The time when outdoor-loving families take their little ones out for the first time varies wildly. I see folks taking newborns on multi-day backcountry trips, and I see others whose kids won't have anything to do with a tent until they're 4. For us, it's been somewhere in between.

When Little O was born, I was pretty overwhelmed by navigating life with an infant. Adding the logistics of outdoor adventures felt like it was just too much. As a result, we didn't do much as a family that first year. There was a successful trip out to the Black Hills in South Dakota when he was 6 months old, camping and all, but not much else until earlier this spring. This season we've been camping and hiking with our toddler in earnest and in August took him on a 6-day/5-night backpacking trip through the Beartooth Mountains in Montana. Little O was 21 months old.

This was our first backcountry trip with Little O, and the logistics were daunting. What to pack? What not to pack? What do we actually need? How will our little one respond to a trip like this? What about food? Feeding a toddler dehydrated meals for 6 days seemed like a bad idea. Diapers? First aid? How do we deal with a messy eater in bear country? What if it rains a lot? Are we crazy? Can we actually do this? Should we actually be doing this?

Our packing list was big. We crossed some stuff off, watched videos of parents packing for their trips, crossed more things off and added other stuff. We connected with others who had already been adventuring with their littles, and they connected us to great ideas and resources. We started taking multiple long hikes a week with O. in the backpack so he could get used to sitting in there for long stretches. We made a plan, packed our stuff into a child carrier and a backpack, and headed west. (Packing list and logistics will be in a separate post)

Our first hurdle was getting there. With a toddler who won't tolerate more than a few hours in the car on any one day, a trip from Minneapolis to Montana is no small feat. The route we had chosen was about 18 hours of driving (we love it here, but mountains are far away). To make it manageable for all, we split the drive over 5 days, stopping for a full day in the Black Hills for a rest and acclimation hike up Black Elk Peak (elevation 7,242 ft).

Our longest day in the car was 5 hours. Most days were more like 3 or 4. We did our best to time driving around naps, and when naps happened, bypassed many rest stops for fear of waking a sleeping child. When he was awake, there was singing, snacking, hanging out in the backseat, and some crying and fussing, too. We learned very quickly that any town we stopped in likely had a city park with a playground. Perfect for picnic lunches and a break from the car.

We camped most of the way out, and crashed on floors and couches of family and friends when we could.

*U.S. Forest Service campsite outside of Red Lodge, MT. Throwing rocks into water was great entertainment!*

We finally landed in Red Lodge, Montana. Our objective was a trail called "The Beaten Path," a 26-mile thru-hike up and over the Beartooth Mountains. We knew it would be challenging, but well-traveled. This trail had been on our list for years, and the thought of ticking it off with child in tow (and... sharing it with said child) seemed like a perfect way to get back into the mountains as a family of three.

The Beaten Path, Beartooth Mountains, MT

Every account I have seen about this trail remarks on how beautiful it is. The hike runs 26 miles from East Rosebud Lake up an alpine valley dotted with lake after lake, over a mountain plateau at 10,000 ft, and down the other side, winding through thick woods and ending near Cooke City, MT. We had arranged for a friend of a friend to hike the trail in the opposite direction, and he drove our car back around to where he started/where we would end (thanks, Chuck!).

Day 1 - East Rosebud to Elk Lake

We started a bit later than planned. I may have driven an extra 30 min. down a wrong, very potholed dirt road before realizing we couldn't possibly be going the right way. After righting ourselves around, we arrived at the trailhead by 10am or so. Our friend Chuck had finished his hike in 2 days, more quickly than expected, and met us at the parking lot! It was nice to hear a little about the trail from him. He also entertained our little one while we got everything sorted (thanks, Chuck!) We packed up the child, exchanged high fives and encouraging words, and set off on our adventure.

East Rosebud Lake is at the eastern edge of the Beartooth Mountains and is one of many lakes formed as East Rosebud Creek makes its way down from higher elevations. The trailhead is at 6,206 ft. above sea level. Our objective the first day was Elk Lake, 3.5 miles from the trailhead and 500 ft. of elevation gain. It was a fairly easy hike and we saw a few families with young kids on that section of trail and at the lake.

