May
17

Restaurants – An Overview

Categories:

May 17, 2012

Where to Eat (and Drink) Near the Gunks

The main climbing areas of the Gunks are in the town of Gardiner, which has a small number of restaurants. Most of the “nightlife” is in the town of New Paltz, a fun and funky college town, home of the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. There are some other nearby towns with notable restaurants, like Rosendale and High Falls. It’s a good idea to know about these other towns, as on busy fall weekends, the traffic back into New Paltz can be a nightmare. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I’ve only listed places that I’ve actually gone to eat at.

Quick summary of the best choices for your needs, and my favorites:

  • Mountain Brauhaus, Gardiner – Closest to the crag, filled with climbers (especially the bar seating area), fantastic German & creative gourmet food, local ingredients, huge portions, excellent beer.
  • Gilded Otter, New Paltz – fresh micro-brews, bar scene, outdoor seating with nice view, OK food.
  • Bacchus, New Paltz – hugest selection of beer, good bar atmosphere with billards, but service is usually poor.
  • Gomen Kudasai, New Paltz – real Japanese food, like what they eat in Japan, not the usual American Japanese food. Wonderful and friendly owner.
  • Lemongrass, New Paltz – tasty Thai food.
  • McGuillicuddy’s, New Paltz – If you want to watch the game, go here for regular bar food and watch sports on multiple big TVs.
  • Taco Shack, New Paltz – it ain’t big or pretty, but you’ll get a HUGE tasty burrito here and it’s next to the beer store.
  • Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale – lots of vegan and vegetarian choices, plus live music and outdoor seating.
  • Rocco’s Pizza – New Paltz – wide variety of types of tasty pizza and yummy garlic knots.
  • Cafe Mio, Gardiner – AMAZING foods for breakfast and lunch. Specializes in local produce. Best french toast I’ve ever eaten. Decadent.
  • 32 Lunch – a basic diner/coffee shop for lunch & breakfast. Good food & service for liberals and deadheads.

See the map below if you don’t know where these towns are in relation to each other.

Map of Reviewed Restaurant Areas

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/restaurants-an-overview/

May
16

Family Climbing Tips – Making Climbing Time Family Time

Categories:

May 16, 2012

How to Make Climbing With Kids Successful and Safe

Cliffmama helping her kid climbing at the Gunks in 2001.

Cliffmama & daughter, climbing at the Gunks 2001

Just because you’re a parent doesn’t mean you can’t still get out and climb! This Guide to Family Climbing is meant to help climbers with children get out and climb and find other friendly families to climb with and make life much easier.

I started bringing my kids to the crag when they were very young. They would just dangle from a rope sometimes. Eventually they blew me away with how easily they took to the rock, climbing things I didn’t think they were ready for. We often climbed with other families and many times they only climbed one climb and spent the rest of the time playing with the other kids while the adults kept climbing. Sometimes pretending boulders were homes or forts, making pretend potions with leaves and rocks, playing card games, or exploring the crevices around the cliff.

I think the success I had with getting my children to love climbing as a lot to do with having other kids there to play with. It motivated them to come out because the cliffs were a magnificent playground they could explore with their buddies. As they got older, the kids motivated each other to climb, seeing that their friend got up it (or didn’t) made them want to try it. Soon they were belaying each other after the adults set up the top ropes.

Now I have two teenagers who absolutely love climbing and can climb harder grades than their old mommy.  The best part?  Pursuing my passion for climbing doesn’t have to take away any family time. Our family vacations are climbing vacations. Quality time with my kids is climbing a multipitch with them and relaxing at the top and absorbing the beauty. Here’s some of the things that worked for me, and how to make the experience safe and enjoyable for everyone.

The Problem with Being a Climber AND a Parent

  • Parents with very young children cannot climb and give their kids the attention they need while one is climbing and one is belaying.
  • Parents with young adolescents want to get them started in climbing, but they are young enough that they need a lot of attention, encouragement and can’t be left alone.
  • Parents with teenagers need an incentive to get them to want to climb instead of hanging out with their friends.
  • Parents who want to climb in different areas far away from home feel trapped because they have no one to watch the kids when they travel.
  • A non-climbing parent married to a climber doesn’t want to have the kids constantly dumped on them when the spouse goes climbing.

How to Make Climbing With Kids Easier

Climbing Dad, Chris, carrying gear, bouldering pad, kid supplies and his daughter on his back.

Be prepared to have to carry all you need to keep kids comfortable and happy.

  • Climb with another family or kid-friendly climbers to help increase the adult to children ratio.
  • Set up top ropes or lead 1 pitch climbs with one adult climbing, one adult belaying and at least 1 extra adult to keep an eye on the kids. Also, you can set up 1 easy top rope for the kids to do if there are 2 extra adults – one to belay kids, one to watch the kids who aren’t climbing.  Sometimes it takes 2 adults to help a child on a climb – one to belay and one to help encourage, place feet on footholds or “tushie-push”.
  • If the children are very young or still babies, best to have one of the parents free while the other is climbing or belaying with another adult. Some kids only respond to their parents.
  • Swap turns doing longer routes – one parent from each couple does a climb, the others watch the kids, then they switch.
  • Find another couple with a non-climbing parent. The non-climbers can socialize with each other, attend to the kids and go on field trips to local events or hikes, and as soon as the climbing day is over, the climbing spouses take over kid duties. Perhaps the non-climbing parents can get the night off to play and the climbing parents put the kids to bed.
  • Find other families who live near popular climbing areas and take turns hosting each other so travel to climbing areas isn’t as expensive or hard to manage.
  • It helps if the children are close enough in age to enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes they have so much fun they don’t want to bother climbing at all. Rocks, sticks, acorns, a puddle and leftover ziploc bags can provide hours of amusement (my daughters spent 2 hours playing with just that). A deck of cards or Uno is great for older kids who like games. Bring something for them to sit on (tarp or opened rope bag), use a tarp or pop-up tent for shade if it’s really hot and sunny, they can bring kid-sized crazy creek chairs (less than $10 at places like Walmart) or sit on a bouldering pad. Other good ideas for fun are bug catching equipment, action figures or dolls that can get dirty, rubber bands for harnesses, toy biners, and some nylon cord to use for mini-belays and zip lines.
  • Don’t forget lots snacks and things to drink.
  • You can’t push too hard. If they’re uncomfortable or tired, forcing them to keep climbing or waiting for you will only make the experience less enjoyable and discourage them from going the next time. Pick your battles, be sensitive to their needs and try to make it fun. When it stops being fun, you may just have to go home and try again next time.
  • Bring a first aid kit. Bandaids do wonders for little boo-boos.
  • Bring child-safe bug repellent – inspect for lyme-disease ticks and keep kids from being miserable from black flies & mosquitoes.
  • Don’t forget the sunscreen!
  • Nothing like the bribe of ice cream after climbing if everyone behaves and has a great day!

