Outdoor Gear Archives - Page 6 of 6

Walkie Talkies – Adventure Magic for Kids

Nearly every outdoor outing can be made more fun with the addition of some walkie-talkies. We have had a few for years, and just recently added a few more to spread among our growing number of interested children.

We wanted to get new radios that worked well with our previous ones, so we made sure to get ones that are FRS compatible. Mostly based on price, we bought a few Motorola MH230R radios. After using them on most of our recent adventures, we love these new radios. In fact, we’ll be ordering a few more shortly.

Most of the Motorola FRS radios come with a rechargeable battery, and you can either use the rechargeable battery pack, or standard batteries. These new radios we bought use three AAA batteries in place of the battery pack. When you have the battery back in place, you can even charge these radios with a standard mini USB cable. FRS radios allow you to select one of several channels, and also one of a number of ‘security codes’ which help filter out any other users of the same frequencies.

Our kids love playing with the radios, and we get the added bonus of being able to talk to the kids while they are exploring and running ahead on our hikes. Might I pass along a few things I’ve learned about kids and radios:

1. Teach them to hold the radio away from their mouth when they talk. We frequently remind them “don’t eat the radio!”
2. Teach them to hold down the button while they talk. Then release it, and give others a chance to respond.
3. Teach them to keep the radio on, until the adventure is over. A radio that is off

Give a few radios a try, and you may find they add more to an adventure then you expected!

Best Seat on the Trail

For the past 7 years, most family hikes involved the littlest child riding in a kid backpack. We once hiked a 9 mile, 4,000 ft up, 5,000 ft down trail with Rachel on my back. I have fond memories of singing songs while we hiked, and passing snacks over my shoulder to little waiting hands.

We bought one when our oldest child outgrew the infant sized front carriers. While a sizeable investment for some newly married students, it has paid off handsomely in the years since then. At the time, the Kelty kid carriers were not well designed, and we bought a Deuter Kid Comfort. I considered it to be an investment that would guide our family activities, and it has performed as expected. We have hiked more, and longer, as a result of having a good way to carry a tired child. When young, they took naps during hikes. As they got older, more and more time was spent hiking, taking riding breaks to rest tired feet.

Deuter has been a fantastic brand. Kelty has stepped up their game, and they have some good options as well. Whatever brand you consider, look for the following features:

A built in sunshade Sleeping kids burn easily. The sunshade on our Deuter has been awesome. It’s attached, so I can’t forget it, and it deploys in seconds.
A hydration bladder. When you are carrying the load, having a drink when you need it is really convenient.
Nice grab handles. Nice handles on both front and back of the top come in very handy when you need to unload in a less than flat terrain.

After years of hiking kids, our littlest is almost grown out of it. On our recent hiking in Arches National Park, little Cara hiked 3 miles of our 4 mile hike. She spent two short segments riding: one at her request, and the other I insisted upon to speed a rocky descent. Though she’s nearly outgrown it, she still loves a ride when her feet get tired. She happily (and loudly) sang songs as we hiked, and I paused briefly to capture one of my favorites.