6 Great Tips on Hiking Backpacks

• Should you try ultralight backpacking?
• How to reduce your backpack's weight
• Fanny packs: An alternative to backpacks
• How to put on a backpack for your hike
• How to adjust your backpack for a good fit
• How to clean your backpack post-hike
• BONUS: How to select a daypack hiking kids can use

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

When you'll need a backpack for a day hike

Sometimes called daypacks for day hikes or for kids, backpacks are essential once kids come down from the baby carrier. As the child is older, you’ll need to find a better way than a fanny pack to carry all of the items you need – snacks, first-aid kit, extra clothing, and more.

With multiple children, fanny packs can get awful crowded, so every time you dig through them, whatever you’ve packed gets knocked out of place. That makes finding an item difficult the next time you need it and increases the chances of losing something. Fanny packs also can carry only so much, so upsizing has it limits. By instead enlisting your back and shoulders, you can carry more items, a necessity the more children you have and the farther your hike goes.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Fanny packs: An alternative to backpacks

Hikers with a child carrier on their back may want to pick up a fanny
pack in lieu of a backpack. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Also known as a belt bag, a fanny pack is virtually a must for anyone with a baby carrier as you can’t otherwise carry a backpack. If your significant other is with you, he or she can carry the backpack, of course. Still, the fanny pack also is a good alternative to a backpack in hot weather, as it will reduce back sweat.

If you have only one or two kids on a hike, or if they also are old enough to carry daypacks, your fanny pack need not be large. A mid-size pouch can carry at least 200 cubic inches of supplies, which despite this book’s seemingly extensive list of sundries you should carry, is more than enough to accommodate them all. As Mary W., of Asheville, N.C., notes, “The fanny pack is the easiest way to carry anything on the trail. Mine has one zipper that opens to a single pouch, in which I’ve lined up everything needed, from first-aid kit to trail mix. I have one with canteens on both sides of the pouch, which makes getting water convenient.

Some fanny packs even come with a CD/MP3 player pocket and headphone port, but there’s really no need for such add-ons. You want to be able to hear your children at least for safety purposes, and you might even want to talk with them. In any case, if one of the points of the hike is to commune with nature, how can you do that if the latest music of our highly technical world is pounding in your ears?

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Plan out what to pack for hike with kids

Preparation for the trail doesn’t end with selecting a route and buying some gear. The next step is packing.

Begin with your water supply. Make sure canteens, water bottles and hydration systems are full; fill them up the night before and leave them in the refrigerator so that you have cold water. Just before hitting the road, strap one canteen to each side of the backpack or fanny pack/utility belt so that they’re more balanced.

Inspect - then pack
Next, make a checklist of everything you plan to take. Inspect each item to ensure it is in working order. As you place it in your fanny pack or backpack, mark off the item.

If lugging a backpack, don’t place pointy objects near your back or they’ll find a way to push into you the entire hike. Generally, the heaviest items go in last, at the bag’s top. This will provide you the greatest comfort when walking.

But for some hikers, the packing order is a bit more complicated. “In my backpack, the heaviest items always go to the front, which is nearest your back,” said Tim L., Harrisonburg, Va. “If the trail is smooth, the heaviest items go to the top. If the trail is rough, the heaviest items go in the bag’s middle or halfway up. If the terrain is extremely rugged, the heavy items go to the bottom.”

Don’t let kids overload packs
Place items you’ll need to get to quickly in the backpack’s sidepockets or at top of the fanny pack. These objects probably will include a first-aid kit, toilet paper and sunscreen lotion. Don’t tie lots of stuff to the outside of the backpack as they can snag on branches and come off.

After you’ve taken care of your gear, do all of the children’s daypacks, preferably with their assistance (and if they’re old enough to carry a backpack, they’re old enough to help). Make sure their pack isn’t overloaded. Among the items that should go in it are a safety whistle, emergency snack, rain jacket and probably a small first-aid kit. Teenagers can carry more, and you can entrust to their care some of what you used to carry when they were younger.

The final step is loading your vehicle. Most of the gear can be packed the night before, but any pieces involving canteens or water bottles obviously will have to wait until morning.