Climbing with Older Kids and Teenagers

Climbing with teenagers at the New River Gorge - Jasmine, Ariel and Alex relaxing on a ledge, 2011.

Climbing Teenagers at the New River Gorge - My daughters with their climbing buddy Alex in 2011.

  • Find other families with kids of similar ages. Hopefully the kids will enjoy each other’s company and family climbing is as much about hanging out with their friends as climbing with their parents.
  • Avoid letting them bring electronic gadgets. It’s just too easy to tune out and avoid participation if there is something easy to distract them. Without gadgets, there’s more of a chance the kids will socialize with the other climbing kids.  We left the gadgets in the car. They could enjoy them on the drive home.
  • If you have a good climbing gym near home, sign the kids up for their climbing club or climbing team. They will train and get strong, learn skills and find other kids they want to climb with. Then you can bring along one of their friends when you go climbing and they’ll be happy to climb outdoors with their buddies.  And if they’re on the climbing team and are good enough compete, well, then they can be your rope gun!
  • Involve your kids with land stewardship and volunteer activities. Make them feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for the environment. Many schools have community service requirements. Discuss projects that they can do to help. My daughters would sometimes go to the parking lot at the Gunks and pick up trash for their community service requirement. They helped build trails and pull invasive plant species. I think this helped them be more aware of the amount of maintenance required at the crag, and the impacts that people, over grazing deer populations and invasive plants have on the environment.

Climbing Multi-pitch with Kids

My daughter Jasmine when she was 13 and her friend Brittany on a ledge climbing multipitch at the Gunks.

Jasmine (13) and Brittany (12) climbing multipitch at the Gunks

  • Having double ropes makes it easier. The leader uses double ropes and clips into pieces as normal on the way up. When at the belay station, set up an anchor so that you can see the climbers if possible. Put the child on one rope, and another adult on the other so they can help the child if necessary. Use an auto locking belay device like an ATC guide or reverso that can accommodate 2 ropes to belay both ropes at the same time. Have the child climb first about 10 feet ahead of the other climber so if there is any problem getting gear out the other climber can climb up and help. Try to have two clip in points ready at the belay station so there is not too much shifting when you’re ready to start leading again. Make sure the climb is something they can manage to get up – by themselves or with help from the adult climbing next to them.
  • Not as ideal but if you don’t have double ropes, smaller/lighter kids can be tied into the rope a few feet in front of the adult, assuming the adult is not likely to fall themselves and yank the kid off the rock. Give the kid enough space to move freely, but close enough that the adult can easily climb up to them and assist if necessary.
  • Lightweight kids have a hard time rappelling. They don’t have enough body weight to slide down the rope. I’ve seen my 60 pound daughter using all her energy trying to pull up the weight of two 60m ropes to shove through her rappel device during a long free rap off of a 2 pitch climb.  It took forever and she was exhausted afterwards. You don’t even need to bother with a friction knot for backup because they can barely move down the rope. A fireman’s belay at the bottom is better and an adult should be at the top to send them off and another on the bottom to belay and help them clip in to any intermediate rap anchors.

Instill an understanding of climbing safety, etiquette and ethics from the start
so they can grow up to be responsible climbers.

Etiquette Tips – Not Everyone Thinks Your Child is Amazing

  • If you have a kid who can’t behave themselves, get a babysitter. You will have more fun, and so will everyone around you.
  • It’s important to be reliable because if a family is depending on you to provide that third adult to help watch kids and you don’t show up, they are out of a climbing day.
  • Remember that not everyone wants to see children at the cliffs. So everyone can enjoy their day, monitor the childrens’ behavior, noise level, and courtesy.
  • If they are very young, keep them out of other people’s stuff.

Safety Tips – You are Responsible for Their Safety & Teaching Them How to be Safe Climbers

Climbing Daddies, Chris and Tom, climbing with kids at the Gunks, 2012

Chris and Tom, climbing dads, climbing with their daughters at the Gunks.

  • Make sure the other adults are in sync with your comfort level of safety with the children.  If you’re up on a climb and the adult watching your kid is letting them boulder 20 feet up without a spotter, you may not be too happy. Communicate your expectations to the other parents who are helping to monitor our children.
  • Obviously, watch out for steep drop offs, slippery leaves and eroded trails.
  • Babies and toddlers should not be hanging out close to the base of the cliff because they may not be able to get away from falling debris. Any children at the cliff should be wearing helmets. For adults, we can weigh the risks, but children do not necessarily comprehend the danger – protect them.
  • I know it’s a personal preference thing, but I always wear a helmet when I’m climbing with my kids. Set a good example so they protect themselves and don’t question or reject wearing a helmet.
  • Do not leave a child alone at the base of a climb when you want to climb multi-pitch. They may try to find you, get hit with falling debris, wander off, or even worse. Would you leave your child sitting outside a store by themselves when you go into shop? I think not. Plus it’s difficult to climb when your kid is alone at the bottom either crying, calling you, or doing something dangerous.
  • Warn them that not all dogs are friendly. Check first before you let them approach strange dogs.

    Busy Uberfall area of the Gunks with teenagers, 4 year old kids and a pink tent.

    Yes, that is a pink tent at the Gunks

  • Watch out for dangerous natural hazards – poisonous snakes, spiders… teach them to recognize poison ivy, keep an eye out for cactus.  My daughter was looking for shade in the rock nooks and crannies of Joshua Tree. Apparently so were the snakes. She almost stepped on a rattle snake! She’s been terrified of snakes ever since.
  • Give the children a safety reminder talk every time you take them climbing. These are the items I always told my kids about before climbing, every time, until I knew they got it.
    • Remind them that climbers and belayers need to hear each other. Keep the noise level down. No screaming, loud voices, annoying repetitive noises… If your child is crying or having a tantrum, remove them from the area where people are climbing. It’s very distracting to hear a kid screaming when you’re trying to lead.
    • Remind them not to step on the ropes or other gear.
    • Teach them to look after their buddies – prevent them from doing unsafe things, remind them of the safety rules, and get a grown-up if there is a dangerous situation that we’re not aware of. Not every parent teaches their kids about safety, so your kids can help teach them too.
    • Teach them not to throw rocks down when there could be people below that they can’t see.
    • When it comes to listening, anything related to safety is non-negotiable. I told my children that they must follow safety rules. If they can’t, then they won’t get to come climb anymore until they can behave safely.

Teach Leave No Trace

4 young climbing kids with bags of trash that they picked up at an Adopt-A-Crag event at Minnewaska in 2006.

