Gear List for family backpack: Mom, Boy (9), and Girl (5)

Our Sespe Creek trip was wonderful and many thanks to all who contributed ideas towards the gear list. We used just about all the gear we took (except emergency gear, of course); however there was one area that I'd like to improve right away — food. Maybe it's the "mom" in me but I wanted to be sure no one was hungry and we ended up returning with 28 oz. of food. That's a lot of unnecessary weight! Does anyone have tips on how to correctly gauge the right amount of food to take? Are there threads that discuss this issue?

Our pack weights when we started were 28, 10 and 4 pounds. For my next step in lightening up I’d like to buy myself a new pack. I'd be moving from a 4.5 pound external frame backpack to something that can carry the bulk of fleece jackets and up to 25 pounds of gear. I appreciate the pack recommendations above and the reviews elsewhere on this site but I still have a few questions — first, where can I get info that is specific to how well a pack fits a woman? and second, is there anywhere in the Los Angeles area that would provide me with the opportunity to try on lightweight packs before buying?

Thanks again, Elizabeth

Elizabeth,

I think it will be pretty hard, and probably inaccurate, for anyone else to try to help out on the food thing, since all kids (and adults) vary so much. I found the biggest help was to start keeping a spread sheet of what we carried and what we ate, meal by meal. This is important, since often we all eat less on the first night out, and then start to eat more than aat home on day two or three. I also hate to prepare food and then not be able eat it. What do you do with it then.

It's also worth trying to work out at home how much you need. Is 1 cup of rice enough to feed you, or do you need 1 & 1/2. This will all help to level it out.

Good luck, Rod

i'm not that far away from you – south orange county. if you would like to get together for a kids & mom gear confab, i would be more than happy to. i actually run the backpackingwithkids yahoo list that somebody mentioned above and have been backpacking with my kids for almost 6 years now.

let me know if you're interested – tarbubble at yahoo dot com.

but as far as trying on gear, there is REI and Adventure 16 that carry a wide variety of gear. Also, look at the manufacturer's website for a "dealer locater" to help find local stores that may carry what you're looking for.

As far as food goes, you can make the same meals at home to see how much everyone eats and figure a little more than that if you're going to be burning a lot of calories…