Gear suggestions...

First let me say I am pretty new to backpacking, I went on a BP trip with a church group as a kid and remember how awesome it was. Since then I have spent many nights outside(Army)and also car camped and a few BP trips with the kids with questionable gear.

My sons ages 8 and 16 have enjoyed our recent jaunts into the woods in our area for over-nighters. So now I am trying to gear us up for a 2-3 night trip into the UNF (Uwharrie) in central NC.

Our current set up is: my Army external frame rucksack, a REI youth size external frame pack for my 16yr old, and basic school type backpack for the 8yr old. The youngest pretty much just packs his sleeping bag and some extra clothes. We got some lightweight sleeping bags for Christmas.I have a MSR rocket stove and a cook set on the way from campmor.

As for a tent we have been using a cheap dome tent but it's wayyy too heavy. We do have a lightweight youth dome tent (@3.5lbs) that could fit the kids and I could fit in another one OK. Otherwise it seems like we will have to spend alot on a 3 person relatively lightweight tent. Suggestions?

As for packs, what would you suggest? I could pass the youth size REI pack down to the 8yr old and get something for my 16yr old son. I also feel like the Army rucksack is way heavy, but it's functional, so I could use it for a trip or two.

Suggestions for a reasonably priced pack for my 16yr old son? Thanks for any advice!

If the youth pack will fit the 8 year old I'd say hand it down. As for you and your teen, you might want to start looking at craigslist and eBay to see what you can find there.

There's nothing wrong with grabbing an old Kelty or other pack to get started off with. In fact, I have an old Coleman Peak1 pack I'll send you if you want it. It's still in good shape and I'd love to see it get some more use. It should work for either you or your teen.

As far as a tent goes, you might find one or two of those on craigslist and eBay too. You might look into using hammocks and tarps instead of a tent. I've made tarps out of disposable plastic table clothes and used a $30 hammock and that works darn pretty good. If you like the tarp/hammock setup you can get a good silnylon tarp and a quality hammock for about the same price as a good tent.

If you're going for new stuff we'd need a budget to try and recommend anything, but the general rule of thumb is to spend as much as you can on a good sleeping bag and when you have all the gear you're going to carry and know how much room it will take, then go look at packs.

Uwharrie huh? Looks like a great spot. My wife just watched a "Finding Bigfoot" episode made there. I watched a bit of it because they have a big Suzuki Samurai 4x4 gathering there every year and I'd love to attend that. Of course getting a good picture of a Bigfoot would be fun too

I'd probably go with two tents, a one-person and a two-person, because it gives you more flexibility. If any of you want to take a solo trip, you take the one person (this would be you, or maybe your older son, for now.) If only one of the boys can go, you can take the two-person tent (this might be you and your younger son - I know that as my son started driving and got older, his own life took up more of his time, and our trips got fewer.)

It also gives you a little more flexibility on campsites. With a three-person tent, you've got to have a clear, hopefully flat, space big enough for the whole tent - that can be a little hard to find sometimes. However, it's usually easy to find a spot that has a couple flat spots that would fit a smaller tent.

I sent you a PM (private mail) with a couple of other thoughts; it's that little flashing envelope at the top of the forum. Just click on it (or on the little pointer by My Stuff, then select "messages.")

I'd agree with Glenn on the tent issues. 2 would give you more flexibility than one larger one.

You may find the paper I wrote to be of use. It was written with Scouts in mind.

Thanks for the replies guys..the advice is much appreciated. Also thanks for the info on how to check PM's Glen, I hadn't noticed the little "pm" icon up at the top until you mentioned it! I like the idea of two smaller tents instead of the 3 man, makes sense.

Bill-forgot to respond about Uwharrie, I have been up there when there were Jeep and also Land Rover rallies, very cool stuff. Have also seen some vehicles damaged pretty badly, makes you cringe to see a nice truck scrape along a tree or big rock!

Topshot- very interesting paper, looking forward to reading. Who knew there was a doctorate program for Scouts?

You will find a lot of good info in the articles listed in the left column on the home page of this site.

Doctorate in name only, of course. I don't know how many councils have such a program or even do a University of Scouting.