Jennifer Pharr Davis - Families on Foot: Urban Hikes to Backyard Treks and National Park Adventures

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

MP (MEGAN PETERSON) PHOTOGRAPHY

As parents who love spending time on the trail with our friends, family, andmost importantlyour young daughter, we truly believe that hiking is one of the best activities you can engage in with your partner and your brood. Its an inexpensive hobby that you and your family can start with simply a pair of sneakers, a raincoat, and a basic first-aid kit.

Hiking is really accessible; it can literally be done just about anywhere by anyone. Choose from thousands of trails across the country (and the world)be it an urban path, a simple wooded trail through a state or local park, or a back-country excursion. And the good news is that even if you identify yourself as a novice hiker, youre really much further along than you think. We Homo sapiens have been doing this hiking thing for tens of thousands of yearsits in our DNA. No matter how much experience you have as a hiker, you have loads of experience as a walker, and, as we like to say, Hiking is really just walking in the woods, so how hard can it be?

That comment is a bit tongue in cheek. As easy and fun as hiking can be, you arent hiking in a vacuum. You hike with your family, and obviously being out in the woods with a brood of kids will present challenges. Your newborn might have a diaper blowout on the trail and, oops, you forgot the wipes. Your middle school son might cut his knee climbing on a rock beside the trail. And theres a chancejust a slight chancethat your teenage daughter will want to race through a hike because shed rather be lying on her bed at home texting her friends. Your kids may complain about the bugs. Or if there are no bugs, they may complain about the wind or the light rain thats keeping the bugs at bay. It could be too hotor too cold; too cloudy, too sunny, or even too beautiful. You get the picture.

Charley, Jennifer, and Brew Davis doing what they love best

DAVIS FAMILY

If you think of your family hiking adventure as a tree, this book is the seed. We cannot anticipate every single challenge that the tree could face as it grows. But if you plant the seed and take care of it, that tree will grow strong roots, and those roots will allow the tree to flourish despite the challenges it will face.

So bring on the diaper blowoutswell show you how to tackle the messes while out on the trail. And dont fret over that cut kneewell give you plenty of safety tips for how to pack for and act on that very scenario. And as for that teenage daughter glued to her cell phone? Well share some tricks that will get her looking up and around, engaged in the natural world around her. In just ten chapters well show you how to prep for the trail, enjoy the hike, and engage in some much-needed family time in the woods.

Full disclosure: As the parents of an amazing, vivacious 3-year-old named Charley, weve yet to face the challenges that many of you have faced with your older kids. But weve hiked tens of thousands of miles across the country and the world, weve written quite a few books, and weve seen a lot of scenarios through our work with different age groupsBrew as a middle and high school teacher for seven years (he started hiking programs in both settings) and Jen as a camp counselor for ten years with every manner and age of young people. We also learned a ton from hiking in all fifty states with Charley before she was 2, and the diversity of those hikesthe weather, the landscape, and a host of other environmental factorsgave us a strong sense of the challenges families face in every corner of the United States, from the Florida Everglades to WrangellSt. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska, from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to the remote mountains and lakes of central Maine.

Since 2008 we have owned and managed Blue Ridge Hiking Company in Asheville, North Carolina. Our companys vision statement is The trail is there for everyone at every phase of life. Whether a couple wants to take a day hike with their infant, a group of deaf hikers want to hike to 100-foot waterfalls, or some senior adults are considering an extended overnight trip on the Appalachian Trail, we pride ourselves on making the wilderness accessible and enjoyable to everyone.

The one takeaway that has stayed with us through every adventure, and the one thought we want to leave you with as you start digging through this book, is this:

Its worth it!

Spending an afternoon making homemade granola with your 6-year-old is worth it. Schlepping that diaper bag to the top of the mountain is worth it. Turning around before the summit because your 12-year-old has blisters is worth it. Whatever it is, its worth it, because youre spending focused time togetherin natureas a family. And whats more important than that?

MP (MEGAN PETERSON) PHOTOGRAPHY

In 2011 Jen wanted to see how quickly she could hike the Appalachian Trail. I had a two-month break from teaching, and with being a mom waiting in the near future, Jen knew her days of traveling light and fast would soon be floating away like dandelion seeds in the wind. Speed-hiking the Appalachian Trail seemed appealing.

When Jen finished her hike, she got all sorts of questions about numbersthe number of calories shed consumed, the number of hours shed hiked each day, the number of miles shed covered after dark. But for her it was a lot less about the numbers than it was about the memories made, the lessons learned, the relationships formed with the people in the support crew. Those are the things that lasted long after the hike.

the nuts and bolts of hiking

American Hiking Society

This book covers the nuts and bolts of hiking in a fairly in-depth manner. But this is a book about hiking with your family, right? So right about now your third grader is probably asking you for help with his math homework or your eighth grader needs a ride to her band practice. To ensure that you dont walk away from this first reading empty-handed, heres a crash course on hiking with your family from our good friends at American Hiking Society. If you have follow-up questions, rest assured well discuss everything at length later on.

If youre a hiker with young children, you dont have to put your hobby on hold until they head for college. And if youre a parent who is new to hiking, there couldnt be a better time to start. Spending time on the trail offers a world of opportunity for family outings and vacations. Not only will your family grow closer, but you can introduce the next generation to all that trails offer for personal growth and education while creating lifelong family memories.

When hiking with children, the trek no longer becomes about getting from point A to point B but more about exploring the trail and whats on it. With that in mind, here are a few thoughts to help keep your hike kid-friendly:

Have fun and be flexible. If this is your number-one goal, everyone will be happy. Remember that youre trying to introduce your family to hiking; they wont want to do it again if they dont have fun the first time. Change your plans if things are not working out.