Thru Hiking the AT with our Kids: Gear Review
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- Update (things I forgot to cover; more to come I’m sure 😉):
-We have bandanas for snot/sweat rags.
-We have more toiletry and little gadget items that are currently in use but will come with us (nail clippers, disposible razor, multitool, Swiss Army knife, etc)
-We have ZipLock bags for our water filters so we can sleep with them on the coldest nights.
-We hace tenacious tape for tent/sleeping pad/pack repairs and we have duct tape wrapped around a couple of trekking poles and around our Bic lighters
The time is almost here! Our family’s AT thru hike attempt is THIS month. Time to break down all the gear it’ll take for our six pack to trek the 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine!
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🌟Full Big 3 List:
Tents ⛺️
-Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 (x2 of these)
-Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL3
Sleep Systems 🛌
-Enlightened Equipment Enigma and Revelation Apex 20* quilts
-Sea to Summit Reactor liner (David and Sally Ann)
-Cocoon Mummy liner (kids)
-Big Agnes Q Core sleeping pad (D and SA)
-REI Helix sleeping pad (kids)
-Sea to Summit Aeros pillow
Packs 🎒
-Granite Gear Blaze 60L (David)
-Osprey Aura AG 65L (Sally Ann)
-REI Flash 55 (Abigail and Madilyn)
-Deuter Fox 40 (Naomi and Gideon)
#appalachiantrail #appalachiantrailclassof2025 #ATclassof2025 #kidswhohike #hikingfamily #coupleswhohike #getoutside #thruhike
#AppalachianTrail #ThruHike #AT2025
Y'all have done the homework and are prepared. The scaling up from 1 to 6 is the interesting part. As a 32 year EMT, my bikepacking first aid/medicine kit centers around bleeding control, pain management, and belly rumble issues. Any bigger problems the phone/InReach/shuttle will fix.
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing all of this amazing information! You all are so brave and adventurous!! I will be living vicariously through you!!! 🙏 for your safety!
I recommend bringing rubber dish washing gloves! I started in march in 2023 and we had some really cold rain, the rubber gloves really help to keep your hands warm and dry
@@emilyb1286 David and I have pairs of those and were debating whether to use them or not. Thanks for the tip ❤️🥾
Something to consider… if you aren’t too concerned about cough suppression, you could choose a decongestant to carry with the Benadryl instead of the cold medicine. The benefit to this is that you can choose either the antihistamine or the decongestant based on symptoms without “knocking yourself out” with the all in one. If you only have a stuffy nose, you don’t need the fever reducer and cough medicine. Alternatively, you can make your own “cocktail” by taking the antihistamine, decongestant, and the fever reducer together.
I’m so excited to follow your journey! 🎉🙌💪🥾
One more tip I saw the other day. Take a 1/2" pvc end cap, drill a hole through it, add a piece of cord. This works great for helping to drive stakes into the ground.
@@marcusrawls2125 nice tip! I’ll share that with David for sure. Thank you 🙌🏻🥾
@sixpackhikers dm me if you need a picture.
So exciting to go through this!! I love the fact that you’re taking Bibles!! I have a pocket Bible I take just for camping and hiking!! And of course journaling!! lol
Absolutely! David and I have it on our phones, but we wanted the kids to have access on trail as well. ✝️❤️🥾
What a logistical challenge, you did good. I bet you guys are excited!
SO excited-and a little nervous. There’s only so much we can fully plan and prepare for. We are to the point now that we are just ready to get going 🥾🥾
Beautiful!! When I see the family pic at the end it just warms my heart! Such a wonderful plan and again I will be praying for you all each morning 🙏 Maybe some icy hot or something for sore muscle relief. So far that is the only thing that came to my mind in that area of things. Looking forward to this! Take care and I can't wait to see you out there! So exciting!!!
