Backpacking with a kid carrier

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Mar 16, 2013
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Western Washington
Anybody have any tips for carrying gear on a kid carrier? I have a kelty with minimal storage.
Was planning on lashing a bag for the small stuff, then strapping tent, pads, etc to the frame.

Pics would be great!
 
I had a Sherpani Rumba and it worked well for backpacking. I think it had ~1,800 ci in storage, and I strapped a Kifaru large pod to it. Worked great to 65#.
 
Anybody have any tips for carrying gear on a kid carrier? I have a kelty with minimal storage.
Was planning on lashing a bag for the small stuff, then strapping tent, pads, etc to the frame.

Pics would be great!

Me too! By the time you have the kids snacks and a water bottle or two the thing is full! I use a Molle bag on the waist belt for a bit more extra storage. I'm not sure those frames can take a lot of tents hanging off of them...
 
Just had a friend asking about this. Thinking things over we both felt that a good pack then rig up some kind of front carry for the baby/toddler. My suggestion was to buy a front carry baby sling thing then just do a little modifying/sewing to attach to the backpack of your choice.
 

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It's a tough one. Ideally you'd have one parent carry the kid in the carrier, and the other carry everything else. Unfortunately for me, at the moment the ~30 pound weight of our Osprey Poco AG and 8 month old is a bit much for my wife, so I've been trying to get as much weight as possible on the Osprey.

A small pack/bag lashed to the back worked decently, but didn't provide much capacity. I discarded tying stuff to the side as that made using the rain cover difficult. The latest ideal, which will work, is to lash the carrier to a pack frame, as shown here. 5-6" of stuff doesn't put the kid too far outboard, and gives enough capacity to make a five day trip doable.

A good front carrier works for short stuff, we have an Ergobaby performance, but I find it pretty tiring to use for more than 4-5 miles at a stretch.
 
Now THAT'S an idea, DaveC!
I'll see what I can work up with my kelty cache hauler...

Did you keep the carrier suspension on it when attaching to the frame?
 
I have the osprey poco plus. Works great with gear. I actually strapped a bait barrel to the lower frame and packed the barrel and my 2 year old in to set it up. The external frame and large under compartment made it do able, but it still had limited space. My advise is to do what I did and get a good dog and put a pack on him. This year my lab will be carrying all the toddler crap and clothing.
 
We found the deuter kid comfort III to be the most comfortable pack for the kid, by far. The reason - it is effectively a chair (with a backrest) for the kid to sit in, with a footrest. It's the only pack I know of which doesn't compromise circulation in the legs. Kid faces forward and up high with a view. Sun cover, rain cover, mosquito net. Can't emphasize enough our kid never complained about long hikes. Only 1100ci of storage plus a couple of water bottle/slot pockets though. But it's built on an actual backpacking frame, adjustable for torso, good belt to carry the weight, good shoulder strap lift, etc. I like the idea of strapping a pod or dry bag underneath and it would work with this pack. But like any other pack, you wouldn't want to add weight out away from the body.

Now the kid is a little older, the new version of this is a Kifaru duplex frame with a Nomad. Kid sits up high between the wings, wings stay open but securely strapped. There is room for a small bag (ie. e&e, etc.) against the frame if you need. Depending on the type of trip and how much gear needs to be carried the "seat" is either a small box cooler, or a drybag/pod stuffed full, and secured with compression straps and/or a grab-it. I also have a cargo chair which can be mounted either below or above the gear which works well if you need a platform. I figure you can also accomplish the same setup with a cargo panel plus pouches but haven't tried it yet. Either version lets you carry as much gear as you can carry.
 
I am really interested in this topic! As I have a 16 month old and my wife is not much of a hiker. Was looking at baby packs that offered some decent cubic inch space for hauling. Or adding a harness of some kind to my mystery ranch marshall. I'd gladly take more weight to get the wife and kid up in some high country with me.
 
May want to checkout Bedrock & Paradox. He does a lot of solo hikes/trips with his 1 year old and seems to have a pretty good setup for it. I believe he is using a SeekOutside Revolution frame and a custom bag. But the kid carrier is off the shelf I believe.
 
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