I spend a great deal of time on the water every summer boating and fishing in Northern Michigan. I will often load a large cooler up at the beginning of the week and leave it on my Pontoon packed with drinks and ice. If you have a boat and bring kids or friends on the water, you know that once you leave the dock the requests for drinks start rolling in fast and furious.
These are for babies and the smallest toddlers; check the manufacturer specifications for weight limits. The second kind of carrier is hard-framed backpack that kids can ride in for as long as mom or dad are willing to carry them. Comfy and roomy pants or shorts are best (hopefully with pockets, so kids can carry their own snacks and trash). Most kids will do fine with sneakers on short hikes. Once your family is hiking distances on a regular basis, invest in some boots. Kids’ boots are cheaper than adults, and they often outgrow them before they wear them out, so they can get a lot of use by multiple kids.
It even has a rain cover built in, which is great when I’m riding my bicycle across town on a rainy day. I’ll be totally honest, I was not expecting this cooler to be as nice as it was. It’s easy to get caught up in brand perception and often times very difficult to break away from what you think you know about a brand. I used the word “think” intentionally, because what I thought I knew about Ozark Trail was not correct.
Carry everything you need for your next adventure in the Ozark Trail 45L Montpelier Backpack. Before heading out on your next hike or other outdoor adventure, make sure to grab the Ozark Trail 14 Liter Hydration Hiking Backpack. This 14L pack is designed for maximum versatility so you can focus on the great outdoors. It features two main compartments for maximum storage and organization, as well as a shove pocket with a clean, gusseted design for carrying extra items.
With a hard plastic latch, you run the risk of brushing by the cooler and hitting your shin, which I have done and is awful. One of my favorite features though is the rubber wheels vs. the hard plastic wheels on the Pelican and Yeti. Not only will the rubber allow for a slightly smoother roll when you are pull this cooler along, but it will also be quieter. You won’t wake the neighbors up when you are pulling this down your dock.
The Ozark Trail cooler is made from polyethylene, which is the most common kind of plastic in use today. The rotomolding process entails heating plastic pellets which coat the interior of a mold while it is spun around in a number of different directions at a very consistent pace. The mold is kept on the move during both the heating and coating phases as well as the cooling phase. So, I have to say that I was really surprised with how this test turned out. You can see from the images below that there was consistent ice melt, however two of the three were better performing.
Fast and easy to adjust and all buckles and webbing are in good quality. For the second overnight hike in which I used the pack, I left the hammock at home and stuffed an REI Stratus insulated pad ozark trail backpack and lightweight bivy inside. I saw this pack at Wally World and figured, $19 for a 28-liter pack, I’d give it a shot. If it doesn’t suit my needs, one of my daughters would be able to use it.
For the water bottles I just use Platypus .5 liter and 1 liter flat style bottles, which you can fit in the main body of the pack on top of your other gear. Before purchasing this pack I used a more traditionally styled, and heavier, backpack for daily walks. I recently attended a seminar that explained the major difference of carrying lighter gear while outdoors. This daypack came in handy just for what I intended.