Colorado's Opus Hut: A Family Adventure With Tom Bihn's Hero's Journey Backpack [Review]

I've been a fan of Tom Bihn packs for many years and when they sent me The Hero's Journey I quickly realized it is a culmination of many of the incredible things they've created over the years.
When Christine or I travel, our go-to bag is almost always the Aeronaut. Add to that a light, removable, internal frame sheet with an aluminum stay, a removable top that converts into a shoulder bag or backpack, and gear it more towards backpacking or traveling Europe and you have a new bag called the Hero's Journey.
Tom Bihn Hero's Journey
To kick off testing we loaded the car and head out on a hike to the Opus Hut.
[tg_youtube width="" height="" video_id="6xaszKW1D6w"]
The Hero's Journey is nothing if not versatile. During this trip we wore it all zipped up, without the Daypack, with the Daypack, as a shoulder bag and everything in between. Tom Bihn created a new removable, padded hip belt that is super comfy, even while scrambling up 800' of scree with 30 pounds of gear.
Unlike a traditional top-loading backpack, everything is loaded from the front of the pack. This makes packing and finding what you need a breeze.
In all we spent three days in the San Juan mountains of Colorado, putting The Hero's Journey through the riggers of the backcountry.
Tom Bihn Hero's Journey
Now, you may be wondering how a bag designed to work so well in the mountains of Colorado does traveling throughout Europe. Well, I put that to the test too and jumped on a plane with my 10-year old daughter, Amanda, and landed in Naples, Italy. Check out how nice the bag fits in the smallest of overhead compartments, here on a United Airlines CRJ 200.
Tom Bihn Hero's Journey CRJ 200
We zipped off the top of the Hero's Journey and converted that into a backpack so Amanda could have all of her books and entertainment handy for the long flights. The main bag was stowed above our heads and carried all of our clothes and toiletries for a week in Italy.
After arriving in Naples I found it very handy to convert the Daypack into a shoulder bag. That made it easy to stow my camera when I wasn't using it and to change lenses quickly by swinging the bag around front. Here I am checking out the ruins of Pompeii.
Tom Bihn Hero's Journey in Europe
Here's a video from our apartment where I talk about how I used the bag in Europe. Mt. Vesuvius made for a nice background but poor lighting.
Links
Tom Bihn The Hero's Journey: goo.gl/va2Oiz
More gear reviews: goo.gl/0x4zz

[@bfourney]

I was thinking maybe $250.... that's a goddamn $480 bag. You could buy like 3 regular backpacking bags for that much.

[@JustinLukasavige]

Very true, it is on the high end for sure. If you follow along in the review you'll see the bag is modular so it is like owning 3 different bags. Or even 4, depending on how you look at it.
On a trip to Italy I took Hero's Journey and fit everything without a problem. I used the top day bag in shoulder bag mode for my camera, wallet, umbrellas, phone, etc. Worked perfectly. If I didn't need quick access to my camera I would have used it as a small backpack.
I'm headed to Scandinavia for 15 days next month and this bag will again accompany me. I'll take the top off to place under the seat on the airplane. It will be my backpack on long hikes with camera gear and will be my day bag when we're in the city. It beats carrying multiple bags within a bag like I used to do and all for about the same price as those bags added together.

[@Khawlalhasan]

This is by far the best review for the bag. I would like to know if it is water proofed.

[@JustinLukasavige]

Thank you. It is not waterproof.

[@ryankassab9527]

I almost bought this bag, but I'm curious about the hip belt: Does it provide adequate support and comfort for a moderate (10 mile) hike with a fully loaded pack? Are the webbing attachment points sturdy and durable? Do they not bunch up over time?

[@JustinLukasavige]

Hi, Ryan. It's not a technical backpacking pack, but I found it to be very comfortable over the 8 miles we did the day before filming this. As with all Tom Bihn packs I've tested (and I've tested ALOT of them), everything is bomber. I've never had an issue with seems ripping or not being able to trust anything.
I'm not sure what you mean by the webbing attachment points bunching up. Can you elaborate?

[@ryankassab9527]

Thanks for the response! I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy it when I get the money.
As far as I can tell, the hip belt attaches with "gatekeeper" clips that lock onto nylon webbing/fabric loops sewn onto the pack body (see 4:42 and 5:14 into 3rd to last video on Tom Bihn product page). I've never seen this kind of attachment and wondered how it would hold up. It seems like the webbing loops would just bunch at the bottom of the clips as the belt tries to hold the pack up and I wasn't sure how that would affect support and comfort over time. It doesn't sound like this is a problem from your descriptions, though.

[@JustinLukasavige]

Gotcha. Tom Bihn has been perfecting attachment points like this for years. Many of their bags have removable hip and sternum straps and I'm constantly taking them off/on. I've never had a problem and they're great on this hip belt.

[@ryankassab9527]

Awesome. Thanks!

[@Agustusable]

Is there something wrong about the audio?

[@jonashanna6434]

yeah it sounds like a video game every once in a while!

[@debsmith7050]

Wonderful bag; very awkward demo....