I grew up backpacking around the Canadian Rockies with my family every summer. My first overnight backpacking trip was the Kinney Lake Trail on Mount Robson when I was seven years old; at age 18, I returned to Mount Robson via the 10-day North Boundary Trail from Jasper. Then pregnancy and babies got in the way of backpacking, and for many years, I stuck to dayhiking. Last summer, I finally got my kids out on their first overnight backpacking trip. We chose the Strike Lake Trail in Manning Park for our May long weekend adventure.
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Planning to Backpack with Kids
While my kids are avid day hikers and car campers, I knew that overnight backpacking would be a new adventure for them. I spent a lot of time choosing the trail. Strike Lake offered an easy distance to hike, little elevation gain, and something to do on our “in-between” day. I also invited my cousin to join us, as I knew I’d need help carrying food.
Next, I racked my brain for lightweight meals all my picky eaters would enjoy. My mom and I always ate instant oatmeal for breakfast when we backpacked, but half of my kids don’t like it. I ended up packing oatmeal for four of us and bagels for the other three. Lunch on our middle day was mini Naans, Babybels, and pepperoni sticks. We had “turkey dinner” for our first night, with instant stuffing mix and canned turkey, and loaded mashed potatoes for our second night.
I did as much prep as I could at home so that cooking at camp would be easy; each meal was packed in a big, labeled Ziploc bag. I made sandwiches for our first day (after driving, before hiking) and planned to get fast food on our last day (after hiking out).
Finally, I packed our backpacks. I lined all six of our packs up across my garage. I weighed each of my kids and each of their packs to ensure they weren’t carrying more than 15% of their body weight. My older three girls have small ladies’ backpacking packs, which I’d gotten via secondhand websites. My 8-year-old wore my Deuter daypack as her hiking pack, and my 6-year-old just carried his regular school backpack, as he had little weight in it.
My older kids (ages 16, 14 and 11 for that trip) carried their own gear (sleeping mattress, sleeping bag, mess kit, water bottle, clothing) plus one meal each. The older two girls carried my 2-man tent. My younger two kids (ages 8 and 6) carried their own water bottle, clothing, sleeping bag, and snacks. I carried our 4-person tent, the rest of the kids’ gear, and my own gear. My cousin had his gear plus the kitchen gear (stove, fuel, pots, water filter) and two meals.
I also spent a lot of time talking with the kids about the weekend plans. They were pretty excited about the trip and readily tried on their backpacks, tested out the new 4-man tent in the yard, and helped pack their food. I did one grocery run with them where I let them pick snacks in the bulk foods aisle (a rather expensive endeavor) and then let them each carry some of their favourite snacks. (Yes, there’s a large quantity of chocolate there. Whatever keeps the kids hiking!)
Two resources I recommend when getting ready to hike with kids are Hiking with Kids: taking those first steps with young hikers and Hiking Adventures with Children. Both of these books have tips about gear, packing, and more. I found the checklists at the back of Hiking with Kids particularly helpful as I packed and re-packed our backpacks, and sent my cousin messages about what safety gear each of us needed, and joked with him that it was best to be over-prepared.
Day 1: Strike Lake Trail (7 km)
On the May long weekend, we headed for Manning Park. My cousin and I had grand plans to hit the road early in the morning, but we are both slightly disorganized, so there was a lot of last-minute packing and trying to find things. Finally, at noon, my Jeep was loaded with seven people and all our backpacking gear, and we were on the road. We enjoyed the scenery on the windy road to Manning Park and found parking at Lightning Lakes. My son chased the ground squirrels around while I lined up their backpacks and everyone used the outhouses.
For the first hour, our trail meandered around Lightning Lake. The kids kept asking me if I knew where we were going (uh, I had a rough map in my head). The trail was wide and clear and there were lots of signs about other campgrounds, but we were very happy when we finally found a sign that said “Strike Lake Wilderness Camp” and knew we were going the right direction.
As it was the May long weekend, the weather was cool. I’d made sure my kids all wore hats and mitts, and had rain covers on their packs. Throughout that afternoon, we hiked through a mix of rain and sleet and found patches of snow on the ground. Thankfully, the trail itself was through the trees along one edge of the lakes, which sheltered us from a lot of the weather. At one point as we hiked, I looked out over the lake and could see the wind driving the sleet sideways above the water, but in the trees, we weren’t getting wet.
We stopped as the kids needed to have water or snacks, and to adjust straps on packs. My cousin was often ahead with the older girls, while I followed at the back with my younger kids. I also tried to keep a close eye on the weather and the time, as I didn’t want to be setting up tents after dark. We saw a bear just off the trail, and took a few pictures, but he only watched us go past.
