Overnight Camping Pack for Kids (7 year old)

As you think about preparedness, honestly most of the time it is a lot like camping. Many folks grew up camping, and spending time outside, and it is a great way to figure out what stuff you need and what stuff you don’t. When my kids were young(er) my wife and I took them camping a lot. But we always “car camped” which meant that we were always not far from a bathroom, a source of water, and.. well… they didn’t have to carry anything. This new year’s eve, I am taking my kids (7 and 9) overnight backpack camping.

We are not exactly summiting Mount Everest. Think “5 miles in, camp at a campground that has water, and hike 5 miles back out in the morning.” We aren’t planning on braving snowbanks, or pouring rain, or difficult terrain. But teaching them how to bring the important stuff, keep packs light, and work together is a good thing.

Now, before I show you what we put in my daughter’s pack (she’s 7), you should know that I am capable of carrying her pack for her if she winds up not being able to handle it (I am writing this before the trip, but we have practiced locally, and I think she’ll be fine). But this is hardly life and death.

Let’s start with the pack itself.

After some trials, I chose a Mystery Ranch Women’s Scree 32L pack. I chose it because it is nice and adjustable (if you have never had a Mystery Ranch pack, their adjustability is AWESOME), it has really nice hip padding (important for her to be able to carry weight with her hips, not her shoulders) and it has just the right amount of pockets (a couple on top, and a couple internal sleeves, but nothing fancy. Lastly, the “triangle” zipper thing is fantastic, and allows her to access the pack easily herself. It also has a provision for a water bladder (we aren’t using one for this trip, because that makes it harder for me to carry her water, but we often do).

As you can see, it also has those nice little “chapstick" pockets” on the waist band, which is nice for her to collect acorns and fairy moss, or whatever strikes her fancy. My daughter is part squirrel. She loves collecting little treasures. So those are her treasure pockets.

Contents of a 32L Pack for an overnight for a 7 year old

As I have done with many of my other topics, I’ll start with the “exploded” version, and list things from there.

Normally, I go in order. But because some of this is more important than other parts, I will not.

Hiking Pack/Backpack - We chose a Mystery Ranch Women’s Scree 32L. She really liked the “3-Zip” which lets her easily open the top, or get at stuff in the bottom of the pack without help. She never needs to “Extend” the pack (because she isn’t gonna carry any more than a few pounds anyways) so the floating top cap type packs with the straps are not a great choice for her. Obviously we went with the XS/S size, and sized it as small as it would go for a good fit. Read a little bit below for comparisons between this pack and the one we chose for her brother (stronger and 9 years old). Check out the “3-zip” instructions:

Sleeping Bag - Choosing a sleeping bag is likely the hardest thing on this list. By far most sleeping bags I could find (for kids at least) are not made out of down, and therefore don’t compress very well and are heavy. If you buy a regular sleeping bag for kids, they tend to be very heavy, and really don’t pack down very small. I read a lot about this, and decided to do with an Enlightened Equipment Sleeping QUILT. OK, what the heck is a sleeping QUILT? Basically, the way you stay warm in a sleeping bag is with the loft (air in the down or synthetic). When you get in a sleeping bag, you “smoosh” the bottom of the bag underneath you, so the bottom of the sleeping bag actually doesn’t really keep you warm anyways. It is the sleeping PAD that keeps you insulated from the ground. So a sleeping quilt is kinda like a sleeping bag with no bottom. It isn’t just a blanket, because it has straps to wrap around the bottom of the sleeping pad. But you can get them in down (which means they compress really well and are super warm) and they still have a foot box to keep your toes warm. I figured with a lighter sleeping setup, then we’d have more room for a warmer sleeping pad. In our tests, this worked really well, and it was important to me that my daughter be able to carry all her own stuff (if she wanted to). She really liked setting everything up and it gives a real sense of agency. I will warn you that the stuff from Enlightened Equipment is not cheap, but it was very reasonable for the quality. I also have one, and I love it. And the bags/quilts are tall enough that she’ll be able to use it for years.

