Hiking with kids and teenagers: who carries what?

When my son Finn was little, he used to watch a cartoon called “Veggie Tales.” He loved this show, but the fact that the vegetables had no arms was concerning to him,

“But Mom, how are they gonna carry all their stuff?”

veggietales.com

The answer, which I never gave him because I was laughing too hard was this,

“Their moms will carry their stuff. Mom’s always carry everything.”

Not only will we carry the stuff, we may also carry the kids. Which is how it went down during those first hikes.

For the record, although I love hiking with our kids now, we didn’t do much hiking with them at this age. I’d forgotten we did any hiking at all until I found this picture recently, while working on an 18th birthday album for Finn. That stage of life was such a beautiful blur.

But as our boys grew, they slowly started hiking on their own two feet - and after a while, they were given their own hiking packs. This idea came from a friend who told me he always made his kids carry their own packs, it was just part of learning to hike. Made sense to me and it felt like good practice in case we got separated at any point.

We started with tiny packs filled with water and a few snacks. As the boys grew, so did their packs. Today, their packs include all of the extra layers they’ll need at the summit, plus a LOT more food…because no amount ever seems to suffice for teenagers.

But as I went through my hiking pack earlier this week, I realized I never have the boys carry emergency items. We always stick together on a hike, so the chance of getting split up is slim, but it could happen. And if it did, they should have everything they need to stay safe.

So, I decided to pack two zip lop bags with some basic items, including: a whistle, headlamp, waterproof matches and fast-burning birch bark, a Swiss army knife, a space blanket, some bandaids and a Larabar.

My pack still contains the bulk of the essentials - everything listed above, in addition to a water filter, sunscreen, leukotape, and a fully loaded first aid kit. But now they have some helpful items if we ever get separated.

I don’t know when I became so safety-conscious. Maybe respect for the risks of the wilderness is proportional to time spent in it. Maybe I just got tired of carrying everything.

Either way, if you hike with kids and end up with an overloaded pack on your back, you may want to consider giving them their own. They’re lucky enough to have arms - lucky enough to carry their own stuff.