We decided to go on a little hike up in the mountains on Saturday. It took us forever to gather up hats and gloves and boots but we finally made it to Millcreek Canyon’s famous pipeline trail. The bottom of the trail is called Rattlesnake gulch because of the all the rocks you have to hop down when riding on your mountain bike. Anyhoo, we started out and I had the thought… “Isaac has so much energy perhaps he’ll actually be able to walk along the trail for a while, instead of carrying him in the ergo.” So I let him walk for the first little bit. Right off the bat I realized that this was a bad decision.
Isaac was so utterly distracted. He wanted to just play in the snow, stomp with his boots and make snowballs. The latter being so frustrating for him because his little hands just aren’t quite ready for functioning in mittens.
When I realized my mistake, I knew that we would not be hiking anywhere unless I put him in the carrier. Unfortunately he had tasted freedom and wanted all he could get. He screamed and twisted and fought when we tried to carry him. I think 20 other hikers passed us by and we had hardly moved 10 feet. It wasn’t all Isaac’s fault either. Emma was constantly side tracked as well; stopping to pick up sticks and fussing with her boots. I then had a little inner struggle, “Do I need to relax and let the kids just play? or should we deal with the fits and keep trudging on?”
So we gave up and decided to enjoy the sunshine. No exercise for this day. I think we were out for an hour and were about a 5 min walk from the car. I guess there is a time and season for everything… even hiking.
It’s pretty frustrating though. I kept thinking about how we are trying to teach our kids to love the outdoors, to enjoy hiking and seeing nature. I’m so afraid of it backfiring. I can just imagine Emma as a teenager complaining about us dragging her out for another hike. “Ahh, mom, not again!”
We made it to this rock. We joked about it being our “summit.” The kids had fun eating snow and throwing snowballs.
I stood there not knowing what to do except take pictures. Maybe next time. Sigh.
My name is Manda and I love creating 
I just don’t think little girls are conditioned to hike in the winter. Brie does awesome in the warmer weather but in the winter forget it. It’s too cold and little girls just can’t get warm. Boys don’t seem to notice that their toes have turned blue though. We are a little nervous about hikes this spring. What do you do when there are 2 adults and 3 kids want to be carried?
I think the kiddies WERE outside enjoying nature and learning to love it. You’ve absolutely got to work with their capabilities, though; they’re so little that playing in the snow was just as fun as hiking. There is a time and a season, I think. I’ll do my part to make sure they can love story time inside, though, cuddled up with Debbie Grandma. xoxoxo
I’m with mom, they were outside enjoying themselves. You have to let go of your hiking agenda and just let them be. It’s hard, today I was outside watching them all play in the snow and I was so bored and cold freezing to death but they were having fun, so that’s what matters right?