Hiking with Young Kids

Erryn and I have been planning to attempt longer hikes with the boys for about 3 months now and have finally figured out the logistics. What we couldn't figure out was how two adults were going to carry two young children, ages 3 yrs and 22 months, plus food and water for everyone and nappie change supplies, on a 10km hike. So we had a look at what gear we already had and decided that two ergobaby carriers, two small backpacks and a few cheap carabiner clips should make it work.

We decided to try the beautiful walk from Charlottes Pass to Blue Lake on the Main Range track (click on the link to view the map). You can see in the photos above that we tried carrying both a child and a backpack on our backs but it was really uncomfortable. It didn't take long for us to try carrying the backpacks on our fronts which was actually pretty comfortable even if it looked a bit strange.

As you can see by the photo of Erryn and Kai enjoying the view we did make it to the lookout! We even made the return trip within the recommended amount of time which was a great surprise to both Erryn and I. Everyone had a really good time and my legs still hurt 3 days later but I think we are all keen to go again. Success!