I hike with a small pak towel as well. But I took mine and cut it in half to decrease the size and to give me a back up for later. I also put an eye hole in them so I could attach to a carabiner at my shoulder to wipe my face, runny nose. Also use it to wipe my tent off in the morning to remove condensation before packing up. Leave the other half of the towel at home for later down the trail or when you get home. Safe travels. We're rooting for you.
Can’t wait to follow your journey .Wow that’s a lot to organize all that how awesome.
We’d love to have you follow our adventure! We’ve been planning for 5 years now, so we are incredibly eager to get out there and try it 🙌🏻🥾
For wipes - I actually dehydrate them - it only takes a short time. I lay them out on the trays, individually, then run the dehydrator for about 20 minutes. I fold them up, about 10 to a snack size zip bag to keep with my trowel, the rest in a bigger zip lock buried in my pack. Crunch one up in your hand, pour a very small amount of water on them, and you have it back to a regular wipe with the cleaning capability of more than just toilet paper. It cuts a whole lot of weight by doing this! Oh, edited to add - if anyone you knows had a dog, and uses dog poop bags - have them save a couple of the cores when the roll is empty - they are perfect for wrapping leukotape, tenacious tape, and duct tape on to keep in a repair kit. Having them on items you are using all the time (lighter) or on items that are out in the elements (trekking poles) isn't good long term, especially when exposed to the elements. For meds, I would add sudafed, and also the Alka Seltzer gel caps nighttime. If you have a cold coming on, taking the AS when you head to bed at night, helps you get a good sleep, and for me always clears everything up by morning and I end up not actually getting sick. That's just my personal experience with it though.
Really looking forward to watching your family hike the trail. You seem very organized. Will be praying for all of you to have a safe and wonderful journey! 😊
We would love to have you follow along! Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. ❤️🥾
Just a suggestion, but Bring ziplocks to keep the sawyers in so you can keep them in your sleeping bag at night.
Great suggestion!! We do this, too.
Yes! We plan to do that. Thank you so much for your insight. 🙌🏻🥾
Here's another little hack for hiking with groups. For years I have carried a couple of bags that Popeyes chicken uses for Tea/Lemonade that they sell in the gallon. I'll take those bags to the water source fill them up and bring them back to camp where you can then filter. They are lightweight and free once you buy the tea/Lemonade and just wash and reuse.
Also the bladders from the boxed wines.
Great tip! Thanks so much. That would definitely aid in campsite water filtering 🙌🏻🥾
Great video! Sarah, Michele, and I can't wait to meet you all on the trail. We start next week!
I’ve been enjoying your group’s gear videos! We truly hope to meet on trail. We’ve still got a couple of weeks, but maybe we will cross paths 🥾🥾
Wolfie Hikes came down with norovirus on AT in Jan. LMNT or Liquid IV etc for rehydration
I saw that! How awful. Yes, we will be bringing electrolyte powder with us too. Thanks for the insight! ❤️🥾
I’m looking forward to following along on your adventure.
Thanks so much for your support! We are eager to get started ❤️🥾
You are all very organized, and gear looks great. You might want to add a hanky for everyone. I hadn't used one on our sections so didn't bring one on our thru and quickly took one of my husbands and used it constantly for runny nose, sweat, etc. You might want one of the older kids to carry a water filter as well. Not sure 2 for 6 people will get your water filtered quickly. I carried the little roll of tenacious tape, and a partial roll of leukotape the entire hike. I didn't bother with duck tape, as it pretty much falls off when it gets wet. I also didn't wrap it around my trekking pole. I found that it was more of a pain to get off in a usable piece that way. I'd add some bandaids, small nail clippers; I get headaches so I carried Tylenol, Advil and Excedrine. We carried a travel size deodorant, but that's considered a luxury item by many. Several extra ziploc bags (both quart and gallon size) as well.
Yes! I neglected to mention the bandannas that we hang off the front of our bags for sweat/runny nose. Great item to have!
Thanks for the tip on the extra water filter. I’m going to chat with David about that tonight and see what he thinks. We currently have duct tape wrapped around our lighters, which will stay in our packs. Hopefully it’ll stay dry!
