How to Prepare for Multi-Day Backpacking Trips

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 ozark trail backpack 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.

ozark trail backpack

I printed Ozark Trail maps but purchased section maps because of ease of use and durability. To be sure I ordered the right maps I used this map that labels the sections. Get Backpacking Light news, updates, gear info, skills, and commentary delivered into your inbox ozark trail chair 1-2x/week. It’s kind of a standing joke with me and my blue bag in Peru, Europe etc… I love it and for $17 at Walmart it is still my go-to bag for the last 10 years. I think you could strap things to the outside, as it has a daisy chain and two loops at the bottom.

This tent was close to foolproof when it came to the rain fly because it was already connected. I also liked how my head wasn’t directly beside the door, which often occurs for an end-door tent. If something crawled through the zipper door it wouldn’t immediately be inches from my face but instead would have to work its way a few more feet to my head.

If you are adding warm drinks to your ice, you will see reductions in the overall length of time your ice will stay cold. If you need a good cheap bag you need to see if the Ozark Trail Back Packs will work for your needs. It’s a working document that I update from time to time. I must interject a note about coffee here as I consider it essential! I sometimes use Mount Hagen instant, but you end up with a small wrapper to carry out. My tastiest morning brew involves using espresso grind coffee and leaves no trash to carry out.

Determining when and where water will be available is part of route planning. Monitoring rain in the area you’re going to hike and contacting locals can help you determine if smaller creeks might act as water sources. Last fall when hiking dry sections of the Ouachita Trail, we planted water caches for insurance, but this involved driving to pick up empty jugs after the trip.

But if you add another family with at least one kid in roughly the same age range, like magic the hike seems to get shorter and the climbs easier for everyone involved. The coolers remained in the same location for the duration of the 6 day test, only being opened to snap daily progress pictures. In a sheer stroke of luck for this test, we are having a very aggressive heatwave in Southeast Michigan with temperatures around the 90’s during the day and staying in the 70’s overnight. I’m using my North facing deck as the staging area which receives direct sunlight at almost all hours of the day. I also placed  a small weather system on the deck rail to help get a sense of how hot surface temperatures are in the area. On one of the hottest days, the remote sensor reported temperatures exceeding 107 Degrees Fahrenheit while the air temp was in the high 80’s.