Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

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Katherine
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Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by Katherine » June 30th, 2015, 9:12 am

I'm rallying to take my son on his first backpacking trip, interested to get some suggestions as to where.

criteria:

*water that he can go into
*campsites close enough in that we don't have to hike that far. (Ideal would be several site to choose from over 1-5 miles)
*minimal elevation gain
*w/in 2 hour drive from SW Portland
*not crazy buggy
*beautiful enough to inspire

pdxgene
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by pdxgene » June 30th, 2015, 9:24 am

Timothy Lake would certainly meet #'s 1-5 on your list. 6 would depend I guess on your definition of 'beauty to inspire'. It's certainly not going to be Paradise Park..
https://www.portlandgeneral.com/communi ... fault.aspx

But here's their info page. You would most likely get cell service most spots there if that's important.

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sprengers4jc
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by sprengers4jc » June 30th, 2015, 10:13 am

Siouxon Creek meets all those requirements. There are nice campsites all along the creek within the first four miles and some nice sites just over the bridge at Chinook Creek after those 4 easy miles in (the bridge usually has a sign saying it is closed. You can safely cross it anyway). Chinook Creek Falls is gorgeous and is only about .1 of a mile away from those campsites. Just make sure you bring a Ratsack or similar, as the mice were persistent and quite bold (they climbed the tree and chewed through my stuff sack to get to our food). Also, there are nice exploratory options from this area, which we used a base camp last year. Here's a pic of Chinook Creek Falls and of my group's two tents pitched there over the summer solstice last year.
chinook_creek_falls.jpg
tents.jpg
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drm
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by drm » June 30th, 2015, 12:52 pm

The Lewis River. A number of good and roomy campsites next to the river about 2 miles in (near Bolt Shelter), pretty much flat trail. River should be low so not a lot of current. Probably at the edge of your 2 hour drive. You can also drive 10 miles further before or after and check out the Lower Falls.

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VanMarmot
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by VanMarmot » June 30th, 2015, 1:24 pm

I'd advocate for Indian Heaven, which could meet all of your requirements except the buggy one. But after mid-August, it's likely to meet that one too.

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sprengers4jc
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by sprengers4jc » June 30th, 2015, 4:39 pm

Great suggestions here! As for Indian Heaven, we backpacked there two weeks ago and Romann said on another thread that he went this past weekend. Higher elevations are buggy but the lower ones are not at all right now. We had a really nice camp at Lake Sahalee Tyee. It's 3.5 miles in from the Thomas Lake trailhead. At dinner time and breakfast, wander down to Blue Lake and scan the face of Gifford Peak. My wife and I saw a mountain goat mama and baby there at both times of the day :). We also day hiked to Junction lake and Tombstone. Good times :).
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Martell
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by Martell » June 30th, 2015, 8:31 pm

Bayocean Spit, hike out to the beach and camp. Lots of entertainment because you're on the beach, you can camp anywhere, and you don't have to go too far. You can dayhike from there to get some more miles in. Only negative is you'll have to bring in your water- not a big deal for an overnighter.
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oldandslow
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by oldandslow » July 2nd, 2015, 2:14 pm

I took my youngest son up the Salmon River to Rolling Riffle Campground on his first backpack at about age five. We went with a friend of mine and his son which was something I usually did hiking with my kids when they were younger. It is a short drive to the Salmon River trailhead and the trail is fairly level for about four miles. We only hiked about a mile each way on that trip. The forest is beautiful as is the river. Also a good place to throw rocks, wade, and have pine cone races.
The first few hikes that I took the older kids on when they were between four and seven have gotten a lot longer because of road closures but a later one that we enjoyed was Marion Lake. Not a hard hike and lots of spots to camp. It is just about two hours from Southwest Portland on the edge of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness area.

Katherine
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Re: Suggestions: 7 year-old's first backpack?

Post by Katherine » July 4th, 2015, 10:29 am

Thanks for all the suggestions!

We did Siouxon Creek thursday/friday and had a great time. He wants to do more, so I'm looking forward to checking out more of the suggestions.

We spent far more time in the creek than on the trail. Camped at the sites just past Horseshoe Creek, <2 miles in. Spent a chunk of time at the pool at the base of Siouxon Creek on Friday. Not a bad way to beat the heat!

Indian Heaven Wilderness is probably next up.

Also, thanks for the tip re the RatSack. REI Tualitin had one in stock.

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