My seven-year-old son has been camping since he was 18 months and hiking since he was two years old. He spends a lot of time outdoors from fishing to geocaching to running to just playing in the dirt. For years, he’s been asking me when he’d be able to join me on an overnight backpacking adventure. This past weekend, he got his wish.
THE PLAN
About a month out, I informed my son we were going backpacking and he wanted to know the destination. I told him that I hadn’t figured that out yet, but that I’d narrowed it down to either Pisgah or Uwharrie. Pisgah is a bit of a drive, has spectacular views, is home to a thriving bear population, has finicky springtime weather, and sits at 6,000′. Uwharrie is much closer, has limited views, doesn’t have a resident bear population, tends to have more spring-like springtime weather, and sits at 1,000′. While I originally wanted to hit up Pisgah (specifically a place near Black Balsam Knob), I was starting to learn towards Uwharrie after a recent trip to the area.
If you’ve never been, the Uwharrie National Forest (UNF) is a 51,000-acre forest system spanning three counties in south central North Carolina. It is one of the smallest national forests in the U.S., and the youngest of the four national parks in North Carolina. It was part of the nation’s first gold rush in the 1820s and 1830s, has been touted as a place of residence for Bigfoot, and has plenty of trails, creeks, and established campsites.
Eventually, I made the executive decision to go with Uwharrie, and my son was totally fine with it. In fact, he thought it was a better choice since “Pisgah doesn’t have gold.” He then asked me about distance.
SON: How far are we gonna go?
ME: I don’t know. It depends on how far you can go without getting super tired.
SON: Why?
ME: Because you have to carry your own gear.
SON: All of it?
ME: No, not all of it. But you need to carry your bag, clothes, and some smaller things.
SON: I don’t know if I can.
ME: Which is why we’re going to fill up your pack and take a few hikes before deciding on a route.
SON: OK. Wanna go tomorrow?
ME: No. You have school tomorrow.
SON: I know.
While we didn’t skip school, we did hit the trails the following weekend for the first of three practice hikes. After the last hike, I determined that a) he likes to stop and look at everything, b) he enjoys a good break because he can take off his pack and eat snacks, c) his pace hovers around 1MPH because he likes to look at everything and stop to eat snacks, and d) he’d probably max out around 5 miles per day.
With this in mind I gave him some maps of the area that his Uncle Mark sent him, pulled up the Uwharrie National Forest on AllTrails, and let him put together different routes.
SON: Where are the good creeks?
ME: Look at the map. There are lots of creeks.
SON: But which ones are good?
ME: I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.
SON: But you’ve been there.
ME: Yes, but that was months ago. The goods ones I saw may have dried up by now.
SON: No, which ones have gold?
ME: Oh…those good ones. I have no idea.
I showed him locations on the map where I remembered seeing campsites and creeks. He suggested we camp where I camped before (about 5.25 miles in at Big Island Creek) since there was probably gold there. He then clicked different trails on the AllTrails map to form the shape that he wanted, eventually deciding on a 10-mile route that sort of looked like a pirate pointing with his hook hand. Afterwards, I pulled the map into Photoshop, highlighted the bike trails (per my son’s suggestions), and added creek and mileage markers…
created an elevation profile using Google Earth…
built out a trip plan based on a 1MPH pace…
and printed our final route map TerraSlate paper.
PACKING IT IN
About a week before the trip we turned our attention to packing.
ME: What do we need to bring?
SON: The Six Essentials!
I beamed. He was, of course, referring to the Cub Scout Six Essentials: first-aid, flashlight, water, food, sun protection, and whistle.
ME: What else do we need?
SON: We should probably check the weather.
My smile grew bigger as I pulled up the forecast.
ME: The highs during the day will be between 60°F and 65°F with a low of 40°F at night and a 10% chance of rain.
SON: I guess we’ll need rain pants and rain jackets and the rainfly for the Big Fat Frog.
