Backpacking with Kids: A Mom’s Guide to Crafting Epic Outdoor Adventures

It’s an understatement to say that lots of planning goes into backpacking with kids.  There’s the basics like where you will go and how far you can realistically hike per day with kids.  Then there are the things like what food to pack or how to keep your kids safe while still letting them play freely in nature. But all that planning is definitely worth it.

I actually enjoy backpacking more when I’m with kids.  They get fascinated by the little things — like cool bugs or the mini ecosystems in a puddle – and that makes me appreciate nature even more.

And considering how much screen time today’s kids get, it’s nice that screens aren’t even an option!  Without the distractions, I feel like a better parent and we enjoy our time together.

My older daughter is now 13 years old.  Her first trip was when she was 3.   I’ve since had another child and she went on her first trip at 3 months old. 🙂 So, this advice is based on 10+ years of experience backpacking with kids.  Hopefully it will help you plan your own trip.

Jump to:

• Planning
• How Far Can Kids Backpack?
• Gear
• Your Kid’s Pack
• Food
• Safety

 

Planning the Trip

Where to Go?

While I’m sure there are a lot of amazing backpacking destinations on your bucket list, your first trip with your kids should meet these requirements:

• Close to the trailhead: If something goes wrong and you need to bail, you will be able to get out quickly.  Ideally, stay within 2 miles of the trailhead on your first backpacking trip with kids.
• Little elevation gain: The moment the trail gets steep, your kids will start complaining.  So avoid any super-steep trails until your kids get the hang of backpacking.
• No dangerous wildlife: Everyone will be stressed out if you have to constantly pester your kids not to leave food out because of problematic bears, or to watch their step because of the venomous snakes.
• Water! Kids love splashing and playing in water. Look for lakes, ponds or streams and your kids will be entertained for hours. Plus, you’ll have a source of drinking water so you don’t have to carry as much H20 with you.

 Bonus Points for Places:

• With a pit toilet: Seriously, you will be much happier if you don’t have to dig a hole to go to the bathroom. This is especially true if you have little kids since they don’t give you much warning before they need to go.
• Where you’ve already been (but your kids haven’t). That way you will know what the terrain is like and are less likely to get lost. 😉
• Which allow campfires: A campfire is one of the best parts of backpacking, so it’s worth going somewhere without any burn bans in place.

How Many Nights?

In my experience, two to four nights seems to be the “sweet spot” when just starting with backpacking with kids. Less than two nights and they don’t have time to adjust from the trip and really get into it.  More than 4 nights and you risk everyone getting grumpy when the good bits of trail mix run out.  Plus, 4 nights means a lot more weight in your pack since you will inevitably be carrying most of the food.

That said, I’ve gone on 14 day backpacking trips with my daughter.   The trips were broken up though.  For example, 3-5 nights in the wilderness and then 1-2 nights in town for refueling (plus showers and fresh food) before heading back into the wilderness.

 

Thru-Hike or Base Camp?

I don’t recommend thru-hiking with kids.  The stress of having to hike so many miles per day and setting up camp each night can be too much.

Instead, start with “base camp” backpacking: hike up to a really nice spot to serve as your base camp.  Then you can do day hikes from this location.

 

TIP: Stay Off Instagram

While Instagram can be great to get you inspired, it can also set some unrealistic expectations. It’s okay if your kid can’t hike 12 miles each day, isn’t the youngest person to complete the AT, or has a meltdown on the trail.

Not every backpacking trip with your kids needs to be an epic adventure.  START SMALL.  And, trust me, those influencers aren’t showing all the meltdowns their kids had in route to capturing those Instgram-worthy pics.

 

How Far Can Kids Backpack?

As a general rule, each leg of the backpacking trip should be no more than 2-3 miles for little kids and no more than 5 miles for older kids.

These guidelines ensure there is plenty of time for your kids to explore and have fun in nature instead of just logging miles.  It also keeps the stress down since you won’t have to worry about making it to camp before nightfall.

After you’ve got a few trips under your belts, you might decide to increase this amount.  If not, that’s fine too.  My older daughter prefers the hanging-around-camp part of backpacking more than the hiking part, so our trips don’t cover many more miles now than when she was little.

Also read:

• How far kids can hike, by age group
• Calculate how long to complete a hike
• Ways to motivate your kids to hike

 

Kids Are Finnicky with their Hiking

Even if you think you know low far your kids can trek, remember that kids are finicky.  One day they might go really fast.  Other times they lack motivation and will want to take a break every 5 minutes.

The elevation and terrain also make a huge difference. When my older daughter was four, it took us 5 HOURS to hike 2 miles up a difficult trail to base camp!  Luckily we started early so I didn’t have to scream at my daughter to “hurry up before night falls!”

