Furry Children: Hiking With Dogs In California

In November 2013, we were driving back from a vacation in San Simeon (more on nature experiences there in a future post!), and we decided to take the long route home.  We love the curvy roads of Highway 1 as they hug the rugged coastline of California.

Four hours was too long in the car for us, Lil' H, and our furry child - Toby, so we decided we'd stop at one of the famed California State Parks in Bug Sur along the way to stretch our legs and take a hike.

Our first stop was Limekiln State Park.  Limekiln has a well-deserved reputation for breath-taking views of the Big Sur coast, towering Redwoods, and the four enormous kilns that give the park its name.  We pulled in, paid for a day pass, then noticed the sign that every dog owner dreads:

The woman at the gate kindly gave us our money back and we continued up the road to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  This time we asked at the gate before paying - are dogs allowed on trails?  The answer was, sadly, no.  Moving north along Highway 1, we got the same answer at Andrew Molera State Park as well.  

A helpful ranger explained to us that at Andrew Molera, like most California State Parks, dogs are allowed in campgrounds and on roads, but not on trails.  He was kind enough to point out that we could back track just a few miles down the road to the Pine Ridge Trailhead at Big Sur Station to access the Ventana Wilderness trail network.  The Ventana Wildnerness is managed by the United States Forest Service so their policies are different.  Dogs had to be on leash but were allowed on trails.  

Hiking in the Ventana Wilderness, dogs welcome!

We were glad to finally have an option to stretch our legs, and we learned some important information.  California State Parks has more information about visiting parks with your dog on their website.  It's always a good idea to call whatever campground, park, or even hotel, your are visiting with your dog to be clear on their policies.  

US Forest Service wilderness areas, forests, and campgrounds usually have more flexible dog policies, so aim for those properties when traveling with your dog.  Also, local governments have their own policies, so do your research before planning a trip to county parks, city parks, national wildlife refuges, open spaces, and national parks as they all have their own rules and policies.

Also, please remember that it is NEVER a good idea to leave a dog locked in a car when you want to go somewhere that dogs are not allowed.  The American Veterinary Medical Association has a helpful chart to help you see how warm it can really get inside your car, even in just a few minutes.  

What are your favorite trails and campgrounds that are dog friendly?

Campground Review: Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Big Basin Redwoods, located in the Santa Cruz mountains, is California's oldest state park.  One quick look around and you can see why lawmakers were quick to designate and protect this area in 1902.  The park is filled with beautiful redwoods, a plethora of wildlife, and over 80 miles of trails.

Hiking on the Redwood Loop Trail

While Big Basin is definitely worth a visit, it's not among our favorites.  The park is so large and spread out that you actually have to get in to your car to drive to the Visitor Center, General Store, or Nature Museum, or to the other trailheads and campgrounds.  You could walk or ride bikes, but the highway runs through the center of the park so there is a lot of traffic in the busy summer months.

The Redwood Loop Trail, which starts just across from the Visitor Center, is beautiful and the landmarks are well labeled.  The trail is smooth and wide and although it's only a half-mile, you'll want to budget at least 45 minutes to take pictures and let your little ones take it all in.  Dogs aren't allowed on the Redwood Loop Trail, or any other trails in the park, but they are allowed on the North Escape Road which is a combination hard-packed dirt and asphalt access road heading north through some of the picnic sites along Opal Creek.

Toby and Lil' H can't wait to get up and go hiking, unfortunately dogs aren't allowed on trails in most California State Parks

We visited the park in July 2014, when Lil' H was 20 months old.  The park was busy and crowded, even though we were there during the week (we couldn't get weekend reservations, everything was reserved).  We stayed in the Blooms Creek Campground, and we had enough room in our campsite to set up one large tent and a small pop-up trailer.  (Note: If you are driving to Big Basin Redwoods SP with a trailer, following Driving Route #1 through Boulder Creek, it's the least windy)

Lil' H enjoys her first S'more at Blooms Creek Campground

The Blooms Creek, Huckleberry, and Sempervirens Campgrounds all have potable water, restrooms, and showers (pay-showers only).  The Wastahi and Jay Campgrounds are for through-hikers (backpackers) only.  Fires are only allowed in the metal rings at the campsites, and you can purchase firewood from the general store if you don't bring your own.  Camping is available year-round, but not at all of the campgrounds.  Reservations are available online, and be sure to make reservations well in advance if you plan to camp at Big Basin Redwoods on a summer weekend!

