The Mighty 5

So let's, let's start off talking about hiking with the family just in general. So how old were your kids when you first started taking them on hiking trips? Well, we lived in the Rocky Mountains about 15 miles to the nearest town. So hiking is kind of a lifestyle and not, not in that cheesy. Oh, It's a lifestyle kind of way, but more along the lines of like we didn't have sidewalks.

So if you're taking the baby for a walk, you know, you can't use a stroller, you're going to put them in a little front carrier or in a backpack and you're going to walk in the woods with them. So, um, so for us, hiking started when they were born and we carried them, but then as soon as they could, you know, like preschool age, um, we started doing really easy hikes and Up to when they were about five years old, they were doing substantial hikes and seven years old.

They were doing like 14 years um which are 14,000 ft peaks in Colorado. So um that's just because of where we live and what kids do for fun around here. So uh that's, I know that's not normal for most parts of the country, but, but yeah, so they started really young. I've, you know, I've always said if they can, if they can walk, they can hike and if they can hike, they can even snowshoes. So um so I definitely don't think age would should impact at what age people are taking their kids hiking.

Sure, that's awesome. So it says we're talking about kids. What are some tips that you'd give families on hiking trips in general with younger kids? Well, it has to be fun for them. It should not feel like a death march for these little ones. So the first thing is just to set realistic expectations. Know your kids limits. If they've never been hiking, they should be doing something super easy. Um If they, you know, they, you got to be prepared to turn around to shorten the day two or maybe you're not going to shorten the hike, but it might take you twice as long as you thought it was going to take.

So really it's just about setting realistic expectations. I also think it's helpful to pick a cool hike that's interesting or has a really neat destination, like a waterfall or a creek or a cool viewpoint um just so that there's something to look forward to for them and then they're gonna earn it. So I think it's helpful to get them some, some form of gear that is their hiking gear. When my, yeah, when my kids turned for their aunt bought them camelbacks, like hydration bladder backpacks and um they were teeny tiny, I think they carried maybe a half a liter of water, but the kids love them, they wore them to play in, I mean they were the most hydrated kids you've ever seen.....Listen in to the episode for the rest of this episode!