On average what is avg daily milage for a 8 year old?!

[HooKooDooKu]

I've found that a certain independence on the trail when they're ready isn't a bad thing, and will certainly teach them greater confidence and independence.

When it is age appropriate, I'd have to agree... and as they've ages and gained some experience, they have not had to stick quite so close to dad as they did when we first started hiking. Once both my boys are teenagers, I've always figured that would be about the time I would let them hike on their own (using the buddy system) when we do our annual family hike to Mt LeConte Lodge (GSMNP). But for now, neither boy is even a teenager, so they've still got to hang close to dad while camping.

[Another Kevin]

I personally wouldn't risk allowing a child to hike even one mile in the woods alone. If they should take a wrong turn or fall off the trail, it could become nearly impossible to find them. Instead, I've always tried to teach my kids to respect the dangers of the back country, including the possibility that there are no guarantee that nothing will ever happen to me. I've taught them that we always leave an itinerary with someone who can contact the authorities if we are late, and I've taught them that if anything were to happen to me, they should 'shelter-in-place' until someone someone arrives to help them.

It varies with the kid. My daughter's instructions when she was small were indeed to "shelter in place." The game of "you're on lead" was to get her the practice of finding her own way out. By mid-to-late teens, she was functionally an adult for the purpose of this discussion.

I let her lead a day hike with her friends - and without me - the week she got her driver's license and no longer depended on me for transportation to the trailhead. She asked me if she could. I replied, "Let me see your safety plan." She already had one written. It was sound, and it was on a trail we'd done several times before. I worried only a little, because we'd done exercises like having her lead, having her plan and pack her own supplies, and so on. She knew what she was doing, and the kids had a great time. Some of the mommies were about to say, 'absolutely not!' until they read the information packet that she gave them (detailed itinerary and emergency contacts, instructions of what and what not to bring and wear, topo map with trails highlighted). They decided, after seeing it, that the kids did have adult supervision.

It was when she was about the same age that her godmother read one of my trip reports, and chided me for having her along when an online guidebook that I'd linked to warned that one of the trails was not to be attempted unless you were an expert hiker with proper equipment. (OK, the trail was a little sketchy in spots...) Before I could answer, my daughter interrupted and told Godmother, "My father has had me out doing this since I was eight years old, and always seen to it that I had the proper gear. I think I am an experienced hiker with proper equipment." It was a "the kids grow up, don't they?" moment for Godmother.

[shelb]

+1.

That is the secret. Let the child lead. Teach them the responsibility of being in front while allowing them to set the pace.

to

SO TRUE!!! My eight year old would do 7 to 12 miles days - depending on what we say and where the shelters were. I will never forget one hike when we frequently saw milipeeds (centipeeds?? - some type of worm like bug with a bunch of legs) on the trail. At first he stomped on some. After we had long discussions about the value of all types of life, he began to stop whenever he saw one on the trail to pick it up and set it to the side of the trail. ----Yes, this slowed us down, but what a cherished lesson and memory!!

[Teacher & Snacktime]

It varies with the kid. My daughter's instructions when she was small were indeed to "shelter in place." The game of "you're on lead" was to get her the practice of finding her own way out. By mid-to-late teens, she was functionally an adult for the purpose of this discussion.

I let her lead a day hike with her friends - and without me - the week she got her driver's license and no longer depended on me for transportation to the trailhead. She asked me if she could. I replied, "Let me see your safety plan." She already had one written. It was sound, and it was on a trail we'd done several times before. I worried only a little, because we'd done exercises like having her lead, having her plan and pack her own supplies, and so on. She knew what she was doing, and the kids had a great time. Some of the mommies were about to say, 'absolutely not!' until they read the information packet that she gave them (detailed itinerary and emergency contacts, instructions of what and what not to bring and wear, topo map with trails highlighted). They decided, after seeing it, that the kids did have adult supervision.