Overall Impression:
This campground is best for families who have flexibility to camp mid-week but who don't want to travel far from home and want access to a lot of amenities.

Pros:
Short distance from Bay Area
Variety of camping options, including primitive campsites, group sites, and tent cabins
General Store and Gift Shop on site
Nature Museum and Ranger-led hikes and activities
Redwoods, everyone loves redwoods!

Cons: 
Windy roads to the park aren't recommended for camper trailers or carsick kids
Rustic/dated bathrooms and pay-showers only ($0.25 for 2 minutes)
Weekend reservations are difficult in the busy summer months, try for weekdays for more availability.
No hook-ups for RVs
Dogs not allowed on trails (true for most California State Parks)

If you have any other questions about this campground, or any others, let us know!

Camping 101: Where Do I Start?

If you've never been camping before, or you haven't been since your days as a happy camper at 'Camp Wannahockaloogie', it can be intimidating to put together a camping trip.  Here are some tips for pulling of a successful camping trip for your family!

1. Go with friends!  Specifically, go with friends who have been camping and can help you.  There are a lot of advantages to going camping with friends.  You can split up meal planning responsibilities.  You can bond around the campfire together.  And best off all, you can share gear!

2. Try before you buy!  If you've never been camping, and you're not sure you're going to like it, don't invest in a lot of expensive gear.  Instead, borrow gear from friends or rent it from local gear shops.  If you end up loving camping, you'll already have a good idea of what type of gear you like and don't like.  When you are ready to invest, check out geartrade.com for great deals on outdoor clothing and equipment.

3. Keep it simple!  Maybe a nine-day backpacking trip over the Sierra Nevada's isn't the best place to start (although that was Mrs. H's first outdoorsy experience, and she was hooked!).  Instead, start with a one- or two-night camping trip at a campground that's close to home (in case you need to bail).  Go during warm weather so you don't need any special gear.  Keep meal time easy by bringing pre-packaged food like mac n' cheese, granola bars, and instant oatmeal.

4. What do I really need?  Surprisingly, not much.  Sure, there are families like us who devote half of their living space to gear storage, but you don't have to be a zealot about it!

• Somewhere to sleep: An RV, a trailer, a pop-up camper, a tent, or a hammock between two trees all work great
• Something to sleep on: Your rv/camper might have beds, or yu could use a blow-up mattress, a Thermarest, or even an inflatable pool raft
• Something to sleep in: If you are sleeping on a mattress, just bring sheets and blankets from home.  If you are going for the full camping experience, use a sleeping bag.
• Something to eat: Don't worry about a gourmet dining experience.  Just stick to pre-packaged foods in the beginning, you can graduate to gourmet dutch oven dinners over a campfire when you get more experience under your belt!  You might need to bring water for drinking and cooking, check your campground ahead of time to see if there is water available.  Don't forget graham crackers, Hershey bars, and marshmallows - what is camping without s'mores?
• Some safety essentials:  Even if the weather is gorgeous during the day, it's sure to turn colder at night so always pack a warm layer for every member of your group.  Also, make sure to bring a flashlight, headlamp, or lantern as well as a simple first aid kit.

We'll get into more specifics in future posts about campfire cooking, gear tips, and packing lists.  If you have specific questions, let us know!

Campground Review: Uvas Canyon County Park

This winter has been warm and dry so far.  Not great for our drought conditions, but great for winter camping!  When we lived on the east coast, I never wanted to go outside in winter, let alone camp.  I remember one snowy camping trip in West Virginia in October. I was pretty mad at Mr. H for that one.  But winter camping in the Bay Area of California is considerably more comfortable, even with kids!  We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend a night in the great outdoors.  We wanted to keep it easy - something near by.  SV Toddler was raving about Uvas Canyon County Park on her blog recently, so we were excited to see that there was a campground there as well.

Hiking the Waterfall Loop Trail

Uvas Canyon is definitely a hidden-gem.  Tucked a few miles off main roads in a canyon south of San Jose, the park features hiking trails, campsites, and beautiful waterfalls.

