Back country hiking with a Baby: A bad game of 'Oregon Trail'

Cam and I are really into hiking and being in the outdoors so naturally wewanted to take our little Etta on a backpacking trip before I started working full time. I guess you could say it was the last big hurrah of my maternity leave. While the first two days were manageable the trip ended up taking a turn for the worse and ended like a bad game of 'Oregon Trail' (a classic video game for everyone else who grew up in the 90's) by the second night of our two night trip. Read on for a real life version of 'Oregon Trail'.

** I am going preface this post by saying this: The hike we went on has many hikers on it each day. At our back country campground there were about 70 other campers including some parks officials. If at anytime we could not make it out of the campsite we had ample ways to get help if needed. A post in the future on the do's and don'ts of backcountry camping with a baby to come!**

At the start of every game of 'Oregon Trail' you always put the names of the people on your trip. For the sake of leaving our friends anonymous I will make up names for them. In our party there was Cam, Annika (me) and our daughter Etta. Eve, Dan and their two kids Derick and Arthur and then Mike, Art and Jack.

Cam and I decided to go on a road trip with our baby girl Etta. We all hop into our 'Wagon'  and drive to Garibaldi Lakes parking lot. There we hit our first roadblock. 'Backcountry site closed'. We have two options. Hike to Cheakamus Lake Campground which is about 3 km or do a similar hike as the one we planned called Helm Lake that is about a 9 km hike.

On our way to start the hiking adventure. 

Etta patiently waiting our arrival. She decides to have an hour snooze as part of the 2 and half hour drive to
the trail head.

 We chose the Helm Lake trail. Off we go on our 9 km hike with 900 metres elevation adventure. Just like any Oregon trail game you always have such high hopes of your family reaching the finish line unscathed.

Hiking with a sippy cup in hand!

We chose to traverse the rivers by crossing over bridges instead of swimming or forging. The bridges got us safely across.

We took snacks, lunch breaks, breastfeeding breaks and change your babies bum breaks along the way.

Now that's a pretty epic change table! Black Tusk is in the background.

There was no need for buffalo hunting, as all of our food was packed in our bags. Climbing some of the switchbacks makes us all tired by the end of the first day but we finally arrive at our destination. The total hike took us about 5 hours to complete, including all the stops. We set up our tents near a creek so that we would have easy access to water that we could purify and it was not too far from the bear cache either.

Along the way Etta played on the trails. 

That night I did not sleep very well at all and this was the first sign of potential disaster on our trip. Etta was up during the night crying and I later realized that it was likely because she was teething. She also is a very rambunctious sleeper. In other words she likes to crawl, walk, roll and anything in between while she sleeps. For a few minutes I moved out of her way and she spent a good chunk moving around the tent while she slept. All I could think of was "hmmm you expect me to sit curled up in this corner all night?" Most of the night I had to breastfeed Etta to keep her calm and sleeping. 

Cam and Etta setting up the tent.

The next day I was exhausted from lack of sleep. I told Cam that we should consider packing up and heading down the mountain. It did not take much to convince me to stay the night. We had a better plan for sleeping the second night and agreed that because we carried our heavy packs and Etta up we might as well enjoy another day in the wilderness.

The second day we had high hopes of making it up the Black Tusk (The dried up volcanic mountain in the background of the picture below). This would have been around a 11 km round trip excursion back to our campsite. This hope soon died as we realized it was just not realistic with lil Etta in tow and the fact that I was tired from not sleeping the night before. We ended up hiking up closer to Black Tusk and letting Etta do a little hiking of her own.

Etta doing a little hiking!

Black Tusk

The second night was disastrous and is where we were all really reminded of 'Oregon Trail.'

Cam gets 'dysentery'...... 

In other words Cam is outside the tent vomiting from about 12 am -7 am. I sleep through most of it knowing that Cam is ill, but I also  know that I need to get the best possible sleep for tomorrow so that I can help pack our stuff and get us down the mountain. I get a decent sleep only to find that after having packed up most of our stuff.....

Annika gets 'dysentery'...... 

I walk past Eve and ask her how she is doing and ...

Eve gets 'Cholera'.....

The rest of the crew seems to be doing okay. Since Cam and I are ready to go we leave the crew with Etta, the best thing for us is just to get down the mountain as quickly as we can. Without being able to eat or drink any water, we build up all our strength and leave the campsite. Within a few steps 'BOOM' I vomit everywhere. This continues multiple times for the first 4 km. During this time Cam, who is still sick, ends up carrying both Etta and our big heavy pack. (Now remember both of these packs are carrying our clothes, diapers, 2x sleeping bags, 3x mats, pots and pans. Thankfully one of our friends who was camping with us carried our tent down knowing that we were both so sick.)

