Originally Posted By TomD
I think you have a good plan of using multiple tents. Try to keep the weight down, depending on how old the kids are and how much they can tote. It will also depend on where you are and what kind of weather you expect to encounter.

You might consider one bombproof three person shelter and two lighter ones. My reasoning: if everything goes to H***, the big shelter will hold all of you in a pinch while you wait for it to blow over. A freestanding 3 person tent could serve as the main one, while two Tarptents or similar for the small ones. Look at the sponsors' websites (links to the left) for examples.

Cooking. I solo camp and have a Primus Micron, like OM has, but I also have several liquid fuel stoves. For a group of people, I think a liquid fuel stove would be better or maybe a JetBoil with the big pot on it (I'm not that keen on the JetBoil, but for a group it should work fine). I use a liquid fuel stove in winter and carry my Micron as a spare. You could go old school and use something like a Svea 123 white gas stove and Sigg Tourist kit, if you can find one.


Hi, Tom!

I figure with smaller multiple tents, cooking gear etc. it can be used just by myself, with one kid or the whole pack if needed. Kids ages are 9, 7, 5 and 2 months. The older three have all been with me in pairs and carried 10-15% of their body weight. And they loved it! They really felt part of it by having carried a light sleeping bag, bottle of water and a pad. For now we stay local on the backcountry camping which is central Florida. I prefer to camp October-April when it is cooler and usually dry.

The older two have said they would camp together in a two-person tent but once the hogs and racoons come out it might be a whole other story!

I'll look into the stoves you mentioned.

Thanks!
Andrew