While trying to think of ways to keep my three young daughters busy, outside and learning this summer I decided to set a goal for myself this summer of getting out
hiking with them at least once a week. We live in such a beautiful area here in Portland, Oregon and I wanted to get to know it better while sharing it with them. I had no idea
how hard it would be to find good information about appropriate hiking locations for small children nearby! Some trails had conflicting information from one review to the next about
things like safety, difficult terrain or stroller accessibility. When one person says they've managed the hike with their jogging stroller several times but another talks of seeing people carrying their B.O.B.s over steps and rough terrain like stretchers, who do you believe? In other cases the people
writing the reviews and articles just seemed to be much more serious
hikers than my family and I so I wasn't sure if I should be taking their
comments with a grain of salt or not. Truly, when someone states that
they're using a hike as part of a training regime to prepare their
preschooler for a 4 night backpacking trip in the Cascades, do I really
trust that their "easy" is the same as mine? A few trails were just lacking in information all together.
Finally after scouring
the net for some promising hikes to try, enlisting some friends
with little ones from babies on up as company and digging out the tot-sized
backpacks from the closet I've decided to review all our weekly hikes
here so other parents in the PDX area can get a real feel for where the casual hiker can go when they want to enjoy the great outdoors with their little ones. I may throw in some reviews of gear we find to be particularly useful (or not useful as the case may be) and general tips on hiking with children too if something comes up that seems like it's worth sharing. My girls are 13 months, 3 and 4 years old as we start out and I'm hoping that the information we come home with will give others the courage to get outdoors, try some new hikes and begin to teach their little ones to have a love of nature that will last them their whole lives.
The adventure begins June 8th, 2012.