After Cam has carried both packs for a good 4 km I try carrying Etta again and 'BOOM' I continue to vomit. My body was under too much stress for how sick I was and the lack of nourishment was making my muscles cramp. 

Etta in her hiking pack.

That's when I turned to Cam and said 'I cannot carry Etta down the mountain. You need to take Etta down, we need to carry the essentials (first aid kit, water, food, medications etc) and leave our pack behind." I knew that between the two of us we could get ourselves and Etta down the mountain. This was a humbling experience for both of us as we decided to leave our pack with over $1000 worth of equipment. We knew that this decision was the safest for our family and that we just needed to get down the mountain.

Once at the bottom of the mountain I was relieved to finally be able to rest. All I could think of was lying in the fetal position next to a toilet. Cam decided that he wanted to head back up and get our bag. I told him that if he wanted to get the bag I would need to go somewhere where Etta could be safe and I could lie down without having to worry about her walking off a cliff. We decided that we would stay in a hotel that night and I would go there with Etta while he went back for the bag. Once at the hotel I turned on the tv to the nearest kids channel and laid on the couch watching Etta play with my keys. It was as if she knew that I needed a rest.

After making sure that Etta and I would be fine Cam headed back up the mountain. Luckily our friends brought the bag down most of the way so that Cam only had about 2 km to hike in to pick it up. He arrived about 2 hours later at the hotel. Safe and sound on the couch waiting for Etta's bedtime so that we can rest some more.

About a day later....

Art gets Cholera....

Some of the beautiful mountain views. 

On our way up! The view of Black Tusk in the background.

There you have our first backpacking trip with a baby. 'Oregan trail' at its worst. Thank goodness we got down the mountain!

The Famous Pants Hat

In a pinch.... don't worry an inch... if you forgot your babies hat.... I've got a solution for that!

Jokes aside have you ever felt really accomplished when you have finally arrived at your destination only to realize that you have forgotten something that you deem really important? Well I have done that ALOT even though I try to get everything organized before I head out the door. Today I am featuring the forgotten item 'The Hat'. When I was in Copenhagen I was feeling trapped in our house. It was a beautiful day and Etta was crying from being cooped up. I knew that if I could make it out the door then we could have a pleasant rest of the day. Finally I get outside and set up the blanket for Etta and I to play in the park. With little shade around I went to grab her hat only to find that I forgot her hat. That is when the 'pants hat' came into fruition.

Here is the pants hat. You take a pair of pants and put it around your child's head. Then you take the two feet and can either leave them in the floppy position or tie them up to create a cute bow. You can choose whether or not to cover up the ears if you are worried they will get burned. 

There you have it! The 'pants hat'!!!

The Pants Hat in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is the Bohemian Style.

The Bohemian Pants Hat. Side view. 

The Mr. Snuffleupagus style of the Pants Hat. The style was recently used while blueberry picking.

Hiking with Children Part 1: Quarry Rock Hike

Quarry Rock in Deep Cove Vancouver is the perfect hike for people who do not do much hiking, parents with new babies and for young children to do on their own. We know of a 3 year old who did the hike just last year! Even better is that at the end of your hike you can get homemade delicious doughnuts at Honeys Doughnuts right in Deep Cove.

Since Etta has been born we have done the hike a few times. The first time the 1-2 hour hike turned into a full day affair. As Etta has gotten older hiking has become more efficient and easy going. In fact recently we went with Etta and completed the hike similar to how we would have before she was born. I attribute it to experience and the fact that she does not need to nurse as often and for as long.

Here is a contrast of what hiking was like before we had Etta vs. what hiking for the first time with a 6 weeks old looks like. Read on for a good laugh.

Getting Ready for Hiking
Before Etta:
Getting ready for the hike before Etta took roughly 20 minutes. Wake up, change, brush teeth, put on runners, pack some snacks, pack water and off we went! We left at about 10 am because we of course would sleep in till 940 am.

With Etta as a newborn:
Since sleeping in is no longer an option we had planned to leave shortly after Etta woke up around 7:30 am. Our goal was 8:30 am. At 10 am we finally were out the door after breastfeeding Etta (which when she was first born took a good 30-45 minutes), changing Etta, taking turns eating breakfast, packing food and water, changing Etta, putting on sneakers, breastfeeding Etta again (I was having to breastfeed her every 2-3 hours), keep breastfeeding Etta as it took 30-45 minutes. Finally another needed diaper change and we were off!
.......Then we turn back around because we forgot some much needed diapers and our 8:30 departure turned into a 10:00 am departure. Off we go again!!!

