I’ve written about camping with babies and toddlers. I mentioned there that we had hopes of one day backpacking with our kiddo also. Well, we’ve done it – or at least a proof of concept – and it was a smashing success, if I do say so.
Dan and I have backpacked a couple times in Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania. In April, we went car camping there at Caledonia State Park with Gabriel for two nights. On Sunday morning before we left, we did a short hike on the AT from the campground purposefully to look for a potential camping spot for a future backpacking attempt. The AT from the campground starts with a steep hill. Near the top, we found a nice camping spot that had a fire ring built from rocks and clearly was used for camping. We continued our hike along the AT, which was relatively flat beyond that point, to look for additional potential spots. We found a few that would suffice, but none that had a fire pit or was as ideal as the first. After a total hike of about 1.5 or 2 miles along the trail, we turned around, knowing we wouldn’t want hike further than that for our first backpacking adventure with Gabriel.
We originally planned to go in early June, but schedules were overfilled and we were a little stressed out, and frankly, it felt like a lot. But we picked another weekend to go. When it rolled around, we again considered bailing, life feeling so full and what not, but we stuck to it – and thank goodness. Getting into the woods… even just a little… is often the cure for those feelings.
Stats:
- 1.5 miles round trip
- 300 feet elevation gain
- 1 night
- 15 hours total
- 2 adults, one happy boy, and a tired dog
- Lots of overnight rain
We drove up on a Saturday afternoon. We were hoping we could park our car overnight in a campground parking lot close to the start of the trail, but posted signs said no overnight parking. So I dropped Gabriel, Dan, and all our stuff off, drove the car 0.5 miles away to a parking lot outside the campground, and walked back to meet them. We started our hike shortly after 5:30pm. About 18 minutes, 0.5 miles, and 300 feet elevation gain later, we made it to the spot we’d seen when we previewed the hike in April. It was available, so we took it and began setting up camp. A few other people passed us on the nearby trail in the next hour or two, carrying backpacks and equipment. I wonder where they ended up camping.
It had rained the night before, so we’d prepared Gabriel for the potential that we wouldn’t be able to have a fire due to wet wood. I’d also picked up sandwiches for dinner instead of our original plan of cooking hot dogs over a campfire. However, we managed to collect plenty of dry (enough) firewood for several hours of a fire. Yay, s’mores!
We were fortunate that there weren’t a lot of mosquitos, but there WERE a lot a of other bugs. The area was wet and humid and teeming with all kinds of life. Grubs, snails, ants, spiders, beetles, etc. We managed, though.
It rained all night overnight, but fortunately stopped by morning. We ate oatmeal, packed up camp, and hiked the one mile back to the car, mostly downhill. Success!
How we did it
- Packs: Dan and I each used our 70L backpacking packs. Gabriel chose to wear our Osprey Daylite Pack. This became our diaper bag replacement when Gabriel was no longer in diapers or a stroller, but we still wanted to carry snack, water, and usually wipes around. Usually Dan or I wear it, but Gabriel chose to wear it over his tiny school backpack. It certainly looks more like a backpacking pack, but was still kinda huge on him.
- Tent: We brought the non-backpacking mansion tent. Yep. All 17 or whatever pounds of it. We considered renting a 3-person backpacking tent for this occasion, but see above about life just being really busy, and so that remained a nice thought and nothing more.
- Stuff: Dan has always carried the tent, and I have always carried the cooking equipment. We continued that tradition… except now the tent weighed almost 20 pounds instead of like 5 and took up all the space in his bag. So I also carried most of Gabriel’s stuff, including his sleeping pad and sleeping pad. He carried all of his clothes and water bottle in his own pack.
- Food: Deli-bought sandwiches for dinner, and s’mores. Oatmeal for breakfast. Baby-bel, granola bars, meat sticks, apples, and various other snacks. We bear bagged it all in Dan’s Sea to Summit dry bag, slung over a high tree branch.
And that was that! I can’t wait to go again, although I do want to have a location picked out again. I need to go back to some our former trips and remember what could be shortened…
she eats and other things 