 |
| Alli and Jill at the top of Golden Throne in Capital Reef National Park, Utah |
Now that you know that hiking with
children is all about the JOURNEY and not the DESTINATION....let's go
one step further and talk about some ways to make that journey FUN,
FUN, FUN and also talk about how to ensure that you can eventually
HIKE to a DESTINATION with your children. It may seem impossible
when you have small children to even think about hiking distance or
elevation, but I would argue that anything is possible (eventually)
when you go at the pace of your youngest/slowest....take as many
breaks as necessary.....and make it FUN!!!
CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE
CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE
Please do not force children to go
beyond what they are capable of doing. Always, ALWAYS go at the pace
of the children. If you set the stage now and teach your children
that hiking and being out in nature is healthy, fun, empowering,
enlightening, healing and every other positive thing you can think
of, then you will be raising children who love to hike and be
outside!
In the first installment of hiking with
children, I talked about hiking being just the JOURNEY. Honestly, that is where you should start
with children. Whether they are 2 years old or 12 years old.....it
has to start out as FUN. But, there will come a point when you
actually want to GET somewhere. A great waterfall, an arch, a
natural wonder.......In the great outdoors, there are some AWESOME
things to see, but a lot them you need to hike some serious distances to get to them. At some point you will want to transition from
“playing” outdoors on a JOURNEY, to HIKING outdoors to a
DESTINATION. It will be of great value to you and your children, if
you can slowly “train” them to hike further and further
distances.
We started “training” the girls
when Alli was about 3 and Jill was a newborn in a sling. What did we
do? We drove 10 minutes away to Upper Bidwell Park and played in
the fields when it rained, we took our dog for adventures up the
trails, we walked along Chico Creek when it was warm. Eventually, as
Jill got older, she wanted down and would walk with Alli for a bit
and then she would get tired and I would carry her again. We always
went at Alli's pace and I carried Jill whenever she wanted. These
weekly trips to our local creeks and mountains became more and more
frequent as the girls got older and requested “adventures”.
We also took longer trips to
spectacular places and took them on hikes that were SHORT but where
the destination was BREATHTAKING. By doing this they learned that there was a payoff at the end - not just the chocolate. (This is assuming that your children appreciate the beauty of nature, like ours do, but if they don't, then maybe chocolate will be enough!)
We always brought books and games
and made a day of it. However long they wanted to stay, we would
stay. I had food and water to last a week! (and always, ALWAYS had
chocolate!) If necessary, we carried them when they were too tired to
keep hiking. Our main goal was for these girls to love being
outside. Mission Accomplished!
When we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt
that they were capable of more, we started adding distance to our
“hikes”. We would have a destination in mind when we set out, but we
were not heartbroken if we didn't get there. If we could sense
that the girls were running out of energy and we were NOT going to make it to our destination, then we would stop for a victory
celebration (always involving chocolate) regarding how far we had
come. If they wanted to stop at that point and play for 2 hours, then so be it!
Important to note: There is no FAILURE in hiking. Any
distance covered is time spent outside moving your body! Any time
spent outside as a family is beneficial to everyone, so long as you
keep it fun and keep it at a level appropriate for your children.
Never push children beyond their limits....respect where they are at
and meet them there.
EVENTUALLY, they will push themselves to get to
a desired destination. If you let that desire come from inside them,
the outcome will be significantly different than if you push them to
their breaking point.
It does not take long for children to
be capable of doing significant distances. When Jill was 3 and Alli
was 5 we hiked up Golden Throne in Capital Reef National Park. It
was 4 miles and 1100 feet of elevation gain. Alli hiked the entire
thing and Jill hiked the 3 of the 4 miles. Funny enough....I carried
her the last mile DOWNHILL!
Shane and I could have done this hike
in about 60 minutes, or 90 minutes at the MOST.....but this hike with
a 3 year old and a 5 year old it took us nearly 3 hours just to get
to the TOP! We stopped to eat, we stopped to drink, we stopped to
rest in the shade, we stopped so they could play in the sand, we
stopped for lunch, we stopped for chocolate, we stopped for
pictures.....you get the point. It took a long time to get to the
top, but it was FUN. The girls enjoyed the hike and the views and
the time together. The girls could not have been more proud of
themselves when we reached the top. Plus, when you are 3 and 5 at
the top of a mountain you sure get a lot of attention from the other
hikers. The girls really like that part, too!
As you start thinking about getting
your children outside more, first, think about the location. It
should be close to home, beautiful and peaceful. That way you can go as often as possible. There should be fun things to do
and see along the way. When you are starting out, pick benign places
to visit. You don't want to have your children hike to the top of a
8,000 foot mountain on their first (or 10th) outdoor
adventure. You don't want to worry that your 3 year old is going to
slip into a raging river or fall off the side of a cliff.
Believe me what I say that the time you
spend researching (or asking around) somewhere GOOD to hike will pay
off in the end. You want to know how long the hike is and where you
are going end up, things you might see along the way, some possible
resting places for the kids to take a break and good turn around
points.
When you actually start HIKING with children, they will be
full of questions – How much further? Are we there yet? I'm tired
can we rest soon? It is in your best interest to at least have an
idea of how the hike might be broken up into some small chunks. We
have found some great guide books that are specifically geared toward
hiking with children. It is worth your time and money to invest in a
book like this for your area.
Here in Chico there are numerous
options. We started with Deer Creek, about an hour up Highway 32.
Here is a link to a short backpacking trip we took the girls on along that trail. DEER CREEK It
is beautiful, peaceful, along a river and relatively short distance.
Ideal characteristics for hiking with children.
We also took them on a 13 mile backpacking trip around JUNIPER LAKE. Jill was 4 and Alli was 7. Another great local place for those of you in Chico.
Second, you should always bring some
activities to do so that little ones (or big ones....if they are just
starting out) can take breaks and enjoy some family time together. We
bring things like Uno, Go Fish, coloring books and crayons, buckets
and shovels. Yes.....we used to carry all of this stuff. Nowadays
we don't need any of it, but in the beginning, it really helped.
At some point you will want to start gently pushing your children to go further. There are many ways of going about this. Here is what worked for us. When the girls are hiking and starting
to get tired we would say, “Let's hike for 10 more minutes and then
we will stop and take a 10 minute break.” After the 10 minutes we
stop, pull out a game to play, a book to read, let them take the
buckets and shovels to play or let them do whatever they want to do.
I have always used a timer for things like this. Children,
especially young children, just cant argue with a timer. Timer goes
off, we pack up and keep hiking.
 |
| Never push a child to do more than they are comfortable doing - poor Jill did NOT want to see the horses!! |
This is why it is important to have
a PRETTY COOL destination! If they really want to see it, then the
10 minute chunks will get them there. But please keep in mind, when
they are DONE....they are DONE!! Do not push a tired child to keep
hiking just so you can get to the destination. More likely than not,
your child will be learning that hiking is NOT enjoyable.
Another VITAL piece of the puzzle relates, again, to keeping everyone happy. Your number one goal is to have your children ENJOY being active and outside. Do what you can to create a fun and adventurous hike, but keep in mind that sometimes things just DONT WORK OUT!!!
 |
| Stranded on the side of a dirt road as Shane goes to get the car and rescue us from a bike ride gone awry.. |
 |
| Dehydrated and tired in Mojave National Preserve |