Backpacking with kids means you need a lot of shakedown trips to dial in expectations, gear and routine.

We learned with Toothless that a good approach when introducing children to the camping and backpacking group is to start with low consequence situations and escalate when ready.

We started with some “car camping” (front country) camping in a tent can help dial in the sleep system and bedtime routine a bit.

With Toothless at some point we actually set up our tent in the living room to test out our sleep system with him to see what he would be comfortable with. He had very specific needs which took us a while to work out.

Eventually we escalated to short shakeout hikes like Chikameaus Lake and then longer trips like sections of the SCT. Each time we built on the previous experience. All this has to happen in a season – things change with kids annually and we find that we have to go on a couple trips before we get dialed in again.

Once we had that dialed in the GDT was generally no problem. Of course we had challenging moments but the frequency of them was not much different than being at home.

Shakedown for the PCT with two kids

For Lil’ Flier we don’t have much of a season before heading to SoCal to start the PCT in March. It’s February now and we need to find a place to camp that’s:

• Open and available for use
• Close enough that we can head there for an overnight trip on a regular weekend (I don’t have much time off accrued before parental leave)
• Fair weather or at least close enough temperature to PCT. There’s no use trying to test out a 3 season sleep system and shelter in winter at -10 deg C.

Our first shakedown trip this year was at Porteau Cove Provincial Park.

I have never been to this park outside of taking a bathroom break. I’m impressed.

• It’s open
• It’s nearby
• It’s beautiful even in winter
• Campfires allowed and firewood available for sale
• There is one heated bathroom with running water available

Objectives

We changed a lot of gear for the PCT to accommodate Lil’ Flier. We want to test out:

• New shelter system
  • Tent
  • MYOG bathtub floor
• New sleep system
  • Down quilt for Natasha and Kyle (not new for PCT but not many nights with it yet)
  • New sleeping pad for Toothless (we changed from using one of our old Neoair X-Lite Womens pad which are unstable on the edges to a short Sea to Summit Ultralight Insulated Air sleeping mat)
  • New base layers for Natasha and Kyle which we use for sleeping in
  • New puffy jacket for Natasha and Kyle. EE Torrids. We use them on day hikes but not yet as additional insulation when sleeping.
• Lil’ Flier and her first night camping
  • How does she get along with the sleeping pad?
  • Sleep sack? Is she warm enough? Does she like being bundled (we had to modify the Morrison Outdoors Lil Mo for Toothless so he could suck his thumb)
  • Sleeping next to mom?

To test this out, camping a night in the tent with our sleep system in temperatures between 0 deg C to 5 deg C would be ideal to test out the lower limit of comfort. Anything below this is “be safe but being comfortable isn’t the priority”.

The tent pads aren’t ideal because they are far from representative and need a stake and hammer – not a mini groundhog or carbon core peg. But they are acceptable if needed.

Getting ready

In the week leading up to the night was weird and rushed.

I was sick on Thursday and Friday and stayed home from work. I napped four times Thursday, two or three times Friday and only once for a few minutes (but badly needed) on Saturday as we drove to the park. I wasn’t going to be in my best shape Saturday night but I was on the upswing and figured I could handle it.

I used an hour or so on Friday throwing our packing list together, packed a bunch of items and left a few items for Natasha to do Saturday morning. Our plan was rushed and for food we were just going to go into Squamish for dinner, have some no cook snacks for breakfast at camp then get a more substantial breakfast again in Squamish. Maybe go to Brittannia Mine Museum on our way home.

Toothless was very excited all week to go camping. He has rock climbing class on Saturday morning and wanted to leave early to make sure we went camping – I had to reassure him that we were not leaving for another couple hours.

Setting up camp

We arrived just as the kids fell asleep in the Jeep so of course they promptly woke when we pulled in. We set up the tent and sleep gear. There was a bit of snow but we found a partly clear spot to set the tent up. We had to use a hammer and stakes to get through the hard surface. This made pitching more challenging – readjusting a peg position is more effort than it should be despite the flat surface. A good test of being limited on where you can put the tent pegs to see how clean of a pitch you can get. I clearly need more practice.

Fun and food

We walked the dock and beach for a bit and enjoyed the sun.

Then we went to White Spot for some burgers and milkshakes.

Toothless was a bit off in his mood all afternoon but I assumed he was tired.

We drove to camp and got into the tent and into sleep clothes right away. It was getting dark and cold.

We tested out our new bedtime stories – using a colour e-reader (Boox Go Colour 7). We used to print books out on the back of maps and permits but with two kids and all the reading we do on a trail where we won’t rely on paper maps I chose the e-reader to save weight. I can carry many books for a low weight penalty (less than we would need to carry in additional paper print outs). It’s less weight for the e-reader which has a battery that lasts weeks of use instead of using our phones and carrying a larger power bank. We can just charge the e-reader in town and won’t need to worry about battery life.

We have been using the e-reader at home for bedtime stories sometimes and it works well there. It worked great in the tent. We could see the screen well and I was able to keep it under the quilt to stay warm at night. It held its charge despite being cold most of the night.

First night in the tent

The tent worked awesome.

It feels huge despite being only a bit larger footprint than the triplex. The wall slope is fairly steep so you can sleep close to the walls without touching or feeling cramped. I can nearly stand in the middle to get changed. Toothless can stand almost anywhere in the tent. There is tonne of space to get in and out. Lots of room for gear by the doors. It’s amazing.

