I've been planning a father's day trip with my son who is 5, and my dad who is 65 for the last month. We left yesterday afternoon and hiked 3 miles in to a gorge on the Cumberland Trail. After making camp and dinner my boy started complaining that he was was freezing cold. It was 70° so I put his jacket on. He was still cold and I thought he was tired so I had him get in his bag and lay down. I checked on him 10 minutes later and he said he was still cold, but he was burning up with a fever. We made the decision to break camp and hike out. I carried him on my shoulders sitting on my pack for the whole way mostly uphill, in the dark. Got back to the car at 10:30 and home at 11:00. He had a fever of 102.5 when we got there. It was a long night.
Lessons learned:
Put some fever reducer in my first aid kit. All I had was Aleve and Advil.
I need a better headlamp and a handheld. My petzl elite doesn't cut it for hiking out in the dark and fog.
Any others tips from those who hike with little ones?