One of our family’s favorite ways to explore nature is to put on a backpack and hit the trails. Our first family backpacking trip was in California with some dear friends. It was an experience we will forever remember. We do a lot of hiking, so we love to be able to put everything we need for a few days into our packs and go into the woods. There was that one time it was an absolute nightmare… backpacking and a kid getting snake bit!
Backpacking in California
Our daughter was only four on our first backpacking trip, so her pack was lightweight with nothing more than a some water and a snack. She was still zooming through the woods faster than the rest of us weighed-down pack mules, so over the years, she has graduated to a larger bag and more weight. Of course, it has hardly slowed her down. Oh, to be young again! My son is now at the age and strength that he likes to switch packs with me and carry my heavier bag.
I wanted to share with you some of the gear we use. When we decided to start backpacking there was so much gear to purchase, so it was a bit overwhelming. We were lucky to have some friends who were able to help us pick out some of the best gear. On occasion it’s ok to go with the cheaper option, but sometimes you really need to purchase the better product. No one wants to replace equipment soon after purchase, or worse, to be stuck in the backcountry with malfunctioning water filters. (BEEN THERE!!)
I am not recommending the cheapest options available. While we started that way… I wish we had purchased these items first. I am a fan of waiting to buy quality items over making more purchases later.
Our daughter was 4 on her first backpacking trip. I am a believer of “start them young”.
Bags
There was a time we bought cheap bags. We had Walmart bags and the kids used regular backpacks when we started. While I feel like you can backpack successfully with these bags (we did it), I only want to recommend the gear we like. Our bags have been through some stuff! All the zippers are still working and nothing has broken on us yet.
I purchased my Kelty Coyote 80 back in 2019. This bag has held up well. It has been used on several trips and while it does look like it has been well-loved it is still in excellent shape. I love the various compartments available on it. On the Kelty 80, you can remove the top flap of the bag and it has straps inside to be able to wear it as a hip pouch if you want to use it as a day pack while backpacking. We have been able to disconnect it a few times and use it that way and love having that option.
My husband’s bag is a North Face Terra 65. It is a great bag as well. It is the one I carry most of the time as it is a 65-liter and our Kelty is an 80. So my husband gets the bigger bag and the heavier stuff. We have had this bag for about 6 years, so some things may have been upgraded on it on newer models. But it’s overall a great bag.
My 12-year-old son carries a Teton Sports Scout 3400. I believe it is a 55-liter bag. We were torn about whether to go with a smaller (thus lighter) bag for him as an in-between, but we decided to go with this one and just be cautious of how we pack into it. I am glad we went with this larger bag as he is growing right into it and carrying more and more weight each trip we take. He has been very happy with this bag and we were able to get it easily adjusted to fit him with plenty of room to grow. His bag does have a rain cover attached that has come in useful.
Our nine-year-old daughter has an Osprey Ace 38 Kid’s backpack. She has transitioned from a basic backpack so she is feeling like she is living a life of luxury with the ventilated “Airspeed” back. It is amazing how much more comfortable a bag is when you have some airflow on a long hike.
It adjusted perfectly to her and she still has lots of room to grow.
Sleeping
I feel like we have gotten pretty lucky with our air mattress choice. We did start with 3 of them and have taken all 3 on several trips. We did end up leaving our air mattresses in the woods because of the snakebite. My husband did pick another air mattress when replacing his we left behind. He really does like his, but it is so loud I can hear him roll over from my tent.
My son and I now use foam sleep pads and LOVE them. They are more bulky than the air mattresses, which is why you will see many hikers strap them onto the outside of their bags. BUT the benefit is the pads are much quieter. I have a dog that sleeps with me and I no longer worry about her puncturing my air mattress with her toenails. AND I don’t carry hike chairs with us when backpacking typically, so these are amazing to have to sit on. They can make the most uncomfortable rock or log into a decent resting spot.
The kids and I have Kelty sleeping bags. My daughter and I have the Kelty Cosmic Down 20. We decided to get her an adult sleeping bag because the kid’s bags weren’t much cheaper for a similar temperature rating. I didn’t want to be purchasing a new one in a few years when she outgrew a kid’s bag. My son got a similar model. I wasn’t sure how I would like a mummy bag, but we were all happy with them. Considering how much space we have in our tent, and how much we need to save on weight; mummy bags are winning bags for us.
Tent
We are a family of four, and since we backpack with young kids we have found 2 two-person tents works best for us. We had these tents and when we left our gear on the trail in Arkansas we decided to replace the tents with the same ones we had used before. They are incredibly cheap tents, but have held up so well for us. And we seriously put them to the test with kids and a dog.
