10 things I’ve learned about hiking with a kid

By Lily Niland

My 4-year-old and I have done a lot of hiking. When we’re nearing the top of whatever we’re climbing, we’re often asked, “Wow! How did you get up here?” 

With her hands in her pockets facing away (“I’ve got this”), Mount Pilchuck, October 2025. Photo by Lily Niland.

The main answer is what we’ve heard from her daycare: Clearly, this kid came pre-installed with a double pack of batteries. I keep trying to tire her out and she just keeps getting stronger.  

However, together we’ve also evolved ways to keep her moving forward (or, at least, in forward zig-zags). Every kid is wired differently, but here are 10 things that have worked for us: 

• Start early: Our most harmonious hikes are the ones in which we are in absolutely no hurry at all. After a few practice hikes, figure out your natural speed, and plan for that — then, allow for a few hours of just-in-case daylight on the back end. This will vary widely per kid, but over the course of any given day, we average about 1 mile an hour.  
• Tigers, crocodiles and dinosaurs, oh my! She has told me on long uphill stretches, “Mom, I think I need a tiger.” Nothing like somebody roaring behind you to motivate some giggles and forward motion.   
• Go with the flow: If the kid wants you to pretend to be a tiger and then jog behind her as she runs away, be a tiger. Run while the running is good, because later, everything is going to grind to a halt when she finds a slug and needs to stop to protect it from passing hikers until it finishes crossing the trail.  
• To each their own: What you think is cool (views of valleys and peaks) often will not be what they think is cool (dirt, bugs and puddles). As long as you’re both having fun, don’t be disappointed if they’re dismissive of what you thought would be the highlights.  
• Tally the switchbacks: My 4-year-old likes trails with lots of really short switchbacks, because they’re easy on the attention span. Plus, when you count them, they make you feel big and strong. At each switchback, we pull out a piece of paper and a satisfyingly fat marker, and she writes down the next number. “That’s seven! Let’s go find eight!” 
• Ask your kid for advice: On our very first hike, we came across a tiny dribble of water across the trail. She tugged on my leg, wanting me to carry her over, but I didn’t. Instead, I asked, “Hey, what do you think is the easiest way to do this?” Then, I watched her figure it out. I remember, that very first day, on the second or third wet bit of trail, she was like, “Oh! I can do this. I put my foot on this rock, and then on that rock…” Now, if we’re on a trail without obstacles, she gets whiny; she needs something to figure out. If she’s dragging, and I spot some rocks or roots ahead, I say, “Whoa! Can you show me how to climb that?” She takes off running. “Yeah!” She loves to be the expert and to show me how to solve a problem.   
• Shadow stomp: On a sunny day when the kid has slowed down, ask them to pretend your shadow is a puddle and stomp in it. Then gradually walk a little faster, and faster, so that they pick up the pace to keep stomping in the puddle.  
• Self-awareness: When we get closer to our goal and the pace nears that of a snail, I ask her to think about why she’s stopping. “Do you think that rock is reeeally that exciting? Or is it also maybe that when you get tired, you tend to look at the ground a lot and want to pause to touch everything?” She gets that light bulb look. “Oh, yeah! Let’s drink some water.” Good idea. Let’s drink some water, and then we can focus on moving forward until we get to a good snack spot up ahead.  
• Can I touch it? Early on, we established that if you want to touch a plant, you first have to know its name and whether it’s safe. This rule two benefits: One, they got her to stop touching random plants all the time, and two, it got her really excited about identifying plants so she could touch stuff. We got a kids’ plant book at the library and went to a park near home to see what we could find. The downside is that now she recognizes a bunch of different plants, which slows us down an awful lot. “Hey, I can touch that, that’s a sword fern. Hey, I can touch that, that’s salal.” Do you know how many sword ferns and salal plants there are around here? A LOT.  
• Ice cream: I always let her know that it’s completely OK that, if for any reason, we end up deciding to turn around early. If this mountain feels a little too big for her right now, I won’t be mad. We can always try again another day. If we do make it to the top/lake/goal/end, though, we go out for ice cream. The kid asks random passing hikers, “Can ice cream walk?” When they look at her, confused, she answers for them, “Nope! You gotta go get it!” and then takes off down the trail.  
  
  
  Looking like a boss on a bench, first ever hike, Carbon River Trail, May 2024. Photo by Lily Niland.

All this said, we absolutely have had — and continue to have — meltdowns along the way, both on her part and mine. Early on, we discovered that she had more miles of endurance in her legs than I had miles of endurance in my patience. You’ve got to build up to it! Hiking with kids is an unending process of learning to be patient with each other and with yourself. 

I would love to hear any additional tips and tricks that you and others have learned for hiking with little ones! So, please leave a comment with your ideas. Thank you for reading, and happy hiking!

Crouched down to check out a bug, Mount Walker, May 2026. Photo by Lily Niland.