I hope you're kidding about having your 43 pound son carry 15 lbs of gear. My 6 year old is close that (45 I think now), but I limited him to about 5 lbs total (may be over with full water bottle). Of course, we aren't doing quarter mile trips either so I suppose your son will manage fine. We're planning a 25 mile or so loop at Grayson Highlands next month. Best backpack for that age IMHO is the REI Tarn 18. Once he starts carrying his sleeping bag also I'll likely have to make him a pack since all the "next size up" ones for kid torsos weigh 2+ pounds (which is more than my pack).

Personally, I think he'd love the outdoors more by not carrying a heavy load but going farther to cooler places to see.


Don't need a lot of money for ultralight (for him at least). My son carries a set of generic fleece PJs, a Coleman small youth rain jacket ($8 @ Walmart), a Columbia fleece jacket (hand me down from someone), a pair of my wool socks for sleeping, polyester knit gloves and hat, a little floppy-brim hat, sunglasses and a 20oz bottle. That is carried in an REI Super Nova pack (which is smaller than the Tarn 18). He used his larger school backpack before that but it didn't look like a backpacking backpack and the straps were not comfortable even with such a light load over long distances.

I did buy him some Campmor hiking shirt and pants (still not expensive and he gets to look close to dad). He wore nylon "track" pants and a fleece shirt before that. He wears full-toe sandals from Walmart. I also bought him his own pair of "mountain" (eg, Darn Tough Vermont) socks. He used to wear a pair of mine that fit like crews on him (thankfully I have small feet).

He sleeps in the down bag I got for my wife. That is where the biggest expense (and weight savings) would likely be for you. We share a shelter so the only extra thing of his I'm carrying is the 2 lb sleeping bag. His pad is cut down blue foam that I use for my pack's frame so I need to carry it anyway.