Climbing Kids Picked Up Trash at Adopt-A-Crag Event

  • Teach them how to care for their environment. No littering – or give them a bag to help clean up litter that they see.
  • Don’t spread their toys and gear all over the place so people have to trample off-trail to get around the group.
  • Discourage damage to plants and trees, or little “landscaping” projects that encourage erosion.
  • No graffitti whether it’s sidewalk chalk or scraping their initials into the rock.
  • Take them to the potty and don’t leave toilet paper litter. If you’re going somewhere without facilities, bring ziploc bags to put dirty toilet paper in.
  • I sometimes would give my kids a contest. They’d each get a small ziploc bag. We’d see who had the most garbage in it after we walked down the trail. If they have the habit of picking up trash often, they’ll be less likely to leave trash themselves.

Kids’ Climbing Gear

Tiny kids climbing gear: An adult climbing shoe next to a tiny chalk bag and small children's swim shoes.

Tiny climbing gear!

  • Young children definitely need a full body harness so they don’t tip upside down.  I’ve seen it happen to my friend’s daughter who had a seat harness made of webbing and it can scare a child out of climbing again for a long time. If you don’t have one, then include a chest harness.
  • Bring a helmet for the kid that fits.  Often they can’t keep themselves facing the right way when being lowered (they cling to the rope) and end up twisting sideways and whacking themselves into the rock. When my kids started hanging on the ropes at 3 the only kind of helmet we could find that fit was a bike helmet.
  • If they’re only climbing easy stuff or not really climbing much at all, don’t waste money on climbing shoes. Cheap slipper-style swim shoes work just fine and rarely cost more than $15 a pair. I only felt compelled to buy my children real climbing shoes when they were able to climb 5.7.  Save money and look for used pairs, especially from other climbing families. They might even give you their old shoes. Kids outgrow their climbing shoes very fast! Make sure they try them on before you leave for any climbing trips. Don’t give up a climbing day having to go shopping for new shoes!

When are the kids old enough to climb?

  • I started letting my children play on a rope at the age of 3.   At this age, most don’t have the strength to really climb much, but they enjoy swinging from the rope.
  • Around the age of 5 (depending on size) they can get up very easy climbs on their own power, or with an occasional lift on the rope. We started them in the gym, it’s more obvious to them where the holds are.
  • The biggest problem with any young child is how to lower them. Many are too intimidated to let go of the rock, especially if they’re on a comfortable ledge – they don’t want to back off.  You may need a second adult to go up to where they are and help them down – either by getting the lowering process started or by having to clip into the rope with them and hold onto them while you get lowered. If they don’t lower well, don’t let them climb up higher than you can retrieve them safely. Most children I’ve known were afraid of being lowered until they were about 6 years old – especially if they have to back off of a ledge and weigh the rope.
  • Children being lowered must be taught to keep their hands and feet in front of them to prevent them from spinning sideways and hitting themselves. They instinctively clutch the rope instead.
  • Children bouldering around should be spotted, downclimbing is not usually intuitive to them and they may not be able to judge the distance they can safely jump down from. Watch out if they get too high!
  • If you’re read this far, someday I’ll have to tell you about lactating on ledges…

Create Your Own Family Climbing Group

I started a family climbing group at the Gunks to help families find other families to climb with. What started as a mailing list for a small group of families to communicate with each other is now a Googlegroup with over 80 families. It’s been a great way for climbers with kids to connect with other climbing families and get group outings together with kids of similar ages. I’ll have to find time to write about how I formed the group and how I administer it in another blog…

 

6 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/climbing-with-kids-family-climbing/

Feb
25

Land Stewardship is Like Dating, or How I Fell In Love With the Gunks

Categories:

February 25, 2012

Gunks Lovers – Romancing the Stone

Cliffmama on the top of a climb at the Gunks

I love this place!

I recall someone at a Mohonk Preserve event mentioning how Gunks climbers evolve over time. In the beginning they try to cheat and get around the ranger so they don’t have to pay for a day pass. Later they understand the need to help pay to maintain the preserve so they are willing to buy a day pass. As time goes on, they feel a stronger bond with the land and a stronger responsibility to take care of it. They become members, they donate more money and volunteer.

There are many types of relationships. Those that last and that are mutually beneficial to both parties involved are those which are loving and caring relationships. They are relationships where both people are always willing to communicate, enjoy pleasing each other, and feel a strong desire to take care of each other.

I see an analogy here between lovers and our relationship with the Gunks. Some climbers are just “dating.” They want to show up, have a good time, and leave. Get as much as possible out of the encounter without having to pay or make any commitments. They may actually do harm to the environment—but not necessarily maliciously, they are just not aware of the “hurt” that they cause. It’s all about a self-centered desire for a good time.

As time goes on and they continue to climb at the Gunks, it becomes one of their favorite places to climb. They’re willing to pay the tab, and enjoy gazing at the beauty. However, they aren’t ready to commit yet. There’s a strong fondness, but not a sense of responsibility.

A large group of volunteers who came to do trail maintenance with the Gunks Climbers' Coalition at Minnewaska State Park

Gunks Climbers' Coalition Adopt-a-Crag trail maintenance volunteers

Gradually, they fall in love. They feel a responsibility towards the Gunks. They take pleasure in providing tender loving care to the land, the environment. They feel a sense of community with the others who are part of this climbing family. They communicate with the rangers, the landowners, and talk with the other land users to understand their impact on this land they love and try to find solutions on how they can lessen their impacts and improve the experience for all. Whether it be volunteering time or donating money, or even just spreading the message to others, they do what they can to help. They have fallen in love.

Let us fall in love with the Gunks and create a relationship that will stand the test of time.

And like the Janet Jackson song, your local climbing crag is singing “what have you done for me lately?”  So how have you been showing your crag some love?

♥ ♥ ♥

I originally wrote this article for publication in the 2004 Gunks Climbers’ Coalition Newsletter.  Then in 2008, I was honored to help accept the Mohonk Preserve’s Thom Scheuer Memorial Stewardship Award on behalf of the Gunks Climbers’ Coaltion at the annual New Paltz Climbing Film Festival.

The Gunks Climbers' Coalition receives Mohonk Preserve's Tom Scheuer Land Stewardship Award.

 

1 comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/land-stewardship-gunks-love/

Feb
02

Mother climbing with toddler in a backpack sparks controversy

Categories:

February 2, 2012

Climbing Mom, Menna Pritchard, Climbs With Toddler On Her Back – Big News?

