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Hike It Baby: 100 Awesome Outdoor Adventures with Babies and Toddlers
New parents and parents of toddlers face unique challenges when it comes to planning outdoor trips. “Family-friendly trail” is often a misleading phrase, and doesn’t take young children under the age of 5 into consideration, whose safety and comfort require a different perspective. The unpredictable nature of little ones leads many parents to put their adventure dreams on the back burner, missing out on years of meaningful experiences as a family.
Hike it Baby presents 100 outdoor adventures across the U.S. that you can take with babies and toddlers (really!), along with everything you need to know about exploring the natural world. Sourced from real families using Hike it Baby’s trail-tested system, this book helps moms and dads get out there in their comfort zone, yet feel like hardcore adventurers! Whether you’ve always wanted to hike part of the Appalachian Trail, splash around in gentle Northwest waterfalls, or scramble up rocks in the desert surrounded by Joshua Trees, this book shows you how to plan a truly memorable journey together.
Hike it Baby presents 100 outdoor adventures across the U.S. that you can take with babies and toddlers (really!), along with everything you need to know about exploring the natural world. Sourced from real families using Hike it Baby’s trail-tested system, this book helps moms and dads get out there in their comfort zone, yet feel like hardcore adventurers! Whether you’ve always wanted to hike part of the Appalachian Trail, splash around in gentle Northwest waterfalls, or scramble up rocks in the desert surrounded by Joshua Trees, this book shows you how to plan a truly memorable journey together.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
376 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2018
14 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 18, 2023
I can see this being a great magazine but I had the ebook which was annoying to flip through. The majority of the book is a collection of hikes in each state with details and pictures of each. Great if you plan a cross country adventure or you’re living the van life and traveling a bunch. Scattered through those hikes are little articles about members in the groups and family hiking tips. The hiking tips were great but are not included in the index so in an ebook you can’t skip to find them - you have to flip through every single one of the 300 pages, which is silly.
January 5, 2023
Reminder of Enjoy the Journey
I have undervalued hiking almost all my life. Like, if I want to walk, why do I need to drive so far to a certain location with bugs that bite me to walk up hills? When I have done hikes in the past, I would race through them just to get to the end.
This book is on why not to do that 😅 It reminded me of the simple activities and unique sites that are not seen everyday that are easily present on trails. I used to think waterfalls? They all look the same anyway. However, the book goes into the geologic history of some locations and the area's human history with some locations, which adds to why this is not just another waterfall, bridge to cross over, pond to splash in.
This book helped me understand why a picture of an area isn't enough and how fun of an activity this is that I can share with my kids. I found myself highlighting many locations and adding them to my bucket list. I kept being surprised at how many areas featured animals and flowers that are rare, though I shouldn't be as it is easy to see how much land just in my own area is converted each year into human homes.
Overall, I have a much better grasp on what to point out for my kids, how to handle problems on a trail, and how to be more present on a hike.
I have undervalued hiking almost all my life. Like, if I want to walk, why do I need to drive so far to a certain location with bugs that bite me to walk up hills? When I have done hikes in the past, I would race through them just to get to the end.
This book is on why not to do that 😅 It reminded me of the simple activities and unique sites that are not seen everyday that are easily present on trails. I used to think waterfalls? They all look the same anyway. However, the book goes into the geologic history of some locations and the area's human history with some locations, which adds to why this is not just another waterfall, bridge to cross over, pond to splash in.
This book helped me understand why a picture of an area isn't enough and how fun of an activity this is that I can share with my kids. I found myself highlighting many locations and adding them to my bucket list. I kept being surprised at how many areas featured animals and flowers that are rare, though I shouldn't be as it is easy to see how much land just in my own area is converted each year into human homes.
Overall, I have a much better grasp on what to point out for my kids, how to handle problems on a trail, and how to be more present on a hike.
May 1, 2018
Hike It Baby is a great place to start if you want to go hiking with your little but you don't know where to start. It contains some simple hikes for folks with babies and toddlers, at least one in every state. I was disappointed at the small representation of Massachusetts hikes listed (Only 1!), but some of the others looked really neat and I would totally pull this book out for reference when heading out of state.
I really liked the asides in the book on baby carriers, food on the trail, potty on the trail, etc. They gave some good advice, though I do wish they were arranged in their own section instead of interspersed among the trail guides.
Now that it's finally spring, I'm getting excited to grab my three year old and hit the trails!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I was provided and ARC of this book from Rowman & Littlefield/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really liked the asides in the book on baby carriers, food on the trail, potty on the trail, etc. They gave some good advice, though I do wish they were arranged in their own section instead of interspersed among the trail guides.
Now that it's finally spring, I'm getting excited to grab my three year old and hit the trails!
FULL DISCLOSURE: I was provided and ARC of this book from Rowman & Littlefield/Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 21, 2020
Going state by state alphabetically, it lists some easy hikes that are baby and toddler friendly. I had my grandchildren in mind, who are turning 2 soon, but also thought these are perfect for me! Definitely want to check out the ones in Colorado and can't believe I haven't been to the ones in Wisconsin! Provides good info on accessibility, cost, if they are dog friendly and almost anything you need to know, highly recommend!
July 7, 2018
I would say this is more of a very large magazine vs a book. Some states are represented more than others (only 2 for Michigan, and we have amazing spots in the SE part of the state), but I get that a book can only be so big. I'm glad I check this out from the library instead of purchasing.
November 20, 2018
The Hike it Baby club/movement is very lovely, but I found the book disappointing, and more like "a list of doable trails for baby-havers in major US hiking areas." Which seemed to just mean short hikes, from what I could tell reading. Next time I'm planning a hiking trip I'm not sure I'd consult this over conventional local hiking guidebooks or the internet in general, which almost always cover short, easy hikes because they are popular with everyone.
The most valuable content was non-trail content, like "10 Essentials for Backpacking with Babies," "Bottle Feeding on Trail: Always Be Prepared" (I'd never thought about the difficult logistics of hiking with pumped breastmilk) and "Hiking Safety During Hunting Season," but all this valuable content was relegated to side bars dispersed randomly throughout the book. The vignettes about families in the Hike it Baby movement were also very inspiring and nice to read. I'd have appreciated a smaller book just dedicated to this sort of material, without any trail information, which is easily found elsewhere, unlike methods for merging the difficult particulars of life with child with hiking.
Certainly worth a pick up at the library, and if you're a baby-haver and a hiker you should certainly check out the website to see if you can meet some fellow travelers, but not one I think I'd ever come back to for planning hikes.
My copy of this book was free from the publisher for the purposes of review.
The most valuable content was non-trail content, like "10 Essentials for Backpacking with Babies," "Bottle Feeding on Trail: Always Be Prepared" (I'd never thought about the difficult logistics of hiking with pumped breastmilk) and "Hiking Safety During Hunting Season," but all this valuable content was relegated to side bars dispersed randomly throughout the book. The vignettes about families in the Hike it Baby movement were also very inspiring and nice to read. I'd have appreciated a smaller book just dedicated to this sort of material, without any trail information, which is easily found elsewhere, unlike methods for merging the difficult particulars of life with child with hiking.
Certainly worth a pick up at the library, and if you're a baby-haver and a hiker you should certainly check out the website to see if you can meet some fellow travelers, but not one I think I'd ever come back to for planning hikes.
My copy of this book was free from the publisher for the purposes of review.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews