When your trip calls for carrying a few extra luxuries, the Gregory Katmai and Kalmia are perfect companions.
Gregory-katmai-65 (Photo: Gregory)
Published September 8, 2026 02:35PM
A supportive backpack that’s capable of toting a load can unlock new kinds of trips—think group basecamping trips at your favorite alpine lake with a few friends, or a weekend at a fire lookout with a bottle of wine and a special someone. We haven’t found many packs better at making luxury loads feel weightless than the Gregory Kalmia or its men’s equivalent, the Katmai. “The load felt lighter than it was, thanks to the well-padded hipbelt and shoulder straps, in addition to supportive tension across the backpanel,” one tester told reviewer Corey Buhay after using it to carry a 40-pound pack job into camp at Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. A robust frame—spring steel alloy around the perimeter combined with a fiberglass cross stay—helped spread out the load. Organization was top-notch too, with three pockets in the toplid, a vast zippered compartment along the length of the back, and access to the interior via a bottom sleeping bag compartment and a side zip. (Can’t find your size in the 60/65? The smaller Kalmia 50 / Katmai 55 are on sale at a slightly less spectacular discount.)
