Being outdoors more as a child is something almost every adult wishes they had been able to experience and thus a strong desire to provide that for your own children is pretty darn common. Embrace that! Every chance you can get your kids outdoors is worth whatever crazy might follow. I think the biggest roadblock for most parents is overthinking what could go wrong, rather than being prepared and rolling with the punches. We want to help you get out there with your kiddos and tell you that it’s definitely doable! Over the past few months we geared up with Moosejaw to bring you a few of our experiences camping and hiking with our 3.5yr old, what went well and what didn’t, especially with Bailey being pregnant, and how we made the most of each experience! A little look into our madness story. They sent me a new soft shell jacket, which I’ve worn exclusively ever since (I love that damn thing). They sent Bailey a beanie, which has the softest lining ever. Most exciting of all, they sent us a Stormbreaker 3 person tent and a Sapling Child Carrier to help make the trips we had planned possible!
Hopefully, you can learn from us and the tips and tricks we’ve put together along the way! I want to preface that we ended up facing an abnormal amount of hurdles and yet the kiddo still loved every single trip we went on and now constantly asks to go camping! Hopefully, our hiccups will help you know what not to do, how to prepare for the worst case scenario if you find yourself facing it, what to pack for different styles of outdoor trips and how to just enjoy every moment, whatever happens!
Backpacking: the ups, the downs and what we learned!
The original plan was to make our first trial run with the gear provided by Moosejaw a backpacking trip. I’ve wanted to backpack for years and years and being able to share that with Bailey and Michael got me so excited! We were geared out with our new child carrier and 3-person backpacking tent… it was us against the wilderness! Everything worked out except for one minor or two minor hitches. The first was Bailey’s second pregnancy has been quite a lot different than her first. In her first pregnancy she was able to be incredibly active throughout the entirety of her pregnancy; however, a few weeks before we headed out on our first attempt of a backpacking trip Bailey started to get some low back pain. This is definitely something to keep in mind if you or your partner is pregnant but you still want to get outdoors. If there’s any back pain involved or you’ve been recommended to stick to low-intensity activities, car or tent camp somewhere you can easily reach by walking. There’s absolutely no shame in this, and your kiddo will still love you for getting them outdoors!
We initially thought we could still do the 3.5-mile round trip hike, breaking the hike up into quarter-mile stretches so that Michael could walk a fair bit, and only be on Bailey’s back in the carrier when absolutely necessary. We thought we’d camp for one night and then slowly make our way back down the next morning. I would carry the backpacking pack with our tent, sleeping bags, pads, stove, food, etc as it was a good 10-12lbs heavier than Michael in the carrier. In theory, it would have worked great! The Sapling carrier worked perfectly, holding Michael (42lbs), 3 liters of water, and all of our snacks quite comfortably and the backpack carrying the rest. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
The trail we picked was out in the Willamette National Forest near Detroit, Oregon and was steeper than I had remembered. We got everything packed up and our packs on and at first we thought things would work out great! We hit the trail and all the gear was comfortable, Michael was having a blast - especially when he figured out how to get water out of the camelback. It seemed like we’d be able to make it! About a quarter of a mile in it became clear that even the child carrier pack would be too much for Bailey, so we stopped. We talked it out and decided that I would try to hike one pack up to the camping spot and then come back for Michael and the other pack and we could make it up that way since Bailey wasn’t in any pain when walking without a pack on. So while Bailey and Michael hung back I continued up the trail.
I hiked the next three-quarters of a mile up the trail before hitting snow. I had called the ranger station nearby the day before and had been told there shouldn’t be snow, so it was definitely a surprise. Snow added a major hitch because it wouldn’t have been safe to take Michael any further as we weren’t prepared with any snow gear and the few flat camp spots we would have chosen from had snowbanks covering them. Even if Bailey’s back hadn’t started flaring up, we still would have had to bail. I turned around, admittedly frustrated and headed back down the trail.
We were both definitely a bit on edge. Everything we had control of and had prepared for was working great, but just a few things out of our control had thrown everything off kilter. We still had everything we needed to turn the trip around; we just had to think quickly. Taking the situation in stride we headed back to our car and drove up toward Olallie Lake and found a small-secluded camp spot along the river. Michael ran around and had a blast as we got the water boiling for dinner.
Tip: make sure you remove the dehydration pack from your backpacking food. I know it sounds obvious, but we missed the pack in one of our meals, thinking we had removed it and had to ditch that meal.
