The Rule
For adults, the popular rule of thumb is to stay below 25% of body weight in a fully loaded pack. If you carry more than that, shorter and flatter trails are a good idea to minimize the impact to your body and maximize your ability to enjoy the adventure. Remember, your unsuspecting body doesn’t know this is coming!
Many ultralight backpackers take it a step further and stay below 15% of their body weight. ULers understand that the less weight you carry, the easier it is and the farther and faster you go. And all of that means you enjoy your time that much more.
But let’s remember this number is a rule of thumb, not a hard rule. It’s a guideline, and 24.9% won’t really feel different than 25.1%. But you’ll definitely notice a difference between 20% and 25%, so keep trying to reduce the weight you carry. Oh, and it’s probably worth mentioning that gaining body weight doesn’t mean your body can suddenly carry more, so don’t binge on donuts just so you can bring the hammock along.
Real Scenario
My 6 year old was 40 pounds at the time of our first trip. For my 8 year old, we’re starting at 54 pounds. Let’s look at total pack weight for both of them at 3 different percentages:
The original kids pack in our family was actually purchased for the younger child, so my goal was to stay below 10 pounds, hopefully keeping around 8 pounds to make sure his first backpacking trip wasn’t his last. I wanted him to carry as much of his stuff as we could fit under that weight limit, and I could shoulder the rest for our short, easy trip. As he gets older and stronger, we’ll shift that extra stuff from my pack to his.
On our first backpacking trip to Hyas Lake, Charlie carried 7.8 pounds without his water bottle (19.5% of his body weight). He rocked that trip, carrying the pack the entire way without complaining at all (we switched off carrying his water bottle, which was 1.25 pounds full of water). This was a short and flat hike (2.0 miles each way, +100ft), so as trips get harder, he might start to notice that pack more.
The Breakdown
How did we get to 7.8 pounds? To the pie chart!
As you would expect, the big 3 for kids (I take the tent, so they only have to worry about the pack, bag, and pad) make up over 80% of the pack weight. Pack weight included the rain cover, as we expected a bit of precipitation.
I was very happy with this trip’s gear weight. My pack was predictably heavy, but not much worse than going solo. And I’ve taken some steps with my own gear to allow myself to carry for more than just me.
My Rule
I try to stick to 20% for all my trips with my kids. It’s a bit under the maximum, which allows us to go on more challenging trails or just have less required motivation talks along the way.
