Toddler Backpacking Round 2

We went backpacking again last weekend. This time we visited the 653 Shelter on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. I don't know if you can technically call it backpacking when you walk less than a mile to a shelter, but you have to scale back expectations when one of your party has to be carried. We switched things up this time and M took the child carrier, which has some decent hauling capacity. In addition to carrying Laurel he had a couple of liters of water and her clothing and diapers, as well as some Audobon guides. I carried everything else, and let me tell you, it was no easy feat. My pack must have weighed 50 pounds. We ended up sleeping in the shelter, so we didn't really need the tent, but we took it, just in case. We tried sleeping in a "family sleeping bag", but this time, I brought a couple of extra blankets that I tucked around Laurel. It was a chilly night - it went down to around 32 degrees and was rainy, but we stayed warm because the shelters on the LHHT are stocked with split wood and have fireplaces in them. You really don't have to do big miles or seek stunning vistas with a two year old. Laurel was pretty happy hunting for sticks to start the fire, and playing around with our sleeping bags in the shelter. We found some boulders to climb on, and spotted a turkey vulture and a lot of trillium. We listened to a woodpecker. The only downside is that she won't go to sleep when it's light out, and it doesn't get light until kind of late.