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SteveJ
11-21-2005, 23:54
Hi, all. I thought you might enjoy seeing a pic of my 10 year old on his first AT hike! We started at FS rd 42, hiked up to Springer Mtn, then north to Three Forks. When we got into the campsite, with his backpack still on, he said, "Dad that was awesome. I had so much fun!" We hiked out the Benton MacKaye trail the next morning. He was kind of shuffling along, up the slope - not complaining, but not making a lot of progress. I hitched my husky to his pack waist belt - he then made me work to keep up with him!

Steve

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=9360&c=517


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

:banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

Just Jeff
11-22-2005, 00:13
Awesome - isn't it great when kids love the outdoors?

Out of curiosity, how much did his pack weigh?

SteveJ
11-22-2005, 00:23
Awesome - isn't it great when kids love the outdoors?

Out of curiosity, how much did his pack weigh?

Yep! Great weekend! Not a 30 mile weekend, which I enjoy doing - we did ~8 miles, I guess... But I had so much fun!

He started, with 1 litre of water, with about 14 pounds. I didn't refill his water for the hike back out, so he was carrying about 12 pounds. He carried his pack, sleeping bag, TR 3/4 UL, clothes, and some of his food. He weighs about 60 - I try to keep my kids (3 boys) at under 20% of their body weight when backpacking. The 15 year old was also with us - he weighs about 145 - his pack weight, including his HH, was about 25 lbs. Mine was also ~25....

MedicineMan
11-22-2005, 01:42
isnt that the Scout?
i've got three on order for Christmas presents and will be following your example with the three youngest this Spring....8 miles sounds good but i'm thinking for our little group Sams Gap to Spivey Gap...it will be hard on them but with Big Bald as a BIGGGG reward....anyway congratulations for helping another AT lover along the steps.

Two Speed
11-22-2005, 06:56
Your son looks happy in that photo; not the fake, smile for the camera kind, but the "I'm gonna bust out in a smile soon" kind.

Kerosene
11-22-2005, 09:33
Thanks for posting, SteveJ. This is just the kind of incentive I need to keep giving to my 15-year old daughter. I've convinced her to join me for the 75 miles from Atkins to Damascus next June, but right now I'm probably more excited than she is. She weighs about 120 and I'm looking to keep her total pack weight under 20 pounds, which means mine will creep above 30 again, but it will be worth it to enjoy the experience with her.

D'Artagnan
11-22-2005, 10:35
That is just about the coolest thing I've seen on this site in a loooong time. Your son looks like an awesome young man and he looks like he's having a great time. I commend you for taking the time to introduce him to the AT and spend that time with him. I don't have kids of my own yet, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can take my brother's oldest (3 1/2 now) to the trail. I hope you have many more wonderful trips together and that he appreciates how great it is to have a dad like you. Thanks for the post and Happy Thanksgiving!

kyhipo
11-22-2005, 10:43
cool picture,generation of kids want to be outdoors but no leaders,he looks very happy:dance :banana ky,I take my nephew and nieces,usually in spring.

Big Guy
11-22-2005, 10:47
Great Picture. I commnend you for starting him at an age where there are not a lot of reasons to not get to the outdoors. By keeping his pack weight down the trip was enjoyable and needs to be a lesson to all of us who take youngsters out on any trail experience.

LIhikers
11-22-2005, 17:18
Bravo to the young adventurer. Tell him the whiteblaze gang says, "job well done!"

scothiker
11-22-2005, 20:10
Steve, that's awesome! He looks like he's having a great time. I'm printing it to take home to my 10-year old.

Yes, I, too have a 10-year old starting to hike, and hope to get him up on the AT on a day hike this weekend. He and I are both newbies, so we're still dayhiking and collecting our gear for overnights.

What type of pack and sleeping bag would you recommend for him?

If you are a member of the GATC, we'll hope to see you and your son on some hikes!

SteveJ
11-22-2005, 20:46
isnt that the Scout?
i've got three on order for Christmas presents and will be following your example with the three youngest this Spring....8 miles sounds good but i'm thinking for our little group Sams Gap to Spivey Gap...it will be hard on them but with Big Bald as a BIGGGG reward....anyway congratulations for helping another AT lover along the steps.

yep, that's the Scout. We have 2 of them in the family - I bought them for my older sons (15 and 17). The 15 y.o. was also on the trip - we went with my sons' Boy Scout Troop. Of course, the 15 y.o. didn't wait around on us! a pic of when we were together - just before heading back from Three Forks:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=9361&c=517

how old are yours, MedicineMan?


Your son looks happy in that photo; not the fake, smile for the camera kind, but the "I'm gonna bust out in a smile soon" kind.

:sun yep! Ok - I had to upload a pic with that smile 'busted out!'

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=9362&c=517


Thanks for posting, SteveJ. This is just the kind of incentive I need to keep giving to my 15-year old daughter. I've convinced her to join me for the 75 miles from Atkins to Damascus next June, but right now I'm probably more excited than she is. She weighs about 120 and I'm looking to keep her total pack weight under 20 pounds, which means mine will creep above 30 again, but it will be worth it to enjoy the experience with her.

