One Disadvantage of Soft Bags: Mud and Silt on Wet Dirt Roads

[normw]

While browsing some of my photos of trips in Alaska and the Yukon I was reminded of an annoying issue with soft luggage. Travel on wet dirt and gravel roads tends to produce a fine spray of dirty water which can end up partially covering the bags. This state of affairs is worsened if road maintenance has involved the use of calcium chloride to keep the dust down in dry conditions. The silty calcium chloride content in the spray tends to dry to a very hard and crusty film.


So not only did my bags repeatedly get covered by this stuff, the buckles and knots used to secure the bags to the bike tended to end up semi frozen by the dried grit. The stuff even managed to work its way into zippers despite flaps of material covering them. All very annoying at the end of a long day. Also a disincentive to bringing the bags into a tent or motel roomy. At the ends of the trips clean up of the bags was a major project as the silt tends to work its way into the weave of the material and stinks up the joint.


Waterproof covers, with elasticized rims, are available for some soft bags and I did try a set. They were less than satisfactory however. To get into the bags you need to remove the muddy covers. In addition the covers did not shield the back of the bags which is where the attachment points were. The covers were also one more thing to lose and to carry crap into your shelter.


All hardly an earth shaking problem but an aggravation worth noting if you're planning to travel in those sorts of conditions. I now use hard luggage which I don't remove during a trip. A nice, clean, dry inner bag comes out and with me at night. No sweat.