This story is all over the news, apparently starting in the UK, now in the US and worldwide.  A British climbing mom, Menna Pritchard, posted a picture in her blog of her climbing with her 2 year old toddler in a baby carrier on her back. How this picture made it from her blog to international news outlets and why it’s so popular is a mystery to me. It certainly is something worthy of commentary in the climbing community especially those of us who go climbing with kids, but I guess it’s provoking outrage in the general population.  Here are some of the news articles if you weren’t aware of the story:

ABC News: Rick-Loving Mom Straps On Toddler for Cliff Climb

MSNBC Today: Crib notes: Mom goes rock-climbing while carrying toddler — confident or careless?

The West Australian: Mum defends rock climbing toddler

The SUN: Is she off her rocker? Anger at mum rock-climbing with toddler strapped to her back

CBS 5 AZ: Mom defends decision to take 2-year-old rock climbing

BBC News: Rock climbing with baby on board for Menna Pritchard and Ffion, two

Is Rock Climbing With a Baby in a Backpack a Good Idea?

I would think that most rock climbers see nothing wrong with taking your children climbing, experiencing the outdoors, sharing your passion for climbing, etc… but should we be outraged at the idea of wearing your baby on a climb?  Here’s my take on this issue:

Helmets – For Rock Climbers and Their Babies

The most obvious safety issue is that the child has no helmet. Both adults in the picture are wearing helmets, but nothing to protect the baby. If the adults think it’s important enough to wear a helmet, wouldn’t you think the same would apply to your precious child? One article says about Menna: “She also said that a helmet was not needed on the route and she wore hers only “out of habit,” a decision she now “regretted” because of how it looks.”  I’m not sure if that quote means that she doesn’t want to wear a helmet because she doesn’t like the way it looks, or because in this particular photo, the contrast of her wearing a helmet and the baby not having a helmet looked bad.  But either way, we don’t wear helmets because we’re concerned about how it looks, we wear them to protect our heads! Yeah, it’s a top roped climb, she’s not likely to fall far, and if there aren’t climbers above them, it’s unlikely they’ll experience rock fall – but why take  chance? (Update: and someone in the comments noted that someone was above them to take the picture and could easily drop gear or dislodge rocks). Other climbers interviewed said there is frequent rock fall at this particular cliff.  But a higher risk than rock fall is if the mother swings when she falls…

Taking a Swing on a Fall

So let’s say rock fall isn’t a risk in this scenario. Then why does the baby need a helmet? Well, what if the mother slips? Depending on the angle of the rock and how the anchor is positioned, there is a chance that she could swing if she falls. The rope could make her spin around, and her side or back could hit the rock. While a fall such as this on a low-angle straight route is not likely to have enough force to strike a blow to the child, note that the baby is NOT wearing a helmet. So even a casual spin that slams mom sideways into the rock could allow the child’s head to hit the rock. This is the main reason why I really want to see a helmet on that child. Even on an easy climb, there is still a risk of the mother slipping and falling, especially with a baby as big as 2 years old whose weight could shift your balance.

Are Baby Carriers Meant for Rock Climbing?

Menna Pritchard’s blog says her favorite baby carrier, which she uses when she takes her child up climbs with her is the ErgoBaby Carrier. While this looks like a nice quality made carrier, it’s not clear how secure the baby is when worn on the back. It looks like she has a lot of wiggle room in the climbing photo. Toddlers are famous for squirming. I remember carrying my baby on hikes and she would love to lean out sideways in the backpack. It doesn’t appear that the baby is wearing a climbing harness or has any way to be secured to the backpack, the mother, or the rope.  Baby carriers aren’t manufactured and tested as safety equipment for rock climbing. If a strap or buckle malfunctions, a child could fall to the ground, which is bad but probably not fatal if you’re walking on the ground. However, 40 feet up a climb, a fall would be fatal. It’s unlikely, but anyone who owns an old backpack can attest that buckles occasionally fail. I just don’t think this carrier is something I would have enough confidence in to take my child up a climb.

Cliffmama helping her kid climbing at the Gunks in 2001.

Helping my 4 year old try climbing at the Gunks

What’s the Point? Do You Need to Rock Climb With Your Toddler in a Backpack?

A child can experience the outdoors and the rock climbing scene without being put at higher risk. I’m all for bringing kids to the crag. Make sure the approach and base of the cliff is safe for a small child, make sure they wear a helmet in case of falling rock, always have an adult around who isn’t climbing or belaying to keep an eye on them, and teach them about climbing safety at an early age. I always said to my girls that they had to listen carefully to the safety rules. I would repeat them every time we went climbing when they were little, and told them if they can’t follow the safety rules, they can’t come climbing with me. When I tell them to do something because of safety, there is no argument.  As soon as my daughters could fit in a child’s body harness, I let them try to climb, even if it was just a few feet up or to dangle and swing around near the base. But they were wearing helmets and harnesses with plenty of adult supervision.

I feel it’s really not necessary to carry a 2 year old up a cliff to expose them to the experience. They won’t remember it at that age anyway! The baby can watch the climbing, can touch the rock and scramble on it with parents spotting, and even dangle on a rope if they have a harness and helmet. But really, what’s the point of carrying the baby up the climb with you? It’s just introducing more risk than necessary!

Should She Be Punished for Climbing With A Baby?

Despite Menna Pritchard’s claims of being very safety conscious, studying a degree in outdoor education, or how many years of climbing experience she has (just over a year), she still has a lot to learn. Despite my 30 years of climbing, I am always learning new things, and I’m open to hear opinions on the safest methods and equipment to enjoy our sport. I believe she really thinks what she’s doing is fine and safe enough. But when it’s the safety of your own child at stake, wouldn’t you think that a mother would want to be as safe as possible? We take risks with ourselves, but is it fair to take risks with your child? A 2 year old cannot express fear, cannot understand danger, and depends on us adults to do what’s in their best interests.

But I can’t help but feel sorry for Menna. She’s getting so much negative publicity from this one photo, and I’m sure she’s not a terrible mother, or a terrible climber. I noticed her blog has taken down the ability to comment. She must be getting a lifetime’s worth of hate mail over this. I don’t agree with some commentators who think she should have her child taken away from her or other radical measures. She’s a climber who had a baby. She wants to climb and share the experience with her child. I felt the same way – geez my blog is dedicated to the idea of climbing with kids. But I was far more cautious about it. I hope this experience will be a learning experience for her. There are many risks involved in rock climbing with a toddler on her back, and there are many ways to include your child in the experience without actually taking them up the climb with you, especially when the circumstances aren’t as safe as they could be. As with any potentially dangerous sport, we need to take the time to think about everything we do, especially when we include our children, considering every risk and hazard, and doing all we can to back things up and make them redundant and minimizing the potential for disaster.  Menna is quoted as saying “I knew 100% it was safe”. An over confident climber who has convinced themselves that climbing is perfectly safe is asking for trouble.

