Hiking With My Baby

I love hiking. The idea of getting to trek to a place tat few people have been or getting to see a vista that requires some work and planning are rewards that are hard to rival. Unfortunately, in Texas, there are only a few hikes in the local area that provide the same level of reward as other places. There are few mountain tops to climb to, few clear streams to hike along, and most trails are just loops that plop you right back where you started.

Because of this, for the past few years, I have done very little hiking. We have hit the regular spots around the area that "everyone" hikes and I have traveled to Colorado for a few hiking trips with my brother. Overall though, my feeling was that I would like to do more hiking. With a new baby in the house, I figured that I would be doing even less hiking.

How wrong I was! Having a baby in the house turns out to have been the excuse I needed all along to do more hiking. Now the goal of hiking is no longer the destination. Instead the reward of hiking now is that I get to spend hours with my son showing him all the beauties that nature has to offer. My dad got me a super nice Thule Hiking Backpack for the baby within a few months of his birth that has made taking him out on the trail super easy. I love this thing and would recommend it to anyone. It is highly adjustable in tons of spots making it ideal for couples who may want to trade off pack mule duties.

I would say now that hiking with a baby is a favorite activity. I have even decided to hit the trail a few times after work instead of waiting for the weekend. Baby generally falls asleep after about an hour of hiking though, probably due to the warmth and gentle swaying motion of the backpack. He has also learned to drink from a CamelBak. I was really just trying to calm him down one time and he decided to take the hose and actually drink most of my water. He spends the majority of the hike taking my hat off, throwing it to the ground, and chattering is his baby-speak.

I have a strong feeling that this same transition from enjoying hobbies for the hobby to enjoying them for the time I get to spend with my son is going to occur across most of my hobbies. Being able to teach my son to enjoy the hobbies I love, and eventually the hobbies that he will love is becoming one of my greatest joys.

I will take any excuse to go on an adventure with him, time to add to our adventure list!