The sense of adventure runs deep among the staff of the Green Mountain Club. It was especially noticeable this summer as our staff was taking time to travel the country and enjoy the fresh air outside of the Long Trail. Here are some stories overheard around our Waterbury Center office:

Amy Potter, Visitor Center Manager

I had an adventure filled summer with lots of climbing and hiking throughout New England, but it was all in preparation for a trip to the North Cascades National Park. My husband and I spent a week in mid-August exploring the park’s jagged peaks. We followed pristine hiking trails; crossed glaciers; and scrambled steep, loose rock; all just in the first day to summit Sahale Peak.

We then spent the next few days as the sole climbers at a beautiful backcountry campsite surrounded by glaciers and 8-9,000’ mountains. From there we crossed more glaciers; scrambled more steep, loose rock; and climbed 3 pitches to ascend Sharkfin Tower.

After the excitement of climbing, we spent 3 relaxing days canoe camping on Lake Ross. The North Cascades offers endless opportunity for adventure, but the little, rugged mountains of Vermont have prepared me well for almost any terrain thrown my way.

Kristin McLane, Membership & Communications Coordinator

I went canoe camping on Saranac Lakes in the Adirondacks in July.  A good friend of mine has been talking up the lakes for years and we finally had a weekend we could both go.  We got there on Friday and five minutes after we started paddling to our campsite, it started pouring and thundering and lightning.  We quickly paddled to shore to wait it out, then made it to our campsite later.  The next morning, despite it not raining since the previous night, the same thing happened on our way to our next campsite!  Both times it was just enough rain to soak all of our things.  Still, we had enough beautiful weather to more than balance out the bad, we heard and saw plenty of loons, we enjoyed paddling around and swimming in the sun, and we had a big campfire Saturday night.  It’s really a wonderful spot and I plan to be back next year.

Mollie Flanigan, Land Stewardship Coordinator

This summer my partner Jake and I struck out to Yosemite National Park to marvel at Half Dome and El Capitan of course, but also to see if we could find some hidden wonders on our own. And find them we did. One joy for the adventurous hiker in the Sierra Nevada is that the great expanses of granite and sparse alpine vegetation makes it easy to navigate off trail, opening up the mountains to exploration.  Being careful to practice our best Leave No Trace hiking skills, Jake and I explored scree slopes, alpine meadows, and mountain lakes that no trail signs directed us to.  Leaving behind the crush of tourists in Yosemite Valley, we were free to wonder at the majesty of the mountains as if we were the only souls in the park.  It’s an experience I’ll be sure to seek out again, and one I would encourage everyone to find.

Alicia DiCocco, Director of Development

My family and I spent much of the summer hiking parts of the Long Trail, but over Labor Day weekend we set off on an adventure to explore parts of Maine. We traveled through New Hampshire (where we saw our first snow of the season by Mount Jefferson!) and made our way over to Maine in the small town called Hartford. We spent four days hiking, swimming, and most importantly looking for frogs. We enjoyed our first “camping” experience with both kids at a cabin on Great Pond, one of the Belgrade Lakes, and got to enjoy a bonfire on the beach. It was fun to explore another state in New England and we look forward to doing more of it!

As a parent, I’ve definitely had to change my expectations when it comes to hiking. And not just in shortening the length of our hikes, like I thought. Sometimes you just have to give in, and realize it’s not going to happen the way you planned and that’s OK.

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I (foolishly) thought we could just “sneak in” a little hike on a Sunday afternoon with our 1 year-old and 3 year-old. We got a little cocky because we take them hiking almost every weekend, even in the winter, and are usually moderately successful. We’ve watched our daughter gain confidence in her climbing abilities, explore the natural world around her, and sometimes even beg us to go hiking.

But on this particular day, we clearly lost our minds and forgot everything we know about parenting. We decided to have our 3 year-old daughter, Lane, skip her nap and go for a hike instead. We quickly learned that this was a terrible idea and after 3 minutes of hiking, things took a turn for the dramatic. (See right.)

Luckily, children are resilient. While we weren’t prepared for Lane to skip her nap, we were prepared with an extra pack she could hop into and an abundance of snacks and water to boost her morale. After being carried up to Sunset Ledge from Lincoln Gap, she insisted on walking down by herself and she spent the rest of the hiking learning to identify birch trees and asking questions about moss.

For us, there’s no sneaking when it comes to parenting. We know that we are a lot more successful when we plan ahead and hike in the morning, but sometimes the weather is too nice and you just need to spend time in the woods, even if it involves some meltdowns and extra snacks. The nice thing about having two children on a hike with you is that the chances of one of them being happy are pretty good. And whether it’s for 5 minutes or 5 hours, it’s important for us to spend time outside as a family.

To avoid a meltdown on our next adventure, I’ll probably wait until after the hike to tell her we can get ice cream. She expected someone to be waiting at the top to hand her a chocolate scoop with rainbow sprinkles, which is a pretty understandable reason for a meltdown.

If you are thinking of taking a hike with your children, consider looking at our suggested day hikes or checking out The Day Hiker’s Guide to Vermont. GMC also has a Young Adventurers Club, where you can hike with other families that have small children.