{"id":3484,"date":"2026-06-11T03:11:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/?p=3484"},"modified":"2026-06-11T03:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T03:13:36","slug":"gear-review-ula-photon-custom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/11\/gear-review-ula-photon-custom\/","title":{"rendered":"Gear Review – ULA Photon (Custom)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I completed the PCT with the ULA Catalyst and she was an absolute workhorse. I took her on the Superior Hiking Trail, the Camino Portugu\u00e9s, and the Appalachian Trail. Only on the Appalachian did she really start to show some wear. I purchased the Ultra Circuit when I retired the Catalyst and took her on the Camino Franc\u00e9s, and she was flawless. However, we are limited to a 25 liter pack for the Inca Trail, so we needed some new gear. I cannot say enough about ULA Equipment<\/a>, so it was only natural that we would buy our packs from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smallest pack they make is the Custom Photon. They list the Photon as a 35 liter pack, however, the internal section is 25 liters. The only difference between my wife’s and my pack are the sizes, colors and I added the frame and load lifters. I simply prefer a more rigid pack. Also, I’ll be the one to carry the extra heavy gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pack is similar to the one they show above, except I had the bottom made with their reinforced black material. It weighs in at 26.1 ounces, and is mostly waterproof. We will still use a garbage compactor bag on the inside to provide extra water proofing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have carried these on all our hikes for the past year, and they show no sign of wear. They are very comfortable to wear. We highly recommend them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I completed the PCT with the ULA Catalyst and she was an absolute workhorse. I took her on the Superior Hiking Trail, the Camino Portugu\u00e9s, and the Appalachian Trail. Only on the Appalachian did she really start to show some wear. I purchased the Ultra Circuit when I retired the Catalyst and took her on … Continue reading Gear Review – ULA Photon (Custom)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inca2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3489,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions\/3489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}