So this is probably pretty lame. We'll see how it works in real life hiking with the water in it.

Sometimes in the desert you need to carry a ton of water. Putting it in the pack makes the pack feel pretty awful if it's one of the ultralight kinds of packs. So I found a small black bag at the thrift store and a small gray purse that looks like it's made of dyneema from the dollar store (they had a green one just like the ULA packs but I picked gray). I cut off some unnecessary parts of each of the bags. Then I threaded a piece of webbing through the existing hip belt of my pack creating some extra storage for my maps, extra water and whatever. Looks pretty dorky but it shifts the weight to my hips instead of my shoulders and keeps things handy. And since I can't really sew, I didn't have to.

Hi Diane

Interesting, When I tried the same idea I found that the pouches banged against my upper thigh with every step. So I will be interested to hear how you find your pouches go.

Cheers

Walking around the house there is no banging on my thighs. The hipbelt on my G4 is pretty high. I can slide the pouches around to where they work best since they aren't fixed.

I usually affix some kind of pouch to my pack so I can carry maps and snacks but now I have two of them which is enough to stow some extra water and maybe even all those medium-sized things I want to have access to without stopping, like my Houdini, my "bidet", my DEET or whatever, without having to put these items in a pocket.

When loaded, I have concerns that the weight on the hipbelt might pull it down to an uncomfortable position on the hips. Only trials would tell.