It held up to wind and some precipitation despite the poor pitch. The pegs were of course hammered in – but the angled pole and the pole straps all held up.

The bathtub floor stayed in place. I was worried it might slide but it didn’t despite the snow. We will see if it holds on a slope. Our sleeping pads and gear stayed inside the bathtub floor. I will stick some loops on the floor so I can use elastic shock cord to hold our pads down in place but so far it is not needed.

There was zero condensation in the tent with the doors closed.

New sleep system

The forecast before we left called for temperatures down to around 0 deg C but when I checked at around 10:30 pm it was down to -3 deg C in the area. It may have gotten colder later in the evening.

Natasha was warm and comfortable in the sleeping pad and under the quilt with her AD90 pants, sleep socks and AD90 hoody. She had to feed Lil’ Flier through the night so would wear her puffy for feeding at night. But despite getting up frequently at night was warm.

Lil Flier slept awesome. She woke a few times – we think due to the wind. The perimeter bug net should dampen some of the gusts and hopefully prevent her from waking from this again.

I was warm in my AD90 base layers but wore my puffy to deal with constantly getting uncovered by the quilt due to helping Toothless or Natasha getting up to feed Lil’ Flier. I would have been fine without my puffy without the kids in the tent and I could just stay under the covers. My feet were hanging over the edge of the pad due to how the pad was set up and were cold. I might need to try to reposition the pad or put something under my feet or wear warmer socks. The footbox or our old rayway quilt was a box closed so it was resilient to falling off the pad. I might need to tie the foot of our new quilt closed to box it in.

Toothless on the other hand had a rough night.

He has been potty trained for some time but had several accidents that night. I helped him change and get dry after the first instance but after that we had to just keep him warm despite being wet.  This isn’t completely unexpected – but I didn’t think it would be an issue anymore. It’s hard to get out of bed to pee on a cold night. Especially if tired or sick.

He also rotated his body and put his feet out the side of the tent off his pad onto the snow. This was the most concerning issue. I think it can be mitigated with the perimeter netting and possibly by strapping his quilt down to the pad. He sleeps with his feet in the foot box of his quilt so if it’s strapped down he’s not likely to move off the pad. The pad itself is very stable and he generally stayed on – he just pivoted off that one time and didn’t wake.

So I had to keep him warm through the night as well as dealing with his wet clothes. By the time he woke up his pants were dry but his socks were still damp.

He was safe all night. His feet were cold enough to be uncomfortable but not in any danger; his body was also kept warm.  I rubbed his feet and we had two quilts over his legs and my body warming his legs for much of the night. He wasn’t shivering. Nothing hurt. It’s just not pleasant sleeping with cold, wet feet.

He woke up in the morning feeling cold and unwell. I interpreted this was because he didn’t sleep well and had cold feet from his socks being damp. He ate and started moving around and perked up a lot. Natasha built a fire and he was really having a good morning after getting up.

Then before packing up camp he started feeling unwell again.

We learned after we got home that he had a fever and must have caught whatever I had during the week. Which seems to explain a lot of the challenges we had. I don’t think he had a fever while camping – he didn’t feel hot – but he certainly had one after he woke up from napping in the car on the way home.

Honestly Toothless tried his best to make the best of it and was managing his feelings and symptoms on his own quite well all day. He was calm, communicated very well, and generally tried his best to have a good time.

Despite the discomfort this trip was a success when compared to the objectives. We learned a lot. We were safe. Toothless was generally positive and the worse of his symptoms didn’t develop until we got home.

Based on what we learned, we will refine a bit.

• Strap sleeping pads to floor.
  • I sewed loops on DCF circles with bonding tape on the other side. I’ll stick these loops to the floor then run elastic cord between them to hold the sleeping pad down and limit it from sliding.
• Strap Toothless’ quilt to his pad. Test at home and camping
• Use “camping undies” again this year (pull ups) to avoid accidents. Not frequently needed so won’t be carrying wet weight but will prevent a wet bed and gear. We call these camping undies and not diapers because we only use them camping and Toothless knows he’s toilet trained. This hasn’t seemed to impact his confidence or toilet training – no regressions.
• Get warmer socks for Toothless (and maybe me). Try fleece socks possibly on top of the wool socks or maybe a down sock.

Mix type 2 fun with short term rewards

I like to reward myself in small but instant ways when I do challenging type 2 fun things.

I might stop to look at a view. Or have a beer or cider.

We knew Toothless had a rough night. We went to Squamish for breakfast (hash browns and hot chocolate for Toothless at his request) then went to Brittannia Mine Museum. We didn’t know Toothless was sick yet – he was still pretty into it but a bit subdued. He was wearing his puffy and warm clothes (much of the museum is outdoors). Overall this was a good choice. He liked it and said it was fun but he was a bit tired but he really was into it. He knows we can come back.

The Mine Museum was amazing.

What’s Next?

I have already bought some fleece socks. I should have those in a couple days. I’ll see if those are what we are after, or if we need to try out down socks or something else.

I am in the middle of making the perimeter netting for the tent, but I am probably 2-3 weeks away from finishing.

We have to strap Toothless’ quilt to his sleeping pad. We will have him test it out at home – either camping in his bedroom for bedtime or during nap time.

We’ll get some “camping undies” and then head out to try again – likely at Porteau Cove. And we will be sure to go back to the Mine Museum again!