ME: Good idea. What if it doesn’t rain?
SON: OK, let’s not bring them.
ME: But what if it does rain?
SON: We should bring them just in case.
ME: But what if it doesn’t rain?
SON: Daaaaad!
ME: OK. Rain gear. What else?
I’m paraphrasing here, but it went something like…
SON: We need mountain space food. I like the Mac ‘n Cheese one and also astronaut ice cream. I’m gonna bring oatmeal creme pies and those little Clif kid bars. We also need water. Can I bring my water bag? I also need a filter so I don’t get the poops. And I need my light. I need gloves, so I should bring my winter gloves. Mom probably wants me to bring my big puffy coat, but I don’t need a big puffy coat because it’s big and puffy. I’ll bring my new fleece. And my thermal underwear. Can I use your head thing that goes around your neck? Nevermind, I don’t need that. I don’t want to wear shorts. I want to wear pants because I don’t want ticks. I need my toothbrush and toothpaste and toilet paper. And regular underwear and socks because I’m going to get wet looking for gold. And my sleeping bag. And my chair. No, not my chair. Can I use your yellow mat for sitting? Oh, I’m going to use the good pillow and you can use the red one.
ME: Is that all? What about what’s not going in your backpack?
SON: I’ll bring hiking poles, a sunhat, my clothes that I’m wearing like pants and a shirt, my fleece…wait, I’m putting that in my backpack. Wait, no, I’m going to wear it instead. And my sunglasses and my hiking boots. Oh, and a belt so my pants don’t fall down. And socks!
ME: Anything else?
SON: The iPad.
ME: Hahaha. No.
SON: Awww.
ME: Anything else besides the iPad?
SON: No. You can carry the rest.
ME: ಠ_ಠ
In terms of weight, my gear list felt like I was preparing for a multi-day, winter hike rather than an overnight, spring trip. The biggest reason for the heavy pack included things I don’t normally take including my North Face Big Fat Frog 2-person tent (6.5 lbs), travel checkers (8 oz), the AT card game (13.5 oz), and enough food, snacks, and water for the two of us (9 lbs).
The last pack to consider was for my buddy Chad, who was visiting from out of town, and who graciously agreed to join the adventure. I lent him my Stratos 38L, a 0°F bag, and my Quarter Dome, and he brought the rest.
Once everything was packed, my son’s Osprey Ace 38L pack weighed just over 10 pounds, and my Atmos 50L weighed a hefty 30 lbs 13.8 oz (not including the last minute addition of a quart of cooked pasta my wife threw in).
The Adventure Begins
On our way to the trailhead we stopped at El Dorado Outpost, a local general store, to meet up with Uncle Mark. Just before arriving, we saw smoke rolling out from the trees to the southwest thanks to a prescribed burn a mile down the road. It wouldn’t impact our trip, but man did it look ominous. At El Dorado, we yucked it up with Mark for a short bit and bought a pan for panning, then we drove the last 20 minutes to the trailhead off 24/27.
DAY 1 (5.32 MI | +571′ GAIN | -644′ LOSS)
The weather was gorgeous. Good temps, plenty of sun, and a gentle breeze to boot. My son was super excited. So much so that he put his pack on upside down. I helped him get turned around and then put on my pack before we all headed down Dutchman’s Creek Trail at 12:11PM following yellow blazes with my son leading the way.
About a half mile in, my son stopped and said that his pack was heavy. “Oh boy,” I thought. “We could be camping much, much earlier than expected.” I looked at his pack. His hip belt wasn’t where it should have been, and it appeared looser than it was when I inspected it prior to leaving the parking lot.
ME: What’s going on with your hipbelt?
SON: It was pushing on my belt buckle so I loosened it.
ME: That may be the problem.
I had him lean forward so I could lift his pack up a little. Then, I had him move the pack belt buckle above his belly button and the hip pads on his hips. Once he did, I pulled the two hip straps down, readjusted the pit straps, and had him wiggle a bit.
