Hauled to Hauler
Ok, so your little on is not going to be carrying a 50 lb. pack out of the gate. But, they will be carrying 30lbs or so more than they are usually carrying. They are going to be carrying themselves! By the age of three your little one will probably be transitioning to more leg, less pack, which is both a windfall and a limitation.Because my son had been hiking so much by the age of two I decided to forego the pack for his third year. He was getting too heavy for me to carry him any kind of distance, and I found it was more fun hiking at his pace on terrain that he could handle anyway. What this meant for me was that I would have to give up my own personal exploits in terms of peakbagging for the year and concentrate on enjoying the flat lands.
Transitioning from the pack
Colden and I trained on longer and longer hikes. Near my house there is a 1 1/4 ridge walk with about 300 feet of climbing. It makes for a nice evening stroll to watch the sunset after work. When Colden was little I would just haul him all the way up and then dismount the pack for a bite to eat and enjoying the summit. I would then head back to the car.
Pretty soon I started Colden out of the pack and had him hike for as long as was reasonable. At first his footsteps were apprehensive, even the smallest rock could trip him up. I kept a close watch on him and tried to catch his falls when I could. We were especially carefull on sections of exposed rock. When he would start begging for the pack, I would give him a break, and we would both head up to the summit. By and By his distance got longer and longer, and over a period of weeks he made it to the summit! I was so proud and excited for is accomplishment. We definitely shared some cookies that night.
Since I was still hiking him down the ridge I kept having him hike up, and then go down as far as he could before he would beg for the pack. We worked on all kinds of hiking games and I got a real good understanding of how he interacted with me and his environment. Sometimes I would play hide and seek with him to see how he would react to being "alone" in the woods. He seemed completely comfortable somehow always knowing and trusting that I was just behind the next tree.
Finally we were ready. Our first backpack was a short out-and-back to John's brook lodge in the Adirondacks. There were shelters along the way, and the trail runs against a babbling brook which is one of Colden's favourite things. My friends we going to be hiking in the area, so I latched on to their trip, skipping the 4kers and concentrating on just getting down the JBL trail. Well, it turned into a bit of a fiasco, because it decided to rain all weekend. Colden was a trooper, and we sang many many rounds of Old MacDonald, to the point where he refused to sing it anymore. We made it to our destination soaked, and a bit rattled, but we made it. One nice thing about JBL was that they had a nice fire going inside so we were able to warm up and dry off a bit which was paramount to our comfort. Long story short, if you are going to take your kid out for a backpack, look for good weather, have a bail out plan or at least a nice place to dry out. Kid's have significantly lower body density, so they get cold more easily.
Sleeping Out
One problem you may encounter is that your little one will have fitfull sleep out in the wilderness. This was especially true of Colden even in the early years when we were car-camping in the tent. There is really no way of avoiding the problem other than to get them more comfortable sleeping in a tent. If you set the tent up in the back yard and have a few sleepless nights at home your little one will likely be sleeping through the night when you get out in the backcountry. Lately I have been staying in shelters which has posed a problem for us. Colden has not become adjusted to sleeping in the shelters which often have other people snoring, may be dark and have a hard floor. I feel bad for the other people in the shelter when he wakes up screaming, but I work hard to get him back to sleep quickly. One thing I have noticed is that if you take them to the potty early on, then they are more likely to sleep the rest of the night. For now, I might just bring a tent and sleep on a platform while he matures.