8 Tips for Hiking with Kids—and Enjoying It

It’s hard to forget your first time hiking with kids. When my son could hold his head up at around six months old, I plopped him into a child carrier backpack and took off on our first hike through Manhattan’s Central Park. I felt like super mom as I trekked across New York’s urban paradise towards North Woods Loch Waterfall with sweet “oohs” and “ahhs” in my ear. Mostly, he slept. But it was such an exhilarating experience that I started a local hiking meetup for new parents, who rejoiced in this shared sense of reclaiming something not lost to our before lives, just reimagined; it was like walking through the world for the first time.