Lately I've been a little hungry to share our life and love of the outdoors with other like-minded families. Don't get me wrong, Red and I go on many playdates and we know lots of babies her age and both younger and older. I just think it would be nice to have a few that also were regular hike pals too. How killer would it be to have playmates from a very small age that 1) can keep up with you on a trail, 2) understand how to explore and care for nature and hold that as a priority and a dear responsibility and 3) are down to go and explore at the drop of a hat. Camping is fun, but it would be really fun if it was communing with nature AND community. Right?! Right.
Before becoming a mom, finding like-minded outdoorsy folks was easy, so why is finding the folks who have become parents so much harder?! Part of it is that a lot of those folks simply haven't become parents, part of it is that if they are parents, their kids are older, part of it is that parenting is hard and getting out is a little daunting. I make it a point to say hello to anyone on the trail with their children, but I'll be honest, it just doesn't happen all that often. To the credit of others, we also aren't on close-in trails on the weekends much.
As a parent in the information age, I've gleaned a lot of information from parent blogs, outdoor companies and the like. I thought rather than a bunch of stories of our weekly hikes, I'd dedicate this post to connecting with folks. Here are links to sites and blogs that I find worthwhile when it comes to getting out there with babes in tow. Do you have a favorite not on this list? Leave a link in a comment! Thanks for visiting!
Outdoor Baby Network: a recently (12/09/10) launched social networking site for outdoorsy families. Join and come be my "friend!"
Mountain Mama Maternity Wear: technical outdoors apparel for mommas and mommas-in-waiting. Also nice about this one is that if you become a Facebook Fan, they tend to post a lot of great information and links.
Adventure Parents: a great resource. The website has a blog, photos, inspiring stories about adventurous families, recipes, tips & advice. Lots to peruse.
Blog: Climb With Kids: a great blog that has a nice collection of useful posts, geared toward climbing, but also has gear reviews, and covers family topics such as biking, camping, risk taking, bugs, first aid, etc.
Exodus Family Expeditions: So this family is going on a Road Trip RIGHT NOW, covering every state in a year and summiting highest peaks in each one. Want a little inspiration to get out there, here you go. There are other family blogs about long trips, but since this one is currently happening, it's a nice one to follow!
I still have a hard time finding other families to hike with. I have been thinking about this so much lately! When my oldest was your child's age, I started a hiking group for moms with little kids. It was sort of an email message thing, where I collected everyone's emails and sent out a schedule each month of where I wanted to go and a brief description of the hike. I asked the ladies in my mothering group at the time, and many of them passed the information on to their friends. I was able to find quite a few partners that way, though honestly it petered out after about a year. It is a lot of hard work keeping the relationships going now for hiking - and my kids are a bit older, and kids this age have so many things going on in their lives. For my hike yesterday I asked 5 or 6 other people to come along, and no one could. But really, all it takes is one or two good hiking partners, if you find the ones who are similar in style to you. I had a few friends like that over the years, and we went out all summer for a couple of years.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked on Meetup to see if there are any local hiking with children groups you could join? There's also another mom on the Outdoor Baby Network who seems to be pretty active on the site and who live in the Portland/Metro area, so you might be able to hook up with her sometimes.
I also wanted to plug my website that I just launched (it still has a few kinks to iron out, but it's mostly functional). It's about hiking with children, and includes tons of hikes in my area - I live near Seattle, so they are all north of you. I am going to be launching a hiking with children blog here in the next few days, too. www.thehikermama.com
My parents live in the Vancouver area, and I am down there often with my kids, so I will definitely try to hook up with you for a hike this summer!
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestion! I'm going to look into meetup! Thanks for the link too, we have friends in Seattle, so hiking ideas for that area are fantastic.