We wrapped up the night snacking on trail mix and watching a movie we had downloaded onto Bailey’s phone in our tent. The Stormbreak 3 person tent is perfect for us. It takes me less than 10 minutes on my own to get it set up from the bag to hammering in the last stake in the rain fly and less than 5 minutes with two people. The two additional poles that pop out the sides give us so much room, and we’ll easily be able to fit all four of us once the baby arrives!
Takeaway:
We learned that all of our gear worked perfectly! That as long as we took a second to breathe, we could roll with the punches and that no matter what went “wrong” the simple fact that we were outdoors and camping made for one happy kiddo! Lastly, sans hiccups, a 3-6 mile round trip backpacking venture is DEFINITELY doable with 1-2 kids, or even while you’re pregnant, if you aren’t in any pain and being active is working for you during your pregnancy. We knew we had to tone things back a bit for us for the time being but all said and done we were pretty happy with our experience on the trip and how much we had learned as far as how to prepare for future trips! Lastly, I can honestly say that the Sapling child carrier is a must-have for any family that wants to get out with their kiddo! It’s comfortable, can carry up to 48lbs and has plenty of storage. Going from carrying Michael on my shoulders when he got tired, to having him in the Sapling is night and day.
Photographer Tip: remove your batteries from your camera when backpacking, or use an actual camera insert, or both! I had my camera snugly secured within the folds of one of our sleeping bags (accessible through the bottom flap of the pack), and the power switch got flipped on during the hike. The end result was a dead battery and no photos from the trip.
Getting back to basics: tent camping close to home
We decide to rule out backpacking, for the time being, as another attempt with Bailey’s back in the condition it was in (at this point we had her in to see a chiropractor) wasn’t a good idea, at all. We looked up a cute camp spot out in the Tillamook Forest, loaded up the car and headed out.
Honestly, this trip was super fun, super low key and laid back. We got to the camp spot with plenty of time, set up camp and got a fire going. We even got the hammock set up which Michael absolutely LOVED. We roasted dogs and made s’mores and enjoyed the spacious pillow fort we made inside our tent. Even this simple trip taught us a few things to prepare for while outdoors with the kiddo, the biggest being allergies. This may not apply to you or your kiddo, but this summer Michael has started to develop some pretty serious allergies. It’s been to the point where we were giving him Zyrtec daily with the occasional chewable Benadryl if he’s really uncomfortable (we have both of these included in our two little first aid kits, which we have one of in our car and one in our pack). I think the scariest thing was waking up in the morning, and before we could give Michael his medicine for the day he started coughing, uncontrollably. To him, it feels like he can’t breathe, which only causes him to cough more and all we could do was console him and have him drink water. We’ve now added Zarbee’s kid's cough medicine to our first aid kit for any mornings like this and so far it’s definitely helped!
Pull-ups: the second piece we learned is to bring pull-ups! Obviously if your kiddo is still actively wearing diapers or pull-ups to bed you’d bring them on your trip, but its definitely not a bad idea to bring a few if your child is not quite at that stage were they can wake themselves up EVERY time they have to go to the bathroom on any given night. The additional factor of them not being familiar with their surroundings when they wake up can easily cause an accident. Accidents really aren’t the end of the world as far as clean up goes, especially if you bring wipes, which are pretty much number one priority besides food and water if you’re outdoors with your kiddo. However, you still don’t want to end up with a soaked sleeping bag or pad on a two(+) night trip, or even a one night trip! It’s always better to be a little over prepared than underprepared, regretting the decision not to bring something.
Photographer Tip: since I still needed photos I was hoping to get them on this outing; however, the light was AWFUL. I was stressed, as I had already been delayed by the previous trip falling through and I had a deadline to meet. The biggest piece of advice I can give any photographer with a kiddo who is trying to work on a project that involves their family is to be 100% prepared that you may not get photos. That’s okay. Forget about stressing out and focus on your family and just enjoy the moment. You can plan another trip and most clients are understanding if things go wrong and you update them quickly with a plan for how and when you’ll attempt a reshoot.
Lakeside hangout: bringing along the whole gang!
Our last trip we made was mostly to have fun and to nail down some images for the blog. We noticed that it would be overcast at Spark’s lake one evening while we were out in Bend, so we invited our friend Brennon and a friend of Bailey’s and her 4yr old daughter and headed out to the lake! We tested out the gear a bit more, having the kiddo in the backpack on the hike out. We let the kiddos run around, toss rocks in the water and have fun, while the adults got the tent set up for shelter and boiled some hot water for cocoa in our Jetboil Micromo stove. It began to pour just as we were about to serve the cocoa, so we quickly packed up and dashed back to our car. Even this simple little venture brought the kiddos so much joy, especially as we shouted “follow that trail!” from the road to el dorado all the way back to the parking lot.
