Mystery Ranch In and Out Backpack Review 2025 (original) (raw)

The Backpack I Always Pack in My Backpack

By ,a writer at the Strategist covering outdoors and travel gear. She was previously an editor at Paper.

Photo: Katherine Gillespie

Stashing a small tote or backpack in your main luggage is one of the best hacks for traveling light. It means that you can cruise through airports unencumbered but have a day bag ready to go upon arriving at your destination. On the way home, what was once a backup bag can be used to carry souvenirs.

Hiking with the bag in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru.Photo: Katherine Gillespie

I’ve tried out lots of packable bags over the years: Baggu’s classic nylon totes, Sea to Summit’s scrunchable Ultra-Sil backpack, Paravel’s tragically discontinued duffel. The very best option I’ve found is Mystery Ranch’s 0.9-pound In and Out, which folds into a small squishy square but expands into a surprisingly functional backpack that’s comfortable enough to wear for many hours at a time.

Mystery Ranch is a technical-outdoor-gear brand, and this bag was originally designed with long-distance hikers in mind. If you’re on a multiday backpacking adventure, you might leave your larger trekking backpack at camp and use this bag to hike to a nearby summit and back, for example. Unlike most packable backpacks, which tend to be somewhat flimsy in their construction, it has an adjustable sternum strap and padded shoulder straps, as well as two elasticated water-bottle holders that securely hold larger vessels like Nalgenes and Grayls. There are loops at the bottom for attaching climbing tools, and a roomy front zipper pocket that can keep snacks and sunscreen within reach. Mine has trekked above 5,000 meters in the Himalayas and Andes; I’ve succumbed to altitude sickness while wearing it, but never back pain.

The bag zips into its own front pocket when not in use.Photo: Katherine Gillespie

The above features might sound like overkill for most people, but this bag’s mountaineering credentials make it more comfortable to wear even if you’re just trekking between coffee houses in Copenhagen or bringing a few local farmers’ market purchases back to your Airbnb. I’ll often end up checking my larger backpack on the way home from a trip and using this bag to carry bulky new overseas purchases (most recently, three Babaà-esque baby-alpaca wool sweaters from La Paz, Bolivia) onto the plane. It remains comfortable while waiting on long check-in lines, then slides easily under the seat in front of me with foot room to spare.

The bag comes in 18-liter and 25-liter sizes. I’d recommend the latter for more flexibility, as the roll-top closure means you can adjust the size anyway. And, like me, you might just really need that third sweater.

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