Our bandaids, clippers, and ziplocks were all in the house but definitely adding those. I really want to bring a deodorant, but I have a feeling I will ditch it early. Did you use yours the whole way?
Thanks for all the tips! ❤️🥾
You just saved me $$ by shopping Amazon for a fuel canister transfer. Ty!
I also am a cold sleeper & my husband warm. I found it interesting how quickly your husband warms in his bag compared to you.
Your kids are being taught such growing skills of independence & confidence. I think it’ll actually be more helpful having them do tasks & careing for themselves. Plus, if you need to throw thoughts around you’ll have extra problem solvers.
Glad you're going to save money! No need to spend retail on a name brand if you can get by with a knockoff. I was THRILLED to find the inexpensive one on Amazon.
Thanks for all the encouraging words! ❤️🥾
Great luck!
We appreciate it! We're hoping for a safe and successful journey. 🙌🏻🥾
You’ve done a wonderful job - thank you for putting all of this together! So helpful as we prepare to get our four kids out on trail this year. (Rabbit trail…I’m a curly girl, too, how do you maintain curly hair on trail for an extended period of time?!)
Thank you so much! Oh man…the hair will *not* be looking good on trail. I’ll likely have it in a buff 90% of the awake time 😉
At home, I use Marc Anthony Strictly Curls curl lotion and curl cream. Happy to go into more detail in email if you’re curious. The products are at Walmart, target, and Amazon too-yellow bottles. Pretty inexpensive! I also use the conditioner by Marc Anthony.
That looks so hectic and organized at the same time. Good luck you guys. So awesome to see a whole family out there. I might see you somewhere on the trail
Hi gang you guys seem well prepared. This journey will impact you for the rest of your lives. What will be the first things you guys leave in a hiker box. Peace
Looks like a well-thought out kit! You've covered hiking, blisters, poison ivy, inclement weather; eating and drinking (perhaps you take a vitamin/electrolyte mix with you?); and sleeping. Maybe worth a thought (probably already in your kit), repair kit for sleeping pad, clothes, tears in your backpack, reserve hip belt buckle, spare shoe laces, superglue, needle and thread/waxed tooth floss. Piece of cloth to hold the hot pan. Sleeping mask, ear plugs for when you decide to sleep in a noisy cabin. Small pocket knifes. Nail clippers.
I hope you guys have an amazing adventure! The memories and experiences will last a life time! I always like how comprehensive your videos are! I live a little over an hour from an AT trailhead in PA and so took many day trips with family over the years and always had a blast. You could make a pit stop at Hawk Mountain Bird Sanctary in PA. They have a great visitor center and tons of information on migratory raptors, which could be a cool learning experience. Looking forward to watching the journey ahead :)
I do suggest like black doggie bags to put “used the time of month” stuff in, just a suggestion, I see that on other channels also
Great suggestion! It’s more discreet when disposing of that in your ziplock trash bag that most of us carry in the see through mesh part of our backpack.
I’ve heard that too! However, I was actually able to find black oversized Ziploc bags on Amazon after filming that video. I think they’re going to work perfectly! 🙌🏻🥾
@@wildflowersadventures well I mean, you’re the one I learned that from!!!!! So that’s all you!!!
@@sixpackhikers I think you thought of everything!!!!
Wow,a ton of kids to take care of! During a Cub Scout camp, I was in charge of many kids.To walk from one activity to another, I made up military type marching songs to keep them busy and in line! Might help with those boring sections of trail.
Looking forward to following you along on your hike . Praying for safety for all concerned. Also praying you are successful, it would be such an awesome adventure for your family.
We so appreciate your encouragement and support-and of course, your prayers. Thank you! ❤️🥾
Vs body glide, gold bond makes a product I prefer and it's available at Walmart.
Oo! We will have to check that out. Thanks for the tip 🙌🏻🥾
For baby wipes, if you didn't want to carry a big package of them. Walmart carries Dude wipes a smaller box and in each box they are individually wrapped.