While we were there we did the Waterfall Loop Trail, an easy 1-mile trek with beautiful scenery.  We also completed the Knibb's Knob trail, even though the map warned us that the trail was "STEEP".  They were not kidding!  The trail goes strait up and down on a dusty, exposed fire-road.  I wouldn't recommend it for families. It was a pain hiking downhill with Lil' H in the pack, very hard on the knees!

Don't let the picture fool you, the Knibb's Knob trail was VERY steep!

The campground itself is rustic - there are no hookups for RVs.  However the sites are spacious and the bathrooms and showers are the cleanest I have ever seen at a campground.  If you do have a trailer or pop-up camper, aim for sites 19-22.  The rest of the sites are best for tents only.  All of the sites have a fire-ring and firewood is available for $7.60 per box from the rangers.  EDITED to add: There are several water spigots with potable water throughout the campsite, so you don't need to worry about bringing your own water.

Lil' H's favorite part of this campground was the rock retaining wall near our campsite.  She threw on her rain boots (which she called rock-climbing shoes) and climbed up the wall over and over and over.  The paths nearby were nice and smooth so definitely bring a bicycle to keep your kids entertained in camp!

Overall, I'd say this is an ideal campground for first-time campers in the Bay Area.  It's close enough to home that if anything goes wrong, you can be home in a few minutes.  But with so many great trails and things to do, who would want to go home?

Pros: Uvas Canyon is only a 45-minute drive from Silicon Valley.  The campsites and amenities (clean bathrooms and showers, fire ring in every camp site) are a great value for the price - only $12 per night!  Availability depends on the season - book a site in winter, spring, or fall to avoid the summer rush.  This place is beautiful year round.

Cons: It is a rustic campground with no hookups available.  Because the park is in a canyon, daylight hours are truncated, however this would be a Pro in the warm summer months.  The campground would stay shady most of the day.

Have specific questions about Uvas Canyon?  Let us know!

Gear Review: LuminAID Solar Inflatable Light

Since this is our first official product review, let us state for the record that we do not receive any endorsement or compensation for our reviews.  These are just our honest opinions of gear we have first-hand experience with.  Now with that out of the way...

There are many things to love about the luminAID Inflatable Solar Light.  This reusable solar-powered lantern was developed by two female graduate students who were asked to design a product to assist post-earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.  In it's deflated state, it's smaller than an iPhone and much lighter.  When exposed to the sun, it charges the battery for an LED lamp. Hikers can strap it to the top of their backpacks during a hike, or just leave it on the picnic table at your campsite during the day.

Once the battery is charged, you inflate the plastic and turn on the lamp.  The device provides a diffuse light (great for a tent night-light or reading light) and it is fully waterproof.

For all its functionality, I think the luminAID should be a part of everyone's camping stash, not to mention your home emergency kit. 

Overnight Adventures: Sleeping Gear

A key to enjoying your camping experience is making sure that everyone can get a good night's sleep.  Kids don't experience the back pains and body aches that make Mrs. H wish for a Temperpedic mattress in her tent, but they still deserve to be comfortable and WARM.  Here's our current setup, which kept Lil' H warm all night on a recent January camping trip.  Even the dog was jealous!

Step 1:  Sleeping Surface

You could use any kind of padding to help your little one be more comfortable.  The floor or our trailer is metal, so we chose a Regalo My Cot.  Conveniently, it fits just right between Mr. H's and Mrs. H's beds in the trailer!  You could also use an inflatable sleeping pad like the Thermarest Trail Scout.  The Small size is just right for a child (up to 48") and it doesn't need a pump or electricity to inflate - just your own personal supply of hot air.  When Lil' H was an infant, she shared an inflatable mattress with us.  We like the Eddie Bauer Insta-Bed because the built-in pump doesn't rely on electricity.

Step 2: Mylar Emergency Blanket

Adding a Mylar Emergency Blanket between the cot and a sheet can help reflect body heat back to the child, instead of dissipating into the air between the tent/trainer floor and the cot.  They are inexpensive and fold to a very small size.  I highly recommend adding one to any First Aid kit.

Step 3: Fitted Crib Sheet

The crib sheet serves several purposes.  It holds the mylar blanket in place on the cot and quiets the rustling from the blanket.  It also provides an easy-washable layer of friction between the cot/pad/blanket and a sleeping bag.  It may be thin, but it probably adds a marginal amount of warmth as well.  How convenient that a fitted crib sheet fits JUST right on the cot - we use this setup for overnight trips at hotels and friend's houses too in addition to camping trips.

