giggy
New member
My family and I spent a nice 4th of July weekend up in the Woodstock area with Darlene and her 2 grandsons. The kids range from 4 (Tucker) to 8 (Taylor) and my son Conor is 5.
We arrived Friday up at the campground and I was pleasantly surprised to see Stev-O there waiting on Darls site – he had some plans for Sat, but decided to stop by and say hello and even brought some Lightening McQueen Headlamps for the kids – which they all loved. I was dying to hear how his recent trip out west went with his climb up Middle Teton so it was nice to hear that was a success and a fun time.
The plan was to take Conor on the Conway Scenic Railroad on Saturday and hike Mount Osceola with Darlene, Tucker and Taylor on Sunday.
The campground has a nice river flowing through it which provided the kids and the adults some nice refreshing cooling wading/swimming.
This was a big milestone for Conor (and Tucker and Taylor) as it would be their first 4000 footer. I started Conor hiking slowly on easy stuff when he was a few months old. First on my back, and then small lakeside and forest hikes and that led to the Blue Hills to Wachusett, Lonesome lake, Lowes Bald Spot, Monadnock, etc. I felt he was ready for a longer day on an easy 4’ker, so we decided Osceola would be a good choice due to the views up high and “probably doable” hike for the kids.
We got started about 9am or so and made our way up – I (and Darl) had never been up Osceola from Tripoli road, so this was new to all of us. The hike went great, the kids had tons of fun, stopped to play on the rocks, look at the different type of trees, etc... Darl went on a bit ahead with her kids and deb. Conor and I hiked most of the way up just the 2 of us which was great to spend some time with him as I leave the house for work at 6am and usually don’t get home until about 7pm during the week, so time during the week is very limited with the little guy, so we talked, joked, and I tried to educate him a bit on the mountains, the trail, the rocks, the trees, and always making sure he was having a fun time. I let him lead the way on the trail and he would stop at the drainages and pick the right way to go.
We got to the summit just a little after noon and were treated with great views and I did my best to point out the different mountains/features to the gang like Arrow slide on Hancock and the North Tri-Slide, etc.. I took the kids to check out a nice viewpoint that Hamtero had told me about the day before to check out. It was a nice one!
We had our lunch – congratulated the little guys and then made our way down. The way down was a bit tougher for the little guys as they were a bit tired. They all took a few spills, but overall, they did great and we took a few rests on the way down and strolled back into to the lot around 4pm or so.
I was so proud of the little guys and especially Conor (well he is my son!) as it is fun to watch him progress from the 2 year old that hiked around the Foxboro pond to the 5 year old that climbed his first 4000 footer. The best part is he wants to do more, so while he still enjoys it, we’ll keep doing it.
It’s amazing on hikes like this – Deb, Darl and I were actually quite tired as well. I think its more the mental thing over the physical aspect on hikes like this. You are on 100% of the time watching and making sure the kids are safe at all times. On this day, it was so important to make to watch them and make sure they were drinking enough and staying hydrated. Different than just going yourself – and in many ways, more challenging.
We headed back to the site to hit the river, cook some food, had a few adults bevs. The kids ate some marshmallows, and lit off some sparklers that Stev-o had brought for them
Very rewarding trip for the adults on this one!
I think Darl has some pix she can post. My wife has mine. I will post later on.
We arrived Friday up at the campground and I was pleasantly surprised to see Stev-O there waiting on Darls site – he had some plans for Sat, but decided to stop by and say hello and even brought some Lightening McQueen Headlamps for the kids – which they all loved. I was dying to hear how his recent trip out west went with his climb up Middle Teton so it was nice to hear that was a success and a fun time.
The plan was to take Conor on the Conway Scenic Railroad on Saturday and hike Mount Osceola with Darlene, Tucker and Taylor on Sunday.
The campground has a nice river flowing through it which provided the kids and the adults some nice refreshing cooling wading/swimming.
This was a big milestone for Conor (and Tucker and Taylor) as it would be their first 4000 footer. I started Conor hiking slowly on easy stuff when he was a few months old. First on my back, and then small lakeside and forest hikes and that led to the Blue Hills to Wachusett, Lonesome lake, Lowes Bald Spot, Monadnock, etc. I felt he was ready for a longer day on an easy 4’ker, so we decided Osceola would be a good choice due to the views up high and “probably doable” hike for the kids.
We got started about 9am or so and made our way up – I (and Darl) had never been up Osceola from Tripoli road, so this was new to all of us. The hike went great, the kids had tons of fun, stopped to play on the rocks, look at the different type of trees, etc... Darl went on a bit ahead with her kids and deb. Conor and I hiked most of the way up just the 2 of us which was great to spend some time with him as I leave the house for work at 6am and usually don’t get home until about 7pm during the week, so time during the week is very limited with the little guy, so we talked, joked, and I tried to educate him a bit on the mountains, the trail, the rocks, the trees, and always making sure he was having a fun time. I let him lead the way on the trail and he would stop at the drainages and pick the right way to go.
We got to the summit just a little after noon and were treated with great views and I did my best to point out the different mountains/features to the gang like Arrow slide on Hancock and the North Tri-Slide, etc.. I took the kids to check out a nice viewpoint that Hamtero had told me about the day before to check out. It was a nice one!
We had our lunch – congratulated the little guys and then made our way down. The way down was a bit tougher for the little guys as they were a bit tired. They all took a few spills, but overall, they did great and we took a few rests on the way down and strolled back into to the lot around 4pm or so.
I was so proud of the little guys and especially Conor (well he is my son!) as it is fun to watch him progress from the 2 year old that hiked around the Foxboro pond to the 5 year old that climbed his first 4000 footer. The best part is he wants to do more, so while he still enjoys it, we’ll keep doing it.
It’s amazing on hikes like this – Deb, Darl and I were actually quite tired as well. I think its more the mental thing over the physical aspect on hikes like this. You are on 100% of the time watching and making sure the kids are safe at all times. On this day, it was so important to make to watch them and make sure they were drinking enough and staying hydrated. Different than just going yourself – and in many ways, more challenging.
We headed back to the site to hit the river, cook some food, had a few adults bevs. The kids ate some marshmallows, and lit off some sparklers that Stev-o had brought for them
Very rewarding trip for the adults on this one!
I think Darl has some pix she can post. My wife has mine. I will post later on.
Last edited:
Guy taught Taylor to skip rocks which was a huge hit!
