sapblatt
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One down 47 to go - Aaron gets his first 48 - September 2, 2008
My oldest son, Aaron is now five and has been hiking a bit since he was 2 - his first up climb was North Sugarloaf and his first round trip was Black Cap followed by Pemigewasset and then the Welch Dickey route. Last summer we attempted Mount Eisenhower via Edmand's Path, but while some of us love J. Rayner Edmand's smooth rides, Aaron quickly bored in the forest (giggy junior?
) and we called it a day. I have since been informed that Aaron is an expert scrambler and that he really prefers to be above tree line (who doesn't?)
My initial plan was to skip over the 4ks entirely and give him a shot at Jefferson, or at least a chance to play on Caps Ridge - but the prior days forecast was for high winds out of the N-NW and I decided that was a bad idea. Second thought was to hit Pierce (which was my first) - he may get bored in the forest, but the hut and Webster Cliff Trail would be fun. A way too late start from our new camp (in Twin Mountain) got us out the door around 9 AM and I opted for Osceola, which also had the bonus of being 30-40 minutes closer to home at the end of the day.
After playing with a pair of Bernese Mountain dogs in the parking lot (well, I played) we were on the trail at 9:45 and I quickly got to witness the expert rock scrambler in action. I was begging him to conserve his energy for later, but Aaron opted for the toughest route over every rock! We made good time going up the hill and we were eventually passed by a group of adults and two labs - I later found out that fellow VFTTer DrewKnight was amongst that group - sorry I did not recognize and speak up - next time.
We took about 5, five minute breaks on the way up and Aaron continued to scramble and make his way up. I did not feel that the complaining was too severe except for one time near the summit when I should have been smarter and stopped for food instead of pushing on for the last two minutes - lesson learned for the next time is that it is best to give your child breaks before they need them!
We made the summit in 3 1/2 hours which I think for a five year old was amazing. We were treated to great views all the way to Mount Washington and we got some nice summit shots. We had a nice lunch, rested up and Aaron geared up for the descent with his new Leki Kid's Trekking poles (which are great - but shop around - Highland Center and Campmor both had them for list - $45.95 - I got them for $13.95 on Amazon!! I insisted on a good brand because I knew I would be carrying them a lot and I wanted them to be lighter than the ones I had seen for short money at Wal Mart.
The descent on Osceola, due to all of the rock always seems to take about the same time as the climb - no time saving descent on this one...Aaron had a couple of minor spills on the way down and just wanted it to end - but he was up and down and I did a better job of managing breaks - he was pretty excited at the summit and at the conclusion. He wants to hike again, but probably not another 4k for awhile - which I think is A-OK. I have heard of four year olds completing the list, and I find it hard to believe that they did this because they wanted to, but rather because they were compelled to by over zealous parents - maybe there are some uber-kid-hikers out there, but I am not so sure. I want to keep it fun and I want to help him develop a lifelong love of hiking.
One last note - the prior day we did Willard with the entire family. If anyone wants a really good workout prior to a long backpack I may suggest hiking with my younger son, Zachary. Zach in a loaded kid carrier is over 40 pounds. He was kind enough to his dad to sleep through most of the hike and list to the left - that may be the hardest load I have ever carried.
PICTURESshare.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKJ_Y
My oldest son, Aaron is now five and has been hiking a bit since he was 2 - his first up climb was North Sugarloaf and his first round trip was Black Cap followed by Pemigewasset and then the Welch Dickey route. Last summer we attempted Mount Eisenhower via Edmand's Path, but while some of us love J. Rayner Edmand's smooth rides, Aaron quickly bored in the forest (giggy junior?
) and we called it a day. I have since been informed that Aaron is an expert scrambler and that he really prefers to be above tree line (who doesn't?)My initial plan was to skip over the 4ks entirely and give him a shot at Jefferson, or at least a chance to play on Caps Ridge - but the prior days forecast was for high winds out of the N-NW and I decided that was a bad idea. Second thought was to hit Pierce (which was my first) - he may get bored in the forest, but the hut and Webster Cliff Trail would be fun. A way too late start from our new camp (in Twin Mountain) got us out the door around 9 AM and I opted for Osceola, which also had the bonus of being 30-40 minutes closer to home at the end of the day.
After playing with a pair of Bernese Mountain dogs in the parking lot (well, I played) we were on the trail at 9:45 and I quickly got to witness the expert rock scrambler in action. I was begging him to conserve his energy for later, but Aaron opted for the toughest route over every rock! We made good time going up the hill and we were eventually passed by a group of adults and two labs - I later found out that fellow VFTTer DrewKnight was amongst that group - sorry I did not recognize and speak up - next time.
We took about 5, five minute breaks on the way up and Aaron continued to scramble and make his way up. I did not feel that the complaining was too severe except for one time near the summit when I should have been smarter and stopped for food instead of pushing on for the last two minutes - lesson learned for the next time is that it is best to give your child breaks before they need them!
We made the summit in 3 1/2 hours which I think for a five year old was amazing. We were treated to great views all the way to Mount Washington and we got some nice summit shots. We had a nice lunch, rested up and Aaron geared up for the descent with his new Leki Kid's Trekking poles (which are great - but shop around - Highland Center and Campmor both had them for list - $45.95 - I got them for $13.95 on Amazon!! I insisted on a good brand because I knew I would be carrying them a lot and I wanted them to be lighter than the ones I had seen for short money at Wal Mart.
The descent on Osceola, due to all of the rock always seems to take about the same time as the climb - no time saving descent on this one...Aaron had a couple of minor spills on the way down and just wanted it to end - but he was up and down and I did a better job of managing breaks - he was pretty excited at the summit and at the conclusion. He wants to hike again, but probably not another 4k for awhile - which I think is A-OK. I have heard of four year olds completing the list, and I find it hard to believe that they did this because they wanted to, but rather because they were compelled to by over zealous parents - maybe there are some uber-kid-hikers out there, but I am not so sure. I want to keep it fun and I want to help him develop a lifelong love of hiking.
One last note - the prior day we did Willard with the entire family. If anyone wants a really good workout prior to a long backpack I may suggest hiking with my younger son, Zachary. Zach in a loaded kid carrier is over 40 pounds. He was kind enough to his dad to sleep through most of the hike and list to the left - that may be the hardest load I have ever carried.
PICTURESshare.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaKJ_Y
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