Please comment – I would love to hear your opinions on whether or not you would condone this scenario.

UPDATE: Read Menna Pritchard’s blog to see her response to all this press about the photo of her and her toddler climbing.

10 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/mother-climbing-with-toddler-controversy/

Jan
30

Finding Beauty With Our Children – What Else Are We Missing?

Categories:

January 30, 2012

News: Joshua Bell Plays Violin and No One Notices

There was an article being shared around Facebook that really caught my attention. It came from an article in the Washington Post called Pearls Before Breakfast. What was posted on Facebook was actually just a summary of the main points which was posted on Jeff Bridges’ website. Take the time to read the original article, or if you’re in a hurry, get the summary from Jeff Bridges. Basically this ordinary looking guy plays classical music on a violin in a Washington DC subway station for 45 minutes. Just about everyone passes by, only a handful of people stopped to listen, and a few tossed money in his violin case and didn’t even stick around to listen. He made $32. The fascinating part is that the violinist was no other than Joshua Bell, one of the greatest living musicians playing on a violin worth over 3.5 million dollars and it was shortly after a performance where seats went for about $100 each. If the commuters bothered to stop and listen, perhaps they would have realized that they were listening to something special. Perhaps if they had known they were listening to a master and someone famous, they would have considered it of higher value.

Beauty Ignored – What Else Are We Missing?

There are a couple of lessons to learn here. One is about social value – how people put a higher value on things that are labeled as high value, and without that label, they don’t appreciate what is being offered. The other lesson is one that I feel ties into what we can do for our children. The article says,

If we can’t take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that — then what else are we missing?.

Wow. Think about that. “What else are we missing?“.

Beauty Discovered (and Rediscovered) – Our Children Outdoors

My children standing at the end of a series of stacked up picnic tables in a park off-season.

Finding artistry in evenly stacked picnic tables at a local park in the off-season

One of the delightful things about being around kids outdoors is that so many things in this world are still new to them. That sense of wonder is intact, they are not jaded by social labels of what is of high value and what is not. Perhaps we can learn something from our children, as well as teach something to them. Appreciate the little things that they find amazing and wondrous. That rock they want to carry around with them? Take a good look at it. Perhaps it’s got some cool colors or crystals, or has a wonderful smooth feel to it. Maybe there’s something beautifully symmetrical about the pine cone they picked up, or there is a soothing palette of colors in the autumn leaf they like. Take the time to appreciate the things of beauty that your children value in the great outdoors. Then we need to take the time to notice all the beautiful things that we value in nature when we take our children out into the great outdoors and share those things with them. “Look at how beautiful those branches are against the blue sky!” “I can’t believe there’s a flower still blooming so close to wintertime!” “I like the way you can see the trail go up and down like a ribbon over the hills.” “Wow, those stacked up picnic tables make cool patterns!” “Listen to that beautiful sounding bird song”.

Show them the beauty all around us, point out all the beauty we can discover if we take the time to observe, and they will grow up appreciating all the beauty around them – whether it be the color of the sunset, or the sound of a lone musician making beautiful music in a train station during rush hour.

Many stacked picnic tables creating fascinating geometric patterns.

Beauty found in stacked picnic tables.

1 comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/finding-beauty-wonder-great-outdoors/

Restaurants in New Paltz

Categories:
Main Street, downtown New Paltz. Photo by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Daniel_Case

Downtown New Paltz, NY

Restaurants in New Paltz

There are lots and lots of restaurants in New Paltz, catering to just about everyone’s taste. I’ve divided them up by type of food, and provided maps to show which are in which areas of New Paltz. There are many more restaurants than I’ve listed, but I only felt I should review those I’ve been to at least twice.  Summary of my thoughts? Variety of beer and billards? Go to Bacchus. Microbrews and outside seating? Gilded Otter. Big TVs and sports watching? McGillicuddy’s. Asian food? Gomen Kudasai Japanese or Lemongrass Thai. Breakfast? Main Street Bistro or The Bakery. Best pizza? Rocco’s by the Stop’n'Shop. Romantic dinner out? A Tavola next to Rock and Snow.

Quick Links:

Restaurants to Drink Beer At

Bacchus Restaurant

4 S. Chestnut St, New Paltz, NY – (845)255-8636
When I started climbing at the Gunks in the 1980s, this was where we always went after climbing. Since then the food and service has gone downhill. I still occasionally get a tasty meal there, but it seems a bit overpriced for the quality. My current favorite is the Pork Tenderloin (bacon wrapped medallions served wth a horse radish-apple cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes & veggies).  Looking for an obscure favorite beer? Try Bacchus. They have a ridiculous collection of beer here, the beer menu is just about as big as the food menu. They also have a billards hall connected to the restaurant if that’s your thing. There is a different menu for the downstairs bar from the upstairs dining room, but you can order mix it up a bit if you ask.  They serve brunch, lunch and dinner and have a kid’s menu. They’re located a couple of stores down Rt. 208 South, right off of the main intersection in “downtown” New Paltz.

The Gilded Otter Brewing Company

3 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-1700
Very popular restaurant and bar, beautiful building, but definitely lacking in sound proofing. Go on a nice day and sit outside where it’s quieter and you have a nice view of Skytop. They have a nice selection of beer – a few standards and then a couple of others that change during the seasons, personally they are not my favorite, but my friends seem to like their selections. My favorite is the Dusseldorf Altbier or the Ottertoberfest when in season. A number of my friends like the Three Pines India Pale Ale, named after a popular beginner’s climb at the Gunks. You can ask for samples of their beer before you decide. Food is OK, I’m not crazy about their menu but my friends seem to like it. My favorites are the Goat Cheese Salad and Fettucine Bolognese. They have a kid’s menu that was perfect for my kids when they were little because it had their favorites: buttered noodles and broccoli.

McGillicuddy’s Restaurant

84 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-9289
Nothing special. Standard decent American bar food, attentive service. Sports on the TV. They have event nights, such as live DJ, poker, trivia.

P & G’s Restaurant

91 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-6161
Bar, decent bar-style food like burgers and sandwiches, good selection of beer on tap. Popular with bikers as well as college students. Landmark corner building over 100 years old.

