12-Year-Old Birthday Backpacking Trip

what a wonderful gift. I am sure there will be memories for life from that trip. Where were you?  The start of the video I thought Pt Reyes, but as the video ran there was scenery I didn’t recognize.

What a great trip!  My Grandson is 10 and we’ve been going on hiking/backpacking trips for 4 years now.  He has a new best friend whom I’d love to invite along, because he’s getting to that age where I think he’s really enjoy having someone his age to hike with, but his parents aren’t huge outdoorsy people.  Plus they don’t know at all.

You said at least half the kids in the group weren’t backpackers before this trip.  How did you all handle acquiring gear?  Was a lot of it borrowed or did some parents purchase gear for the trip?  Leo’s sleeping bag attached to the bottom of his backpack looked HUGE.  lol  Or he just didn’t have it in the correct stuff/compression sack?

The destination looks great: an easy 3.2 mile hike followed by lots of fun-time in camp.

Thanks for sharing this.  Brings back lots of good memories.  Your video, besides showing a great time is an excellent lesson on backpacking with kids.  Bring companions.  Easy-ish enough route that all could do it without too much duress.  Destination with things to explore and freedom to make up games.  A special treat with the meal.  Good adult to child ratio.  Adults able to let the kids be kids.  Awesome.  They’ll all remember this.

Outstanding!  Great to see young people out having fun camping.

Cool! Great way to have a birthday party. Hannah is turning 21 tomorrow. We will do some hiking over Thanksgiving when she visits.

Mark, we were at a group campsite at “Coast” in Pt. Reyes. Most of the footage away from the campground was south of the campsite.

You said at least half the kids in the group weren’t backpackers before this trip.  How did you all handle acquiring gear?  Was a lot of it borrowed or did some parents purchase gear for the trip?  Leo’s sleeping bag attached to the bottom of his backpack looked HUGE.  lol  Or he just didn’t have it in the correct stuff/compression sack?

No gear was purchased. We were able to outfit all the kids by borrowing from other backpacking families we know. It also helps that Ania has 3 siblings and only 1 came so their gear was available.

I’m not sure what was going on with Leo’s sleeping bag…

Leo’s sleeping bag attached to the bottom of his backpack looked HUGE.
My guess is that it was a synthetic SB in a storage sack. That is, not rolled up tight at all. Clumsy, but OK for a short walk.

Why do kids get all the fun?

Cheers

Ah, the Coastal camp in Pt Reyes is great fun for kids. It was one of the first places we did that sort of trip with our girls.  Is there still a rope swing near the camp?  Our girls loved swinging on it.

The rope swing is no longer there, much to the chagrin of the kids (who had used it before).

It was hard not to adjust/optimize Leo’s sleeping bag, but he was fine and my wife and I strongly advocate the “don’t make them happier” parenting style.

What a great trip!  We’d always let each kid take a friend along on backpacking trips.

For our kids and myself, a great friend-group gelled in middle school that has persisted for 6, 10 and 48 years.  They continue to connect despite being all across the country, still go for hikes when they’re back in town and draw a lot of strength from having friends who’ve known them so long.

I’ve heard some (idiots) claim “You can’t pick your kids’ friends.” which is not my experience at all – you certainly can steer it tremendously.  Parents have veto power on who comes to a birthday party, who comes on family trips, can insist on AP courses, and direct a kid into cross-country skiing/running or tennis where the college-bound kids are,  etc.

This is wonderful.

I miss those days. My youngest is still excited to go with me, but her older sister has lost her interest for the moment. Thanks for sharing!