My family looking for other families to backpack with in the Jarbidge or central Idaho area.

Two dual-family BPing trips worked well for us in NZ – each family had two kids and everyone knew everyone else well beforehand. The 10-year-old and the 11-year-old girls were far more interesting to each other than the boys or the adults were.

You might try local Sierra Club trips – and ask the leaders in advance which trips would likely or already have attracted other families. Kind of a try-before-you-buy. If you hit it off with another family, make arrangements for future trips with them. We live in Alaska and have hooked up in California with a family we first met in the USVI.

The other approach we do is our child(ten) can invite a friend along. We're doing 5 days on the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska/Canada with each child bringing a friend (with passport and notarized letter!). It falls to you more to check their gear, maybe loan them some items, but then you know the kids will be good together and there are fewer issues of different family styles, dietary restrictions, etc.

Good Luck.

Thanks, David! I have thought of having my daughter invite a friend….but, it's quite the responsibility…and I'd feel awkward putting the parents on the spot. The idea of a wild outing for the general populace here is to throw a BBQ in the backyard. The wilderness is a place crawling with wild animals just waiting to snatch up and eat a kid. ;)

Rusty,

I do this all the time. My boys love to hike and backpack with me, but even with all that they enjoy it more with friends. Typically I let them know that I am open to their ideas of who they might like to go. We then talk about it (to get concerns out in the open) before I let them know that they can invite a friend or two but I want to talk to the parents ahead of time. I generally invite the parents too. I also never take anyone else's kid with us the first time without their parents there. It helps on the 1st outing that way and generally the other parents get to know my skill set better and they can make better decisions about me in the future too.

It helps that I have worked with Youth in my church for so many years that through church outings alone I have camped with literally hundreds of youth and likely 50 to 60 adults. In fact I often get asked what my plans are for trips in the Summer with my kids.

If your daughter is excited about outdoor trips she will get her friends excited too. In fact I typically let them plan some or all of the trip points of interest and often have to scale back the trip goals to insure they truly enjoy themselves. While it is good to push them to help them feel success, a truly successful trip to me is when they want to go again and again. When I want to do something extreme I typically solo it or go with a friend or two.

"to insure they truly enjoy themselves"

+1

We bring a little more clothing, food, and plan shorter mileage days so the kids enjoy themselves. We also shift the menu towards kid-friendly food choices – mac&cheese, etc.

Also bring compact games – there are some good ones that have come out in the last decade – Spot It, Set, etc.

P.S. on snow-camping trips, frozen pizza stays frozen until you bake it (in an aluminum-foil tent).