Tips, Tricks, and Sanity Saving Advice to Make Hiking with Your Kids Doable and Enjoyable

Figuring out how to hike with kids was a big learning curve for me. As a child I loved outdoor exploration, but my parents weren’t into hiking so my adventuring was generally done alone within the vicinity of home or wherever we were traveling. 

As a young mom, it hadn’t occurred to me that hiking would be a good family activity. I loved the outdoors and missed things like outdoor exploration, climbing trees and finding hidden treasures. But the only things I saw other moms doing were short trips to the zoo, local playgrounds, or maybe a walk at the bay. No one was tromping through the woods. No one was finding caves, or hidden treasures. No one was looking for new places to play with creeks, frogs, and mud. Everyone seemed to be gravitating toward man-made fun where kids were told to wear shoes, never go up the slide, and douse themselves in hand sanitizer before snacking on their organic puffs.

Where It Began

It wasn’t until I discovered and dabbled in the Charlotte Mason method of homeschool that I realized that nature (not just the outdoors) could and should be a part of our life. Miss Mason once wrote of home education, “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.” And I couldn’t agree more! But learning how to be outside, in nature, for longer than just an hour was a legitimate learning curve.

Early on, strollers were a dire necessity for spending time in nature, especially after the birth of our fifth child. I had two “older” kids (who were still 8 and under), a wild (really more like feral) middle child, a 1 year old and a baby. I often found myself needing to carry 3 humans at one time, which made bringing water, snacks, and diapers quite challenging. There literally just wasn’t enough space on my body for it all. And so my hand-me-down Bob jogging stroller became my new best friend. This single stroller easily carried my diaper bag, waters, and two children (one could sit on the foot rest). Oh, AND there was a cup holder for my afternoon coffee. #winning!

But as my kiddos grew, hiking gradually became easier. With my youngest being only 4 you won’t find us doing 11 mile out-and-backs, but our capacity for exploring has expanded beautifully. Not that it doesn’t come with its fair share of challenges. We’ve ditched the stroller, but I still always travel with a baby carrier, and my older children are able to help carry the water and snacks. It’s taken some experimentation and a lot of learning the hard way, but we’ve finally found a groove that results in the most exploration with the least amount of crying. (Notice I didn’t say “no” crying.)

So without further ado, here are my top tips for…

Hiking With Kids

Bring enough water

You don’t need to over-do it (water is heavy) but make sure you have enough for everyone to stay hydrated. Water backpacks are a great way to make sure everyone has their own water, and the kid sized packs are perfect for little guys to handle. In cooler temperatures, we usually just bring one large water backpack to share. You can also use a regular backpack to carry multiple water bottles.

Snacks that pack a punch

Make sure you have plenty of snacks on hand (hangry toddlers are everyone’s worst nightmare, amiright?). But airy snacks take up too much valuable space. Opt for calorie dense snacks that pack up small. Think granola bars, dried fruit, pretzel sticks, peanut butter, trail mix,… We also like to occasionally throw in an orange or apple. If each family member has their own water backpack, they can also carry their own snacks. I aim for one granola bar and one extra snack per person.

Emergency chocolate

Now technically this doesn’t have to be chocolate, but my kids have never turned down the brown goodness. Emergency chocolate is for the times when your kids are melting down and all you really want is to get back to the car. Emergency chocolate is your sanity saver. It’s your motivator, and your distractor. It’s the little piece of happiness you offer up as you encourage them to keep moving. (It’s hard to cry and chew at the same time. Not impossible, but difficult.) Oftentimes “emergency chocolate” also takes the form of fruit leather, mints, or gum. Know your kids and choose wisely. 

Phone a friend

Life is better with friends. This tip actually comes from my eldest child (currently age 12) who is not my number one fan of hiking. But he will go anywhere if he has a friend, and always has a better time that way. So invite a friend to go with you! You won’t regret the company. (And sometimes your friend has better emergency chocolate and the magic touch to get your kiddos moving).

Car treats

Car treats are the goodies you keep in the car for the ride home. They are the driving factor for the kids to make it back to the car rather than quitting and crying halfway up a long steep incline (this may have actually happened). It can be anything from a bag of their favourite chips, to cookies, to a thermos of ice cold lemonade. You name it! (Just make sure it doesn’t melt while you’re out.) Also keep extra water in the car in case your trail stash runs out. Ours usually does, so our kiddos enjoy returning to a full water bottle.

Manage your expectations

If I could give you no other advice than this… keep your expectations low when you’re starting out, especially if your kiddos are still small. Our earliest hikes were no more than a ¼ mile. That’s all we could handle, and that was perfectly okay. Our whole goal was to get outside together, enjoy nature, and learn to love exploring. We accomplished all of that in even our shortest of hikes, and that joy led us to eventually move on to new places outside of our comfort zone. Today I’m very grateful to be able to say that we’re able to hike over 5.5 miles. We’ve come a long way, my friend, and you can, too.

And remember, nobody gets there overnight. Taking up hiking as a family is an amazing way to build bonds, enjoy God’s creation, and stay healthy together. But it can take time to get your flow and for kiddos to build up stamina, so start small and slow. Over time you’ll be able to work your way up to longer, more challenging trails. But you just might find that sometimes the smaller, simpler adventures become the ones that hold the best memories.

Was this helpful? For all my visual learner friends, you can see and hear these tips in action here. I’d love to hear how you’ve enjoyed hiking with kids and which of these tips you’ll try next!