Backpacking with a Child

Below is a summary of the multi-day hiking/backpacking/camping trips that I have completed with Samuel. It highlights how our trips became more challenging as we increased our experience and gives an indication of what is possible with a youth. The trip mileage is an indication of size of the trip, but not all miles are created equal, and it is difficult to capture all aspects of what makes a trip hard, such as pack weight, elevation change, climate (heat, cold, wind, rain), altitude, or other factors.

When	What	Distance	Samuel Age
June 2015	Guadalupe Peak	10 miles	10
March 2016	Big Bend: Emory Peak, South Rim, Casa Grande, Mariscal Canyon, Marufo Vega	30 miles	11
December 2017	Big Bend’s Outer Mountain Loop +	53 miles	13
August 2018	Colorado’s Snowmass/Capitol Circuit. Then Fool’s Peak	50 miles	13
June 2019	A tour of England’s Lake District peaks	87 miles	14
December 2019	Big Bend’s Outer Mountain Loop and Guadalupe Peak	50 miles	15
July 2021	Colorado’s Collegiate Loop	160 miles	16
May 2022	Grand Canyon’s Bill Hall Trail and the Buckskin Gulch	50 miles	17
July 2022	England’s Coast to Coast	192 miles	17
November 2022	Arkansas’s Eagle Rock Loop	27 miles	18
August 2024	Elliott Ridge Loop in Colorado’s Gore Range	36 miles	19