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Posted by Bill S on February 17, 2008 at 1:50:07 pm EST
In reply to Children and backcountry posted by Bryan L on February 17, 2008 at 1:59:49 am EST

Bryan -
We took Young Son out camping and backpacking pretty quickly after he was born (bike ride as soon as Barb was comfortable getting back on the bike). First "real" backpack was at age 3, when Barb dropped me off to go climbing in the Bugaboos, and she and Young Son headed for Lake O'Hara (Canadian Rockies). Their hike was all of a half kilometer from the shuttle bus to Lake O'Hara Lodge to the campsite. He carried a small pack with water bottle, snacks, and a jacket, while Barb carried the rest. They did a number of dayhikes during the week, plus it snowed (in August), making it also his first snowcamping trip (he had a blast playing with the white stuff). Only problem was he kept sliding out of his sleeping bag.

We gradually upped his distance and load over the years, including fishing along with the exploration mentioned by Alicia and Fred. One trick on the distance thing - they will always ask the "are we there yet?" and "how much farther?" question. Some people say "just a little farther", but I found "50 miles more" and "10 thousand feet more climb" works better, especially when the question is asked just around the bend from the parking lot on the way out, or about 50 feet from topping out (be sure you stick to easily doable distances and climbs, tailored to the little ones' scale - a half mile is a lot for a 3 year old, and 5 miles can be excessive for a 9 or 10 year old). Give them some of their own gear to carry, so they feel they are contributing (water bottle and jacket at first, hold off on the sleeping bag until they have done a lot of short backpacks, and make sure the pack really fits - don't fall into the too-frequent trap of thinking they will "grow into" a too large pack).

Not knowing what part of the country (world?) you are in, do be careful about the log-poking activities. I grew up in the deserts of Arizona, where you might well find a scorpion or rattlesnake under that log (one time at abt 6 years old, I ran ahead of my parents on a trail, turned around to urge them to go faster and spotted a huge rattler lying across the trail that I might have just stepped on; another time I went to stomp on a scorpion to squash it with my bare feet, or so my sister tells me, until she yelled to our mother to stop me). Don't scare the kids, but do teach them about the dangers (that is, "keep your distance", not "the woods are about to devour you.")

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