[pct-l] backpacking with child - more thoughts

[Junaid Dawud]

Great post.

Junaid

On Mar 25, 2010, at 2:49 PM, "Barbara Egbert"  
<nelliebly04 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Captain Bligh, Scrambler and I have been discussing the recent PCTL  
> debate about Rachel and David Liechty's plan to take their toddler  
> on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2011. Since we, and our book "Zero  
> Days," were specifically mentioned, we decided to respond with some  
> clarifications and a few suggestions for anyone planning to backpack  
> with a small child.
>
>
>
> Experience is crucial.  We carried Scrambler on six backpacking  
> trips (ranging from two days to four days each) before we took her  
> into the Grand Canyon on her first birthday for a five-day outing.  
> Every baby is different, and helping one adapt to everything from  
> breast-feeding outdoors to sleeping in a tent requires a great deal  
> of adaptation by the parents. And what each baby needs can only be  
> learned through experience - a lot of experience.
>
> Backpacking with a baby is vastly different than backpacking by  
> oneself or with other adults. The parents must constantly gauge the  
> baby's situation - warm enough? comfortable? shaded? - because that  
> small being can't speak for herself.  They must carry considerably  
> more weight and allow much more time for everything. My husband had  
> extensive backpacking and mountaineering experience (including  
> summiting and traversing Denali) and I was an experienced on-trail  
> and off-trail backpacker.  Yet we needed to learn new skills as well  
> as draw on our existing skills and strengths when we started taking  
> a child along.
>
> We applaud the goal of bringing up a child with extensive wilderness  
> experience. Being able to bring a baby or toddler on backpacking  
> trips is worth all the extra trouble and worry and loss of sleep  
> that Captain Bligh and I experienced. Today, Scrambler is 16 and  
> those shared memories of overcoming challenges together still serve  
> us well.
>
> I must disagree with David's remark, "I would be much more afraid of  
> fording a river with a short ten year old, than with a 16 month old  
> strapped securely to my back in a sturdy, well made backpack."   
> Scrambler at 10 could participate in deciding how best to cross a  
> stream (although most kids her age wouldn't have that skill set).   
> She was a good swimmer and strong for her age. A 16-month-old baby  
> doesn't necessarily know about holding her breath underwater.
>
> Of greater concern than stream crossings are the passes in the  
> Southern Sierra. I would be reluctant to take a baby anywhere that I  
> have to carry an ice ax.  If I were to fall, the baby could easily  
> be injured while I'm thrashing around trying to self-arrest (and the  
> self-arrest itself would be very difficult because of the baby on my  
> back). An ice ax is sharp and pointed, and the child could be hurt  
> just by that. Scrambler had already climbed Mt. Shasta (at age 7)  
> with her father. They took an extra day at about 10,000 feet and  
> conducted self-arrest drills for hours. By summit day, Scrambler  
> could reliably self-arrest even while sliding rapidly downslope,  
> headfirst on her back.
>
> One remark during this debate was, "I'm sure Scrambler was just as  
> young when she went on similar excursions." Well, based on our  
> experiences, there just aren't any similar excursions. Even with our  
> level of experience, we were often surprised by what we had to deal  
> with on the PCT.
>
> Another remark ran as follows: "From reading Zero Days, there were  
> many alternate routes taken by Scrambler's family so that they could  
> avoid things that mom considered too dangerous for her. They avoided  
> some of the worst creeks. They did a lot of boring road walks. I  
> think they tried to keep their daily mileage very low, too." In  
> fact, we only once took an alternate route in order to avoid a  
> potentially dangerous pair of stream crossings (Russell and Milk  
> creeks in Oregon). We had very few road walks. While our miles-per- 
> day averaged about 17 for the entire trip, that average included  
> days when we only walked a few miles to or from a town stop. Typical  
> daily mileage in northern California was 20 to 25 miles. After all,  
> we had to rack up decent mileage to get the hike done in one season  
> (as well as breaking up our PCT hike with a short hike on the AT in  
> June that same year).
>
>
>
> With a toddler, keep in mind that a child that age needs to get out  
> of the backpack and crawl, explore and "walk" every day, and when  
> outdoors requires nearly constant supervision. That cut way down on  
> the mileage we could achieve on backpacking trips when Scrambler was  
> little, and also meant that one parent had to be on child-duty while  
> the other did camp chores, which doubles the time it takes to set up  
> and take down camp.
>
>
>
> Scrambler herself responded to one statement - "Trust me, there will  
> not be a creek or river that we will not anticipate on this entire  
> trip"- by pointing out that the very nature of the PCT is that you  
> can't fully anticipate the conditions you'll find at any point.
>
>
>
> Finally, one very important issue to consider at the end: diapers!  
> When we took Scrambler on backpacking trips as a baby, we used  
> disposable diapers and carried them all out, double-bagged at a  
> minimum. That's a lot of bulk and weight. Opportunities to safely  
> wash cloth diapers along the PCT may be limited. I should point out  
> that while we took her backpacking starting at age eight weeks, the  
> longest we were out at a time while she was still in diapers was one  
> week.
>
>
>
> All that said, babies and toddlers CAN go backpacking, as long as  
> the child's safety and happiness are the primary considerations.
>
> Nellie Bly
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