The 11 Best Hiking Backpacks of 2020

Our testers found load haulers for every trip and hiker. Pick your favorite and start making your packing list.

Author:: Corey Buhay
Updated:: Sep 18, 2020
Original:: Mar 30, 2020

It's the one piece of gear so important that we put it in our name. Your backpack holds your essentials (tent, sleeping bag) and your less-than-essentials (flask, camera) alike. Whether you like to go light or you're a committed maximalist, you need one—and if you want to enjoy your time on the trail, it'd better be comfortable. These 11 trail-tested backpacks are that and more.

At BACKPACKER, we take our responsibility to provide readers with fair and accurate gear advice seriously. When you make a purchase through our site, we may earn a commission.

Outstanding durability and the chops to carry huge amounts of weight make the AMG 105 ideal for multiweek hauls. $420 Buy Now on REI / Read the Full Review

All hikers love gear that outperforms its price point, and the Redwing does just that. One tester shouldered it on overnights to field stations in southeast Alaska as part of her job as an ecologist, and declared it “supercomfortable” even when maxed out with 30-pound loads. $100 Buy Now on REI  / Read the Full Review

Even in a market that’s (finally) showing an appetite for green gear, the Archeon stands out. Its packbag, lining, and rain cover are 100-percent recycled from industrial scraps, and its DWR treatment is PFC-free. $240 Buy Now on REI / Read the Full Review

Mammut has taken the latest step forward in the quest to eliminate backsweat with the Ducan Spine. This pack’s backpanel, a narrow strip of reinforced polyester with a central fiberglass stay, lets air flow freely and avoids the shirt-to-back suction common with full backpanels. $260 Buy Now From Mammut / Read the Full Review

This pack’s pared-down silhouette belies its outsized stability and versatility. A U-shaped plastic frame steadies loads—it’s just as strong as metal, but lighter—and we were able to comfortably carry 25 pounds on a 12-mile out-and-back along Rocky Mountain National Park’s Glacier Gorge Trail. $130 Buy Now on Moosejaw / Buy Now on Amazon / Read the Full Review

The Octane 25 perfectly marries the capacity of a daypack with all the meticulous organizational features of a running vest. A full clamshell opening gives access to eight(!) small internal mesh pockets, which fit keys, snacks, and other essentials. $145 Buy Now From Camelbak / Read the Full Review

Testers raved about the AirZone Trek’s cushy feel even when it was fully loaded. “I threw 30 pounds of gear in (including a bottle of champagne), and I didn’t feel the same sort of unbalanced pull I’ve felt with other packs,” said one tester after a festive overnight near Hatcher Pass, Alaska. $160 Read the Full Review

That camp chair you’re hesitant about taking? Go ahead, bring it along. The Versant 60L both devours gear and keeps it all at the ready, thanks to huge pockets and a large front U-zip that permits quick access to the main packbag. $260 Buy Now on Amazon / Read the Full Review

During a season spent carrying the Peak 45, our testers found that it excelled everywhere from weekend overnights to peakbagging day missions. $120 Buy Now on Amazon / Read the Full Review

Ideal for trail runners and dawn-to-dusk dayhikers, the Adventure Vest 5.0 is one of the most modular, fully-featured packs we’ve seen in this size. $180 Buy Now on Backcountry / Buy Now on Amazon / Read the Full Review

The Trail Zip ticks two unlikely boxes: It’s superlight and superdurable. Just ask our Utah-based tester, who used the pack for a season of trail running and scrambling. “Even when I was scraping up against ragged granite and quartzite on a tricky ridge in the Wasatch Range, the bombproof material held,” she says. $50 Buy Now on Backcountry / Buy Now on Amazon / Read the Full Review

Mountain Hardwear AMG 105

Outstanding durability and the chops to carry huge amounts of weight make the AMG 105 ideal for multiweek hauls. $420 Buy Now on REI / Read the Full Review

Find two more of our favorite backpacks, the Mountainsmith Zerk 40 and the Gregory Paragon 48 / Maven 45, in our Editors' Choice 2020 roundup.