Read more about day hiking with children in the guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Packing checklist for day hiking with kids

Illustration courtesy of By GitHub (github.com/
github/octicons) via Wikimedia Commons

As the following items are placed in your fanny pack or backpack, cross them off (some items may be connected to your belt or backpack, carried around your neck on a lanyard, or worn). You may wish to add items to the list:
g Camera w/ extra batteries
g Candle
g Canteens filled w/ water
g Carabiners
g Compass
g Diapers (if applicable)
g First-aid kit
g Flashlight w/ extra batteries
g GPS (if applicable)
g Insect repellent
g Lip balm
g Maps
g Matches
g Mobile phone
g Multi-purpose tool
g Picnic lunch ingredients (if picnic is planned)
g Prescription medications (if applicable)
g Rain gear (poncho or jacket w/ trousers)
g Re-sealable plastic bags
g Rope
g Safety whistle
g Snacks
g Space blanket
g Sunscreen
g Tarpaulin (if backpack is used)
g Toilet paper
g Toilet trowel
g Wet wipes
g Wristwatch

If an unweaned infant or toddler is with you:
g Bottle w/ nipple
g Milk or formula
g Pacifier

If children are carrying daypacks, place in them:
g Jacket (for rain or wind)
g Maps (duplicates of yours)
g Safety whistle
g Snack

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Consider using fanny pack with child carrier

Parents carrying their child in a carrier will find a fanny pack useful for
storing needed supplies. Photo courtesy of bartt / Photoree.

Also known as a belt bag, a fanny pack is virtually a must for anyone with a baby carrier as you can’t otherwise haul a backpack. If your significant other is with you, he or she can carry the backpack, of course. Still, the fanny pack also is a good alternative to a backpack in hot weather, as it will reduce back sweat.

If you have only one or two kids on a hike, or if they also are old enough to carry daypacks, your fanny pack need not be large. A mid-size pouch can carry at least 200 cubic inches of supplies, which is more than enough to accommodate all the supplies you need.

A good fanny pack also has a spot for hooking canteens to.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Putting on gear during a day hike with kids

Once you arrive at the hiking area, you’ll want to strap on your own gear – and that’s not so easy to do when you’re also trying to watch little ones and making sure they don’t discard clothing or gear you just make sure they had.

Double check so you haven’t left something valuable in the vehicle that needs to be taken on the trail, such as maps you used to reach the site, your mobile phone, your wallet, and trail mix your kids talked you into munching on early. Once you’ve done that, get your gear on.

When putting on the backpack, tighten the waist belt snug, then shift the pack as high on your shoulders as you can and tighten the belt again. This will provide better stability when walking and keep most of the weight on your hips rather than your shoulders, which would be tiring.

If you have a baby carrier, put on your fanny pack first, then situate and buckle up the child in the carrier. Next, put on the carrier, grab the trekking pole, and gather the kids around to go over safety rules (more about that in an upcoming blog entry!).

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Carry handy carbiners on next hike with kids

Carabiners are metal loops, vaguely shaped like a D, with a sprung or screwed gate.

You’ll find that hooking a couple of them to your back or fanny pack useful in many ways. For example, if need to dig through a fanny pack, you can hook the strap of your trekking pole to it. Your hat, camera straps, first-aid kit and a number of other objects also can connect to them.

Hook them to your fanny pack or backpack upon purchasing them, so you don’t forget them when packing. Small carabiners with sprung gates are inexpensive, but they do have a limited life span of a couple of dozen hikes.

Read more about day hiking with children in the guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Canteens needed even on day hikes

Canteens or plastic bottles filled with water are vital for any hike, no matter how short the trail. You'll need to have enough of them to carry about 2 pints of water per person for every hour of hiking. If going into arid regions, you'll probably need more.

When looking for a canteen or a water bottle, make sure it seals tight and can be stored upright in a carrying case. The carrying case should hook to your backpack or fanny pack belt. You don't want to place canteens or water bottles loose in your backpack, or they could drip, leaving your gear and extra clothing wet.

Another possibility - and one popular with kids - is a hydration system. The lightweight plastic bag connected to a plastic tube can be filled with water and placed inside the daypack or a fanny pack (some backpacks come with them built in). The child then can drink water as walking simply by sucking on a tube, as if an astronaut in a space capsule. Since it's so effortless to use, kids tend to stay hydrated with it. Some hydration systems will hold up to 35 ounces of water, which is little more than a quart.

Read more about day hiking with children in the guidebook Hikes with Tykes.