Trailblazing Made Easy: 7 Tips for Hiking with Kids

I'm trying to get outdoors more with my kids this summer. I don't just mean playing at the park, or splashing at the beach - I mean outdoors, as in "outdoorsy." Hiking, camping, that sort of thing. My oldest is 5, the youngest is 2 1/2, and we've gone on a few family hikes this summer, usually sticking to routes a mile or less within the city. But once or twice I've stretched it out to a longer trek in the mountains outside the city and it's been a little stressful. There's something challenging about hiking with younger kids. They either bound ahead of you exploring, or they doddle behind and you have to drag them down the path.

Tanya Koob writes a blog about her family's adventures in the Rocky Mountains. She takes her kids out into the wilderness every month of the year. They've hiked in the snow, camped in the rain, done it all. Her blog has been a great inspiration to get my kids outdoors, and recently she wrote about things you need to know about hiking with kids:

- By Buzz Bishop

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