Imagine heading out for a weekend backpacking trip: two glorious days of communing with nature, surviving with your wits, and bonding with your family.  You sling your pack onto your back, grab your toddler by the hand and head off for a family backpacking adventure.

While many parents dream of sharing the thrill of a backpacking trip with their toddler, planning such a trip is daunting.  Some would say that I have lost my mind for even considering such a thing.  I know if I were to give up camping and backpacking, I would lose my mind.  Can you go camping or backpacking with a toddler without losing your mind?

I say yes!  Over the past 2 years, we have regularly gone camping and hiking with Samuel.  We typically do a minimalist style car camping.

We pack the same gear and the same food as if we were backpacking, drive to the campsite and then spend several day hiking from a base camp.  While this article does not have a lot of tips on how to fit 3 people’s backpacking gear into one person’s pack (see tip #2 for my best advice on that), I hope to be qualified to write that article before the end of this fall.

Right now, Melissa over at Adventure Tykes has been asking for help in planning her own great backpacking adventure with her own toddler, J-Man.  With no further ado, these are my best tips (so far) for backpacking with a toddler without losing your mind.

Gear for Backpacking with a Toddler

1.  Since one person will be carrying the kid carrier and the other parent carrying most of the gear, buy Ultralight whenever you can.  Make your own gear to cut costs and ounces.  Buy gear that is the right size rather than buying something your toddler will grow into.  A sleeping bag or pad that is too big can add significant weight to your back, these extra ounces are especially significant when one person is hauling all the gear. Daddy’s back will thank you.

2.  Alternatively, we have been experiementing with carrying Samuel in a Mei Tai baby carrier.  These carriers allow a front, back, and hip carry.  They are generally rated up to 45 lbs and take up way less space and weight than the kid carriers.  Using a Mei Tai might allow both parents to share the load of the gear and then a toddler to be front carried when he gets tired.  Mei Tai baby carriers can be sewn in about an hour.  I was able to complete mine during nap time one afternoon.(pattern and instructions available here).  Mei Tai Baby Carriers are also available for purchase through Amazon and other retailers.

3. There is no real need to bring toys when you are backpacking with a toddler.  Nature provides plenty of toys already.  However, if your kid has a beloved stuffed animal that she can’t go to sleep without, you better bring that.  Which leads to another parenting tip:  Make sure the stuffed animal your child grows attatched to is a small one.

4.  A closed cell foam sleeping pad does a better job at insulating than an open cell foam/inflatable sleeping pad.   The inflatable ones are better at adding a (very) slight amount of cushioning, but given the choice, I would choose a closed cell pad any day.  After hiking all day, I have no problem sleeping on the hard ground, but I can never sleep cold.  That rule is quadrupled for an exhausted, cold toddler.

5. Tots probably don’t need their own sleeping bag.  We use our 2 adult sleeping bags over us like quilts with Samuel in the middle.  We do keep him in warm pajamas in case he kicks the blankets off.  Keeping the feet covered (footed sleeper or wear socks to bed) make a big difference in staying warm at night.

6.  If your toddler is used to a nightlight or is afraid of the dark, bring a micro LED flashlight for them to leave on as they fall asleep.  Make sure it has a switch to turn off and on rather than having to be held with continuous pressure.  The micro LED flashlight linked above lasts about 12 hours on 1 battery, so you will not want to leave it on all night long.

Food for Backpacking With a Toddler

7.  Bring snacks that you KNOW your toddler will enjoy, even especially if they don’t often get them at home.  A hungry toddler can ruin a trip and quite often the texture of freeze dried or dehydrated backpacking food leaves much to be desired.  Fruit leather or dried fruit are great options.  Samuel loves veggie chips.  We bring lots of gorp.  Lara Bars or granola bars are also good backpacking foods that will appeal to a toddlers palate.

8.  Keeping a toddler hydrated is critical when you are backpacking (and any other time).  Water flavor changes from area to area and sometimes the water purification systems can leave a funny taste, he will drink more if it has flavor. (and I will drink more, and Brenton will drink more.)  We always bring tang when we go camping.  Samuel rarely anything besides water or milk at home, so these are special camping treats.  Some other suggestions for drinks are:  Hot chocolate, or spiced cider

9.  If you are bringing powdered milk, try to find Nido.  This is an instant whole milk.  Nido tastes much better than non-fat powdered milk.  I always find it in the hispanic foods section of our grocery stores.

Emergency Supplies for Backpacking With a Toddler

These emergency supplies are in addition to your normal backpacking emergency supplies

10.  Take children’s tylenol and butterfly bandaids when you are backpacking with a toddler.  Butterfly bandaids are great for those wounds when you say, “It’s not quite bad enough to need stitches, but it’s going to leave a good scar.”  Holding the cut closed will help decrease the size of the scar.  Samuel is working on testing that “chicks dig scars” theory.

11.  Include something that you can do an emergency eye wash with.  Rocks, stumps, and picnic tables are perfect for climbing on and falling off of resulting in a faceplant in dirt, sticks, and sand.  An eye full of mud is a real damper on a camping trip.  When you are backpacking, a narrow mouth drinking bottle is sufficient for this (I mean the same bottle you drink out of the rest of the day).  The narrow mouth makes it easier to  direct the flow of the water.

12.  Rasins and dried apricots are especially good (in limited quantities) to help avoid constipation.  Let’s face it, sometimes a Mom’s life involves way too much concern about someone else’s poop.

General Tips for Backpacking With a Toddler

13.  Let your toddler walk during the day.  If you carry your kid in the backpack all day, he will alternate between sleeping and whacking you on the back of the head with whatever sticks he can grab.  You will arrive at camp totally exhausted with a toddler who is ready to play all night.