Great tip! Thank you so much. ☺️🥾
I know you all are dehydrating your foods, but don’t forget salt and pepper for the trail as tastes change! Good job on the gear video!
Great tip! We’ll have to grab some travel packets the next time we get takeout 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Shew, I can only imagine if you did a 'how much money it cost to hike the AT' ... Y'all would break the bank! Lol but seriously, a huge kudos to the whole fam for going through with this, I am so excited to follow along with the journey! Side question but, obviously with upcoming hundreds of days on the AT I wouldn't expect it to maintain, but what do you use in your hair for your curls to look so uniform and not all crazy and all over the place/borderline afro like mine!
Thanks for your encouragement! The price tag is no joke, but we’ve been spacing it out over the past 5 years and received some of the larger items as birthday and Christmas gifts 🙌🏻
Oh man…the hair will *not* be looking good on trail. I’ll likely have it in a buff 90% of the awake time 😉
At home, I use Marc Anthony Strictly Curls curl lotion and curl cream. Happy to go into more detail in email if you’re curious (sixpackhikers@gmail.com). The products are at Walmart, target, and Amazon too-yellow bottles. Pretty inexpensive! I also use the conditioner by Marc Anthony. Curly girls unite!
Wow! You are a rockstar to put all of this together. I struggle with packing/organizing just my one backpack!
Wow! Thanks for those kind words. David is an incredible partner and a wealth of knowledge. He and I have done this as a team effort.
And here’s a crazy fact: I had never camped prior to April 2019! My first backpacking trip was only a couple of years ago. Everything that I’ve learned about hiking/camping/thru hiking has come in the past few years. There’s always space to learn and grow! ☺️🥾
I’m excited to follow your journey. It’s a good idea to have the poison ivy wipes. I got my worse case of poison ivy in February! I thought I was pulling honeysuckle vines from my parents garden and it was poison ivy vines! I know the difference between the two now! There were no leaves on the vines, thus the confusion. Haha!
@@JanetDurham-j1j Yowsers! That would be awful. Thanks for that advice. ❤️🥾
Very nice. Looking forward to your hike. When I thru hiked the CT, I felt like just outfitting myself with good quality light gear was very expensive. I can’t even imagine your investment for 6!
It’s definitely a significant investment. We tried reduce the blow by spreading it out over 5 years, and we received several of our larger items for birthday/Christmas gifts 🥰
We do have some ultralight items, but a fair amount of our gear is more mainstream/regular weight due to the cost. We will have to update here when we know our pack weights, but David and I anticipate being pretty close to 40 pounds fully packed with food/water. We have to carry some of the things that our youngest kids can’t fit in their bags. 😉🥾
@@sixpackhikers 40 lbs is doable(I’m not big and I have chicken legs),that’s what I carried on my successful AT thru hike, I never saw kids whining on trail, but plenty of adults, you are going to have a blast , check out all the cool nature apps, they don’t weigh much( knot tying,star gazing,first aid ,plant animal and insect identification, AT Specific weather,PeakFinder, ingles Markets, Food Lion, Kroger, journal, uber,Lyft) cheap wired ear phones can give you a imagined sense of privacy when you need some alone time . Good luck I’m very jealous
I am looking forward to following this amazing adventure. Prayers for your family. Have fun!!¡
Thanks so much for your encouragement and prayer! ❤️🥾
Looks well planned out and organized! Counting the days down with you! Happy Trails! 🥾🎒⛺️🌲🐻💜
Thank you so much for watching and for the encouragement! ❤️🥾
Great video. Can't wait to follow y'alls AT journey. 😊
Thanks so much for following along! ❤️🥾
Hope you are aware Wolfie who has been on trail since January had to get off trail due to Norovirus and a knee issue for a couple of weeks. So even in the cold and frozen mountains that Norovirus can still get you. Do not want to see any of you sick. 🥾🥾🥾
That is one shooting about buying outdoor clothing more pricier it can be normally the better quality it is
Yes, as the cost goes up, the quality goes up, but only to a point. Once you get high quality, you can spend an even higher premium for the items to be ultra lightweight. We opted to stick with mostly high quality but regular weight aside from our tents which are UL and a few other items. We spent a lot but saved where we could ☺️🥾
@ that is true, for myself, because I’m still in the process of getting everything and putting that money back I’m doing a mixture of some items are going to be ultralight and some aren’t To keep a decent base weight
@@monoclehikes68 Very smart! 🙌🏻
Great video! 🎉
Thank you so much! Our family is praying for you and Bear. Not sure exactly when you start, but know that you’re being lifted up. ❤️✝️
Goodness gracious I can’t imagine… ALL…ANY!!! EVERYTHING!!!!!!…..
