This is my first post after a few weeks of lurking... A quick bit about us, my son and I. I have been camping since a kid, but really only car camping. My son, who just turned nine, and I want to venture out deeper on the trail. We just started looking into equipment and man am I confused about all the stuff out there. I am reluctant to pay premium prices for equipment that he will out grow in the next year or so. Today we went to Dick's to look at bags and packs where we found the following.

1. Bag - MT20 Jr. $34.99 Size- 68 x 25 x 18. Now, we wont be doing any winter camping and Missouri doesn't get all that cold in the other three season for us to warrent a warmer bag. So a 20 degree bag should be just fine...

2. Pack - Marmot Aspen 35 #9368. It is 2200 Cubic " and 3.1 LBS. $79.99

I do not know much about either of these but they are well below the price of most of the other equipment we have seen. I can't seem to find anything on the net that talks about them so I am hoping someone here has some experience or alternate suggestions..

Help smile