We’ve yet to have a trip without a hiccup of some sort, and yet I don’t think a single one of the trips was unsuccessful. We’ve learned so much as far as what to bring with us on the next trip and Michael has had fun every time we’ve gone out! In the end getting out with a kiddo, despite taking different and definitely extra prep, is really no different than getting out as an adult. If you love doing it, no matter what happens, you’ll have fun!
Packing Lists:
I wanted to pull together a few different packing lists depending on what camping scenario is easiest for your family to start, although, honestly every single one of these options will make for some great adventures! The quantities of items can be adjusted depending on your family size and the number of nights you’ll be camping or on the road!
Option 1 - Car / Tent camping
This packing list is for any road trip or scenario where you want to tent camp when the weather is good, but be able to car camp if the weather gets a little too crazy. You might want to pack more instant meals, so as to save a bit of space if you need to set up your bed in your car. This set up works perfectly for us in our Subaru Outback.
Sapling Child Carrier – if you’re planning on doing any hiking with a kiddo between 1-4yrs old, this is a must!
Stormbreak 3 person tent (you’ll want a tent that fits your family, but for us, this tent will work quite well until the boys are older!)
Blankets, or sleeping bags
Mattress Topper (or pads, or both!)
MicroMo Stove
Instant Oatmeal
2-3 Cups
1-2 gallon judges of water
Instant backpacking meals or a small cooler with ingredients if you’re going on a shorter trip
Snacks, snacks, snacks (trail mix, fruit or nut bars, chips, etc)
Pull-ups (or diapers depending on the age of your kiddos)
First aid kit - we have Neosporin, band-aids, Zyrtec, Zarbess cough medicine, Children's Benadryl, a 5ml syringe (makes giving a dose of both the allergy and cough medicine so much easier, and you can flush it out with water pretty easily) in our kit.
WIPES - we always have a pack in our car
Thermal underwear (early spring/fall)
Warm clothes (evenings throughout the year)
Option 2 - Tent Camping:
This list is essentially the same as the first, but since you won’t be camping in your car you can get a bit fancier with your meals! We love to bring fixings for hot dogs, s’mores, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and over veggies, etc!
Child Carrier
3-4 person tent
Sleeping bags
Pads
Camping Stove
Instant Oatmeal
2-3 Cups
1-2 gallon judges of water
Camp meals - whatever suits your fancy!
Snacks, snacks, snacks (trail mix, fruit or nut bars, chips, etc)
Pull-ups (or diapers depending on the age of your kiddos)
First aid kit - a selection of whatever you and your children may need (see above for our kit)
WIPES
Thermal underwear (early spring/fall)
Warm clothes (evenings throughout the year)
Option 3 - Backpacking:
This is an ideal set up for anywhere between a 1-3 night backpacking trip for you and your kiddo(s).
Sapling Child Carrier or Ergo baby front carrier depending on the age/size of your kiddo
Backpacking tent
Sleeping bags (depending on the age, kids can either share a bag with you or with their sibling)
2-3 Pads
Backpacking pack
Micromo Stove
Instant Oatmeal - breakfast each morning
2-3 Cups
Camelbak of water
Water Filter of your choosing
Backpacking meals
Snacks, snacks, snacks
Pull-ups or diapers (will update this section once we get on more trips with the newborn)
First aid kit - a selection of whatever you and your children may need (see above for our kit)
WIPES - bring a good amount (biodegradable preferred!)
2-3 gallon ziplock bags
Thermal underwear (early spring/fall)
Warm clothes (evenings throughout the year)
I hope you enjoyed the blog and learned a bit from our experiences that will help you get out with your kiddos! The best advice I can give at end of the day is that your kids are going to have fun no matter what happens so stop worrying about every possible thing that could go wrong, pack up your darn car, get out there and explore! Plan ahead, have some sort of back up plan and let things go “wrong” so you can learn what you need to bring next time for your kiddos. I’ll definitely be updating this blog into a small series as we continue to adventure with Michael and especially once we establish an adventure routine with our newborn.
Have questions? Thought of something I should add or want to share your own experiences? Drop a comment below, I’d love to hear from you guys! Especially if this blog helped you plan for your next trip with your kiddo, or inspired to plan your first trip!
A big thanks to Moosejaw for sponsoring this post and providing the gear that made it possible! All of the opinions included in this post are 100% honest & completely my own.