Note on Other Articles: Backpacking gear for kids of various ages has been addressed in several excellent BPL articles. For example, Ryan and Stephanie Jordan and Jay Ham cover family trips with younger kids. Other articles by Doug Prosser have given excellent advice for scouts and older kids in general.
I am going to focus on gear for kids who are somewhat in between these two (although there is some overlap). The kids I take out are mostly between 9-12 years old, they are a bit young to carry the loads that adults or scouts at Philmont might carry, but they can do more than tag along while adults do most of the work. Basically these kids can carry a significant portion of their own stuff IF they are using well thought out ultralight gear. For adults or teenagers, going light is nice, but it is not the end of the world if they have a 15-pound base weight. For the kids I take out, going light is an absolute necessity.
My goal is for each kid to carry most of their own gear. There are several reason for this:
- I can take more kids out because I’m not playing pack mule. I’m perfectly willing to do this, but I can only haul so much.
- At some point kids want more independence and responsibility. For example Joseph insisted on carrying what he considered his “fair share” at age 9. When kids know they are pulling their own weight on an expedition, they take a lot more pride in it. I want the kids to be partners with me, not just along for the ride.
Choosing gear for anyone is a balancing act, but it's especially so for kids. Ultralight gear has come to the point where lots of people are backpacking with as little as 5 pounds of gear - without sacrificing comfort or safety. That kind of weight is ideal for kids. However, a lot of adult UL gear makes trade-offs that would be more questionable with kids. For example, down quilts and small tarps may be fine for experienced adults but not so much for children.
I will not try to cover every piece of gear for kids, just the gear that is different for kids. Kids are going to need basically the same kind of socks and clothes as adults, but their requirements for shelters, sleeping gear, and packs can be a bit different.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Shelters
- Packs
- Sleeping Gear
- Kitchen Gear
- Other Gear
- Conclusion
# WORDS: 3720
# PHOTOS: 10
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Discussion
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Companion forum thread to:
Enjoying Backpacking with Kids: Part 2
I am loving this series! Reminds me of camping when I was younger.
Great article Luke, this is an excellent contribution to lives of those kids and to BPL.
Thanks for putting this together.
Very well written article Luke!
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
great article. I hope to see many more of these from you as you develop. I need to refine my list as I have tackled lots of these same issues for kids. A real motivator!
I like many of your insights hear Luke. The only problem I have is with the kitchen section. First, here in SoCal you can't have fires almost 70-90 percent of the time. Everything is to dry. Second, while you can never meet the ideals of LNT with kids your pictured fire doesn't even try to come close.
In any event, great series and good to see you out there with younger kids.
Andy good catch, you are right that fire is nowhere near LNT. Just for the record I would NEVER make a fire pit like that on a true wilderness trip. In this picture we were camped at an established campsite on private summer camp property so this wasn't such a big issue. We did teach LNT practices and at summer camp my cabin always took pride in leaving a clean campsite (unlike some others). Their favorite was the "how to p..p in the woods" lesson, along with "how to use only one square of TP to wipe" and "which leaves to wipe with." I hope they never tell their moms.
As far as fire bans thats a real problem. I dealt with that issue in Texas this past summer and its a challenge. I've tried using sterno stoves to cook marshmellows and a battery powered lattern to provide a centralized source of light. Those things help but I still missed the fire. The main thing I missed was the "crowd control" factor which is more of an issue with groups than families. What I've found is that kids naturally cluster around a campfire for various reason but take that away and they want to scatter.
Gosh, Andy it is obviously an existing campfire ring. Many places allow campfires in existing fire rings.
Lets not lose sight that Luke works with troubled kids and at that age just getting them involved in these types of activities is wonderful. Yes you teach them LNT as appropriate, but a campfire for these kids, when permitted, is a great idea.
We need more people like Luke.
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