Great, Kerosene. I envy you being able to do extended section hikes - I have ambitions to take some time off (not now - just started a new business) and hike a while with one of my sons... have a great time!

Thank you, D'Artagnan, kyhipo, BigGuy and LIhiker. I'm kind of new here, and wasn't sure about posting this - so I appreciate the warm response. He is a neat kid! I'm a pretty lucky guy.... Happy Thanksgiving!


Steve, that's awesome! He looks like he's having a great time. I'm printing it to take home to my 10-year old.

Yes, I, too have a 10-year old starting to hike, and hope to get him up on the AT on a day hike this weekend. He and I are both newbies, so we're still dayhiking and collecting our gear for overnights.

What type of pack and sleeping bag would you recommend for him?

If you are a member of the GATC, we'll hope to see you and your son on some hikes!

That's great, scothiker. He used gear I had bought my older sons when they were his age, so I haven't researched what's available.. we did conclude that his sleeping bag wasn't warm enough (he ended up in it wrapped up in my down pullover). He was using the Jansport Scout pack - kind of heavy at over 3 lbs... will be getting him another, lighter pack eventually....

maybe we'll see you on the trail!

Steve

sliderule
11-22-2005, 23:03
I started hiking with my son when he was eight years old. I had to take it slow for the first couple of years, but now I have to threaten to put more weight in his pack if he does not slow down!!!

Early on, I would load his pack with the more bulky items. His pack would be full, but not very heavy. But it looked like a big load for a small child. On one hike we neared Clingman's Dome in the Smokies and began to encounter a number of dayhiker's and tourists. One lady took exception to my son being on the trail. She asked how far we were hiking and my son answered "about 20 miles." She then predicted that it would be impossible for him to hike that far with the "heavy" pack that I was forcing him to carry. When I explained to her that we were nearing the end of the hike, she insisted that I should be arrested and charged with child abuse. As we continued up the trail, she ranted about how "the boy needs to be in school." (School was out for Fall break.) We still get a good laugh about that encounter when it comes to mind.

Lilred
11-22-2005, 23:35
Great looking kid. I wish I could get mine out on the trail with me. they won't have a thing to do with it.

MedicineMan
11-23-2005, 00:14
SteveJ, another great shot! takes me back to early early Boy Scout days.
I have two families with kids aged 16,12,10,10,6.
The sixteen yearold is off to school but has done 3 AT sections with me.
The rest are doing little sections like from Dennis Cove to Laurel Fork Falls and from Hughes Gap up to Little Rock Knob....there first overnighter will be
this Spring-thus the Scout Christmas gifts.


LilredMg,,,,the middle daughter was the hardest to get on the trail but we got her interested in hiking by finding geocaches....the little gizmos that are placed in the geocache piqued her interest and she had to hike to find the area the box was in....might be worth a shot.

neo
11-23-2005, 16:22
great pics,in my gallery on white blaze i have posted pics of me and my boys hiking on and off the AT.its good to see other fathers taking thier kids in the woods,also good seeing mothers hiking with thier kids to:cool: neo

Mr. Clean
11-24-2005, 18:07
What's the youngest age for kids doing 3 - 4 days on the trail? My son is almost two and I'm just dying to get him out there, even though I know it'll be several years. I may try a very short overnight next summer with him.

SteveJ
11-24-2005, 20:16
What's the youngest age for kids doing 3 - 4 days on the trail? My son is almost two and I'm just dying to get him out there, even though I know it'll be several years. I may try a very short overnight next summer with him.

chuckle... I guess it depends on how much you want to carry! I think it really depends on the kid. I took my middle son, who's the athlete of the family, on a 12 mile weekend when he was 9 and he did great with a 15 pound pack. He's the only 1 of the 3 I would do that with, tho. I took my 10 yo for an overnighter with the older 2 and my wife about 5 years ago. He carried a day pack with his sleeping bag - was about all he could carry and stay under my self-imposed 20% of body weight for him. He had a ball. We did about 4 or 5 miles on the Chattooga River Trail in North Georgia - it's the only time I've been able to get my wife out.....

when he's a little older, start him by taking him on short day hikes that have something exciting at the end..... a waterfall or a playground - something he'd want to do and be excited about.....

Cheers!

