I prefer supporting all of the small, enthusiast companies out there. For a one-stop shop, garagegrowngear.com is great. Due to distribution, any physical store is going to be established, mass-market brands, maybe with a local company, or two, if you are lucky. That being said, an REI membership is well worth it - they carry everthing you need and know their stuff.

I’m sorry, I read “place to buy”, not “pack to buy.” That is a tough one, and really subjective. Framed, frameless, ultralight and any feature you could want. Personally, I prefer ultralight with a frame. The two brands we have in the house are Superior Wilderness Designs and ULA. I picked the SWD Hauler after handing my Six Moons Designs Fusion (not made anymore, unfortunately) to my son. I reseached a tonne of packs and had a bunch of reddit conversations before settling on it. And you’d have to pry my wife’s ULA Cuircuit out of her cold dead hands - took a bit of convincing to upgrade her from her previous pack but she loves the newer one.

I’m pretty new to backpacking, but from what I’ve read/learned, I wouldn’t think there is any one best pack to get. There’s several brands making good packs, and the variances between any two different people make for a lot of variability in which brands make packs good for any particular person. Then there’s the goals of that person that further influence which brands and which packs within a brand are good.

If you have access to a bigger camping/outdoors shop to try things on, get the pack fitted, and wander around the store wearing it with some weight in it, that would probably give you a good place to start.

Beyond that, how much gear do you tend to carry? Do you have a budget? How long do you tend to stay out when you go? What activities do you enjoy doing while out: do you tend to go out and base camp for a bit, do long marches and cover lots of miles? What kind of trips you make adds in a lot of variability on what you would want in a pack for your trip!

So, do you have any further details about the kinds of trips you’re taking, how long they last, and what you enjoy doing while out? That would go a long way to helping get decent recommendations!

If you’re unfamiliar with them: Moosejaw, Backcountry, Garage Grown Gear, and REI are some pretty good sites for new equipment, and REI tends to have physical locations in various places around the country too, as well as periodic “garage sales” of used equipment. There is also Geartrade to buy used or overstock equipment from both retailers and direct from consumers.

Hope you’re having fun out there!

There are so many good options, and it really depends what you are looking for.

Are you looking to go ultralight and want a very minimal pack with few extra features, or do you want a bit more comfort/luxury features at the cost of some extra weight?

Do you want a pack for a couple days (lower volume, maybe <40L) or will you be carrying days worth of food etc. (maybe >50L)?

I tend to do 1-3 day trips, so my 38L osprey exos is just about perfect. lightweight, but not quite what most would consider “ultralight.” but it has a few good, useful extra pockets and enough padding to be comfortable. I’m ok trading that bit of extra weight for those luxuries.

NO MATTER WHAT pack you choose, make sure you can try it on in person with full weight. If you have access to an outdoor store like REI in your area. If you ask, they should have weights to shove in the pack for you to try it. I cannot stress that enough, it is almost as important as trying on hiking shoes.