I’m sure that many of you outdoor enthusiasts and backpackers can remember the moment you knew you were having a child, or were snuggling with your sweet little baby and had the thought, ” What about backpacking?” Personally, I was snuggling with two sweet little babies, so that question was a big one. How will we go backpacking with babies? How will we go with TWO of them? Are my backpacking days over for now? Fortunately, we met a family who gave us a ray of hope. Matt and Jen were both graduate students studying chemistry, with a little boy only a few months younger than our kids. We met at a mom and baby group formed mostly by parents in our childbirth education class. Somehow, and I’m still not sure how they did it, these folks did their graduate work, took care of a baby, made their food from scratch, grew a great garden, canned and put up huge amounts of food, spun wool and knitted, remodelled their house, and went backpacking frequently. We decided they must not have slept. They invited us along backpacking with them at Loon Lake outside of McCall, Idaho when our kids were about one and a half. We had tried taking our kids on their first backpacking trip the summer before, when they were 6 months old, and it was an epic feat. My husband loaded up a VERY heavy pack, diapers included, I carried one baby on my back and one on my front, and off we went. Wow. Heading off into the wilderness never felt quite so wild. I can’t say that was the most enjoyable trip, but it sure gave us a sense of accomplishment!
The Loon Lake trip was much better because we had some young, kid-less undergraduates along to share the load. Not to mention other parents with kids to help us figure out all the new territory. Hence, we discovered the benefits of community backpacking with babies. The secret, is to bring friends without kids. Once we learned this secret, we had some great backpacking adventures in our early parenting days.
After Loon Lake, we felt empowered to hit the trails again. We invited four college student friends who had no kids and hadn’t been backpacking to come along with us to Ingalls Lake in central Washington. By this time, we had some snazzy Kelty Kid packs to carry the kids in, so two people carried babies and the rest of us shared the load in our packs. It was a five mile, up hill hike into some breathtaking alpine lakes country. It was a more difficult hike, but a good time was had by all. Community was the key.
The kids loved all the attention from all our friends, and chatting away at whoever was carrying them. No two kids ever had such a grand time!
So, I say to you hardcore backpacking parents with babies, don’t give up hope! I’m sure you know some folks who are young, strong, and enthusiastic about backpacking who would be more than happy to come along with you and hang out with your adorable offspring. A lot of people want to go backpacking and just want someone experienced and knowledgeable to go along with. It’s a beneficial situation for everyone involved. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, so does it take a village to backpack a child into the wilderness.
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