The Walking Dead Backpacks

Is your bug-out bag ready? Make sure it’s stocked with water, food, and a sturdy knife, but don’t bother with ID, because you won’t need any in a world dominated by walkers.

If there’s anything we’ve learned from The Walking Dead—aside from “avoid the dude with the bat”—it’s that you need a reliable backpack, because you never know when you’ll have to move in a hurry. The survivors on TWD are often on the move, either living on the road between permanent homes (like after the prison’s destruction) or just going on supply runs.

Sometimes they have to carry everything they own, other times they’re just going outside the walls for a few hours. Whatever the case, supplies and weapons are necessary, and the bag used to carry those can be incredibly important.

Best Walking Dead Backpacks

Rough and rugged or light and whimsical, the backpacks on TWD are numerous and varied. Here are a few of the packs we’ve seen the survivors using and why we think they are best suited for the people wearing them.

The Massive Hiking Pack

When did the backpack make an appearance?

In season 3, during the fantastic episode “Clear” (that one with crazy Morgan), when Rick, Michonne, and Carl are on the road, they ignore a hitchhiker wearing a giant orange backpack.

Later, presumably, after the hiker’s been killed, they go back and pick up his bag. That pack is later carried by various group members, including Glenn and then Daryl. Michonne, Rick, and others also use similar giant hiking packs when they’re going on long supply runs out of Alexandria.

About the backpack

This heavy-duty bag is for serious backpacking. It’s got lots of storage—85 liters, in fact—in case you need to carry all of your possessions with you. But there’s also a removable daypack for short runs away from your base camp.

The adjustable straps, harness, and lumbar options can accommodate various body types so that it serves the whole group. If you find yourself out in the rain, there’s an integrated rain cover as well as a waterproof pocket (not that you have a phone, but for maps and stuff).

The specially tilted bottle holder allows you to reach and remove a bottle, or perhaps a pistol, while still wearing the pack, a bit like a built-in holster. Likewise, with the outer straps, you can attach an axe or crossbow to the outside of the pack in order to keep your hands free.

This one isn’t available in the same orange as our famous hitchhiker’s pack, but there is a bright red option. However, less-visible black might be a better idea. For now, we’ll just look past the name Gregory and appreciate the multiple handy features.

The Big Army Rucksack

Whether vintage or state of the art, army rucksacks are built tough and can carry as much as you can handle lifting. Just as the backpack carried everything a soldier needed as he slogged through the jungles of Vietnam (an apocalypse in its own right), the Alice pack has served survivors such as Tyreese and Carol well through the seasons.

This is essentially just one big nylon sack (on an optional metal frame) with several small pockets on the outside, but it carries all your gear and will last forever. It’s water resistant and doesn’t have any zippers that might break and ruin the pack’s usability.

The MOLLE pack, however, is the latest style that today’s soldiers carry. With tactical features such as the MOLLE (modular lightweight load-carrying equipment) system, it is incredibly easy to use.

A hydration system, adjustable straps, and loops for attaching equipment to the outside make this a tactical favorite for Daryl, Eugene, and others.

The army pack is best if you want something slightly smaller than the huge hiking pack, but you still need something large, durable, and versatile to carry essentially everything you own.

The Small Army Rucksack

Huge backpacks can be cumbersome. Several survivors have opted for smaller military gear, which is no less rugged, but is easier to grab in a hurry.

The bag that Bob carries on the road, an actual World War II Wehrmacht rucksack, is a lot like a small Alice pack, but it has way cooler leather straps and metal fittings. The fact that it has already lasted this long is a good sign that it will probably handle the apocalypse fairly well.

Aaron sports a more modern take on this small rucksack. That is, until he loses it and the Wolves find it. It has room for photos, maps, water, and even some applesauce for Judith. And in case he stumbles across any supplies to bring back to Alexandria, it also has a drawstring and adjustable flap top for expanded storage.

Sasha, on the other hand, often forgoes a full backpack in favor of a utility belt with shoulder straps. This configuration is fully adjustable to suit the wearer’s needs. She can hang canteens, weapons, and pockets for other supplies from the straps and not feel like she’s being slowed down by the weight of a huge bag.

The Basic School Bag

Remember the backpack you carried in middle school? The one you lovingly put patches on and carried notebooks in? You might just find it useful in a world filled with walkers. This one may not be built to last forever, but it will carry what you need and express your personality at the same time.

Best for day-trips and short jaunts outside the town’s walls, a Jan Sport like Enid’s will carry water, snacks, weapons, and maybe an angsty journal. If you can’t be fenced in, this is the bag of choice for awkward trysts in the woods, roller-skating, and overthrowing evil community leaders.

Michonne, who almost never wears a backpack, wears a classic school bag when she’s goofing around with Carl on the railroad tracks. Proximity to Carl must inspire a love of school bags.

The Satchel

Sometimes a backpack is just too much to carry when on the move. A satchel or messenger bag can be a good solution, especially since the cross-body strap allows the wearer to move it from back to front and quickly reach inside while still wearing it.

The Satchel is Daryl’s preferred bag when on short trips. This could be a nod to his motorcycle days (but the producers probably decided that the cleaner lines preserve and accentuate his muscular silhouette for the viewer).

When your weapon of choice is as bulky as a crossbow, you need a lighter bag. But this is still sturdy, made of heavy canvas and leather, with a zipper and a secure top flap, so that baby formula and carved wooden knickknacks will be safe when you ride off with the wind in your hair.

Maggie, too, prefers the satchel. She’s a practical woman, who won’t let a bulky bag get in her way. She packs light, because tearing down patriarchal leadership is a tough job, and she has no time to waste struggling with a big pack.

The Duffel Bag Full of Guns

A duffel can be quite similar to a satchel, but it’s generally bulkier. This isn’t the best choice when worn on the shoulder (although Abraham can certainly pull it off), but when slung across the back, it can travel well.

Rick has always preferred a duffel bag to a backpack. (Again, a bulky bag would interfere with his rangy cowboy look.) Ever since episode 1, when he loads up a duffel full of guns and rides a horse into Atlanta (which is a terrible idea), he always carries a duffel when he needs something more than his trusty Python revolver.

And when approaching Terminus, Rick wisely buries his bag of guns outside the fence, you know, just in case it isn’t a sanctuary so much as a cannibalistic buffet.

If you have to find a duffel to carry your guns in, this is the one for you. It’s made of extra-tough materials, and the handles are double-stitched for added durability. And if you need to bury it, it can probably withstand that pretty well, although the manufacturers don’t really mention anything about that.

The Baby Carrier

Backpacks aren’t the best way to carry babies. They probably get squished, and then throw a fit, and you can’t have that when walkers are attracted to sound. So when Rick needs to carry Judith for a long time (all the way from the prison to Alexandria, for instance), a baby carrier keeps everyone much happier.

These things are awesome. Just click a couple of straps and, voila, you can use your arms again while the baby is safely strapped to your body. Four different configurations allow you to carry the baby in front or on your back.

And the adjustable straps allow people of any stature to use the carrier comfortably, which is important when a baby gets passed around as much as Judith does. Not only is it comfortable, it’s rugged; I’m pretty sure this thing’s as durable as an army rucksack.

Maggie should absolutely receive one of these at her baby shower (they still do those, right?). I anticipate her wearing her baby as she rules over the Hilltop in the near future.

So which bag will you have ready when it’s time to bug out? With this many options, it should be easy to find the right bag to pack with supplies and weapons. Just make sure you can move when you carry it, because those walkers might be slow, but they’re absolutely still deadly.