It was when she was about the same age that her godmother read one of my trip reports, and chided me for having her along when an online guidebook that I'd linked to warned that one of the trails was not to be attempted unless you were an expert hiker with proper equipment. (OK, the trail was a little sketchy in spots...) Before I could answer, my daughter interrupted and told Godmother, "My father has had me out doing this since I was eight years old, and always seen to it that I had the proper gear. I think I am an experienced hiker with proper equipment." It was a "the kids grow up, don't they?" moment for Godmother.

Oh my....an information packet for the parents? She is SO YOUR DAUGHTER !!!

[Teacher & Snacktime]

When it is age appropriate, I'd have to agree... and as they've ages and gained some experience, they have not had to stick quite so close to dad as they did when we first started hiking.

I'm completely with you here.....Snacktime wasn't allowed out of my sight - LITERALLY - for our first full year of hiking. Now I give him more latitude, but I still insist he wear screaming-bright colors so I can pick him out from farther away! He pats me on the head and patronizingly nods and says "Yes, Grandma. I promise I won't get lost." Brat child.....but safe brat child

[HooKooDooKu]

What I tell my kids is... if they are out of sight for any length of time, and during that time is when they should slip and fall down the side of a hill (perhaps knocking them out to where they can't call for help), I might hike right by them and not know where they've fallen. If I then hike a quarter, half, or full mile before deciding they are lost, the search area quickly gets really large.

There's an example of one the boys hiking Hannah Mtn Trail in GSMNP. There's a lot of other trails where the surrounding terrain is much steeper and the footing isn't always as good as you see here.
gsmnp.jpg

[Another Kevin]

He pats me on the head and patronizingly nods and says "Yes, Grandma. I promise I won't get lost." Brat child.....but safe brat child

I can SO see Snacktime doing that! rofl2.gif

[Teacher & Snacktime]

I can SO see Snacktime doing that! rofl2.gif

It's even more effective now that he's a head taller than I am. Next time you see him he might be taller than you, AK! He's at perfect head-patting height.....sigh.

[rocketsocks]

I seem to recall a thread last year maybe about hiking with kids and strategies for keeping them in-touch but hiking seperate...it was a good one with some great advice as I recall...things like stop just before any road head and wait for me to catch up, walkie talkies...bunch of good ones.

[saltysack]

Thx for all the great tips.... Now thinking we should just do out and back as I'm uncertain of his desire to walk too far...any reccs? Had planned on being near NOC so we could also go rafting... Maybe park at winding stair and go the 4 miles to top hike down next day??

[saltysack]

Siler bald

[HooKooDooKu]

Thx for all the great tips.... Now thinking we should just do out and back as I'm uncertain of his desire to walk too far

But walking isn't even half of the over all experience of camping in the woods.

And you don't have to walk far to still be able to camp overnight. I know that up in GSMNP, there are several camp sites that are within 2.5 miles of the trailhead (some even as close as a mile or less). Just don't try to go too far, and don't start too early in the day so that you're not having to find a way to keep the 8yo entertained for 8+ hours once you get to camp. 3 to 4 hours is all that is needed to setup camp, do camp chores, and perhaps even build a camp fire.

One suggestion to help make it fun would be to bring along hotdogs and cook them over the fire for dinner. You can keep the dogs in a cooler in the car until you're at the trail head.

[FlyPaper]

Yup. I always made a game with my daughter of "Make sure you look behind you on the way in, because you're leading on the way out!" (And I let her lead, and let her make some mistakes, biting my tongue as we wandered a half a mile down the wrong blue blaze.)

Sometime when my daughter was in mid-to-late teens, I clarified that to, "because God forbid anything should happen to me, you need to find your way out," but by then she was able to handle the idea.

I ask my kids several times on a hike the following question:

"If I fell and conked my head on a rock and wasn't conscious, what would you do?"

First of all, I'm actually more worried about heart attack or something like that and I want to make sure my kids can think through the logistics. But no need to make my own demise seem more a realistic possibility to them. But it does give me a chance to quiz them with a more comical visual as a preface.

The answer varies depending on time of day and where we are on the trail. Sometimes the answer is to go backwards, sometimes it is to go forward, sometimes it involves preparing for the night. Of course it always starts with checking for cell phone reception.