A 3 miles hike, easy peasy right? Well I definitely had an incredible time and learned a few things hiking today with my newly turned 3 year olds.
Today we hiked at Mt. Hood up to Mirror lake in Oregon because tonight, Liam & Ethan turn three and we hiked a 3 miles trail to celebrate the three years of their life. For the most part it was fabulous and the trail is very kid (4+yr) friendly. I was, am so proud we actually made it full circle. Hiking with toddlers is a whole new ball game! I was like, psht! 3 miles... we'll manage just fine, haaaaaa...
70% of the trip was incredible and the other half well, lets just say I carried each boys switching off every ten minutes the whole way down (numb arms/super mom). Really though, even in their poopiest moments they were giving me kisses and oodling with passerbys. Everyone was so impressed with their endurance, especially me!
I prepared our trip by bringing little baggy's so they can collect "treasures", boy stuff like rocks, bugs and all that jazz. Major hit! They wore their new kids sprig back packs from rei which I highly recommend for their age group. We each had waters and I brought my hydration pack filled to the brim, it was gone by the end. Another thing I did was wrapped two very small presents to motivate them to reach the top. They were so excited to have their new "choo-choo's"!
Some hiking with toddlers ideas for next time
- Bring the kitchen fridge, or just tons of food, tons of water and drinks. We had lots of breaks always snacked, hydrated and rested our feet but, ran out of snacks fast!
- Ethan wore the keens which was such a good idea. Liam wore converse, that was a stupid mom moment of mine. He kept telling me his feet was "hot ma". :(
- Hot day, wear shorts and tank? Bring wipes, bring: bug spray, a light blanket and hand very small hand towel.
- For safety its always good to carry a pocket knife, and flashlight/head lamps in case a hike takes much longer then expected and rolls into the evening. Believe it or not hikers frequently under estimate their travel time. We took about an extra hour and a half longer then I thought we would.
- I thought my boys would be too big for a carry kid pack, so I never thought of bringing one. They got so pooped on the way back I had to carry them (switching kids every so often), yes, in-my-arms (blah..) pretty much all the way down.
- And.... of course speaking of poop, bring extra diapers & wipes! :)
Didn't I get some amazing photos of my handsome little men? Ug, I love them like crazy.
I already love to hike but, have been really inspired to start hiking more and more with my little guys. Especially now that their at the age they wont run off trail and go splat. Boys tend to be so full of energy and this is such a healthy way to learn to explore nature, open children senses to the great out doors which personally is a major staple for raising my children. Previously to this summer I started my research and handy tips on exploring safely with children and have gone on many hikes alone just to check them out first to make sure their Liam & Ethan "friendly" and safe. We had such a good time today and really can't wait to enjoy mirror lake again!
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