By Sammy Caiola, Sacramento Bee

Matt and Kimberly Kinney always travel light when they head into the woods, leaving behind everything but the necessities and keeping their backpacks as slim as possible. Two summers ago they decided to add one very heavy item to the packing list: their 22-pound infant.

In July 2015, the Sacramento parents took their son Thomas, then 11 months old, backpacking on the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail. The adventure was so successful that they plan to repeat it this summer, this time adding their second son James to the mix. Earlier this month, Kimberly, a speech pathologist, and Matt, a geologist, spoke at REI Sacramento about how to successfully backpack with little ones, sharing their trials and tribulations with about a dozen curious families.

Bringing an infant into the elements sounds bizarre to most people, Kimberly said, but it felt like a given for the young couple, who have been logging miles together for about six years.

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