General/American Restaurants

Barnaby’s Steakhouse

16 N Chestnut St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2433
Been here twice. Both times… eh.

Mohonk Mountain House

1000 Mountain Rest Rd, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-2056
While the address is in New Paltz, this spectacular resort hotel is quite a ways out of town. If you have lots of money and have nicer clothes than what you climbed in, it’s worth a trip to see this beautiful place. Note that I said lots of money, this is not a casual affair. You will need to make reservations so that you’re on the list at the entrance gate and can drive up to the hotel and park. You’re expected to dress neatly and for dinner, it is required that men wear jackets. Their Sunday brunch buffets are enormous and will run you about $55 for an adult. They often have separate buffet tables for children’s tastes. The cost for overnight guests includes all the meals, and at least when I was there a few years ago, they often seat people together with others at tables to encourage socializing. I recall that the food was quite good, plentiful and the selection varied. It might be something worth doing if you have a special occasion to celebrate while you’re visiting the Gunks.

Rock da Pasta

62 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-1144 – closed Wednesdays
Rock da Pasta is in the main drag of “downtown” New Paltz. It’s worth stopping by just to read the menu and see the creative names they give their dishes, such as Nirvana Lasagna, or Pesto Palooza, with James Brownie for dessert. Unfortunately the one time I did eat there was disappointing despite the fun entree names. The service was really slow and the food was just OK. Will have to give them another try someday, mainly because I really love the creativity and sense of humor in their menu.

The Village Tea Room Restaurant and Bake Shop

10 Plattekill Ave, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-3434 – closed Mondays
The Village Tea Room is in an old house on a side road, just past the Chase Bank. First thing you see when you walk in is the dessert case. You may never get any farther than this. Fantastic creations that look absolutely irresistable, especially the beehive cake with little chocolate bees all over it. But you’re probably here for breakfast, lunch or dinner, not just dessert, right? Get seated in any number of creaky small rooms of the house and enjoy their interesting menu. Food here is quite good, some dishes more than others, I love the wild mushroom bread pudding side dish. There’s beer, wine and of course, they have a huge selection of teas. Worth a visit.

 

Breakfast/Bakery

The Bakery

13 N Front St, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-8840
Down a side street from where P&G’s Restaurant is you’ll find The Bakery. Tasty pastries,egg dishes, bagels and coffee, good sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch. Seating upstairs or outside. Very popular.

Main Street Bistro

59 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-7766 – all week breakfast & lunch; dinner only Fri & Sat nights
Seems like this place always has a line out the door, especially on weekend mornings. Excellent breakfast selection, creative choices, quiche, sandwiches, soups, along with bagels and muffins to go.  For lunch and dinner, it’s eclectic American food and vegetarian entrees. It’s a good choice for breakfast if the line isn’t too long.

 

Diners

College Diner

500 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-5040
This is the diner which is to the east of the Thruway exit. Nothing to write home about, it’s a diner. Food is good enough, but I’d say out of the three diners in New Paltz, this is the least favorite.

Genesis Restaurant Diner

401 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-5075
This is the newest diner in New Paltz, in front of the 87 Motel next to the Thruway exit. Only been here twice, and if I recall, food was decent and service was decent too. It’s a decent diner, need to eat here more to form any opinion.

New Paltz Plaza Diner

27 New Paltz Plz, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-1030
This diner is in the large Stop and Shop plaza, not far from the Thruway exit. It’s decent. I go here for a fast hot breakfast, and their belgian waffles are usually pretty good. Service is usually fast, food is… well, diner food.

 

Pizza and Italian Restaurants

A Tavola

46 Main Street, New Paltz, NY - (845)-255-1426
I’ve only eaten at A Tavola once just recently, but I was very impressed. It’s next to Rock and Snow, up a few steps.  I read a really good review of a Tavola in the Hudson Valley magazine and had to try it. It’s a two story restaurant, so if you get a seat upstairs, you get a nice view of New Paltz through a wall of windows, as well as a view straight down to the 1st floor of the restaurant if you’re seated along the railing. It’s a cozy atmosphere. Nice and classy, but a little rustic. Even a little romantic. The menu isn’t very big, but the selection is creative and unusual. I had a very rich appetizer of Funghi E Uovo (egg and wild mushrooms with creamy polenta & tomato sauce) and it was tasty and very rich, with plenty of delicious mushrooms. Rich enough to make me worry if I had room for dinner. Dinner was a parsnip ravioli which was a combination of interesting flavors and quite delicious. My husband loved the Lamb and roasted beet salad. It’s pricey, but at least you’re getting delicious quality food for the money. I’m sure we’ll be back to eat there again.

Grimaldi’s Pizzeria

119 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-3800
Grimaldi’s pizza is a small chain that is based in Brooklyn, NY. It’s fairly new in New Paltz, and I’ve only been there once, to host dinner for my daughter’s birthday gathering. The restaurant was nice and the pizza was good, but expensive.

La Bella Pizza & Bistro

194 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2633
Been here a couple of times. Once was while my daughter attended a birthday party dinner here, and everyone seemed happy with how it went. Came back a month or two later with just the kids and the service was atrocious. They forgot my daughter’s dinner, despite me mentioning it to the waitress a couple of times and eventually having to go up to the counter and complaining. By the time they admitted they screwed up, the rest of us had almost finished eating and she was so hungry she was ready to cry (we shared the rest of our food with her when it was apparent her food wasn’t showing up soon). They weren’t too apologetic either. So I doubt we’ll go back there, even though I think the food was decent.

La Stazione

5 Main St, New Paltz, NY 12561 – (845) 256-9447
La Stazione is a casual but slightly upscale italian restaurant in the historic old New Paltz train station building, next door to the Gilded Otter Brewing Company. Been there a couple of times. I would say the food was OK and a bit on the expensive side, and wasn’t outstanding enough for us to go back.

Rocco’s Pizza

4 New Paltz Plz, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-7161
This is my favorite of the New Paltz pizzerias. It’s in the Stop’n'Shop Plaza, near the movie theater. Because of the theater, it can get very crowded, as it’s a small place. While they have entrees as well, I go there for the pizza. Nice selection of pizzas, especially the square ones with the sliced mozzarella, tomato, basil on it (I believe it’s the caprese one). The garlic knots are my kids’ favorite – buttery greasy and garlicky.

 

Asian Restaurants

By the way, I have yet to find any edible Chinese food in the New Paltz area.

Gomen Kudasai Japanese Noodle Restaurant

215 Main Street, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-8811
Gomen Kudasi is my family’s favorite Japanese restaurant. They recently closed and reopened in a new location in the Rite Aid Plaza, in the same shopping center as the Inner Wall Climbing Gym. They don’t have an updated presence on the web, but the certainly have a presence in the community. They host many community cultural events such as the Bon-Ordori Music & Dance Festival, classes on activities such as Japanese flower arranging or Japanese cooking, and prominently display works by local artists on their walls. According to my daughter, who has been to Japan, this restaurant is authentic. Their food is prepared like the food she ate in Japan, which differed from the usual Japanese-American restaurants. They don’t yet have a sushi bar set up, but that’s fine with me, I don’t eat sushi. :-) It’s primarily a noodle shop with excellent noodle soups. The owner, Youko, is a wonderful warm and friendly person and will make sure you are happy with your meal there. The service hasn’t always been the best (who ever heard of waiting for them to cook rice at a Japanese restaurant because they ran out?) but every time we had a problem, Youko more than made up for it. Prices aren’t cheap either. But we love to support local business who are authentic, honest and support the community and the food is delicious as well.

Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant

18 Church St, New Paltz, NY – (845)256-0621
Located off a side street from the main section of New Paltz is a little corner Japanese restaurant. Food here is good, my family rates it the #2 Japanese restaurant. My husband likes their sushi.

Lemongrass Thai Restaurant

125 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-0161
Nice but casual restaurant with good service and very tasty food. My kids are addicted to their vegetable fried rice. I recommend it!

Neko Sushi

49 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-0162
Neko Sushi Japanese Restaurant is right in the main intersection of town. It’s nice inside, food is good, but my family rates it the #3 restaurant. My daughter speaks a little Japanese, and found she couldn’t practice here because they’re Korean. Oh well.

Suruchi – A Fine Taste of India

5 Church St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2772 – closed Mon & Tues
Suruchi is on a side street down from Main Street where the Bistro is. It’s a nicely done small restaurant with some Indian style cushioned platform booths and lots of vegetarian options from their menu. I’ve been here twice and thought the food was delicious, but not cheap.

 

Mexican Style Restaurants

Not much in New Paltz for sit-down Mexican dinners except a couple of really good and simple burrito places. If you really need Mexican food, drive up to the  Gypsy Wolf Cantina in Woodstock.

Mexicali Blues

87 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-5551
In the heart of Main Street is a tiny restaurant serving up fresh Mexican food. And I mean tiny. It’s basically a kitchen and a counter, not much room here to eat. But the food is good. And according to Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef, they have “The best tacos on the East Coast!”.

Taco Shack

255 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2366
The Taco Shack is a small little place attached to the beer store. Doesn’t look like much, but eat here and you’ll get more than you bargained for. It’s a good value. The burritos are tasty and enormous, on the verge of intimidating. There are tables inside the simple interior, or get take out and gnaw at your giant taco elsewhere.

 

Middle Eastern Food

Anatolia Turkish Restaurant

76 Main St, New Paltz, NY 12561- (845)255-1424
This restaurant was in New Paltz in the past and reopened in 2011 (I think). I don’t remember it, but my friends were very excited that they had returned. Everyone raved that the red lentil soup was to die for. To be honest with you, I’ve only eaten there once. I walked in there and 4 tables had local climbers that I know sitting at them. The menu had fascinating choices – I chose a vegetarian dish, my husband got meat. I enjoyed my meal, but my husband didn’t. So before I pass any judgment, I’ll have to try eating there again.

Moonlight Cafe

53 Main St., New Paltz, NY 12561 – (845) 255-4813
It’s OK middle eastern food, the dinner buffet (Thurs and Fridays) is a really good value.

Yanni Restaurant & Cafe

51 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 256-0988
Simple restaurant, typical middle-eastern menu, OK food.

 

Fast But Healthy Deli/Takeout

Karma Road Organic Cafe

11 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-1099
Karma road is a funky little cafe next to the bike store, downhill towards the bridge. If you like smoothies and shakes, this is the place to go. They have organic local vegetarian food in the form of soup, salads, and an enticing variety of hot and cold foods in their deli case. Last time I was there, I had a sample of 3 items for lunch which blew me away. Delicious!

Main Course Catering and Restaurant

175 Main St, New Paltz, NY – (845) 255-2650
Main Course is mostly known for their catering, but they do have a shop in town with some tables to eat at or take out. The food is absolutely fantastic and made from fresh local ingredients. You get what you pay for, it’s not cheap, but worth it.

 

Fast Food Chains

Burger King – 238 Main Street, New Paltz (845)255-3071

Dunkin’ Donuts – 250 Main Street, New Paltz (845) 255-7685

McDonalds – 261 Main Street, New Paltz (845) 255-8141

Starbucks – 1 Plattekill Avenue, New Paltz (845) 256-9815

Stewart’s – 98 North Chestnut ST, New Paltz (845) 255-4382

Subway – 234 Main St # 4, New Paltz (845) 256-6425

 

Maps

Wide view of New Paltz showing eateries east of the main intersection all the way to the Thruway (click to see full size):

Map of Restaurants - New Paltz, Wide View

Map of Restaurants in New Paltz, NY

 

Map of Restaurants in New Paltz on the West end near the Wallkill Bridge 

West end of New Paltz near the Wallkill Bridge

Map of Restaurants in the Downtown Intersection of New Paltz

Restaurants in the downtown main intersection of New Paltz

Map of Restaurants in the Center of New Paltz, showing side streets

Restaurants on the side streets of downtown New Paltz

 

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/restaurants-in-new-paltz/

Jan
19

Ice Climbing Articles – Bogus Information

Categories:

January 19, 2012

Climbing Ice and Bogus Climbing Articles

Ice Climbing Suggestions in Places Where Climbing Ice is Prohibited

Screenshot of Yahoo! Sports web page with bogus ice climbing article displayed.I was browsing around for interesting climbing articles on the internet, and came across this ice climbing article: Where to Go Ice Climbing and Winter Hiking in the Gunks of New York.  Sounds interesting, especially since I never hear about any ice climbing in the Gunks, so let’s see what the author suggests. I start to read it…. WTF???   Her first suggestion on where to climb ice is Minnewaska State Park Preserve.  Well, I know for a fact that ice climbing is not permitted in Minnewaska. As a board member of the Gunks Climbers’ Coalition, we have been trying to get it permitted, but it’s currently prohibited.  Oh, and it gets even funnier.  She writes, “Minnewaska State Park is located in Kerhonkson and offers some of the best ice climbing in the region. Once inside the park you’ll want to head to the Peterskill Climbing Area.” Well, Peterskill is spelled “Peter’s Kill”, and people often spell it incorrectly, so I’ll give her a break on that error. But Peter’s Kill is for rock climbing only, there’s no ice climbing there, and even if there was any ice worth climbing, it’s prohibited. Plus the Peter’s Kill area is closed to climbing during in the winter (effective January 12, 2012) according to the Minnewaska web site.  Then she suggests the Mohonk Preserve. Nope, no ice climbing there either.  Then she moves right along to Sam’s Point Preserve.  They don’t officially allow ice climbing or rock climbing for that matter. Every place she suggests in the article prohibits ice climbing.  Oh, and the photo in the article is not an ice climbing image, but a photo of rock climbing at Skytop cliff, owned by the Mohonk Mountain House – a cliff not mentioned in her article and where there is no ice climbing and rock climbing is only for guided guests.

