The North Face Base Camp Voyager Travel Pack (35L) Review

The North Face Base Camp Voyager Travel Pack (35L) has all the hallmark features you’d expect from the brand: materials made to withstand outdoor use, attachment points for external accessories, and a beefy harness system to make sure it stays comfortably on your shoulders.

Still, one can’t help but feel that underneath the brown and boxy exterior are a few hidden tricks that make this backpack stand out. Read on, and let’s find out!

External Components

The Base Camp Voyager’s main material is a 300-denier recycled polyester tarpaulin. Like many outdoors-oriented travel backpacks, it’s laminated with TPU to make it very resistant to splashes and stains. The specs don’t mention it, but there’s a noticeable grid pattern on the tarp that looks similar to ripstop fabric, though not quite as intense as X-Pac. Whether the grid pattern is an aesthetic choice or serves as subtle reinforcement remains to be seen, as our sample remains pristine after two weeks of testing. There are no tears to report, only one loose thread (more on that later), and nothing has gone wrong with the reputable YKK zippers or hardware.

Tarp may be a tough fabric to puncture, but it is prone to scratches. Acknowledging this weakness, The North Face put 840-denier DWR-coated recycled nylon at the bottom, which should be appropriately abrasion resistant for this part of the bag that will inevitably make the most contact with rough surfaces.

The tarp’s distinct sheen, coupled with the Smokey Brown colorway we’ve chosen, reminds us of the Cotopaxi Allpa 28L, a travel backpack we’re well acquainted with (we’ve reviewed three variants by the time of writing this review). Both feature fun colorways, and we’re digging the approach. Apart from the shades of gray also offered, the Mauve, Navy, and Smokey Brown colorways make the Base Camp Voyager’s otherwise rectangular and monolithic design look more eye-catching.

In keeping with the Base Camp Voyager line’s design, this travel backpack variant also has an outline of bar-tacked nylon. This seamlessly integrates handles at the top and sides for convenient carrying. There are also nylon webbings at the sides for attaching accessories, though we would’ve liked for at least one loop at the front for a bike light.

At first glance, the Base Camp Voyager’s harness system is appropriately beefy for its 35-liter size. The back panel, for instance, has large square-shaped pads that look and feel thick. On the other hand, the shoulder straps aren’t as beefy as we’d hoped. Their wide shape and the bar-tacked nylon give the impression of reassuring thickness, but that’s not the case.

For support, the shoulder straps have a sliding sternum strap, though notably absent is a hip belt for added stability. Although we are thankful that the sternum strap is of the sliding variety instead of being mounted on notches, it has a tendency to slip out of place if it’s not under tension (i.e., when it’s unlocked and freely hanging about). In case you’re wondering, the shoulder straps’ adjusters, fortunately, do not slip as easily.

Lastly, the entire back panel acts as a luggage pass-through, mounting the bag sideways on your roller luggage. As big as the 35-liter capacity is, it’s nice that the brand acknowledges that some travelers bring rollers for extra capacity.

Fit Notes

Discomfort only sets in once you pack the Base Camp Voyager to maximum capacity. Yes, this makes sense, but we can’t help but feel that if the straps were just a bit thicker, carrying comfort would be that much better. Otherwise, our only real nitpick with how this backpack wears is how it pulls back when it’s full, a problem not exclusive to this bag.

So, apart from thicker straps, we could add load lifters and a hip belt to our wishlist for this backpack. All of that said, comfort is well within reason and expectations, so we’re still giving this a passing mark overall, at least in terms of carrying comfort.

Inside The Backpack

No self-respecting travel backpack is complete without at least one water bottle pocket; in this bag’s case, there’s one on each side. They lay flat when not in use thanks to fairly stretchy elastics and gussets keeping them flush against the bag. The grip is excellent, at least on insulated bottles in the 24-ounce size like our Owala FreeSip. This is about as big as we could go, and more slender bottles might not be held as firmly. Also worth noting is the very small loose thread on our sample’s left water bottle pocket. We’d be remiss not to mention it, but it’s so small that we’re convinced it’s simply a leftover from the manufacturing process rather than wear and tear.

At the front is a large zippered compartment lined with brown-colored fleece. Brown on brown doesn’t sound particularly exciting on paper, but it does give some luxury vibes in the pictures. Still, we opt to store practical gear inside since the compartment is very roomy, such as a packable jacket or a travel hat. That said, the soft liner means you can store fragile items, too, such as a tablet or even your smartphone, which is handy when TSA makes you put everything in one bin during security checks.

The top compartment houses an admin panel lined with all the organization you could want. This includes twin mesh pockets, twin pen slots big enough for permanent markers, a liner pocket, a zippered pocket for loose gear (there’s also a key leash inside), and a drop pocket for small documents or an equally small tablet. Organization like this is handy for long-term travelers who need a place for every bit of gear. Our only gripe is that the cascading design of the pockets means each of them butt up against each other, so it can feel a bit cramped at times.

Around the back is a dedicated laptop compartment. Like the front compartment, this area is also felt-lined for your device’s protection. Unfortunately, that’s the only real feature here, as there’s a notable lack of pockets for laptop accessories or even a separate sleeve for documents or a large tablet. Space-wise, the compartment can hold up to a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Consequently, there’s a lot of wiggle room if you’re using a 13-inch MacBook like our tester was, so using an additional sleeve to fill the gaps is not out of the question.

The main compartment opens clamshell-style, with the bag’s entire front folding down like a ramp. In terms of space, this takes a lot of length compared to a book-style clamshell. The zippers, for the most part, operate smoothly, and we pull them along the bag’s sides without a problem. There’s only a small, noticeable hitch around the right side’s midpoint. Is a loose thread or piping causing this? Fortunately, no. Instead, an internal divider mounted by toggles puts some pressure around this spot, causing a small divot which, in turn, causes the zipper to catch ever so slightly.

That should more than clue you in to the main compartment’s design. Rather than a huge bucket space, the area is split evenly into a top and bottom section by a flip-up divider. This divider has toggles at the corners that hook onto loops to stand up. But if you don’t want to use the divider, there are also corresponding loops on the bag’s floor (the backside). We really dig this simple inclusion because it gives the option to forgo packing cubes if you don’t want to or simply don’t have some (they’re game changers, though).

With the divider up, you can split your gear into clean and used ones very easily. Or, save the bottom half for your shoes and bulky toiletries, thus leaving the top for clothing; it’s really up to you. Folded down, you can maximize the space if traveling with really large items. In our case, some of the packing cubes we tend to use are too long for a split arrangement.

Interestingly, you can also use the divider as a pocket when folded. It’s not very secure since the sides are open, but relatively large items should stay in place. Otherwise, the only means of organization left is the large frontside mesh pocket, which you can use to store toiletries or rolls of underwear.