First multi-day trip - PCT Cascade Locks area, Aug 6

[lurlur]

I believe there are some very nice backpacks along the shores of some of the Great Lakes. Not a lot of EG, but plenty of mileage to see how the gear and weight work out.

We're booked for an overnight shakedown next week in an area that has a campsite at the end of a 4 mi. trail, which my kid can totally handle.

You mentioned 30 pound loads (each??)...that, in my opinion, is a lot. You could list out your equipment and some of us on this website might make recommendations about gear swap out (if possible) or "no, you won't need that at all". I could probably do Timberline to Cascade Locks with around 20 pounds of gear.

I'm still procuring/researching some of our stuff, but base weight is currently 12.5 lbs each. Still have to add food and water storage, first aid, repair kit, bug spray, personal care, kindle, phone... I know that crap adds up fast, but I'm trying to be really careful and totally expect we'll come in well under 20 lbs. each. I've been training with 28-30 lbs, which I'd expect to be a realistic total pack weight.

For real, you guys have been massively helpful. Thank you!

[BassMasterK]

I believe there are some very nice backpacks along the shores of some of the Great Lakes. Not a lot of EG, but plenty of mileage to see how the gear and weight work out.

We're booked for an overnight shakedown next week in an area that has a campsite at the end of a 4 mi. trail, which my kid can totally handle.

You mentioned 30 pound loads (each??)...that, in my opinion, is a lot. You could list out your equipment and some of us on this website might make recommendations about gear swap out (if possible) or "no, you won't need that at all". I could probably do Timberline to Cascade Locks with around 20 pounds of gear.

I'm still procuring/researching some of our stuff, but base weight is currently 12.5 lbs each. Still have to add food and water storage, first aid, repair kit, bug spray, personal care, kindle, phone... I know that crap adds up fast, but I'm trying to be really careful and totally expect we'll come in well under 20 lbs. each. I've been training with 28-30 lbs, which I'd expect to be a realistic total pack weight.

For real, you guys have been massively helpful. Thank you!

Hi lurlur, your post here actually got me out of a longtime lurker status to add further encouragement. My wife and I just started backpacking last year and we took our 6 year old on a 4 day trip with a lack of any easy exit points for our first backpacking trip. I used a ton of research and home testing of equipment to make sure we had the largest chance of success as possible. All critical items like the tent, water filtration and stove were used multiple times to make sure that they worked properly, and I knew how to use them. Even sleeping pads were all inflated and rolled back up. I used equipment lists online to make sure I wasn't forgetting any essentials and then I edited them to fit our trip. I actually created a checklist that I literally ticked off each item as it went in the packs just to make sure we didn't forget anything. Yes, I know that we packed way more than we needed to, but we were fine and by the end of the trip the unnecessary stuff was obvious so it got crossed off my master list for the next trip we took a few months later. I read several books and tons of blogs on the subject, as well as got pointers from friends who backpack, and while I was a little nervous, especially having our little one with us, everything went as planned and we had a blast. My boy loved it so much, for his 7th birthday that he just had, he told us he didn't want a party, he wanted to go backpacking. We just did that trip last week, my pack was 1/3rd lighter than our first trip by getting rid of the unnecessary stuff, but it would have been fun regardless. The whole family has been bit by the backpacking bug.

It sounds like you guys are doing all the right stuff, testing things out first, even doing a shakedown which is awesome. I'm sure you will have a great time. I'm actually going to try to do the same trail in the opposite direction in September.

[Rather B Hiking]

Another thing that would be good to practice is stream crossings. The challenge of crossing a glacier fed stream increases considerably if you are carrying a fully loaded backpack. Poles are a big help. You can rent them from outdoor shops here if you don't usually use them.