Children and backcountry

Experienced camper with two small children. Next summer the wife and I will be taking our oldest out for her first trip (she is going to be 3). VERY excited and itching to get going.

What are some of your tips for keeping the kids entertained and having fun?

Good books on the topic?

Good games and crafts?

I know that it is not going to be a objective based trip for a long time and we are going to base it on fun. The ultimate goal is to get to the weekend long overnight trips with them but I don't want to push that yet for a while.

reply

Thinking back to when our kids were small, they were some of the best camping trips we ever had - even when one tent got flattened during a Kansas windstorm!

Well, small streams provide endless entertainment (supervised) for small children looking for crayfish, newts and other nifty life forms - so I'd recommend camping near one if at all possible. Keep in mind that most small streams have "kid magnets" in them - so keep a dry change of clothes.

Then there are activities like looking under rocks, poking around in rotting logs - lots of fun!

Take a look at what she normally does at playtime and figure out a way to extend that to the outdoors - you'll have a BLAST!

reply

Welcome, Bryan. It's great that you want to take your kids into the backcountry.

We've taken our 3-and-3/4-year-old son hiking, camping, and even backpacking quite a bit. When we camp we bring a few small toys, like a ball to play with (can be a blow-up beach one), maybe a truck, a stuffed animal, some books--pretty simple stuff that he can play with various ways. He loves his headlamp and our water reservoirs, his own spork, and things like that though, so we don't load up with a ton of toys, but do have a few familiar things along and will give him a choice in it too.

Backpacking we've don't bring much extra, except a very small book or two and maybe teddy or something. We found at 2+ when he went backpacking that he had a lot of fun just playing with the logs and rocks and water. Like Fred said, kids love water. So it's a good spot to hike to, but obviously requires a lot of supervision and safety.

There are books out there on this subject with activities and the like, but I haven't read any of them. None of them have struck my interest enough and our son already enjoys doing what we do. However I think for older kids, books on identifying things like animals, rocks, plants, and so on could be of interest.

My general advice is to take it really easy, change all of your expectations, and just aim to get your kid out there having a good time and wanting to get out there and do it again and again.

Try camping in the tent in your own backyard at first. This makes it more familiar for everyone.

Snacks are very important. So is a lot of patience.

And the same kid can vary widely from one hike to the next of how much they want to do. You and your wife will have to be prepared to carry everything (and everyone) at all times.

Think of it as getting your kids outside regularly (for short hikes, playing outside, sleeping in the tent, etc…) rather than planning a special trip you do once or twice a year. Not only is it better for all of you, but your kid will be more confident and comfortable having an idea of what to expect ahead of time.

You may be interested in a couple articles about this already on Trailspace:

Hiking and Backpacking with Kids
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/guide/hiking-and-backpacking-with-kids.html

Getting Kids Geared Up for Outside
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/guide/gearing-up-kids.html

and the thread “Hiking with Children”
http://www.trailspace.com/forums/trip-planning/topics/41357.html

reply

Bryan -
We took Young Son out camping and backpacking pretty quickly after he was born (bike ride as soon as Barb was comfortable getting back on the bike). First "real" backpack was at age 3, when Barb dropped me off to go climbing in the Bugaboos, and she and Young Son headed for Lake O'Hara (Canadian Rockies). Their hike was all of a half kilometer from the shuttle bus to Lake O'Hara Lodge to the campsite. He carried a small pack with water bottle, snacks, and a jacket, while Barb carried the rest. They did a number of dayhikes during the week, plus it snowed (in August), making it also his first snowcamping trip (he had a blast playing with the white stuff). Only problem was he kept sliding out of his sleeping bag.

We gradually upped his distance and load over the years, including fishing along with the exploration mentioned by Alicia and Fred. One trick on the distance thing - they will always ask the "are we there yet?" and "how much farther?" question. Some people say "just a little farther", but I found "50 miles more" and "10 thousand feet more climb" works better, especially when the question is asked just around the bend from the parking lot on the way out, or about 50 feet from topping out (be sure you stick to easily doable distances and climbs, tailored to the little ones' scale - a half mile is a lot for a 3 year old, and 5 miles can be excessive for a 9 or 10 year old). Give them some of their own gear to carry, so they feel they are contributing (water bottle and jacket at first, hold off on the sleeping bag until they have done a lot of short backpacks, and make sure the pack really fits - don't fall into the too-frequent trap of thinking they will "grow into" a too large pack).

Not knowing what part of the country (world?) you are in, do be careful about the log-poking activities. I grew up in the deserts of Arizona, where you might well find a scorpion or rattlesnake under that log (one time at abt 6 years old, I ran ahead of my parents on a trail, turned around to urge them to go faster and spotted a huge rattler lying across the trail that I might have just stepped on; another time I went to stomp on a scorpion to squash it with my bare feet, or so my sister tells me, until she yelled to our mother to stop me). Don't scare the kids, but do teach them about the dangers (that is, "keep your distance", not "the woods are about to devour you.")

reply

"Don't scare the kids, but do teach them about the dangers (that is, "keep your distance", not "the woods are about to devour you.")"

Nicely said Bill. The woods have a bad enough reputation, right now, without scaring children into staying out of them.

reply

Good points about safety with kids.

Our son is so young he must always be very close to us and within sight at all times. But since we don’t carry him much anymore and he’s on his own two feet, this past year we’ve made the point of introducing the concept of “what would you do if you couldn’t see Mommy or Daddy / got lost?”

The obvious answer is to stop wherever he is, preferably sticking to one tree or rock for reference, and wait for us. We’ve explained that while we usually don’t yell in the woods, if he ever can’t find us he is to stop where he is and can yell or blow his whistle and listen for us. His job is to stay still and we will always come and find him, no matter what.

reply

We have a Chariot carrier and were thinking of bringing it out with us for the first few times to not only carry our youngest Daughter (will be one this summer) and our oldest if and when she does not want to walk anymore. We were also thinking of taking a canoe to paddle to some of the easy to access backcountry sites around banff and in K Country.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

reply

This is slightly off-topic, but Bryan asked about camping books for kids.

A friend gave our son "Stella and Roy Go Camping" by Ashley Wolff, which I like a lot. It follows a brother and sister who go backpacking with their mom (in Yosemite, though it’s not directly stated). The older sister is learning to read and on the hike in to a lake they identify different animals tracks with her book, with the little brother hoping for bear tracks.

I really like this book, because it shows backpacking realistically, rather than an idealized 1950s version as in some kids books about camping. In “Stella and Roy Go Camping” the stove, food, tent, and bear canister are all recognizable and familiar. The kids even learn about not being bear careless.

It’s a great book for pre-schoolers and young school kids. And after the story there are three pages with animal tracks and info about the animals in the book.

Two thumbs up!

reply

I started taking my kids backpacking at ago 4. I let them carry a day pack with snacks, light jacket, and a favorite cuddle toy.

The destination always included water...small creeks were a real delight. And always allowed for an evening campfire. We always had either marshmallows to toast or jiffy-pop to pop.

Bring along a sleeping pad chair kit and a book. Nothing like holding your daughter or son in your lap and reading just prior to bed.

As for distance, I kept it at 2-3 miles. A good long afternoon walk. We would grab lunch on the way to the trailhead, hike / explore most of the afternoon, play after setting up camp. We'd hike out in the morning and enjoy lunch again at a favorite stop before returning home.

This "lunch to lunch" duration was about right for the first couple years, after which they got a bit more adventurous.

reply