It’s SO much stuff 😅 feeling very grateful to have it all, though. Eager to get started! 🥾🥾
Brimmed hats are sooooo nice!! Keep rain/sun out of your face. Just sayin. Really looking forward to seeing what you shed/add/change over the trip. Wow, what a lot of stuff! Speaking of stuff, every "stuff" sack weighs something too!
Oh, you look a LOT like my oldest stepdaughter. She's super smart and pretty too.
Wow! Thank you for all the encouragement and kind words. Yes, brimmed hats are nice. May switch to those in the warmer months ☀️🥾
I think y'all are ready to go !
Thanks so much! We feel like we are about as prepared as we can be. Now to just get out there and give it a shot ☺️🥾
My, oh my :
Thank you for your understanding! There are definitely plenty of details I didn’t cover that we have thought through and considered. Didn’t want the video to be two hours long! 😉
You are totally right about poison ivy! Because David and Gideon are so highly sensitive, we are on high alert during any off trail excursions. That said, it would be a good idea to keep some of the ivy wipes with us the whole trail. 🙌🏻
Thank you for cheerleading! We appreciate all the support! ❤️🥾
I USE ANBESOL MOUTH NUMBING ORANGE LIQUID FOR MOSQUITO BITES OR POISON IVY/SUMAC AND I BASICALLY USE IT ON ANYTHING THAT I WOULD SCRATCH WITH MY FINGER NAILS. DOLLAR GENERAL SELLS A GENERIC FORM FOR ABOUT $4. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE MAXIMUM STRENGTH VERSION.
BTW IT HELPS FOR MOUTH PAIN... LOL
That is really great stuff but Lord I bet you could buy a new car with the money you spent on all them enlightened bags lol an your other gear. Haha
Take your duck tape and rap around your hiking poles. Wish you all the best and I might see y'all out there. I have seen bears rip ursacks apart out on the AT. You don't need much meds , you can always get it, you will pass town every few days
Are all the kids going to have those battery banks to charge their phones? Or just you and your husband? Also, is everyone going to have Fanny packs? ❤
Thanks for watching and commenting! Our 15 year old got a phone in December so she could stay in touch with friends and take pictures. Our 14 year old has an iPad mini that only works on WiFi, so she’ll use it for pictures on trail, but that’s about it. That said, we are starting with two 26,800 mAh battery banks. They can each charge an iPhone from nearly dead to fully charged 3-4 times. Hoping that’s sufficient! We have a couple of fanny packs but aren’t 100% sure if we will bring them or not yet 😉🥾
@ oh gotcha!!! Thanks for clarifying!!! 💕💕💕💕 I’m super excited to follow along!!!
I'll be following the trip with you and praying for you, but I'll be honest that I am genuinely concerned as this is a huge challenge for a family and you stack the odds with a single injury knocking the entire family off the walk.
We appreciate those prayers and your concern! We understand the nature of the trail and that an injury could set us back or end the trek. That’s true whether it’s a solo hiker or a family group. We’ve discussed the “what ifs” with our kids, and we’re determined to hike together. If an injury occurs, we will all come off trail and will feel proud of what we accomplished to that point ☺️🥾
How can I find you on IG?
@six_pack_hikers2025 ☺️🥾
Thanks for following!