Rendezvous01
11-25-2005, 00:55
The earlier you get the kids started in the outdoors, the better. Both of ours were camping long before their first birthday.
One technique to getting them interested in backpacking/hiking is to tell them they can't, at least until they are older. Of course, then they want to do it.
When I was beginning to contemplate and prep for my 2001 hike, I started out by doing some day hikes. My wife and kids would drop me off some where, and then pick me up 5, 10, 14 miles later. My kids helped me pack my gear, plan my route, debrief at the end. By the time I hit the AT, my youngest, then 9, was ready to leave for Amicalola with me (he had been on several of my training hikes, with his own backpack, by then). I was tempted to take him along, but his mother vetoed the idea.
As a compromise, he and his 67-year-old grandfather met me in central VA. in late June and we hiked three days/27 miles in Shenandoah together. Okay, by the third day it was no longer 'together': the little guy couldn't hike as slow as his old man and my old man, so we just let him go ahead to the end of the section where grandma was waiting. We were hiking southbound for that stretch, so I just kept tabs on him by querying all the Nobos I met: "Have you seen a kid with a red backpack recently?" "Yeah, you're about five minutes behind him, but I don't think you're going to catch him!" Those three days, with the three generations, were the highlight of my wonderful three month hike.
Since then, my son--now 13 and taller and much faster than I am--and I have finished all of the AT in Shenandoah NP together (including a couple of 15+ mile days), and are tentatively planning to do PA from Boiling Springs, where I left off in 2001, to DWG next summer. And he's talking about hiking the whole trail during college, too.
I even got my now-17 year old daughter out for an overnight on the AT in Vermont a couple summers ago. A good sport, she declared that "backpacking is not my cup of tea, Dad," but did not complain. When I asked her if her backpack was too heavy (I, too, aim for 20% or less of body weight), her reply was "Are you kidding? My school bag weighs lots more than this!"

Mr. Clean: start with car camping, or an overnight hike with the hike being about a mile--even a two-year-old can hike that far, although it might take a couple hours with all the detours for interesting discoveries. Make sure your child has his own pack, even if it only contains animal crackers,a teddy bear, and a bedtime story, as kids want to participate in everything that dad does on an adventure like that. There are several good books available out there on backpacking with children (seems like one was written by Frank and/or Victoria Logue, who have penned several books about hiking along the AT), so check out your local library or bookstore for advice on how-to.

Scothiker: as far as packs for your son are concerned, I started my son with a external frame boy scout pack which was originally my older brother's way back when. When he showed a real interest, I bought him a Kelty Coyote internal frame. Don't think it will fit him this summer, though. Check out packs sized for women, in an XS size. Like with adults, have him try on several load appropriately with gear. Nothing ruins a hiking trip for a novice like pain from ill-fitting packs or boots/shoes. As for a sleeping bag, check out REI or EMS for reasonably priced synthetic-fill bags in youth sizes. No sense in buying top-of-the-line, pricy gear for kids who are going to outgrow it quickly, but cheap gear--in price but more particularly in quality--should be avoided.

Congrats, SteveJ and other parents, on introducing your youngsters to the joys of backpacking and the wonders of nature. (And Steve, I empathize with you about the wife situation. Car camping, with a cot, is about the limit for mine anymore. Until they come up with an 8-inch thick Therma-Rest that is packable, I'll just have to look forward to meeting her at the end of the hike. Which isn't all bad.)

bfitz
11-25-2005, 05:55
If they have a good time they'll want to come back...got to make it a good time!

gsingjane
11-25-2005, 06:48
MrClean, you may have to wait a few years for that 3-4 day trip. In my experience, a 2 year old ... even up to a 5 or 6 year old... would have a pretty hard time lasting 3-4 days. You really couldn't expect your son to travel more than 5-7 miles/day (on the low end when he's younger), and even that would take a fair amount of time and effort to accomplish. I think if you could combine a trip with something else, like camping in one place and then fishing, or touring a special spot or museum or other trail attraction, that might work a little better. Remember that kids of this age will just sit down and refuse to go any farther if they get tired. It would be a real bummer to get out there and have a half-day more to hike, and then have to carry your son AND his gear!

It isn't really that I don't think young kids are physically capable of going pretty far distances. I have seen my own kids, and other kids, too, cover distances or meet physical challenges that have surprised me, even at a comparatively young age. But, backpacking also requires a fair amount of mental discipline, which I have not know most four year olds to possess! Maybe I am too much of a Nervous Nellie, but I'd rather wait until I was pretty sure my child was up to the challenge, rather than have the trip end in a meltdown, or even worse present a safety issue.

Jane in CT

Jaybird
11-25-2005, 07:18
Hi, all. I thought you might enjoy seeing a pic of my 10 year old on his first AT hike! etc,etc,etc.........Steve





looks like a FUTURE THRU-HIKER in the making!:D

Two Speed
11-25-2005, 07:52
. . . One technique to getting them interested in backpacking/hiking is to tell them they can't, at least until they are older. Of course, then they want to do it . . .That is SO devious and underhanded that I'm completely consumed with envy that I didn't think of it myself.

justusryans
11-25-2005, 08:45
That is SO devious and underhanded that I'm completely consumed with envy that I didn't think of it myself.

I know, right!!:rolleyes:

SteveJ
11-25-2005, 09:42
Great advice, and great stories, Rendevous! Speaking of kids' sleeping bags, I came across this TNF bag on campmor last night:

A relatively light (2 lbs, 5 ozs) 20 degree synthetic bag for less than
$50. does anyone know anything about TNF's Heatshield Optimal Technology™ (H.O.T.™) SL insulation?

http://tinyurl.com/9dmxp