I like Aarn’s approach of 2 smaller front packs that don’t need to be attached and detached from at least one of the shoulder straps whenever you put on and take off the pack. I’ve always liked the front and back approach. I’ve related here a few years ago how I made a baby carrier that could detach from its own straps and re-attach to the front of my backpack. Aside from smaller trips, we used this for a 3-day backcountry hike when the girls were 8 months-old and 5 and 7 years. I regularly advocate for a similar approach for two-kid carries on the babywearing forum I follow, using a backpack kid carrier.

For our canoe trips, all food, cooking, toiletries and first aid for the 5 of us go in the same pack for hauling up trees so there’s no such thing as a lightweight food pack on those outings. We use a small day-pack at the front for balance and extra volume. It’s one of those cheap “stow in its own pocket” packs whose shoulder straps are just 1 inch webbing so they are perfect for re-threading into clips, buckles and additional straps at the front of the backpack.

In terms of attachment points there’s usually plenty enough buckles on a backpack to co-opt for front carrying. What I have found quite useful on occasion are the tri-glide Slik Clips that let you insert a triglide in the middle of a captive length of webbing (eg sternum strap adjustment webbing). You can then thread an additional piece of webbing through the tri-glide to create a front pack buckle anchor point at the height of your choice. The tension through the Slik clip will often make it difficult to thread the additional anchor webbing but with pliers and patience, all is possible. If there is no other way, you can also have the main weight of the front pack held at the top by a strap attached to an anchor point further back and/or up than the shoulder strap and just re-direct and balance the front pack to the front of the shoulder straps with smaller straps wrapping around it.

Finally, this may be less critical for lightweight hikes but when I use front packs, I find it essential that the backpack has a rigid frame that is taller than shoulder height and that the front pack’s weight is correctly transmitted to the top of the frame, rather than the top of my shoulders. Otherwise, the “saddlebag” effect of carrying weight front and back over the shoulders, grinding them down, gets very wearisome very quickly.