*Peaks for days! Hiking into the Beartooths from East Rosebud Lake*

By early afternoon, we had arrived at Elk Lake and set up camp. And, we actually got our child to nap *in* the tent that day. It was glorious. Seth and I had a while to just sit outside, look at the mountains and the lake, enjoy where we were and what we were about to do.

It was a beautiful evening. A perfect way to begin our trip.

Day 2 - Elk Lake to Rainbow Lake

Our second day's objective was to hike from Elk Lake to Rainbow Lake; about 4.5 miles and 1,000 ft. of elevation gain. The forecast called for clear skies and then afternoon/evening storms leading to storms and rain on day 3. We woke up, ate some breakfast, and got a decent start. I think we were on the trail by 8:30 or 9.

The trail to Rainbow Lake continued up a gorgeous alpine valley, with walls of granite lining both sides, and following the creek and its waterfalls all along the way. Our tiny passenger loved the waterfalls, and keeping an eye out for them kept him entertained for a good portion of the hike.

In my trail research, I had focused in on two particular sections of trail which a few hikers referred to as exposed. One of those sections was on this day's hike, and I had quite a bit of anxiety over what I thought it might be like, especially carrying the little on my back. We hiked an hour or so before reaching that first section. I had built this section up in my head, and it turned out to be just fine. A case of my brain imagining something as being really scary and terrifying and dangerous when the reality was ... not that.

*The not-so-scary section of trail. The Beaten Path, Beartooth Mountains, MT*

Next up was Rimrock Lake. Rimrock had a greenish/blue color to it that we would see in several lakes up the trail as well. It was clean and clear and spectacular.

There was a nice little beach at Rimrock, and we took a break to snack, change diaper, run around, and throw rocks in the water.

From there it was uphill to Rainbow Lake. The elevation (remember, we're Minnesota folk....) combined with carrying toddler and water and gear had us thankful to see our destination. We arrived at Rainbow, searched around for a campsite, and managed to transfer a napping toddler from carrier to tent!

That evening we explored the area with Little O, and went down to the lake to throw rocks in (this never got old). The water, again, was super clean, and was that greenish/blue color we had seen at Rimrock.

Rain and storms were in the forecast, and as we ate dinner, we heard our first clap of thunder. We were able to get cleaned up and in the tent by the time the first storm of the trip hit. Shortly after, we packed up and went to bed.

Day 3 - Rain Day

The forecast had called for rain and storms, so our plan was to not hike this day at all. We took a rest day and waited it out. The storm the previous evening had given way to a cold rain, which continued throughout all of Day 3 and into the morning of Day 4.

Seth admitted that he was most nervous about a rainy day in a tent with a toddler. That was pretty high on my list, too. All we had packed under the 'official toy' list was a few legos and small pad of paper.

It did rain pretty much that entire day. The trickiest part ended up being centered around food. Toddlers don't wake up and think... "it's raining out and has been for the past 6 hours, so I'm just going to delay breakfast a little bit and see if it lightens up at all. Maybe I'll roll back over and sleep a bit more." It's more like.... "I'm awake! Let's go outside! When's breakfast?" We were able to delay it a little bit, but there's a limit.

We were also in bear country, so we needed to keep tent and food separate. Our eating space was on the other side of the campsite under a tarp, and food was hung in a tree. In order to eat it meant leaving the tent in the rain, taking down the food in the rain, and setting everything up under the tarp. It was chilly and although we had raingear for us and a rainjacket for our little one, we weren't excited about it.

Seth dealt with all of the food (he dealt with all of the food all of the time for the entire trip. He's amazing). We shuffled Little O from the tent to the eating area, out for short walks before spending more time in the tent to keep warm and play with all of the fun tent things: headlamps, down quilt, sleeping pads, sticks and rocks. Other tent activities included drawing in the little note pad, singing songs, and watching water drip from the rainfly down to the ground. There was a brief break in the weather that afternoon, which gave us a chance to enjoy an early dinner and go back down to the lake for more rock throwing. Rainday success. Little O did great!

