Publications

AMC Outdoors, June 2001

By Cindy Ross

When you start your new pastime as a camping family, shoot for the backyard first to perfect tent setting-up, fire-lighting, and stove-cooking skills. Next, head to the closest state park or car-camping spot. Throw extra gear into your vehicle until you have your systems down pat. When staying in public campgrounds, cruise through the entire area first to find the most remote campsites—and privacy, quiet, and an experience more similar to woods camping. Look for sites on the perimeters of the campground so you do not have neighbors on all sides. When you feel comfortable, head for a national or state forest, where camping is usually free, or a primitive site with pit toilet and picnic table.

But as soon as possible, leave the blacktop behind. Even if all you can do is hike a mile into the wild and you have to make multiple trips to the car for gear or haul a 70-pound pack for a short distance, it’s worth it.

Leaving the blacktop means doing some form of backpacking. If there’s a baby in the family, you’ll need a child carrier. We quickly found that the largest-capacity carrier we could find, with all the bells and whistles of a grown-up suspension system, made the jumpy kid on our backs a much more comfortable ride. Plus, Mom and Dad will need large backpacks to carry the entire family’s gear. You may only travel a short distance from the car, but clothing, bedding, and food for a family is weighty and bulky.

Children can begin to carry something as soon as they are a few years old and have the desire. A small day pack with a stuffed animal and snack are all that’s needed to help them feel a part of the adventure and get them used to the idea. As they grow older and stronger, a good rule of thumb is never to fill their pack with more than one-fifth or one-sixth of their body weight. If your child is new to carrying weight, go even lighter. Bear in mind that your pack-carrying child will probably be able to hike only about half the distance he or she could hike burden-free.