Already beginning to fall asleep to the sounds of nature.

Start the Hike
Deep Cove is a beautiful area. The hike starts between two peoples houses as you ascend stairs into the rain forest. The amazing thing as well about this hike is that if you have forgotten anything you can literally buy it ~200 metres from the trail head.

Before Etta
This would take roughly 5 minutes unless we needed to use the bathroom. We would put on our packs, take a sip of water and off we would go!

With Etta as a newborn
This ended up taking us 1 1/2 hours!!!! We did not start the hike until 1pm!!
Two things delayed us:
1. An explosion
- By the time we got to Deep Cove was 10:30 am.This is what happened: Cam went to go get a snack at a nearby shop. As I pulled Etta out of the car seat my worst fears came to be. Poop everywhere!!! All over the car seat and her clothes. Etta is crying as I am trying to hold her away from me while trying to wipe her down. She at least has a change of clothes and I do not! After a good 30 minutes of damage control and poopy clothes and diapers sprawled on the parking lot pavement. Cam finally returns with snacks with a big smile. Somehow he managed to avoid the whole disaster.
2. Breastfeeding
- Nobody told me that a newborn baby would need to eat so often and that it would take such a long time. Another 45 minutes past as I am sitting in the car breastfeeding Etta passing the time listening to some Van Morrison. I am continuously trying to keep her awake so that it does not turn into a sleep session as well so that we can get on with the hike.

The Hike
Quarry Rock is a really nice hike. The first 10 minutes are  steep and then it levels off going up and down, across bridges until you get to the look out, Quarry Rock. It is an easy short hike.

Before Etta
This took us roughly 11/2 to 2 hours depending on how long you want to hang out on the rock. If you choose to run the trail instead it is even shorter.

One of the few pictures we took when we did the hike before Etta.

With Etta as a newborn
This surprisingly also took us 1 1/2 to 2 hours. When we got to the view point we took a few quick photos and off we headed down. I did not want to stop and breastfeed Etta in the brisk air for 30 to 45 minutes, then have to change her and then head down. Since she was still asleep we decided to book it down back to the car.

Made it to the top! Etta was a champ and I had never been so exhausted.

Post Hike

Before Etta
Normally we would head out for a nice cold brew and nachos after the hike usually with friends who also did the hike with us.

With Etta as a newborn
By the time we finished the hike it was 3 pm. We got lunch at Honey's Doughnuts while I breastfed Etta. I had never been so exhausted after an easy hike. Hiking along with breastfeeding took it out of me more than I could have ever thought. Etta and I both slept during the car ride home.

I will never tire of these views.

Recently we did the hike when Etta was 10 months old. The hike was very similar to when we used to hike before Etta was born!! It does get easier!!!

At the rock. Etta even got to walk around and do a little 'hiking' herself!

A total of 3 generations hiking together!

Etta loving the fresh air! 

Tales of a 1 year old Nomad!!!

Today Etta turns 1 year old. I could not leave out this epic event from the blog and thought I would break down Etta's first year by listing all of her firsts. I am continually in awe that Etta became a part of our lives 20 months ago and took her first breath of fresh air 1 year ago.

Etta was born. Etta was no longer surviving in my belly but made it out into the world.

Etta had her first breath of fresh air, her first taste of breast milk, first poop, etc. 

Etta smiled. Etta laughed. Etta said mama mama and dada dada and goo goo ga ga. 

Etta held her head. Sat assisted. Sat by herself. Rolled. Crawled. walked!

Etta ate breastmilk. Ate Purées. Ate chunks. Now can eat by herself.

Etta has seen the Roughriders win the grey cup! (Hopefully this will just be the first time of many more in her life!)

Etta traveled Canada. She went to 4 different provinces and 8 ish cities/towns. Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Squamish, Whistler, Revelstoke (and all the towns in between) and of course Vancouver.

Etta traveled Europe. She went to a total of 6 countries in Europe. Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, and England.

Etta has traveled in a carrier, a stroller, a car, a train, a plane and a boat. (21 plane rides (!), many train rides and a few boat rides)

Etta has gone cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and running.

Etta went on a total of 4 camping trips. 3 in tents and one in a rustic Swedish cabin.

Unfortunately Etta had her first tick bite and mosquito bite.

She had her first bruise, scrape, cold, fever, runny nose.

Etta has swam in the tub, the pool, the lake, and two oceans (The Pacific and the Atlantic).

Etta has played on the beach and in the snow.

Etta learnt how to be apart of our family. She supported us and our dreams when Cam ran the 60 km Trailstoke and I went snowboarding and surfing!

And finally Etta has eaten birthday cake...... with sugar!