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Re: [at-l] long distance hiking with young teenagers

On 01-Jan-97 SaraSW@aol.com wrote:
>
>I have a question about the packing ability of youngsters. My brother-in-law
>wants to start his boys hiking, working up to a five-day trip next June. One
>boy will be almost 11 by then. He has a very slight build. The other will be
>10 1/2, is a little shorter and stockier.
>
>How much can they carry? I've read that, because they're still growing,
>pre-teens should not carry a great deal, but nothing I've read says how much
>"a great deal"  is. Everybody says no more than 20 pounds, but should it be
>less?
>
>Any help on that or advice on anything dealing with youngsters backpacking
>would be appreciated.

Hi Sally,

I think the rule-of-thumb for adults is no more than 1/3 your body weight.
Maybe a good starting point would be half of that, 1/6, for kids?  Say a
kid weighs 75 lbs.  Then he/she should carry no more than 12.5 lbs.
Maybe you could load that amount and do a day hike, or a 1-nighter,
see how that works before going out on a 5-7 day trip, and adjust as
necessary.  (Of course we all know where the extra weight will end up,
right Mom and Dad... :)

-Dave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David DeCroix                                        finger for PGP public key
decroix@brunt.meas.ncsu.edu           Linux - The choice of the GNU generation

Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport.  Enjoy the land,
but own it not.  Through want of enterprise and faith are men where they
are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs.  -Thoreau
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