Preparing Kids for Longer Hikes
With the idea that I would be taking my kids on an 8 mile hike with over 2,000 foot elevation gain to Grinnell Glacier I wanted to be creative in how I built up their stamina and excitement on this trip.
Build excitement by showing your own passion: I had a very good reason to get them to Grinnell Glacier. It’s amazing, it’s quickly disappearing and if I don’t get my kids out there, they won’t get to see it. So I told them all about it. I showed them pictures of this amazing place I wanted to take them. I took my passion and put it into pint size imaginations. But I was very honest about the effort it would take. I told them it would be hard work for them to get there.
Get them their own ‘special’ gear: The kids each got their own back pack with a water bladder and a snack to put in there. Swedish Fish and a Snickers. A delight no doubt! Ultimately the importance of having their own gear matters. Think to small kids when they get their first school backpack. I’m currently building out their top 10 essentials bag and they earn items at random times.
Build up stamina by doing smaller hikes: Kids are resilient and it is probably about actually building physical stamina and all about building mental stamina. Seeing when they want to tap out, so I knew how often to take breaks. Understanding what things would trigger them into a serious “I’m done” so I could avoid those. I learned that with heat and elevation I needed something to keep them focused on getting to the next mile. So we had those gummy coke bottles. Every mile they got 2. Since they had easy access to their own water that wasn’t a problem.
Think about the journey: The destination is not enough to keep kids engaged for the hike. I knew the hike had plenty of “Wow!” moments so the journey itself was plenty exciting. Every turn would have something amazing, a new view, a waterfall to walk through, a giant goat, or wildflowers. For our practice hikes I tried to have interesting enough hikes but also incentivized them with a State Quarter for each mile hiked. They have a map they can put each quarter in to collect all the states. It was a very random choice but it worked.
Give them enough independence to explore: Each hike has it’s rules on what my comfort level is. I have another blog post on rules for the trail, but at Glacier we talked about animal danger and the danger of cliffs. Since it’s a fairly heavily trafficked trail with no side trails they could go ahead if they wanted as long as they stayed with someone. I stayed with the slowest and kept them motivated as we went along. Giving kids the independence to find their pace is important. So I took a breath, trusted I had taught my kids well and told them I would see them at the top if they got ahead. Note that they stayed close for a long time to collect gummy cola bottles.
The kids still talk about that trip. They loved it and their passion for nature exploded. Don’t come into this house and let the water run. Someone will tell you to help them “Save the Glaciers!”
