I own a Deuter Kid Comfort III. and I plan on taking it on a plane in 6 weeks or so. I'll report back and let you know. Chances are we will have to gate check it.

We found ours on steepandcheap.com 3 years ago for ~$150 or 50% off.

Cool; thanks. And if you do remember to give an update, I'd appreciate it. It's the not the end of the world if we end up having to gate-check it, but we'll probably have one other item that will need to be gate-checked as well and I don't want to push our luck.

$150 is much better than the $250-300 range that seems to be the going rate for these sorts of things. I guess I'm getting cheap in my old age, just seems like a lot.

How big is your baby? We found ours really did best in a soft ergo sport til she outgrew it.

https://store.ergobaby.com/...-carrier-sport-black

She used to fall asleep hiking and the sun cover could double as a sleeping head stabilizer which did not work well in the frame packs where they sit more upright.

Perhaps you baby does not fall asleep when in some of the most gorgeous national parks but we have pictures of ours sleeping on the top of many peaks :-)

Baby's around 24 lbs now; will be 11 months old when we go to Scotland in September, which is first major hiking excursion he will go on.

Does that model you linked to allow the baby to ride on your back? The front carry ones are hell on my lumbar spine.

That one is front or back. I have a picture of my daughter at 10 months sleeping in it at the top of Acadia mountain on my husband's back. Granted she's 7 now so there might be better ones- but we got a fancy hiking frame pack and used it twice before going back to the ergo due to better sleep support.

If you google it and go to images you can see people using it as a backpack.

Baby's around 24 lbs now; will be 11 months old when we go to Scotland in September, which is first major hiking excursion he will go on.

My sister was planning a similar trip and for months would look for the right pack and how to travel with it etc. Eventually, at the place she was staying in England, she paid a girl to watch the baby while they hiked and that was the end of it. She said, she would go hiking with her when she can walk on her own...

Ha! Not a bad plan, though my wife would probably try to injure me if I proposed it.

Deuter is a great pack. I had no trouble carrying a very tired 6 year old in it. But there is no way it will fit on a plane. It would take up an entire overhead bin.

Yes on the Ergo. Only downside is they can be hot. The best thing is you can get the kid in and out in seconds if you can squat and have them jump on your back. This worked wonders bc my kid would want that a lot. Also when they fall asleep they are held close. My kid always leaned left on the backpack Kelty we had and I stopped using it at about your kids age.

Ergo all the way! You can wear them on the front or back, and if your baby is breastfeeding still (or if he/she ever did) it's very easy to do on the go. You can get various styles and fabrics and I believe they now have a mesh fabric available in a few styles so it's not so hot. We've had an ergo for years along with a carrier like you linked. We choose the Ergo 99% of the time. Even carried a 4 year old a few time on our backs.
(ETA - a couple of models have small pockets for carrying diapers/wipes/phone/snacks but not all. We have found the pocket very useful on outings).

Other advice would be to get one before you go and see if your kid likes it. He may love being snuggled up tightly against you and he may hate it. I'd advise that with whatever carrier you end up taking.

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Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Thanks! All useful information (from you and other posters).

I have just been blithely assuming a rig with a frame on/in it would be better In terms of comfort for me and homeboy - sounds like I need to rethink that assumption. Now that I think about it, we actually borrowed an ergo for a weekend a while back when we were visiting family, and it worked well - but again naively, I assumed it was just for front carry, not on the back, so I hadn't been considering it for this type of trip where I will definitely want him on my back.

The mesh concept would be great too, since I tend to sweat like a hooker in church. Anything to reduce the thermal load will be great in my book.

Pockets will be helpful for sure, and yes will definitely test drive it with The Boy before leaving.

Thanks again!

We have both, the Ergobaby 360 and a Deuter Kid Comfort II. Our daugther is one year old and about 9kg. We live in a big city so I use the Ergobaby often when taking public transportation and I can highly recommend it. The only issue is that my daughter now complains a lot in it, I assumed because she cannot see very much (I always wear her on the front). She loves the Deuter because she is forward facing and is closer to us/more involved in the conversation than when she is being pushed around in the stroller. I am guessing, she cannot exactly explain her reasoning.

You can't go wrong with the Ergobaby though. One thing to keep in mind is that although the company advertises wearing the baby forward facing on your chest, you shouldn't do this for more than 30 minutes at a time and in total one hour per day. Its a very unnatural position for your child's hips and back.

this sounds around right.
we had an ergo, used the h*ll out of it. very little of that was actually hiking, though some was short hikes - and in general we walk more than the average family.
we had a somewhat decent (i think) frame pack that I got for $1 at a yard sale, but didn't use it much.
we spent 2 minutes in some fancy (likely Deuter) pack at an REI once, which he loved, though probably out of the novelty. I do suspect that, if it's long hikes, having the kid able to see more, and not pressed up against you, will help keep both of you cool and the kid interested.

i swung the ergo around so that he was on my back. was not a manufacturer-endorsed maneuver and had a bit of a learning curve but i never dropped him. with someone to help you it's no problem though.

if you're thinking long term - during his first 2 years my kid spent a bunch of time being carried like that, and very little time in strollers. he's now a 6 year old who thinks it's normal to walk places and enjoys hiking and walking through the woods. so that's worked out very well.

My FB feed just popped up use code SAVE for 20% off any ergo baby carrier from the ergo baby store. Just in case that's helpful to you.

Thanks!