Wanting to get into real backpacking instead of setting up a campsite at a state park.

We've replaced my dome tent with a Copper Spur for the 3 of us and we really like it, though I'm the one who carries it. Having cut the weight in half is quite nice!

The 3rd person is our soon to be 4 yr old daughter who keeps us up 'til the wee hours giggling about sleeping in the tent. We found making her do her own walking and skipping nap time is necessary for a good night's sleep.

We have been talking about trying to take a month to hike a trail, most likely the Continental Divide, but possibly the Appalachian Trail. But we agree on mountains, and the Rockies are our favorite.

I see mountaineering or 4 season tents and wonder what exactly makes it geared for such. Is a Copper Spur good enough such a task? How about for late fall/early winter (hunting) in the mountains (mid elevation) when the weather won't be extreme (says the meteorologist)?

Mountaineering tents are designed to handle strong winds, snow loading and to be cooked in if necessary. Most of them come with tunnel entrances which keep a lot of snow from coming in the tent when someone is entering or exiting. They have snow/sod flaps to keep wind from getting under the tent, are equipped for snap in frost liners and they tend to be heavy. There is usually a zipped,semicircular opening in the floor so that a stove can be set on soil or snow rather than fabric. I have an old Sierra Designs Glacier tent that has these features. It will hold two in comfort and three in a pinch. It weighs about 9 pounds complete including stakes suitable for use in compacted snow but without the frost liner. In cold weather, I never took the rain fly along; cold snow just bounces off the inner tent. That saved a few pounds but the weight of the frost liner nearly made up for the lack of fly. I mostly used this tent for winter ascents of the large NW mountains such as Rainier, Baker and Glacier Peak. I now use it occasionally as a car camping tent.

Your Copper Spur should serve you well for most conditions unless you plan on getting into extreme winter or mountain environments. Taking a 4-year-old into such conditions would be risky, at best.

I'm not so sure I'd take them on a hunting trip quite yet. Maybe in a few years and after I've done it a few times, and by leaving them at a base camp nearer the bottom when the weather ought to be nice.

I was mostly thinking of a month long trip somewhere from late spring to early fall when the weather would be more mild. SWMBO hates being cold, and I'm not sure if she'd even be willing to camp late fall/winter.

+1 to pretty much everything pika said. A coupe things to add:

mountain tents will either be single walled with a high vent, or double walled, with the inner wall being made out of fabric rather than mesh to provide better wind protection and keep snow which can get blown under the fly from getting into your sleep area.

While some mountain tents have the zippered semi-circle in the floor for stove use, many omit this feature but provide a large vestibule for cooking. This has the advantage is that the moisture from the pot will be more concentrated outside the inner tent and dissipates before settling into gear in the inner tent.

Personally, I like using a bivy + pyramid tarp in the winter, especially when we have snow because I can dig out the space under the tarp resulting in extra room and some insulation from the snow walls.

--Mark

Mountaineering tents and four season tents are really two different types. I have a 4 season, convertible tent (it has mesh panels with solid panels that zip over them, double wall (body and fly) five poles and two vestibules. It is not a moutaineering tent, at least not to me. I think of a mountaineering tent as a small, single wall tent designed for high altitude climbing. Winter tents (4 season) are more of a base camp or expedition tent. Mine weighs about 8 lbs., so it is not something I would take for a fine weather trip, but for winter (which to me, means snow on the ground, Yosemite winter, not Los Angeles winter.) works really well.

I'm not a tarp and bivy person, although I have a light bivy and use it once in a while. I like to be buttoned up in a tent when it's snowing.

What you have sounds like it would work for the kind of trip you describe. Keep in mind that if you are going anywhere where it might snow, carry a shovel (mine is a Voile Mini). You have no idea how handy they are. I always take mine, even on day hikes, if there is snow on the ground.

Once you get into the mountains, spring can be as cold as winter at lower elevations. Learning to deal with snow is something children up north do just as a process of growing up. Parents also become experts at judging safety in snowy conditions. I feel strongly that you need to have kids experience snow in non-backpaking situations before you ever take them any place where they could deal with snow (and just cold weather - such as freezing temps in the morning). Perhaps you could do a short vacation (some places in Colorado have cabins) and then just play in the snow, sled, etc. You also need to take the kids weekend camping (car camping) in similar conditions that you will encounter backpacking in the mountains. They need to learn skills - such as how to stay dry. You as parents also need to learn these lessons.

I personally only took my kids backpacking in summer, after mosquitoe season, and before snow season. If you make thier first experiences miserable you turn them off to backpacking for the rest of their lives. If you instead build upon fun the kids will be able to do more as they grow and will love it.

Our daughter loves camping and hiking! We have gone out with it getting as cold as 34* at night.

Snow she has only seen once when in (near) Kansas City during Christmas when she was 2.

Hunting in OK was in a camper growing up. So I've never primitively camped in anything extreme and snowy, but I've been the only one camping in the primitive areas in our state parks in January down here where the lows were in the 20's. Great times having the entire park to myself and the ranger who checked on me twice a day!

I've lived just outside of Colorado Springs when I was a little kid, but that part of my family isn't much for anything real outdoorsy, especially not camping. Everything needed to be comfy and warm.

For my birthday (Nov) one year I got a 3 day blizzard. No party 'til everyone could shovel out. I thought it was great!

"They need to learn skills - such as how to stay dry. You as parents also need to learn these lessons."
This is certainly true. Staying warm is one thing...

I didn't mention that we had thought that if we were to go to the CD we'd stop by Kansas City and drop her off at the grandparents just because it's so much more dangerous that the AT, especially while she's small.

Also we wouldn't do a month long hike during winter. That was just something I recently thought of having read on a hunting forum of guys backpacking in on hunts in the mountains.

She's amazing for her young age at how much she can do. She has a little backpack that she carries her clothes and a stuffed animal in, and will go nearly 2 miles, though the terrain isn't that tough here, before she gets grumbly. She's a little too slow and has to check out everything, but that's cool. One of our big concerns is that she doesn't fear much of anything.

I've lived far too long down here in TX.

There is a book written by a 10-year old who did the PCT with her parents - called "A blistered kind of love". You should read it to get a kid's perspective.