Hiking Mt. Sanitas with 2 kids
Several of my neighbors have managed, somehow, to get their 4 year old children up to the mountains for ski school. Every weekend. Like, a repeatable event.
I want to know: How do you do it? Seriously.
We tried to rally our boys to do a little hike on Mt. Sanitas today. It went something like this:
8:30 am: Let's go to Boulder for a hike! Everybody, let's get dressed! Did you eat breakfast? No?
8:45 am: Cinnamon toast is untouched. Cereal is soggy. Apple has turned brown. Kids are eating chocolate chip cookies out of the pantry.
9:00 am: Wrestle the kids out of PJs and into clothes.
9:15 am: Still searching for matching socks.
9:30 am: Realize it's daylight savings time, and it's actually 10:30.
10:30 am: Little one has pooed his diaper. Change him again.
10:45 am: Make PB&J sandwiches, fill water bottles, throw a bunch of snacks in a bag. Put the BOB stroller in the car. Search the neighborhood for the dog, who escaped out the open garage door.
11:10 am: Argue with the 4 year old about wearing his leather motorcycle jacket on a hike. He wins.
11:15 am: Boys are in their carseats! Car is packed, we're ready to go!
11:18 am: Realize the 4 year old has no seatbelt. Pull over to belt him in.
11:19 am: Realize we forgot the water & snacks. Not going back for them.
11: 24 am: "Mom, I'm hungry!"
11:35 am: Both boys are asleep.
11:50 am: Park at Nick-N-Willy's Pizza on Pearl Street (they have fabulous gluten-free pizza! Regular pizza too!). Try to wake the boys. They are now groggy and grumpy.
12:35 pm: After much cajoling, bribing and threatening, everyone has eaten an acceptable amount. OK, now let's go.
12:50 pm: Arrive at Mt. Sanitas! Unload the BOB, put on coats (convince the 4 year old not to wear the motorcycle jacket), realize we forgot water again - who cares, we've got a cookie and an apple left over from lunch.
1: 20 pm: My 4 year old, who has been talking non-stop up the trail, says, "Look at all the dogs- we should bring Maggie! Can we go to the very top of the mountain? Do mountain lions live here? Look how fast I am! Mom, this is the greatest day ever!"
2:30 pm: "Mom, I have to poop. Really, really bad." Everybody in the BOB, let's go.
***
Yeah. Again, friends: how do you do it? You're giving me a serious inadequacy complex.
PS: The St. Julien has really nice bathrooms, except the auto-flushers are really loud and scary.
Posts
LOVE the picture of the boys together. Doesn't that alone make the trouble worth it? I'm trying Mt. Sanitas with just me and the kids ages 3, 5, and 8 this weekend. Thanks for the reminder that it's ok if all doesn't go as planned. Seriously, how do other moms do it?
Thanks Kristina! I'm glad you found this too - we need to do that hike again! He still talks about it as the Best Day Ever!
Liz,
We did the Sanitas valley hike at your recommendation. It was great! We also brought the double bob stroller and I must say that it was a workout. We made it up to where the trail gets steep then tuned back around, I think it was about 2.5 miles round trip from the centennial trailhead parking lot.
Will do a full trail profile soon.
Aaron
Awesome! Mount Sanitas is one we do every 3-4 months and it's gone great. We've made it to the top with our 6 year old, we've spent our hike in the valley with our 3 year old, we've been rained on in a thunderstorm, and still it's a favorite. In fact, it's our hike we measure all othersby. We just did Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs and pronounced it shorter than Mt. Sanitas, but steeper and rockier. Happy hiking!