SON: Ahhh, much better.
And on we went.
My watch chimed in at the first mile and I looked down to see how we were doing. “Hmm, that can’t be right,” I thought. I looked at the actual time and sure enough my son hit the mile mark in 31:25; almost twice the pace I had anticipated. At this rate, we’d either be arriving at our campsite two hours ahead of schedule or camping at a new site way ahead of schedule. I suggested to my son that he slow down, but he didn’t listen. That is, until a few minutes later…
SON: I’m tired.
ME: I bet. You were going really fast. Why don’t you slow down?
SON: I don’t know if I can.
ME: You don’t know if you can slow down?
SON: I don’t know if I can make it.
ME: That’s fine. Let’s start looking for a spot to camp.
SON: Or, maybe we can just take a break.
So we did.
When we continued, the topic of Bigfoot came up. My son didn’t think Bigfoot could live in Uwharrie. I challenged him to come up with a mythical creature that could. When he was finished with his creature that sounded a lot like a smaller version of Bigfoot he challenged both Chad and I to come up with our own creatures. The game went on and on, evolving as we played it. After a few creatures, it wasn’t enough to simply create a creature with a few features, we now had to answer questions from others in the group. These questions undoubtedly influenced the characteristics of future creatures my son described down the trail; and as an added bonus, helped to prolong the game.
Around mile 2, we approached a creekside campsite at the base of the biggest climb of the day—220′ over 0.35 miles. I asked my son if he wanted to stop at the site and eat a snack before climbing the hill. He said yes, but then changed his mind as I talked about the Rotini, a pasta-shaped crab-like creature with a tail and a craving for bee larva. We passed the campsite. “How does the Rotini eat?” We started up the hill. “Why does the Rotini eat bee larva?”. We continued up the hill. “Is the Rotini harmful to humans?” We reached the halfway point. “How does the Rotini poop?” Three quarters up and still going strong. “Is the Rotini a pest?” We reached the top. “I’ve got a creature that eats Rotinis. The PASTA ANT!” And then we stopped to rest for a bit.
Once he took his pack off, my son’s health meter began to climb. He asked questions about previously discussed creatures, described how he was going to find gold, and jokingly asked me to carry him for a little bit. When I started to reply, he interrupted with, “GOTCHA!” and threw on his pack. “Let’s go!” he said.
We continued downhill before the trail flattened out. Just before mile 3 we crossed Supertree.
SON: What’s a supertree?
ME: It’s like a regular tree, but it has a cape.
::crickets::
My dad joke fell on deaf ears and we continued to follow the yellow blazes before crossing Supertree then White Tail then Supertree for a third time on our way to mile 4, our second stop of the day.
We snacked, drank, and chatted a little longer than our previous break. I showed my son where we were on the map, pointed out how much farther we had to go, and pointed to the creek where he’d be panning for gold. That last bit did the trick because it provided just enough motivation to get him going again. Gold fever is nasty business.
When we reached the gravel road at mile 5, I had him look at the map and show me where we were. He did, and then he used the legend to identify the road as Woodrun.
SON: We’re close to our campsite.
ME: Yeah, we only have about ten minutes to go.
SON: Ten minutes?
ME: Downhill.
SON: But it’s still ten minutes.
We crossed the road and I pointed out the campsite that his Uncle Ken and I were going to stay at back in December, but didn’t because the creek was dry. “There must be water in the creek now because there’s someone staying here,” he said pointing to an Ozark Trail tent. “And they had eggs. They should clean up better.” We passed the site and walked another five minutes before arriving at our night’s campsite at Big Island Creek around 3:38PM.
As I set up the tents, my son and Chad explored the creek. When they returned, I finished setting up the second tent, and the two of them started gathering wood. Chad took off like Paul Bunyon, and my son did his best impression of the kid from Jurassic Park who talked Dr. Grant’s ear off.