*Rainy day at Rainbow Lake. Beartooth Mountains, MT*

It rained most of the day and all that night into the next morning. Nearly 36 hours straight. Our tent stayed dry, our stuff stayed dry, I only had to crawl under the quilt once with the express purpose of warming up... all in all we did pretty well. Little O was a champ, too.

Day 4 - Rainbow Lake to Dewey Lake

A few hours after sunrise, the rain finally stopped. We scurried out of the tent, ate breakfast, packed up, and continued on. We were eager to get moving. This day would be the most physically strenuous, hiking from Rainbow Lake (7770 ft) to Dewey Lake (9316 ft). 6+ miles and 1,500 ft. of elevation gain. We were getting a late start that morning and knew that afternoon storms were likely.

Within a few minutes of leaving Rainbow Lake, the trail wound up a large set of switchbacks. We gained a good amount of elevation in that first mile and were happy to get that out of the way while we were fresh!

*Lake at Falls, Beartooth Mountains, MT*

Shortly after, the trail led us to Lake at Falls, yet another stunning alpine lake with a tall, beautiful set of waterfalls cascading into the lake.

We didn't pause for long. I was feeling some anxiety about afternoon storms that day, specifically being on the trail high in the alpine with my toddler. The thought that we might get caught in a storm just kept nagging at the back of my brain. If it had been just my husband and I, I don't think that voice would have been quite as insistent. We kept moving.

After Lake at Falls we entered dense forest, the trail muddy from the previous days' rains. My hips were bruised and sore from my backpack's hip belt, I was worried about storms, and as we continued up, the elevation was making everything feel that much harder.

It did start to rain on us, but just a few sprinkles. As we looked back down the valley, we were grateful to see that most of it was below us. We paused for a snack and a breath, and Seth fashioned some padding for my hip belt out of part of a z-rest. We continued on, stopping a few times more than we really wanted for snacks and a grumpy toddler. Family morale was at a low point.

We arrived at Duggan Lake and Impasse Falls, and that helped to lift our spirits. Nothing like yet another gorgeous alpine lake to remind us of what we were doing and why. This was the second section of the trail that had been reported as fairly exposed, and I had, again, built it up in my head to be scary and dangerous. I didn't quite believe the rangers and others who had hiked the trail and told me it was totally fine (again, everything feels riskier when you have a kid on your back!). They were right, it was totally fine! I felt incredibly relieved. Little O. pointed out the big waterfall, Seth took some photos, the sun was shining again... morale was back up!

*Impasse Falls, Beartooth Mountains, MT - hikers on the right*

From this point at Impasse Falls, Dewey Lake was another couple of miles, uphill the whole way. It was a slog, but we did it!

On the way, we passed Twin Outlets Lake; serene, with a magical, quiet, peaceful feel to it. Before long, Dewey Lake came into view. And it began to hail. The hail was short-lived and not dangerous. Little O thought it was fun and reached his hands out of the carrier to catch it.

It was clear when we arrived that we didn't have much time until that afternoon storm would arrive in earnest. We searched around for a campsite (there was nothing great...) in a hurry. I was a little panicked, so we ended up picking a spot that was less than ideal. If it had been just Seth and I, we probably would have found a some trees, pulled a tarp over us and waited it out (we had raingear on and raincovers on our packs). But again, with our toddler along, everything felt way more risky to me.

The tent was halfway up when a clap of thunder echoed from just beyond the next peak. We threw the raincover on, tossed an unhappy toddler and packs underneath and climbed inside just before the next hailstorm hit.

Once that brief storm had passed, the clouds moved away and the sun appeared. I moved the tent to a better spot and we laid all of our damp things out on warm, sunny rocks. We ate dinner, swatted mosquitoes, and enjoyed a gorgeous evening in the high alpine.

