’s overall quality in my eyes. The UL waist belt, in particular, doesn’t seem to reflect the quality that High Mountain Gear is providing in other categories since it doesn’t support any weight or take pressure off your shoulders.
Therefore, weighing both these pros and cons, I gave the Wrangler a solid middling score for overall quality. It has some great characteristics, but I think it needs just a little more work to truly elevate it towards becoming an outstanding pack.
Quick Summary
We’ve covered a plethora of pack characteristics in this review! Therefore, we’ll review the highlights and condense my findings down to the main pros and cons below.
Pros:
- Exceptionally lightweight
- Good durability for such a low-weight pack
- Effective weatherproofing
- Good adjustability
- Made in the USA
Cons:
- UL waist belt doesn’t take weight off your shoulders or offer much support
- On the expensive side for what you get
What is EcoPak Eplix Sailcloth?
When we look at pack materials, we often see polyester, nylon, or another familiar synthetic material. So what on earth is this EcoPak Eplix Sailcloth that High Mountain Gear is using for the Wrangler 35L? Let’s take a look.
This material is from Challenge Outdoor, a Connecticut-based company committed to providing rugged and sustainable materials to the outdoor industry. Their EcoPak material reuses about 20 plastic bottles to create one square yard of fabric. This process is known as upcycling, where a discarded object is used to create a new product of even better quality or value. In fact, EcoPak fabric uses 100% recycled polyester to make it an exceptionally sustainable and eco-friendly product.
But in addition to being sustainable, EcoPak is extremely durable and waterproof when combined with Challenge Outdoor’s Eplix DWR matte film. Still using recycled materials, this coating adds abrasion resistance and is 97% UV resistant, allowing it to withstand long days in the sun.
So now you know what the Wrangler material is all about!
Final Thoughts
Overall, my Wrangler 35L test revealed that this pack has some outstanding characteristics but also room for improvement.
I was impressed by the overall durability and weatherproofing offered by the EcoPak Eplix fabric. After several rough encounters with abrasive sandstone in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, I found that the Wrangler held up very well with zero failures or tears and only minor abrasions. Additionally, in the wet canyons I encountered, the weatherproofing was reliable and sturdy. What’s more, I was shocked at how incredibly lightweight the pack is while providing such great durability and waterproofing. So for these criteria, I was very impressed and believe they set the groundwork for the Wrangler to be a great pack.
However, I found that the overall harness leaves a little to be desired comfort-wise. Specifically, the optional waist belt is very minimal and doesn’t help take any of the load off your shoulders. Therefore, the total pack weight (and you can fit quite a lot into the spacious 35L space) rests squarely on your shoulders, and the shoulder straps didn’t offer the comfort I needed to carry those heavy loads.
In conclusion, I believe the Wrangler 35L from High Mountain Gear has some great qualities that set the stage for it to be an awesome pack with excellent durability, protection from the elements, a clean and elegant design, and all for an exceptionally low weight. However, they need to improve the harness and support system to help balance those heavier loads and make the pack more comfortable to carry for hours on end.