After I finished, I, too, helped gather wood, and then my son and I built up the platform and teepee for the fire. While we worked, we were greeted by a couple of passersby that we guessed were staying at the egg shell campsite back down the trail. We waved. They waved. And we finished up what we were doing. All that remained was to hang the bear bag line which Chad did in a mere two tries (it usually takes me at least 5 throws). With our chores completed, the three of us took a break to pan for gold and play in the creek.
Once my son’s feet, socks, and boots were sufficiently saturated, I rang the dinner bell and we made our way to the fire ring where I boiled water, and Chad and my son played checkers.
I successfully filled two of the three meal bags with boiling, lava-hot water before dumping my Chili Mac dinner on the ground. After flicking the food into the fire pit, I mixed my son’s leftover pasta with what was left of my Chili Mac, and supplemented my dinner with beef jerky.
With bellies full, and nighttime approaching, I started the fire. Normally I’d just use cotton balls covered in Vaseline. But for tonight’s fire I used an ExtremeStart firestarter (the ones used for backyard firepits) because I brought one…because I could. Stop judging me! As the wood burned, I had my son take off his boots and socks so he could dry them, and his pruned feet, by the fire.
As the sun went down, I carried my son to the tent (his boots were still drying) so he could relax before our nighttime activities. While he rested, Chad and I took the opportunity to catch up on old times. About an hour later, the three of us donned our headlamps and went on a spider walk. What’s a spider walk? It’s where you turn your headlamp on high beam and look around for the reflection of spider eyes. Oh God! I’m sorry I asked. It’s really a lot of fun. We found a few spiders around the campsite before heading down the trail to look for more. I saw spiders, my son saw spiders, and Chad spotted a really cool moth resting on a tree.
We walked about a quarter mile before heading back to camp for a hot chocolate nightcap. An hour more under the stars and it was time to brush teeth, douse the fire, and hang the bear bag. Then, as if nature knew a seven year old was about to go to sleep, a choir of coyotes began singing off in the distance.
SON: Are they close?
ME: Nah, they’re pretty far away
SON: Will they bother us?
ME: Probably not.
SON: Probably not?
ME: Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. They’ll probably eat Chad first.
SON: Does Chad know?
ME: He will. Come on. It’s time for bed.
We retired to our tents and my son was asleep faster than you could answer the questions “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”
DAY 2 (4.61 MI | +402′ GAIN | -350′ LOSS)
I woke at 6:30AM because my internal clock is a no-good P-O-S. My son was still sleeping as was Chad. Quietly (as quietly as one can unzip a tent and crawl over an inflatable Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad) I got up and grabbed the bear bag.
Back at camp, I saw my son’s head peeking out of the tent. I motioned to him to come over so as not to interrupt Chad’s sheep counting. My son said he was a little cold so I took the opportunity to let him prepare the morning fire. He built a platform with a piece of bark, assembled a teepee, and then asked me for two Vaseline-coated cotton balls which he carefully placed on the platform. When he gave me the thumbs up, I lit the cotton balls and within seconds the fire was roaring.
We sat around for a bit and talked about the previous day, how he slept, and if he was sore. Fun, good, and a little. When signs of life emanated from Chad’s tent, I began boiling water for coffee. I asked my son if he wanted oatmeal. He did not. I asked him if he wanted a Clif bar. He did not. His negative responses meant one thing—he needed the trowel and some toilet paper.
After nature’s call, I gave my son a Clif bar while Chad and I broke camp. By 10:08AM we were back on the trail. We passed the campsite, now unoccupied, from the previous day. Five minutes later we reached the top of the hill at Woodrun Road and headed west towards Woodrun Camp. Not long after, my son started showing signs of wear. He declined my offer for food, but accepted another for sport beans and water.