At this point we were as remote as we would be the entire hike. 14 miles from the trailhead, just a little over halfway. The lake was ours that night. The mosquitoes were fierce, but it was our most scenic and remote campsite of the trip.

Day 5 - Dewey Lake to Russell Lake

The weather forecast had shown this to be a day of high pressure, perfect for hiking up and over an alpine plateau at 10,000 ft. Fossil Lake spreads out over the plateau and reaching Fossil meant that we would be finished walking uphill. On our way to Fossil the trail wove up and above treeline, across a few streams, and through a stunning high alpine landscape.

Reaching Fossil Lake felt amazing. My legs were very ready to not be hiking uphill anymore! The lake itself has a different feel than the others we had seen, stretching in all directions across the plateau. Our original plan was to camp there, but it's above treeline and we didn't want to risk it with a little one and storms. Looking back, I think Fossil Lake may have actually been my favorite lake. It doesn't have the granite walls around it that signify many of the other lakes, but it has an almost otherworldly beauty and feel.

We enjoyed a long, flat hike around the many fingers of Fossil Lake and then down the other side we went. I think this day in the high alpine was my favorite day of hiking, as far as scenery. We passed several more lakes on our way down, rock-hopped across some big streams, and felt grateful for the perfect weather.

Sadly, my hip belt was still giving me some problems, so the last few miles to Russell Lake were quite painful. And, we were exhausted. When Russell Lake finally came into view. Seth called "Russell Lake!!!," and Little O responded by yelling "Russell Laaaaake! Russell Laaaaaake!....... Russell Laaaaaaake!" It was amazing and was just the pick-up that we needed.

We reached the lake (8,372 ft), found a campsite, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening resting, eating, and throwing rocks into water.

For our last night, we had packed a luxury dessert item for the adults. After getting O to sleep in the tent, Seth and I sat outside and enjoyed a berry crisp together, reflecting on our trip and soaking in as much as we could before hiking out the next day.

Passing through marshland on our last day.

Day 6 - Russell Lake to Clarks Fork Trailhead

To the car! It was 6 miles of pretty flat hiking on this last day. The trail took us along a stream and through thick woods, muddy trails, marshland, and swarms of mosquitoes. We were tired and sore and ready to not carry heavy packs anymore, so we booked it, focused on the end-point. We passed several groups just getting started on the same trail, going the other direction.

Finally, we reached the bridge marking the end of the trail (elevation 8000 ft). We took O out of the pack and let him walk the last 100 yards or so. It was bittersweet. I was exhausted and so incredibly happy to reach the car, and immediately I felt nostalgic, sad that this adventure had come to an end.

Summary

Our first ever backpacking trip as a family of three was a big one. We could have picked something out and back and stayed out just a few days instead of 6, but we were so excited to finally get out that this seemed like it would be worth it. And it was.

Time in the backcountry is always rewarding for us. There are no distractions and life is simple. The goals are to eat, gather water, stay warm and dry, and travel from one place to another. Even when it's tough, it's special. My husband and I have always really connected on trips like these, and I loved bringing our little one to experience that, too.

Little O loved being out and having both of us to himself. He seemed to really like being in the mountains, too. He was constantly on the lookout for rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and mountains (all were in great abundance). At camp he found entertainment looking for rocks, sticks, and acorns. Throwing rocks into bodies of water was the best of them all.

As far as taking a toddler on a backpacking trip, it's a lot of work. I found that I could never fully disconnect and relax like I could when it was just us adults. Nevertheless, it was completely worth it. I hope that somewhere in the back of his brain, the experience and feeling of being in the wilderness is imprinting itself.

This was a great trail to carry our toddler for his first backpacking trip, and for us to learn how to make it work as a family. The trail was challenging but obvious and well-traveled. Campsites were fairly well-established and water was plentiful. We hiked out feeling a burst of confidence and a feeling that we can adventure again as a family!

**I'll be writing separate posts specifically dedicated to packing lists, toddler logistics, things successful and not, and what we learned along the way.

*"Thanks for sharing the adventure!" - found in our car at the end of the trailhead.*