 

Backpacking Gear for Kids

The gear I bring backpacking with kids isn’t much different than if I was solo.  The only real difference is that my kids get an extra change of clothes and we bring more fun items like binnoculars and a deck of cards.  Oh, and a stuffed animal always comes along!  The image above shows what my family packed for a combo 12-day backpacking/camping trip.  The kids were 4 and 11 years old at the time.

You can get my downloadable gear list here.

 

Family Backpacking Tent

It’s usually just me and one of my kids on a backpacking trip (I have yet to attempt a trip with both girls; their big age difference means they have different paces and interests and everyone would probably get annoyed!).  Because I’m petite, we can easily fit into a 2-person tent.

That said, a larger tent would definitely be more comfortable.  Kids have a tendency to roll around in the tent and kick you in the face. So, a 3 person tent for 1 adult plus 1 child is best. If 2 adults are taking 2 children backpacking, you’ll probably want two tents.

Also read: Lightweight Family Backpacking Tents: 4 Best Options

 

Kids will need their own:

A lot of gear – such as the tent, stove, potty trowel and bear bag rope — you will share between you.  But kids will need their own of these items:

• Backpack – see these good youth backpacking packs
• Sleeping bag – see these best kids sleeping bags
• Sleeping pad
• Headlamp – see these best kids headlamps
• Whistle
• Water bottle
• Bowl/cup/spork
• Towel (don’t make the mistake of trying to share a towel with your kid!)
• Pillow (if you use one; we just roll up our jackets)

None of these items need to be expensive. For years, my daughter slept on a $10 foam pad on our trips. Her headlamp was a cheap Coleman one.

The sleeping bag is a bit trickier since it’s hard to find secondhand youth sleeping bags which are actually lightweight and warm enough for backpacking.  Unfortunately, kids can’t sleep in adult sleeping bags; all the extra space means they don’t trap heat as well.

 

Bring Extra:

These items are worth bringing extras of.  I’ve learned the hard way! :p

• Spare batteries: Seriously, kids really love to use headlamps and you’ll blow through batteries faster than you expect.
• Toilet paper. It doesn’t weigh much and you’ll be happier to have extra than not enough and needing it!
• Socks and underwear.
• Change of clothes. Kids have a tendency to do things like spill pasta all over themselves. In colder conditions, I bring a backup set of clothes.  In summer, I don’t worry as much because the clothes dry quickly.

 

Fun Items to Pack for Your Kids:

In addition to the essentials, I often bring these items when backpacking with my kids:

• Drawing notebooks and pencils
• Deck of cards
• Net
• Lightweight bowl: Good for holding tadpoles, fish or other creatures you catch with the net.
• Multi-tool/mini scissors: I use these to make nature crafts with the kids when outdoors. See some ideas here.
• Specimen cups: For when your kid finds a cool dead bug and wants to bring it home. Tic-Tac containers work well for this.
• Binnoculars
• Favorite toy: I’m really strict about this. It has to be small and lightweight! They are required to carry it in their own pack. My girls usually choose a stuffed animal.

 

Note about Backpacking Clothes for Kids

Since I go backpacking with my kids often, I don’t have a problem shelling out money for gear which will last for multiple seasons.  However, I don’t buy my kids expensive backpacking clothes.  They grow out of it too quickly for it to be worth the cost.

When I first started backpacking with my older daughter, I just brought her normal clothes.  Yes, cotton!  This meant I had to bring lots of extras in case they got wet. But, at the time, I preferred carrying more weight over paying for outdoors clothing.

Since then, I’ve found a few good secondhand stores where I can find cheap Merino wool base layers and other quality outdoors clothing for kids.  It also helps that my girls both have stopped insisting on wearing dresses all the time, even while hiking. :p   But the point is you don’t have to invest money in “proper” backpacking clothes when you aren’t even sure this is something you will do regularly.

Also read: Can You Wear Cotton Backpacking, and Is It Okay to Hike in Sneakers?

 

Your Kid’s Pack

Kid’s Pack Weight

As a general rule, young kids shouldn’t carry more than 5% of their bodyweight when backpacking and older kids no more than 10% to 15%. To put this in perspective, an 8-year-old child’s pack probably shouldn’t weigh more than 5lbs.   Put a liter of water in their pack and they are already at half that.

It’s incredibly important that you don’t weigh your kids pack more than this.  If their pack is heavy, they might hate backpacking.

For more detailed info on this, read: How much weight can kids carry when backpacking?

 

What Should Your Kids Carry in their Packs?

• Safety items: In case you get separated, kids should have survival items like a whistle and water with them. Read which safety items to always keep with you when hiking.
• Their own toys: Once I got strict about “If you want to bring it, you have to carry it,” my girls stopped wanting to bring large toys.
• Lightweight items: Like the toilet paper and their sleeping bag.

 

Your Backpack Will Be Heavy!

