How to Choose Your First Overnight Backpacking Trail
This post is part of our backpacking-with-kids series. Start with Beginner’s Guide to Backpacking With Kids for the mindset, or check Our Real Family Backpacking Gear List for what’s in our packs. This post is about the decision that comes before either of those: picking the right trail in the first place.
The single biggest reason first-time family backpacking trips go badly isn’t gear, and it isn’t the kids. It’s the trail.
Pick the wrong one, too long, too remote, no water, no shade, campsites you have to guess at, and even a well-prepared family will have a miserable time. Pick the right one, and an average trail becomes a trip your kids ask to repeat.
We plan every trip using AllTrails, and over time we’ve narrowed it down to five criteria that matter more than anything else for a first overnight trip with kids. Here’s exactly how we use the app and what we’re looking for.
Why We Use AllTrails (Not Just a Google Search)
A trail description on a random blog or park website tells you the trail exists. AllTrails tells you what it’s actually like right now.
Before we book anything, we check:
- Recent reviews: Not the trail’s overall rating, but reviews from the last few weeks. Trail conditions change with the season.
- Photos from other hikers: This is the fastest way to spot whether a trail is shaded or exposed, whether the “lake” is actually a lake or a mud puddle in August, and whether the terrain looks kid-manageable.
- The elevation profile: A trail can look short on paper and still have brutal, sustained climbing. The elevation chart tells you the truth the mileage number won’t.
- Downloaded offline maps: Cell service disappears fast once you’re a mile into most trailheads, and this is non-negotiable for us before we leave the car.
If a trail looks good on all four of those, it goes on our shortlist. If any of them raise a flag, we move on to the next option, there’s always another trail!
Our 5 Criteria for a First Overnight Trip
1. Short Mileage — Around 2 Miles to Camp
For a first overnight trip, we look for trails around 2 miles one way to the campsite. That’s short enough to hike at a slow, kid-paced speed (with breaks, snack stops, and stick inspections) without eating your whole afternoon, and short enough that if something goes sideways, turning around isn’t a crisis.
This is not the mileage we hike once our kids have more trips under their belt, it’s specifically the number for trip number one, where the goal is a good experience, not distance.
2. A Visible, Established Campsite on the Map
We only choose trails where AllTrails (or the park’s own trail map) shows an established, marked campsite, not a trail where you’re expected to find your own dispersed spot. For a first trip, knowing exactly where you’re headed and that a flat, cleared site is waiting for you removes one entire layer of stress.
Reviews and photos will usually confirm whether the campsite is easy to find, whether it’s near the trail or requires extra searching, and what the ground/tent pads look like.
3. A Water Source, Ideally a Lake or River
We prioritize trails where the campsite sits near a lake or river, for two reasons: practically, it means water for filtering and cooking is close by instead of something you’re hauling in; and just as importantly, a lake or river is where the kids will actually want to spend their afternoon. Skipping rocks, wading, throwing sticks in, this is the “fun feature” that makes a short hike feel like an adventure instead of just a walk to a tent.
Check the AllTrails photos here specifically. A “lake” listed on a map can be seasonal or nearly dry depending on when you’re going, recent photos will tell you the truth.
4. Close to Home — About a 1–2 Hour Drive
For a first trip, we don’t want the drive itself to be the hard part. A trailhead 1–2 hours from home keeps the whole trip manageable inside a single weekend, and it means if you need to bail early, you’re not facing a long drive home on top of a rough day.
This also opens up the timing strategy that’s honestly made the biggest difference for us, which is the next section.
5. Fun Features Along the Way
Beyond the campsite itself, we look at the full trail for things that make the hike interesting for kids, bridges, small waterfalls, rock scrambles, wildlife-viewing spots, open meadows. A flat, featureless 2 miles is a much harder sell to a 6-year-old than a 2 miles with three “cool” things to stop and look at along the way. AllTrails reviews usually mention these specifically, so read a few before you commit.
The Timing Strategy: Why We Leave After Lunch
This is the part most first-time trip guides skip, and it’s made a bigger difference for us than almost any piece of gear.
Because we choose short trails (around 2 miles, 1–2 hours from home), we don’t leave first thing in the morning. We leave after lunch.
Here’s what that actually looks like:
- Morning: normal morning at home, no rush, everyone fed and calm
- After lunch: drive to the trailhead (1–2 hours)
- Early-to-mid afternoon: hike in (short trail, kid pace, plenty of stops)
- Late afternoon: arrive at camp, set up, kids play at the water
- Evening: make dinner, wind down, sleep
- Next morning: pack up, hike out
- On the way home: stop for lunch or a meal out, an easy, built-in reward at the end of the trip
This turns what sounds like “an overnight backpacking trip” into something closer to a relaxed half-day out and a relaxed half-day back, with one night outside in the middle. It’s a much smaller ask on a family’s schedule and energy than it sounds like on paper, which is exactly why it works so well as a first trip.
We pack dinner, breakfast, and a generous stash of snacks for the trail and the campsite, and then intentionally let the “we’re not cooking on the way home” restaurant stop be part of the trip, not an afterthought. It gives the whole weekend a natural beginning and end.
Putting It All Together
When we’re choosing a first-timer trail, here’s the checklist we actually run through on AllTrails:
- ~2 miles to camp
- Established, visible campsite on the map
- Water source nearby (lake or river) confirmed with recent photos
- 1–2 hour drive from home
- Fun trail features along the way (bridges, rocks, small water crossings)
- Recent reviews checked (last few weeks, not just overall rating)
- Offline map downloaded before leaving cell service
- Timing planned around an after-lunch departure and a restaurant stop on the way home
If a trail checks most of these boxes, it’s a strong candidate for a first overnight trip, regardless of how “epic” or scenic it looks in photos. Scenic is a bonus. Manageable is the actual requirement.
Keep Going
Once you’ve picked your trail, Our Real Family Backpacking Gear List walks through exactly what’s in our packs, broken down by who carries what.
And if you haven’t already, Beginner’s Guide to Backpacking With Kids covers the mindset shift that makes all of this feel possible in the first place.
Follow more of our real trips on Instagram @reunitedbyadventures
