Traveling in Style with Topo Designs: A Giveaway!

I’m very particular when it comes to luggage. And that probably explains why I have a whole closet full of luggage in all shapes and sizes, from compact carry-ons to roller bags to snowboard carriers. Though every bag has a purpose, I usually find myself gravitating to the ones that can multitask on my travels….

Linda Ly

Written by Linda Ly

Topo Designs Klettersack

I’m very particular when it comes to luggage. And that probably explains why I have a whole closet full of luggage in all shapes and sizes, from compact carry-ons to roller bags to snowboard carriers.

Though every bag has a purpose, I usually find myself gravitating to the ones that can multitask on my travels. They’re the ones I keep at eye level, within easy reach, and usually have a pocket pre-filled with first aid, business cards, Garden Betty stickers, and other things I always like to have on hand. And one of those bags has so far been getting the most mileage this year: the Klettersack by Topo Designs.

Aside from its retro good looks, the Klettersack is a workhorse. It’s traveled thousands of miles with me since Topo Designs first sent it to me in April: first to El Salvador, where it spent a week on the black sand beach as I surfed… to Point Reyes, where I stuffed it with gadgets for a work trip… to Big Sur, where it hauled all my gear for hikes along the rugged coast… to Sequoia National Park, where it camped amid the graceful giants… and finally, to the top of a granite dome overlooking the Great Western Divide. This unassuming sack got around. It was equally comfortable as a carry-on as it was a daypack.

Gone surfin'

The Klettersack in Big Sur

Hiking with the Klettersack

The Klettersack in Sequoia National Park

The Klettersack overlooking the Great Western Divide

These days, it seems backpacks are outfitted with all kinds of gimmicks: special pockets and loops, hidden compartments and iPod holders, thises and thats. The Klettersack keeps it simple. Inside is a spacious main compartment with a laptop sleeve, and outside you get a zippered top flap and two side pockets.

The Klettersack at Dorst Creek

The Klettersack as a daypack

Klettersack by Topo Designs

Klettersack by Topo Designs

You can store (and find) everything easily with this setup, and the bag is built to last.

Where is it built? In the good old US of A — right in Colorado in fact, in a LEED-certified building with, as they say on their site, an “amazing view of the Rockies.” As an outdoor-oriented company, I like the fact they do all the things their customers do, from hiking and biking to hunting and fishing. They are their own gear testers, so they know what they want, need, and like. And that so happens to be what I want, need, and like… and maybe you, too!

Topo Designs and I are teaming up to give away an awesome Klettersack ($169 value) to one lucky Garden Betty reader. You get your choice of color (mine is silver) and the giveaway is open to US and Canadian fans!

How to enter: Leave a comment below and tell me where you’d take your new Klettersack this summer (I always love finding new destinations for my own travel list!). To receive an additional entry, follow @theGardenBetty on Twitter, and leave a second comment below indicating your Twitter username. You have two chances to win!

The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Friday, June 20, 2014. Winner will be drawn at random and announced the following week. Good luck!

Giveaway Rules

  1. Giveaway begins June 16, 2014 and ends June 20, 2014.
  2. No purchase is necessary. To enter, leave a comment on this blog post.
  3. Only US and Canada residents ages 18 and older are eligible to enter.
  4. Two entries allowed per person.
  5. Odds of winning are based on number of entries received.
  6. Winner will be drawn at random.
  7. If winner does not respond within 48 hours after time of contact, that entry will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn.

This post is brought to you by Topo Designs. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support Garden Betty.

Update: A big thanks to everyone who entered!
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Sarah from Washington.

Linda Ly

I'm a plant lover, passionate road-tripper, and cookbook author whose expert advice and bestselling books have been featured in Time, Outside, HGTV, and Food & Wine. The National Parks Cookbook is my latest book. Garden Betty is where I write about modern homesteading, farm-to-table cooking, and outdoor adventuring—all that encompass a life well-lived outdoors. After all, the secret to a good life is... Read more »

174 Comments

  3. Where wouldn’t I take it is the question? 😉 However, most likely on our summer trip to the cabin and to Tahoe.

  4. When I travel it’s not with much style. Unfortunately my ancient duffle bag just gave it up. I could use a new and not too big bag. I have a bit of urban traveling coming up: San Francisco, San Diego, and points in between. I enjoy reading your blog; looking forward to your book. Following you on Twitter as tinyeden.

  5. To travel with so many well wished adventures of your old bag would be rad!!!
    Garden Betty all the way to the tips of peaks, around corners of rocks, lounging as a pillow by some bad ass river/streams, to oceanic views……
    I NEEd THIS HIKER!!!!
    Much luv

  7. I’d take that bag to Yosemite, around Northern California, and wherever my travels take me after that!

  8. Sounds like a great bag! I’d use it navigating the wild terrain of downtown Chicago. I’m sure after a mere week of use I wouldn’t be able to believe I survived the (a) pot-holes, (b) wandering tourists who are constntly gazing upward, not in the direction they’re moving and (c) wildly unpedictable weather without it. Like I said, it’s wild out there!

  12. I would love to take this on a tour of the Florida cold springs, dotted throughout the center of the state!

  14. I would take my new Klettersack for a hike on the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia this summer!

  20. We’re planning a trip to the Oregon coast later this summer. The Klettersack would be perfect!

  21. We are going to Olympic National Park in July. It would be great as a day pack on hikes there.

  22. Oh, I miss Big Sur! I’d use it on a hike along the Tennessee River when we head down to Chattanooga this July. Thanks for the giveaway!
    ceevegnashville [at] gmail [dot] com

  24. I’m looking for a no-frills pack to go canyoneering in Arizona. The pack I took last weekend did NOT live up to the trip.

  26. following you @illberich(you didn’t “look” like a betty;). lisa at fresh eggs daily, mentioned you on her web site.

  27. nothing so adventurous as you, sad to say, but we do spend time at red river gorge in Kentucky. canoeing, hiking, camping. beautiful. come join us.

  30. I’d take this great bag on my summer adventures all over NorCal (that’s Northern California, for you non-locals)!

  31. It would also look fantastic overlooking Vancouver from the top of Grouse Mountain

  36. I’m going camping this summer with the kids at Lake Huntington – this would help carry all the stuff little kids need!

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