Toothless has been needing to be carried on our hikes a lot less frequently as time goes on. Other than the season when he was 1.5 years old when we tagged Howse Floodplain (the section of the GDT we missed in 2021 due to my injury), we have exclusively used soft carriers or carried him on our shoulders.

In our most recent day hikes, we have been bringing a soft carrier but only need to carry him for 15 minutes or so to give him a bit of a rest, then he’s ready to keep hiking. It has felt like a bit of a waste to carry a bulky soft carrier and get that out of the pack, put that on, hike a kilometer, then have to take it off and put it away.

For the PCT LASH I was looking for another solution.

They already make one of those

I have known about the Trail Magik for a while. When we finished our GDT thru with Toothless, I had a similar concept in mind but never got around to make it. I preferred front carriers, but wasn’t a fan of how the pack and carrier straps interacted. I didn’t like how heavy the carrier needed to be. The Trail Magik solves a lot of those issues and is popular for a reason.

But, the Trail Magik costs money and is still 9.8 oz (278 gms) as listed on their website. Even on sale it was going to cost over $100 CAD. I didn’t really want to spend more than $100 on something that I wasn’t really sure if I would use.

The Trail Magik is a product, and as a result, needs to be safe and have have robust design and quality control. They cannot take a risk with other people’s children so it has to meet safety standards, and it’s also in their best interest to make a product that visually appears strong enough to carry a wide range of children (sizes, weights) in addition to actually being able to perform it’s function for those children.

Well, I made one anyways

I was on a bit of a roll with making my own gear. I had some fabric and thread, had a source for webbing and hardware, and thought I could give it a try and see what I came up with.

My goal was to make something:

• Comfortable for both Toothless and I
• That packs down small to reduce volume used in my pack. Ideally can be carried on outside of my pack for quick access
• That is strong enough for Toothless with dynamic loads. Try for a large factor of safety (>10x).
• That is light weight

Why you should buy a product

Making your own gear is fun, but you are responsible for everything you do. You are responsible for your child’s safety. Are you sure you can make it safe? What about quality control? Will that hold up? Have you thought of all the ways it could fail?

Look near the top of this post – they already make one. It’s called a Trail Magik.

What I did

Materials

I had some 1.1 oz silpoly cosmetic seconds due to splotchy dye. A yard cost me $5 and it was plenty for several projects. I wasn’t a fan of the colour, but this was my starting point. People make hammocks and shelters out of this – it’s strong enough.

I also had an old 1/8″ EVA foam pad that I thought I could use for padding around the straps.

I had decent thread already from another project. I had to buy webbing and hardware, but was looking to get some of that anyways for gear repair. I bought decent carabiners as well. Those were the most expensive single item.

So a lot of the material was something I had on hand already.

Total list:

• 1.1 oz silpoly
• 1/8″ EVA foam for padding
• Gutermann MARA 70 thread
• 1/2″ Polyester Webbing
• Titanium G hooks
• Titanium D rings
• XSRE Mini Carabiner

Design

Toothless had a child carrier already that I used as a template for the main panel. I traced that out and cut it out of the Silpoly.

The top and bottom edges are lined with 1/4″ grosgrain for reinforcement. You can see a length of grosgrain near the bottom seam in the photo above. I sewed it into the seam.

The straps run through two channels on the sides that I made. So I could try out different strap lengths and types before finalizing the design. This also means that each strap is continuous and not relying on being sewn to the panel of the carrier – most of the child’s weight is on the straps, with some spread out on the panel pulling on the straps. This choice reduced the likelihood of a strap coming undone or failing. Even if the panel fails, Toothless will still be sitting on the straps.

I used 1/2 webbing (rated to 500 lbs) and sewed titanium D rings in the bottom edge of the webbing to attach carabiners. I calculated seam strength and ensured that I had over 1000 lb seam strength (I ended up near 3000 lb seam strength) to ensure the webbing would not pull apart in that location.

I ran the webbing through the channel I sewed into the panel, and tested with Toothless to ensure I had it positioned correctly.

After testing out the strap length, I sewed the webbing to the panel.

After sewing the webbing in place, I cut out some EVA foam panels from an old sleeping pad. I then sewed those to the main panel, and covered in small panels of the same Silpoly as the main panel. In the below picture the carabiners are temporary for testing – I replaced them later.

My stitches here aren’t perfect – silpoly is slippery and EVA foam is a bit thick to feed through the machine. It tends to want to grip onto anything other than the silpoly. I added more stitches to this panel to keep the edges smooth and not have a lip. It’s not pretty, but functional.

For the top of the straps, I used a titanium G hook that loops into my load lifters on my pack. I preferred titanium / metal hardware over plastic buckles partly for reliability. The G hook is solidly attached, although it doesn’t clip closed, it has enough of a lip that it doesn’t move off the load lifter. This keeps it simple. It fits both our packs.

How much does it weigh?

The carrier, with all the hardware, weighs 88 grams.

I am packing it in a tyvek bag that I got with my Evernew pot in order to keep the straps from tangling or getting caught on stuff when packed up in my bag. The entire system weighs 98 grams.

I could also use the carabiners for other purposes when hiking without the carrier or at camp as a multi-use item but I haven’t given that much thought.

How does it perform?

We tested it on a day hike the other day. The carrier works great. Some thoughts:

• Silpoly is super slippery. It’s not a problem when Toothless is in the carrier (he’s stable and doesn’t slip around) but he needs to hang onto my neck to keep from slipping when getting into the carrier. It’s kind of nice that I can slide him into place in the carrier though without his clothes getting caught.
• I used an old carrier as a template – I could have made it slightly larger
• Everything feels solid. I have no concerns.
• Toothless was carried a lot on the day hike. At least a couple km up the mountain to a view point. He said it was comfortable and it carried as well as a carrier. It does pull me forward a bit – but that happens with a carrier. He’s heavier than he was when he was a baby. I think more weight in the pack will offset Toothless’ weight.
• It definitely packs down well
• It’s reasonably easy to put up and take down. Being able to stash it in a bag on the outside of my pack is easy. I don’t really need to take my pack off and I definitely don’t need to open my pack up.