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!

hah, yep. Very much sounds similar.

It was a bit disheartening that when my eldest was diagnosed with dyscalculia, they were just like: It sounds like you’ve already taught her some workarounds for it, and that’s basically all you can do. It’s not as well understood yet, so we don’t really know what else to do to help still. The linked article kind of implies there something for young enough children, but doesn’t go into details at all. The clinic we saw though, just makes it sound like those one on one treatments are just learning these workarounds…

I’ve never been diagnosed with anything myself, but hearing all the things that were pointed out as symptoms for my child, and it’s all the same stuff I did/do… I imagine I probably could get diagnosed, but I don’t think it would help with anything at this point.

No official diagnosis, but I’m pretty sure I have it. My eldest was actually diagnosed with it recently though.

I’ve learned some shortcuts that let me do math in my head, albeit incredibly slowly as compared to others. If I’m at a computer then I just use that for math instead though whenever possible. It wasn’t until I took calculus that I really became able to do any of the basic math operations in my head as anything beyond memorization though. I have to break up the simplest of math problems into an algebra equation to solve it, and doing that just takes time.

I only wear an analog wristwatch now, because I’ve realized if I go about a week without having to read an analog clock face, I have to re-learn how to read it. It’s never a quick glance and know the time though. The hour hand close to the next hour throws me off about 100% of the time.

I also just can’t track the month and day of the month in my head. Tracking the day of the week works fine, but the date doesn’t just update for me. I have to look up what the current date is and then just remember it as best I can for the rest of that day. If you ask me on the following day what the date is, I will just give back the prior date unless I’ve looked it up again though.

I’m also hopeless with directional navigation. North, South, East, West? I’ve memorized the directions some roads run in, but it’s taken me years to have any chance at all of going the correct direction on the road without* GPS navigation running.

I also recently learned about hyperlexia, and I suspect I have that as well. Super great at reading/literature stuff. Super bad at math. Everyone flabbergasted. heh.

Edit: fixed mention of GPS navigation to correctly reflect that I can’t drive much without it running.