Backpacking for a week with 2 wee little ones

I have kids around that age as well.  I’m hoping this thread gets traction so I can convince my wife to hike my kids out to see me on the JMT.  ;)

Cathedral lakes/TM is cool, but the kids might miss having a campfire.  (Smores, etc).

Also, altitude is something to consider.  I drove my daughter up on Tenaya lake when she was 2m old..and she was fine.  We watched her close.  But since babies can’t tell you if they are having symptoms it can be difficult to tell if there’s a problem.  9k feet is usually fine though.

Ostrander lake might fit the bill for a test trip.  Not as pretty as Cathedral, but it’s 6miles in from glacier point road you can have a fire. Only…eh…7k feet I think?

Tip #1 – feed your kids first.  What they liked yesterday they may hate today.  You may be eating a lot of rejected food.

Tip #2 – It could take 4-5 hours to walk a 1 mile trail.  Let them explore

Tip #3 – with wet disposable diapers (not soiled), I use to open them up to dry in the sun to shed some of the weight.  Oh yea, a weeks worth of diapers are going to reek and be heavy.

Have fun!

How about a Scrubba for the diapers? They’ve expanded their line to include a wash bag, a wash pack, and a wash/dry kit. The bag would probably suffice for your purposes.

I would take them to Devil’s Bathtub, out of Lake Thomas Edison, and arrange for the local packer to carry a plentiful supply of kid stuff along with all the food and gear up the trail to the lake. Then they will come back and take the things back out again. Absolutely gorgeous, less traveled area, without a lot of hassle with permits (like Yosemite) and no daily floods of tourists. The packer will know where the best of the campsites are around the lake too. Permits via the forest service office in Prather on the way up.

The problem with Yosemite destinations will be the bear canister issue. You will be expected to keep all trash, food, etc in bear cans — and I am not sure but I would expect bears to show interest in diapers and associated powders, lotion, etc as they do have a smell! There are no bear issues in the wilderness areas more distant from Yosemite or the JMT.

That said, there are some destinations with bear lockers that may also fill the bill – we were camping at a lake off the JMT between Garnet and Shadow lakes, and came across five generations of a family camping across the lake from us — 80+ year old grandparents down to lil babies had all stayed the week there, with their supplies in a couple of bear lockers, thanks to the packers who’d brought them in and were coming back to pick them up. Big tents, chairs, awnings, etc. all made the experience comfortable for all generations and abilities.

Diapers are one of my favorite topics :)

Prefold diapers can work in the Sierra in August because things dry in a reasonable amount of time. We took about 1.5 days worth of diapers, a collapsible bucket, a small bottle of Dr. Bronner soap, cord for a clothesline, and mini clothspins from the craft store.

Pee diapers – rinsed in the bucket and then hung to dry.

Poop diapers – bury the poop and then wash in the bucket. This might take a couple of trips back to get fresh water. (latex gloves are nice if you are squeamish)

The fewer diapers you take, the more on top of washing & drying you have to be. It usually took about a day’s worth of sunshine to dry a prefold.The covers dry more quickly.

Prefolds are pretty bulky, but not that heavy. We have also used fuzzybunz and g-daipers with the reusable inserts. Both of these are a little bit more compact. Another option is to use disposables for night time if you are worried about leaking. They can be hung up to dry before you carry them out.

We found out that it gets a lot harder in October when things don’t dry as quickly and all of a sudden you are nearly out of diapers.

Is your 3.5 year old comfortable going both peeing & pooping outside? If not, I’d make sure and practice that in advance.

-Peter (busy chasing a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old)

If you are using cloth diapers and washing them in unscented detergent they don’t smell any different than clothing does. Diaper cream can be sequestered in the bear can overnight. Yes, it might smell a bit if it is on someone’s bottom, but probably not much more than than the caked on sunscreen on the adults. Some disposable diapers can smell really strongly, but my guess if that if you are asking about cloth diapers this isn’t an issue for you.

It is the snacks that take up a lot of room.

One more thing – Marmots like the salt from urine. Placing diapers on rocks/low bushes to dry can get result in them getting chewed apart.

-Peter

If you’re doing cloth, flats (1 ply) are going to be the most manageable.

Check out “elimination communication.” Diaper Free Baby is a good book on the topic.

More inspirational than informational, you might want to read “Small Feet, Big Land” by Erin Mckittrick (who sometimes posts here on BPL).  She and Hig are my “neighbors” in an Alaskan-kind-of-way because they only live 100 miles away, so we bump into each other about once a year and they and the kids stay with us when they are taking a 800-mile hike past our house.

Their life is somewhere between a family crossing the US in a Conestoga wagon circa 1852 and a Cro-Magnon family following the mammoth herds on foot 25,000 years ago.  Diapers, grizzly bears, blowing snow and 20F with a 2-year-old (previously), pack ice and sub zero temps with a 4-year-old (last Winter going from Nome to Kotzebue).

I find it helpful, while cajoling 11-year-old girls up over the talus slopes of the “Golden Staircase” on the Chilkoot Trail, to think of what Hig and Erin are routinely doing with their much younger children and my task at hand seems easy in comparison.

Wow a mom with two little ones!

I wonder how the mosquitoes will be if we have a big snow year…

Thanks everyone for your super helpful comments! You made me think of things I haven’t otherwise though of. Like:

1. I definitely want to go someplace touristy. Camping alone with 2 kids will be manageable socially for me if we can run into new people, especially those from far away places with interesting language/stories/etc.
2. Campfires and little kids seem not be a good combo so I will choose someplace without.
3. Definitely will do reusable diapers, as I can’t imagine bringing in enough bear canisters to store used compostable diapers. Peter J, that sounds like a perfect set-up. Katherine, I’ve heard of elimination and I’m trying to figure it out with my little one.
4. Mosquitos!!! Ahhh I hadn’t thought of that!!
5. David, thanks for the information.

If you’re at GGG this weekend, let’s talk in person! Our first test run with 2 kiddos.

FYI, I use breast milk for diaper rash and that’s nice because I won’t have to put it in a bear canister.