Sleeping Pad - The bright green EXPED. As I mentioned above in the sleeping bag rant, it is really important to have a warm, quality, quiet sleeping pad. I went with the EXPED Ultra 3R 20 degree pad. Click that link to see the current price on Amazon, but you might shop around. The price on these varies wildly, and they are much cheaper if you want an uninsulated one (for summer). I was worried (we are camping on New Years Eve) that she would be cold, so I went with a slightly warmer one. Still packs pretty small, though, and comes with the bag to inflate it easily.

Silk Sleeping Bag Liner - Again, it is hard to know how warm she will be, so I wanted some flexibility. I got a silk liner from Amazon that seems pretty high quality! There are fancier ones from Sea to Summit, etc, but the one I chose was a Browint Mulberry Silk travel sleep sack. I got a normal sized one, because I figure I wanted her warm, not restricted, and it would be easy to feel trapped in a mummy one. It is very small and light, too. And could pack in with the sleeping bag easily (so she doesn’t have to stuff it back in that little baggie)

Water Bottles - Water is the heaviest part of camping, and the good thing about our trip is that I know there is potable water at the campsite. So in reality, she just needs enough for drinking on the hike in. But I had her carry three (only fill one, but have backups, and I can fill one with hot chocolate without worrying about cleaning it if I want).

• Two Nalgene 16oz bottles. These are smaller, and fit her bag better, and easier to handle than the huge ones. Super light. They come in a zillion colors, but you can find them on Amazon easily. Nalgene 16oz BPA free water bottle.

• A backup water bladder. Just in case we lose bottles, or whatever. I picked 500mL Hydrapaks. They pack super small, and hold a half liter of water. The idea here is that if I need to, I can take both her 16oz Nalgenes, and give her a smaller, easier to drink from water bladder, and save weight.

Headlamp - Normally, I pack the Pelican 2750C LED Headlamps like this for my kids. But for this trip, I was 100% sure we were gonna be up late, and needed a super light choice. So I lent her my Black Diamond Spot 400. I like that particular headlamp because it takes both AAA batteries and Li-Ion batteries, and is very light weight. And also quite bright. A solid choice.

Rain Gear - You can see the Rain jacket and rain pants (I put those in a ziploc baggie). These can be anything. I think that jacket is LL Bean (or maybe Patagonia?) and the Rain pants are REI brand. But anything lightweight and waterproof will do.

Pack Cover - This seems like an extra thing, but it is very (very) useful. Not just for hiking in the rain, but for keeping the pack dry if you have to leave it outside the tent to save space (or in a vestibule of the tent, etc).

Snacks - Yes. Many. And I let them have fancy chocolate! My daughter especially likes those jerky sticks, too.

How much does all that Weigh?

Good question. That pack, with all the stuff shown on that table (one of those water bottles full, but not both) weighs 10.36 pounds! Not too bad, and with the nice waist belt, the weight really wasn’t a problem for her!

Here’s a couple of pictures of the pack loaded (next to her brother’s REI pack). Front and back. Those weird looking things on the outside are glow in the dark “sticks” that serve as mini nightlights in a tent (low glow). Kept them on the outside of the packs to charge up during the day.

Here’s a picture of my kids starting off hiking (it was nice and sunny when we started) showing off their packs!

The start of a fun hiking trip!

The Actual Trip

Well, I wrote the above thinking this would be an easy trip. And that was partially true. The kids did a GREAT job (the packs were no problem, no one complained, and fun was had by all). HOWEVER, despite the forecast for no rain, at about the halfway mark hiking in, the sky clouded over, and it began to POUR. I am not talking sprinkles. I am talking POURING rain. We made the decision to hike back out rather than sleep all night in the rain, but we count this as a big success because we were PREPARED. That rain gear, and the pack covers came in HANDY. Here’s a shot of my kids hiking in the rain!