Your kids can’t carry too much, and you are probably packing more comfort or “just in case” items.  So, your pack will end up a LOT heavier than if you were backpacking solo.

Oh, and don’t be surprised if you end up carrying your kid’s pack too! I admit to caving in and lugging my daughter’s pack after she starting whining that it was too heavy.

Anything you can do to reduce the weight of your pack will make a huge difference.  For example:

• Planning your trip around water sources so you don’t have to carry water
• Making a precise meal plan with calorie counts
• Investing in a few key pieces of ultralight gear

For more, read: how to reduce weight from your pack.

 

Food

When it comes to kids and backpacking, food can make or break the trip.

I’ve found that food can be a great motivator. Like breaking out the Sour Patch kids during a particularly difficult section of the trail.  Or the promise of roasted marshmallows over a fire once we reach camp…

Also note that the adage “everything tastes better in nature” does not apply to kids.  If your kids are picky eaters in everyday life, they will still be picky while backpacking.  Bring the wrong foods and they won’t eat it.  Which means they will be hungry.  And CRANKY.

Below are guidelines to make sure you plan the food well.

 

Trail Mix and Snacks:

• Let kids pick out their own trail mix. Don’t force healthy options on them.
• Divide the trail mix into separate bags, with one bag per day. Otherwise they will eat all of their favorite snacks on day one and only have the less-good stuff on the later days (this applies to adults too!)
• At least half of calories from snacks. Your kids will be snacking continuously throughout the day and probably won’t want to eat a big meal.
• Bring some luxury foods. By “luxury,” I mean ones which aren’t necessarily calorie-dense but will make everyone happy. For my kids, that’s marshmallows.

 

Meals:

• Test all meals at home first. Don’t spring new foods on kids on the trip!
• Get them involved. Give a few options and let your kids choose what you will eat for meals.  My kids would choose Ramen for every meal.

 

Safety

Think Worst Case Scenarios!

Before you go backpacking with your kids for the first time, a lot of scary thoughts will probably run through your mind.

“What if someone gets hurt?”
“What if there’s a gear failure?”
“What if someone gets bit by a snake???”

Instead of ignoring these fears or saying, I embrace them.  I ask myself why I’m scared.  Then I ask what can be done to address the fears.

For example, in case someone gets hurt, I’ve got a first aid kit and plan trips so we are never too far away from the trailhead in case we need emergency help.

This approach ensures that I am prepared for anything.

Side note: I didn’t worry about these things so much when it was just me and friends backpacking.  But simply hoping that “everything will be fine” does NOT cut it once you are 100% responsible for someone else!

 

Make an Exit Plan

Never go backpacking with kids without a solid exit plan.

Now, an “exit plan” doesn’t have to mean that you completely bail on the trip.  For example, my daughter and I backpacked to a gorgeous glacier lake at 6,500 ft.  We set up camp with the intention of staying 3 nights.  But the weather turned crappy and we weren’t enjoying ourselves.

So we hiked down to the nearest village and pitched our tent in someone’s yard (with his permission). The weather at 5,000 ft. was much better than at the peak.  The nature might not have been as “breathtaking” but we had a blast anyway.

 

Laying Out Safety Rules

One of the best parts of backpacking with kids is that they get to do what educators call “risky play.” Doing things like rock-hopping over streams or climbing boulders does wonders for their self-confidence. Overcoming trail challenges helps them build resilience.

In my experience, the key to successful risky play is setting rules.

It might sound contradictory to set rules about play. Aren’t we supposed to be letting our kids run free?  But setting clear rules actually provides a framework where your child’s creativity can flourish.    They don’t have to worry about crossing lines or making mistakes, so feel more free within those boundaries.

The rules also help you feel more relaxed, so you don’t have to interrupt your child’s play with warnings to “be careful.”

Some rules I establish when backpacking with my kids:

• Hiking ahead: When little, my kids had to stay within eyesight. When they got older, they were allowed to hike ahead but there were rules about having to stop at each fork in the trail and wait.
• Wild animal safety. My kids know what to do in case they see wild animals. Also, there are rules like “no lifting large rocks” because venomous snakes may be hiding underneath.
• Stay on trail: I don’t let my kids go off-trail alone at all. You might make a different rule for your kids though!
• Exploring alone: When my daughter got older, I let her walk away from camp on her own a bit, but was clear that she always had to bring basic survival equipment including a whistle with her.
• Cliff edges: How far back they need to stay.
• Water safety: Kids may need to stay a safe distance away from deep water.
• Campfire rules: No running near the fire ever. I let my kids poke the campfire with sticks (they love this!) but must be sitting and can’t raise the sticks into the air.

 

Have you gone backpacking with your kids? What advice would you add? Let us know in the comments!

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Resources:
https://wellbeingswithalysia.com/risk-taking-play-outdoors-for-toddlers/,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3499858/,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6993091/,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18466909/