My daughter (5 years old) and I went on our first true backpacking trip recently and had a wonderful time. We hiked 3.5 up hill miles to Puck Lakes and spent an enjoyable afternoon and (cold) night enjoying the outdoors prior to hiking back out the next morning.
At the trail head and ready to hike. My daughter carried a wind shell, water, a few dolls and a book in her pinl Camelbak pack. Me, I carried everything else in my loaded MLD Prophet.
The hike in was all up hill and warm. We took our time and enjoyed the trail. My daughter hiker strong and had a positive attitude the entire hike.
Arriving at the lake(s) we had the area to ourselves. Setting up a gg Spinntwin tarp and tyvek footprint provided a nice play area for the afternoon.
We spent the afternoon and evening playing at the two lakes. My daughter played with her dolls while I read and played with Moxie my border collie.
After much exploring and playing it was time to roast marshmallows. My daughter took charge of making smores while I kept a watchful eye.
The temperatures really dropped as the sun went down. We each used TorsoLite pads, nunatak quilts and MLD SL bivys. We slept warm with night lows in the low to mid thirties.
The next morning we spent time playing at the lake and then started the hike back to the trail head.
When hiking solo my focus is on long miles, a fast pace and pushing myself. This trip was about sharing time with my daughter and having fun. A great adventure in every way.
