The Outdoor Adventure Giving you tips, tricks & recommendations to help make adventuring in the Outdoors fun, safe & exciting for you and your kids.
As I posted on our Outdoor Adventures for 2013 page, this summer we’re planning something that some might seem a bit crazy. We’re taking along our 4 kids on a 3-day, 2-night family backpacking trip in Washington. This is going to take a lot of planning and a lot of carefulness on our part. We’re no strangers to backpacking with kids, but this will be the first trip with all 4 kids- We have to choose light gear for us (my wife and I) so that we can make room for the kids’ stuff. It’ll also be an opportunity to try out our Gossamer Gear packs.
Our two oldest kids have wanted backpacks so we’ve picked up some gear for them. They’ll carry only their packs and sleeping bags (plus a little water). I also picked up trekking poles for them. My kids love trekking poles and it’s amazing to see the difference in the level of confidence that they have when using them. One big question is what baby carriers we’ll use on the front while we carry our packs.
Gear planned so far for the kids:
- 2x Deuter Fox 30 backpacks (1 blue, 1 red) – 2 lbs 10 oz
- Outbound Kitimat Jr. 20+ Sleeping bag – 3 lbs 14 oz
- Kelty Extender 30 Sleeping bag – 2 lbs 8 oz
- Marmot Jr. Sorcerer 20 Sleeping Bag – 2 lbs 9 oz
- 2x – sets Black Diamond First Strike kids trekking poles – 14.1 oz a pair
- 3x Custom cut closed cell foam sleeping pads – avg 4 oz each
We have our cooking system, but don’t have bowls or cups line up yet. For the area we have to bring bear canisters so that’ll add to the weight.
- Jetboil Helios system – 1 lb 12 oz
- Oilcamp Vector Stove – 3.5 oz
- Primus ETAPower pot 2.1 liter – 9.1 oz
- 2x BearVault 500 – 2 lb 9 oz each
I’m about to pull the trigger on a Big Agnes Copper Spur UL4 tent. At 5lbs 14 oz it’s the best free standing tent I’ve found for the space it offers. It may even fit our whole family in it. If not I’ll pull along my Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1 too.
Sleep systems for the adults are not fully planned. I might have surprise to share on Thursday, but you’ll have to wait for that.
So, what do you think? What key items do you always bring with you when backpacking with kids?