Step 4: Warmth

We knew we could be camping a lot with Lil' H so we invested in a good quality sleeping bag right from the start.  The REI Kindercone bag is rated down to 30 degrees F, and you can cinch down the foot area for shorter kids.

Step 5: Pajamas

Make sure your kids are dressed warmly before you tuck them in for the night.  Footy pajamas are great when they are infants and toddlers.  For older kids, add long underwear and socks under the thickest pajamas you have.  I even put Lil' H to bed with a wool hat on, just to make sure.  

One important thing to remember is that the higher you are in altitude, the cooler the night time temperatures will be.   Also, desert areas have the coldest night temps because there is no humidity to hold heat in.  Plan accordingly!

How To Encourage Interaction With Nature

Any parent in Silicon Valley knows that there's no better source for park information than Silicon Valley Toddler, so we followed Toddler X's recommendation and headed to Edenvale Garden Park in South San Jose.   While this park does have a great playground, today we focused on the winding trails and wide open spaces.

Kids are inherently curious and it's our job as their caregivers to foster that curiosity.  I had such a fun time watching Lil' H interact with nature.  Usually, I have a hard time letting go of my agenda.  But today I made a special effort to let Lil' H pick which trails to follow, which flowers to pick, and which rocks to climb.

This butterfly net from the dollar section at Target is one of Lil' H's favorite toys.  We didn't see any butterflies to chase today, although we did find a very informative bulletin board with the types of butterflies normally seen at the park posted at the Edenvale entrance.  Instead, we used the net for collecting the different flowers, leaves, and seeds that we found around the park.

Anytime Lil' H picked up a new specimen, I would tell her what it was, then I asked her questions about it to help her understand what she had found.   Maybe two year olds are a little young for the Socratic method, but I'm determined to raise a tree-hugging genius!

Try these questions to encourage interaction between your child and nature:

• What color is it?
• Is it hard or soft?
• Is it smooth or pokey?
• Is it big or small?

In the end, you'll have a smarter kid and beautiful collection of leaves to take home!

Campground Review - Catavee Campground

Lake Huntington at dawn

In July 2013, we took Lil' H for her very first camping trip.  She was 9 months old at at the time, and just a few days shy of walking.  We camped at Catavee Campground, on the shores of Huntington Lake just north of Fresno, California.  The area holds special significance for Mr. and Mrs. H (this is where we got married!) so it was a perfect choice for Lil' H's first camping trip.

Camping with an infant presents a few unique challenges, which we'll cover in a separate post.  For now, let's focus on the campground itself.

Grandma H and Mr. H inspect our setup - note the infant necessities like a walker and Pack n' Play

Catavee is a rustic campground.  The sites are packed dirt with picnic tables, suitable for tents or tent trailers.  There are no RV hookups.  The restrooms have flush toilets, but no showers.  The main draw in the area is Huntington Lake, home of the High Sierra Regatta.  The nearby town of Lakeshore has restaurants and a convenience store in case you forget any essentials.  Even better, the tourist town of Shaver Lake is only a 30-minute drive away.

Pros: Beautiful views, easy to get reservations, nearby amenities

Cons: Rustic campground, cold night temperatures.

Have specific questions about Catavee or the Lakeshore/Shaver area?  Let us know!

Introduction

Welcome to Kids By Nature!

Have you ever wished that you could expose your kids to nature more often, but aren't sure where to start?  We are starting this site to provide tips on kid-friendly trails, campgrounds, and gear.  We love the outdoors and we want to share our passion with other families!

Who are the Kids By Nature experts?

Mrs. H is an aquatics expert by profession and city-girl turned outdoor enthusiast.  She enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and off-road triathlons.

Mr. H is a professor by profession, and a life-long adventurer.  Raised by hippies, he's been backpacking since he was 3.  His primary outdoor interests include mountaineering, ice climbing, and off-road triathlons.

Lil' H is a 2-year old force of nature who loves camping in her "twailer," tormenting our dog, and riding her Strider bike.  She's our resident beta-tester for kid friendly gear.

Keep following Kids By Nature for gear reviews, trail suggestions, and camping tips.  If you have specific questions, please contact us by email or post on our Facebook page.