My husband and I are planning to thru hike the AT in 2021 and we are looking into having my 15 year old nephew join us for part of our journey. Backpacking will be new for my nephew but I have taught up to 30 day long backpacking courses to teens including many who have never been hiking before. Our plan is to have my nephew join us for 2 weeks but we have considered the idea of having him hike as long as he wants with us as long as we are able to achieve our daily mileage goals.

My sister is not able to contribute much financially for this type of trip so most of it would come out of mine and some of my husband's pocket. Unfortunately my nephew's dad lives with him and my sister but has a drug problem and therefore my nephew has a lot of instability in his life. He is a really great kid and I actually grew up in a very similar situation as my nephew and and I try to be as positive of an influence on him as possible even though I usually live on the other side of the country from him.

My husband and I have some spare gear that he will be able to use such as a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, bivy tent but we are trying to find more gear for him that is affordable/used, etc. I have been checking into REI outlet, Geartrade.com, facebook marketplace, craigslist but honestly, getting some basic stuff will end up costing me so much which will be tough especially since I will be paying for a flight home for him and possibly have to pay transportation costs to get him onto the trail with us too. I wanted to see if any of you have ideas of other websites/forums/ know anyone where I can find used reasonable gear or gear trades.

He's tall and a bit lanky, and looking for size large rain jacket, base layer top and bottom, fleece pullover, puffy/down jacket, synthetic pants 34x30, shoes 10.5, trekking poles, and a size large pack.

Let me know what you guys think. Any leads will help! Pic of my nephew and I at Looking Glass Falls last winter.

https://preview.redd.it/ayf06rujnf961.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b3bb9743497d6d12de2567a0bfdbcc302b83b18e