14.  Expect to go to bed early and wake up early.  Whenever we camp with Samuel, we have to lay in bed with him to help him fall asleep.  New surroundings, sleeping outside, not having a nightlight, etc, can be scary and exciting for a little kid.  Toddlers wake up early anyway, but when you combine that with lots of exciting things to do, expect to wake up at the crack of dawn.  If you get to sleep in later, count your blessings.

15.  Practice using the bathroom in the woods before it becomes urgent.  The same way that it takes time for a toddler to learn to release on the potty at home, it takes some time to learn to release in the woods.  We generally solve the problem by bringing a folding potty seat (the Potette Plus).  We don’t bring the liners, we just dig a cat hole and then put the seat over the cat hole.

16.  Start small.  Plan an overnight trip first before you take a week long backpacking trip.  The overnight trips will give you a chance to refine your gear list.  This is true when you are backpacking and especially true when you are backpacking with a toddler.

Backpacking is about learning how little you can carry and still enjoy yourself.  Camping with a toddler requires some extra planning and a little bit of extra gear, but the memories you will make are priceless.

The #1 thing I have learned about camping with a toddler is to take the path of least resistance.  Within safe limits, we do things and we eat things that we never do or eat when we are at home.  We never drink tang at home, but we always drink it when we are camping because I don’t want to worry about him getting dehydrated and sick.  Taking the path of least resistance lets me relax and refresh while I connect with nature and my family.  The path of least resistance helps me get outside without losing my mind.

disclosure:  Most of the links in this article are affiliate links.  If you purchase through these links, I will receive a very small percentage of your payment, and I will be very grateful.  However, my primary purpose in including these links was to show you examples of the products I was referring to in the article so that you know what to look for when you are shopping for backpacking gear.

I thought I would try something different today, so I made a video on how to dehydrate spaghetti sauce in your oven.

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In my last article, I mentioned buying a food dehydrator to make my own camping foods. Unfortunately, right now I have neither the money nor the space for a food dehydrator, and when I am totally honest with myself, I have enough kitchen appliances that have long been forgotten.

If you are like me and don’t have a food dehydrator but you still want to make your own camping food, You are in luck! Your oven (yes, an ordinary kitchen oven) can be turned into a makeshift food dehydrator.

I remember my brother making jerky in the oven when I was a kid. For a day (maybe more) we had the oven turned on low and the door propped open. The oven was off limits for cooking, but the deer jerky that came out at the end was worth the wait

Turning your oven into a food dehydrator is really very simple.

• Heat the oven to a temperature between 140-160° F
• place the food you are drying on a cookie sheet or straight on the oven rack, leave room for air circulation
• prop the oven door open with a rolled up magazine or a wooden spoon
• stir food every couple of hours and wait.
• Dehydrated food will end up leathery to touch. Make sure you take a piece out and let it cool before determining doneness because the food will be softer when it is warm.

That’s all there is to turning your oven into a food dehydrator. Next week, I hope to have some oven dehydrating recipes to publish for you. Nothing is quite as fun and preparing for a summer camping trip on a snowy winter day.

Last week, I was preparing for our camping trip, and one of the major expenses was finding food suitable for camping. Eventually I would like to get a food dehydrator, but that’s just not in the budget right now.

Camping food has to meet the following criteria:

• light weight
• non-perishable (doesn’t need refrigeration)
• quick cooking
• balance of protein, carbs, and fats

Ramen Noodles are a recommended staple for backpackers, but there’s really no “stick to your ribs” value to Ramen. Ramen noodles are all carbs, and I will be hungry again in…oh…about 3.2 minutes.

My shopping guideline for meals is $1 per meal per person, or $3 per day per person. This is my standard when I am at home, and my goal for while I am out camping too.

Breakfasts

Breakfast sets you up for the rest of the day. In my experience, this is the cheapest meal of the day. When I’m camping, I like a warm breakfast to get me started.

Basic ingredient list:

• instant oatmeal– Buy the plain variety and pack individual servings in ziplock bags, mix with dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, GORP (good old Rasins and Peanuts), etc.
• Hot Granola
• bagels–with peanut butter, butter, or jelly (you can get all of these in individual servings or put them in a squeeze tube)
• dehydrated potatoes–find a kind that you can make with just water (Idahoans), add bacon bits, beef jerky, cheese powder (as in mac-and-cheese sauce)
• rice with honey and dried fruit

Lunch/Dinner

I prefer the idea of grazing throughout the day, instead of a sit down lunch meal, but for winter camping a warm lunch sounds really nice.

Grazing foods would include GORP, trail mix, granola, jerky, etc.

For a hot meal, I would base it around a carb and add protein and fats.

Carbs:

• Ramen
• Pasta
• instant potatoes
• instant rice
• tortillas
• pitas

Protein

• meat in a pouch (you can buy tuna, salmon, chicken, etc in a plastic vacuum sealed pouch. These are kind of expensive. I wouldn’t use them every day, but maybe good for a treat
• Jerky
• dehydrated beans
• TVP (this is usually available at a natural foods store such as Trader Joes or Whole Foods. It is often used as a hamburger substitute)
• lentils (cook in about 30 minutes)
• hard cheeses (parmesan, romano, etc)
• summer sausage, pepperoni

Fat

In the summer you will probably get plenty of fat from nuts and trail mix. In the winter, you will need more fat in your diet, so plan on bringing butter or oil to add to your recipes. You burn a lot of calories with winter hiking and camping, so feel free to enjoy chocolate and brownies too.

Seasoning

If you want to add some seasonings, most spices are backpacker friendly. Dried soup packets are a good option for flavoring too.