Hiking with Kids
Tips to a Great Hiking Experience with Your Kids
I love to hike and I wanted to get my two sons to love it too. I started taking them on short hikes through the woods at local county parks. Seven years later my sons enjoy hiking, biking, and car camping. I am hopeful that they will continue to enjoy these outdoor activities as they become adults – with or without their dad.
Hiking is a great way for me to spend quality time with my kids while getting some needed exercise and fresh air. It’s a way for my sons to learn to appreciate the natural world and self reliance.
But it wasn’t also easy to get them to get up early on a cold morning to sit in the family van for couple of hours to go hiking. At times I had to literally bribe them to get them motivated to go hiking. But as it turns out, the “bribe” of going to a MacDonald’s or a diner after a day’s hike is part of the whole experience. Many times, our lunch after the hikes took longer that the hikes themselves. I enjoy these outings after the hikes because my sons really like talking about want they saw along the trail and all kinds of things that we may not talk about at home.
If you’re thinking about taking your kids hiking for the first time, here are a few tips that may be useful for helping you get your kids to fall in love with hiking and the outdoors.
Make sure the trail is interesting and appropriate for your kids’ abilities. Research the trails that you think are suitable for your kids and then scout out the trails by actually hiking them yourself without your kids. Trail guidebooks will give you some idea of a trail’s difficulty level but there is not substitution for actual experience. The idea of hiking the trails before taking your kids is to be familiar with the trail so that you have a good idea that the trail will be interesting and you can be “spontaneous” on the trail without risking injuries.
My kids don’t like flat trails. So I always try to take them to trails with climbs, especially boulders. Living in the Northeast, we have plenty of trails covered with glacial rocks that are great for scrambling. From my experience, kids don’t care too much about the water fall or the panoramic view at the end of the trail. For most kids the journey is the thing. Chances are if your children are like most children, they will stop often to investigate anything they find interesting along the trail. Your kids will need interesting thing to investigate to keep them motivated to finish the hike or to divert their attention from being tired or hungry.
Include your kids in the planning for the hike. Give them a choice of trails that you are familiar with that are appropriate for their ability and interest. When you are familiar with each of the trails you are in a better position to guide your children in picking out the one they will enjoy.
Keep the trail distance short and the pace slow. Unlike most adults, kids don’t care about the mileage of the trail or how fast they can hike it. Don’t rush your kids too much to finish a trail within a certain time. Don’t make them do a death march. Instead plan your hike to allow your kids time to investigate things that interest them along the way but yet finish the hike and be off the trail with plenty of daylight left.
Let your kids set the pace of the hike and expect at least twice as long to hike a trail with your children than hiking it on your own or with other adults. Give your kids plenty of room for spontaneity and have fun their way. This would be a lot easier if the trail is not monotonous and uninteresting.
Other tips:
- Dress appropriately. Check the weather for the trail before heading out and dress your kids appropriately, preferably in layers to allow for better body temperature control.
- Bring plenty of water and snacks. You don’t want to be hiking with a kid that is hungry. Make sure they drink water every so often during the hike. Kids don’t know when to take in liquids. Let them carry their own water and snacks but carry extras for them just in case. Keep more than you think you will use.
- Wear comfortable hiking shoes. Don’t take your kids hiking wearing brand new shoes. Make sure they wear shoes that are already broken in, good fitting and comfortable.
- Get your kid a walking stick or hiking stick. You can buy ready made ones, or help you kid make a stick at the trailhead.
- Bring a first aid kit and know basic first aid. Kids will be kids. Be prepared to deal with blisters, scrapes, and bug bites. A simple basic first aid kit with items like moleskin, antibacterial ointment, bug bite lotion, band-aids and tweezers will help you tackle most problems on the trail.
- Toilet paper. Bring a small roll of toilet paper and some baby wipes.
Keep these tips in mind when you plan your next hiking trip with your kids.
Enjoy being with your kids and go hiking.