When we caught sight of tents through the trees, my 8-year-old took off running for the campground. My son turned me me and said, “This is awesome! I love backpacking!” I laughed. Me too, bud, me too.
Another group was already there, occupying a couple sites with their hammocks and tents. We meandered further into the campsite and surveyed the remaining sites. The problem with a 4-man tent is finding a site large enough for it; while the sites at Strike Lake were numbered, I was somewhat dubious about what ranger had decided that these numbers indicated an area flat enough for a tent. My cousin and I got my 4-man tent set up, and then he set up his tent while I helped my girls set up their 2-man tent.
We used another site as our “kitchen” area. The stream curved around the campground, so the kids took turns filling my water filter bag there and then hanging it on a tree to fill our water bottles. We used a few stumps as tables but otherwise stood around to eat. After dinner, all our food went into the metal bear caches for the night. While our neighbours drank and listened to loud music, we climbed into our tents and snuggled into our warm sleeping bags.
Day 2: Thunder Lake Day Hike (8 km)
When my younger kids rolled out of their sleeping bags on our second day, I followed them out of the tent and started cooking breakfast. Nothing like hot oatmeal and hot coffee on a cold camping morning! Once everyone was up, I shifted our lunch into my day pack and we headed for Thunder Lake.
I consider the May long weekend the start of the camping season, but I also know the weather is rather iffy at this time of year. My kids were actually excited about the prospect of snow. While the campground didn’t have any snow, we found snow soon after starting our hike towards Thunder Lake. In some places, we tramped over the hard-packed snow without a problem, while in other places, the kids skipped along on the crust of the snow that broke under the heavier weight of me and my cousin.
The trail meandered through the trees, alongside the stream, then came out on the side of a shale slope, still following the stream. We had awesome views of the rocks above us and a waterfall across the valley from us. There were even some very early wildflowers, although most of the trees were still brown and bare.
And then the trail ended, with a sign that said it was dangerous to proceed. We peered ahead, trying to find out why. We ended up clambering down the slope to the stream, where we tried to find a way across so we could carry on to Thunder Lake. My kids bum-scooted their way over the stream on a log, and went down to the banks of Thunder Lake. It looked like a post-apocalyptic basin, with twenty feet of gravel banks rising above the lake.
Then the sleet returned. I called the kids back, gathered the coats and bags they’d shed on the bank, and we retreated into the shelter of the trees. There we sat beside the sign and ate our lunch, watching as the sleet turned to hail. By the time we’d finished our cheese and bread, the sleet had slacked off and the sun was coming out again. We repacked our bags and set out back to Strike Lake.
Back at Strike Lake, I boiled water for tea and then made our supper. My older kids got out sketchbooks or novels. I was maintaining a “journal” on my phone that I later sent to my love. My oldest used her knife to create fire starter out of some wood, and got a fire going in the fire pit, despite the fact that most of the wood around the campground was soaked from the sleet and hail. Her siblings happily ran about the campground trying to collect dry fuel for her.
Day 3: Hiking Out (7 km)
On our third day, we repeated breakfast, then began breaking camp. It was a bit chillier that morning and my 14-year-old was proudly wearing every piece of clothing she’d packed—seven layers. However, there was brilliant blue sky above us and the sun shining on the snow-capped mountain we could glimpse through the trees, so the weather looked better than the day before. Our new neighbours had gotten up early to chop wood and start a fire for their breakfast, then were trying to put it out when they hit the trail. I told them my kids would watch the fire and put it out before we left.
Organizing our packs for the hike out was a bit easier as we’d eaten nearly all the food. Everyone was wearing most of their layers too, so all the packs were lighter. We stopped a lot more on the hike out, though, because we had to take off all those layers again as we got warm walking. Once again, the older kids were forging ahead and I followed along behind the slowest child, enjoying their chatter and the scenery around us.
At one junction, we choose to take the bridge over the river and walk back to the parking lot on the other side of Lightning Lakes. While this gave us some different scenery than we’d seen hiking in, there were a lot more trees down on this side of the trail. No problem for the short kids, who just ducked under the trees and kept going, but slightly more difficult for my tall cousin and me.
While we didn’t see a bear (or any other wildlife, beyond birds), a couple who passed us planning to hike to Strike Lake soon came back again saying that the bear was in the middle of the trail. Possibly my kids’ constant chatter and random bursts of song kept the bear away while we went through. I did have my bear spray on hand just in case, though.
Soon we were seeing people canoeing and kayaking on the lake, and knew that we were getting closer to the parking lot. By the time we got there, everyone was tired and ready for the break. It had been a great weekend and a great first backpacking experience for them.
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