[MahBearRI]

So, I know a nice easy trail along the AT and the LT here in VT. The hike is about 2 miles along a wide(ish) leveled(ish) trail to a nice(ish) shelter. It's perfect for my now 20 mo LO. AND I was hoping to do some trail magic this summer...so I want to be carrying in a little extra weight.

My questions? What are your thoughts on wearing babe, or encouraging him to do the hike since it's so short?! Would you think it nessessary to bring something to carry him in? I have a mei tei that I probably could carry him on my front whilst wearing my pack, but last we tried he wasn't into front carrying (that was last summer though). I also have a Kelty framepack that I can put him in, but the bag area is small, and I'd want to at least carry in enough food to share with thru-hikers and so LO has plenty of water and food....so I'd prefer not to use that pack. It's awfully cumbersome too.

I guess my big question is to mom's with experience with hiking and camping with toddlers. It's an odd age because he's big enough to walk, but I worry about having skewed expectations of capability of hiking mileage.

 

[MidnightCommando]

: I'm so glad you posted this question. We're planning on doing some packing this summer as well. One trip we're eyeing is 6 miles roundtrip and we plan on staying 2 nights. Our plan so far is to carry DD when she's tired and let her hike when she wants to.

Do you have an animal that could help carry some of your bags? We have our dog pack a lot of our supplies - too bad we couldn't fashion a saddle for DD on him

I'm curious - what is trail magic?

 

[pixiepunk]

i think to some extent it depends on how much you want to actually *hike* and how much you just want to be out in nature enjoying stuff with your LO. i think you could probably manage to meander that distance with him over the course of a day and get back. but i know with my LO's sometimes i enjoy the nature walk meander and sometimes i just want to move my body IYKWIM. and if i was in the mood to move and LO was not, it might be a source of frustration for me, which would kind of defeat the purpose of having a laid back time in nature together. so i would definitely want to bring a carrier so that we could spend some meandering time and some moving time.

before #3 was born we often went hiking on our property and would do about 1.5 miles roundtrip, it's fairly steep though there is a pretty level field through part of it, and a creek we always stop at which is about 3/4 of the way out and a good segue between going down and going up (or vice versa). anyway.... my DD1 has been totally capable of doing it on her own for a long time now (and for that matter DS can too) but we always brought a carrier for each of them because sometimes they'd be all about hiking and sometimes out of the blue halfway out they'd be whining that they were tired. so the carriers allowed us to continue our hike regardless. for whatever reason i could never tell when we set out what kind of a hike it would be - sometimes they were into it, sometimes not. and sometimes we couldn't get them away from the creek to save our lives and ended up just hanging out there and eventually heading back home (making the whole hike total maybe 1/2 mile tops)

now, if it weren't for you wanting to carry in extra weight, i'd say you could probably swing it packing very very lightly in a day pack and swnging that around to your front when LO wants to be on your back. maybe you could do that the first time and see how LO does (trying not to carry him unless you feel you absolutely need to). if he makes it just great, then you'll feel more confident about really carrying a pack and not wearing him the next time?

i don't know if anything i've said is helpful

hopefully you got something from all that blah blah blah!

ETA - trail magic: bringing extra food, supplies, etc. out with the intention of giving them to through-hikers

 

[MahBearRI]

Yes, trail magic is typically for thru-hikers on the long hikes like the Appalachian Trail or what-have-you. While I was on the trail I found trail magic in the form of Snickers bars, soda pops staying cool in a stream, apples strung up in a tree, jugs of water in places where the water was scarce and once even had some angels with nice lounging camping chairs and making veggie quesidillas with all sorts of fixin's and some sort of peanutbutter and blueberry bars

:

: !!!
I was thinking of bringing out some locally grown corn and apples or whatever can easliy be cooked over camping stoves and fires, and stringing it up out of bears' reach, near a camping shelter.

I never thought of wearing the daypack on the front....

geez....It's not rocket science! That's a pretty good solution, daypack with mei tei on top for easy access just in case..

While I'm talking to you mommas with outdoor/toddler experience let me ask this even though it's slightly OT. My LO also is intrigued by streams. Last year when he wasn't walking, we'd help him dip his toes. Now that he's more mobile I know he's going to be more tricky to keep dry. What kind of things should I be wary of at streams and other water bodies - like along the lines of parasites and such. I was a whitewater river guide (pre-babe) I'm not talking safety...I'm asking like are there dangers in naked baby in mountain streams? (I tend to overthing and be a worrywart...don't laugh too hard if this is a stupid question!)

 

[pixiepunk]

you're likely to get a wide range of responses to that. i personally am a nature girl, and we just don't worry about it too much. there are risks in everything, but i want my kids to enjoy the outdoors and as they get older they learn about being safe. we have property along a tranquil river and we spent most of the summer with our kids naked splashing around in there. i do try to keep them from getting it in their mouth in huge glugs, but i'm sure some must get in there. i think the prudent thing is to just be alert particularly to any digestive disruption that might occur right after so that you can have it checked out right away if anything seems amiss.

have fun!!!

 

[Liquesce]

That would really depend on what's upstream and the likelihood that your child would ingest any of the water. I'm leery of AT waterways just because I know how many hikers really do not properly deal with their own waste. Still, if the child is past any "oh hey, let's see what happens if I put this in my mouth!" stage I'd probably still let them splash around a little, pick things up, or whatever, and just wash their hands and wipe them down before moving on. If he's still pretty oral, to me a protazoal infection just isn't worth the risk -- been there, done that, don't want to do it to my child.

And if it would be at all plausible that he might defecate in the water himself, I wouldn't do the naked-baby thing ... people abuse the waterways already, but that doesn't mean I need to add to it.