A mile in, my son was dragging his feet and his poles. We stopped for a moment and I adjusted his pack. It was clear that he was tired. It was even more clear that he did not eat all of his breakfast on account of the half-eaten Clif bar sticking out of his pack’s side pocket. After several attempts to convince my hangry child to eat, he stuffed the bar and another snack into his face. The food helped him perk up a little, but he wasn’t himself. Time for Plan B: The A-B-C Game.
If you’ve never played the A-B-C game, it goes like this. You start by saying, “I’m going on a trip, and I’m taking…” and end with a word that starts with a letter of the alphabet from A to Z. Each player must repeat the previous items as they add their own. For our version, I changed “trip” to “hike” and we proceeded to pass the time all the way to the latrine at Woodrun Camp; the halfway point of our day’s hike and the perfect spot for a break and a recap of our imaginary trip’s inventory.
After bathroom breaks and snack munching, we threw on our packs and started hiking the quarter-mile path on Keyauwee to Uwharrie, passing a couple of hikers along the way.
With two miles to go before we reached the car, I started up another round of A-B-Cs only this time it was: I’m making a sandwich and I’m putting on…
Apple slices, Bacon, Carrots, Doritos, Eggs, Fritos, Garlic, Ham, Iceberg Lettuce, Jalapeños, Krispy Kreme Icing, Lagunes, Maple syrup, Nacho cheese, Olives, a whole Pineapple, Quince, Raspberry jam, Squid, Tuna, Urchins, Velvet cake, Walnuts, Xococava Almonds, Yak meat, and Zucchini.
The game was a fine distraction for my son whose legs were slowly tiring.
Just down the trail a creek crossing blew a bit of wind over his sails.
And then a short hill broke the mast.
With a mile to go we played hide-and-seek and pretended to shoot Star Wars pew pews at one another. With 0.75 miles to go I removed my son’s sleeping bag and water bottle from his pack to help lighten his load. For the last half mile my son was taking frequent breaks. The last climb of the day took a while as the sight of a hill did nothing to boost my son’s spirts. Chad and I waited and talked with my son, encouraging him along. Eventually, we saw the car and he slogged his way past the finish line at 1:15PM.
TOTALS (9.93 MI | +973′ GAIN | -994′ LOSS)
NOTE: The total elevation gain/loss on my Garmin showed 1,410′ gain and 1,253′ loss. Though my watch has a barometric altimeter, I opted to post the corrected elevations that are created from professional surveys of the area.
Final Thoughts
I could not be more proud of my son for his accomplishment. His great attitude coupled with his love for the outdoors were contagious. I’m really glad the spring weather drove out the bugs and kept things pleasant, and I’m super glad I chose Uwharrie for my son’s first overnight backpacking trip. It is a fantastic place with plenty of trails and challenges for a young backpacker. My son hasn’t stopped talking about the trip, and is already thinking about the next one.
Advice for Moms and Dads
I’d be remiss not to include advice for moms and dads looking to take their young’uns out for the first time.
- Kids want to be involved. From planning to carrying gear to building a fire, let your kids help. When I was making the map, my son suggested including the bike trails. It was a great idea and it helped him create ownership of the trip.
- Practice makes practice. The practice hikes helped to prepare my son for the trip, and helped me gauge his ability. I learned his pace and his max distance which helped me to estimate a departure time to ensure we’d have plenty of daylight upon arrival. Our practice hikes also provided the perfect opportunity to set expectations and talk about safety.
- Take your time. My son stopped when he wanted to stop and that was fine. Sometimes he stopped when he was tired, and sometimes he stopped because he wanted to look at a piece of bark on the ground.
- Activities are a must. Whether we were on the trail or at our site, I wanted to make sure he had something to do. While I didn’t plan the creature game (I was actually going to break out the A-B-C game on day 1), I used it to help him over the hump. When we returned from the trip he continued talking about the creatures and even began drawing some of them. At camp, panning for gold, checkers, creek play, and spider walks helped pass the time and contributed to the success of his first overnight adventure.
- Have fun. This goes without saying, but I’m saying it. Have fun.