Water
Water filters are something we have struggled with. We had a life straw, we had some that you have to pump… I think in all we had four failed attempts to get a decent filter. Part of our issue is that we don’t always have the cleanest water to filter from, the filter would get clogged (our kids pumped the water and may not have always been careful), and we would be waiting forever to get any clean water. Water become the most hated portion of backpacking for us. BUT we hit the jackpot. I know there may be other brands out there that work as well… but this is what we have… Platypus GravityWorks 4 L. We find water, hang it in a tree, and let it work. It is amazing for us because with 4 people we go through SO much water for drinking and for cooking our dehydrated meals. We have been very diligent to reverse the flow to dump trash back out of the filter after using it, and I have read that is key to keeping it flowing quickly. It is an expensive filter, but we have thrown away more than that in terrible filters. (Update: on our last backpacking trip we went with friends. There were 8 of us and we all used this one filter. It just stayed in a tree and everyone always kept it full. It was AMAZING.)
Camel Bak
We had several Camel Bak bags from our days of hiking, so we were able to just use the bladders from those packs. We have never used an off-brand bladder, so I can’t tell you if they work or don’t. What I can say is that these have been with us for YEARS, and have held up beautifully. We attempt to be easy on them and encourage the kids to be easy on their bags when they have a water bladder. But we are living life and bags get dropped, or sat on… and they have held up beautifully. We have had instances of screwing the lid on improperly and having a leak that we discovered later, but it was all user error. Now the kids are great at checking their bladder before putting it back into their bags. We have had to replace the mouthguards on them quite a few times because…. kids…
Camp Stove
We have a Jetboil camping stove. And we love this thing. It will boil the water so fast that we feel like it is making great use of the fuel that we have with us. It is easy to get started and disassembles well for carrying. I see online that they have a 100-second boil time! That’s so important when there are a lot of people to boil water for. We carry one for our family of 4. We went backpacking with friends once and had 1 for 7 of us… At not quite 2 minutes to get to boiling, it doesn’t take long to boil the water for several dehydrated meals. This was an item I absolutely wouldn’t have spent so much on had I not known first just how amazing it is… but it is worth every penny. At the end of a long hike we are so hungry and to keep the kids from trying to eat just protein bars for dinner we need it to heat quickly so it can sit the allotted time for properly “cooking” the meals.
Dehydrated Food
There are so many options out there. And the ones I like may not be the same ones that you like. We have had a lot of trial and error on what works for us. And what one of us may love another may not. Peak Refuel is a brand that we seem to like the most. We have liked some of AlpineAire’s meals. Mountain House has some of the best ice cream sandwiches and desserts we have ever had.
Hiking Pants
I have a pair of convertible hiking pants that I purchased from REI.
My husband, son, and daughter all have the Amazon version of them. I do like the material they are made of. They aren’t quite as well-made as the REI pair, but for the price difference, I would be just as happy with a pair from Amazon. My son did get a pair and the adjustable waist strap broke rather early on, but that didn’t stop me from buying another pair when he outgrew those.
I love that our pants can get wet from creek splashes or rain, but they will dry off quickly. AND they won’t hold on to dirt… and briars just brush them right off. I had bought them purely for the convertible aspect, but it turns out there were far more reasons to have a pair for all of us. I also love that I can wash them out in the creek at the end of a long day and they will dry in time to wear again rather quickly. (depending on our humidity, of course.)
For the Dog
Our dog is a young, high-energy dog. So she gets to carry a pack as well. She wasn’t a big fan of wearing the bag initially so I was glad we had let her carry the bag around at home empty. On the trail she carries her own food as well as her collapsable water bowl.
Other things I recommend…
Compression bags.. brand doesn’t matter, but they come in handy for clothes or even for food.
raincoats that will squeeze down into nothing and are easy to carry. We have Magellan raincoats.
Bear spray… We have not had to spray a bear, so I can’t say whether brand matters or not… I do love that ours is in a sleeve that attaches easily to the outside of our bag.
phone charger pack… we usually go places without phone service so we put our phones on airplane mode so their battery will last longer. We do still use the cameras on them though.
headlamps… There are some super cute ones for kids on Amazon, but honestly, any headlamp will be good. We have everyone in our family with a headlamp/flashlight… our phones have flashlights, but we don’t want to rely on them.
You can also check out my other gift guides:
Gift guide for family travelers
I hope this post was a help to you. Please feel free to message me with any questions!