Ice Climbing Expert or Author Spewing PR Crap?

So this women’s entire ice climbing article is bogus. If she doesn’t know anything about ice climbing or where it’s permitted, she should have just written an article about winter hiking, and not mentioned anything about going to Peter’s Kill to climb. If she wants to publish things as an authority on a well known site such as Yahoo, she should check her facts. I took a look at her author profile.  She has many years of experience doing PR, but I suspect no ice climbing experience. Take a look at the huge collection of articles she’s written. Could she really be an expert in all those various subjects? Or is she finding stuff online or in books and magazines and regurgitating it in her own words? What is the objective of churning out article after article of stuff that’s potentially crap? I figured it out. She’s signed up in the Yahoo Contributor program. They look for user contributed content. If you write about the topics they need content on, or if you get lots of hits on content you’ve written, you get paid. So she probably looks to see what content Yahoo needs, does some minimal research, and writes good enough crap to get some money from Yahoo. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if she did her research and wrote quality articles, but clearly she doesn’t have a clue about climbing and yet she’s publishing articles about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if many other articles she’s written are full of incorrect information.

Author Authority – Who Can You Trust?

Do you believe everything you read on the internet? I should hope not. But when it comes to climbing, where issues of access and safety are nothing to BS about, you need to be careful. Some clueless ice climber could plan a weekend up here and find themselves without any ice to climb, or get fined for attempting to climb ice that’s off limits. Or they could be taking their ice tools to scrape up a rock face that’s not meant for dry tooling (this was an issue a number of years ago when people were seen dry tooling at the Trapps in the Mohonk Preserve).  How about directions to a crag or trail descriptions that get you lost? Or instructions on how to use a piece of technical climbing gear that are incorrect? It’s not a bad idea to check the source of the article and where it’s being published. Although Yahoo is a heavy hitter, it’s not known for climbing content. Established magazines such as Climbing or Rock and Ice are probably trustworthy. If you’re reading someone’s blog, take a look at their About page, and other articles they’ve written to get an idea of how much experience they have and other hints at their level of authority. If the subject matter’s accuracy is very important, then it’s worth double checking with another source just to be sure.

Meanwhile, I hope the author reads the comments on her article and considers removing this article from the internet or at a minimum, make it a winter hiking article and remove any mention of climbing in it.

 

 

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/ice-climbing-articles-bogus-information/

Jan
08

Meltdown on the Mountain – Hiking with Kids Doesn’t Have to Be Painful!

Categories:

January 8, 2012

My big kids trying to stop our friend's 4 year old tired kid from melting down while hiking.

My big kids trying to stop our friend's tired 4 year old from melting down.

Meltdown on the Mountain

Hiking with Kids Doesn’t Have to Be Painful!

I hate that awful feeling when you’re in the middle of a hike with your young children, you still have a mile or more to hike back to the car or to your camping destination, and they decide to either flop over, melt-down, or they declare they’re too tired to go on. Whining commences, you begin to lose your patience, and come close to forgetting that this hike is supposed to be a fun and happy family experience. When my children were young, I found a few methods of bribing the little ones to keep going and helping them forget that they’re tired or bored. I’d love to read your comments on if any of my methods worked for you or what methods you use.

Food Bribery

The most basic method of prodding the little ones along was bribery. Bring some snacks that they love and don’t get that often. I’ve used jelly beans, reeses pieces, etc…  Set some easily achievable goals for them. “When you make it to that next turn in the trail, you’ll get another jelly bean reward!”.  Make them far enough so you don’t make your kid sick from too many snacks, but make them close enough that your tired kid can see the goal and not get too discouraged. And don’t start or let them know about the treats you brought until you really have to use them. Once they know you have the treats, the begging and whining will start, and on a long walk, you don’t want that to have to start prematurely!

Scavenger Hunting & Geocaching

Here’s a great way to break the boredom, but teach your children at the same time. On our hikes, we choose something we want to look for along the hike. Something common enough that we’ll eventually find, but sparse enough so it will feel like a big achievement to find them. It may be mushrooms, poison ivy, squirrels, hollow trees, or whatever seems appropriate to the environment you’re hiking through. Teach them what poison ivy looks like and let them find anything with 3 leaves and let them try to identify it. Teach them the different kinds of trees, and let them identify them along the way. Or make them the “line leader” and have them look for trail blazes. If they start getting bored, think of something else to look for. If they’re old enough to read, bring along a list of things to look for with check boxes next to each item. Let them wear a pen on a string necklace, and let them check off the things they’ve found along the way. Of if they can’t read, use pictures in your checklist. When the kids were closer to 10 years old, we took a walk with a naturalist who identified edible and medicinal plants. We enjoyed looking for them on subsequent hikes, especially jewel weed, which they enthusiastically squeezed the juice from to put on their itchy mosquito bites. A fun treasure hunting activity while hiking with kids is to go geocaching. Register on http://geocaching.com, read all about how it works, then load the coordinates of caches to find on a handheld GPS device (or your smart phone if it has a GPS and geocaching apps), bring some trinkets to use for trading, and find pre-placed containers hidden just about everywhere filled with treasures to trade.

My kids hiking with Daddy while wearing adult ranger-type hats.

Jasmine's the line leader!

I Wanna be the Line Leader!

My daughters are only 2.5 years apart in age, and the most aggravating part of having more than one kid was the constant fighting between them. We often played line-leader when hiking with the kids. The line-leader got to go first and look for trail blazes. They would constantly fight over who got to be line leader. On one hike, exasperated from the constant bickering, we invented a new game. It was sort of a “changing of the guard” ceremony. When switching roles as the line leader, the girls would need to face each other, hold hands, and say some ridiculous ceremonial mumble-jumble, put their hands over their heads, turn around 3 times, stomp their feet…etc., I can’t remember the details, but we made up something quite fun and silly. They got such a kick out of the ceremony that they happily took turns being line leader just to experience the silly ceremony over and over again. We had to try to convince them to wait longer to take turns because we weren’t getting anywhere fast enough!

Role Playing

One thing my girls liked to play was house. They would always want to be “the Mommy”. Once my little one was totally melting down on the trail, she was too tired to hike, she couldn’t go anymore. I switched into toddler mode. My voice changed to that of a little girl. I called her Mommy. I asked for her help because I was so little I wasn’t sure I could hike on the rough trail. She took my hand, put on her mommy voice, and guided me along the trail, pointing out where the trail markers were, helping me to avoid puddles and step along rocks, and trying to convince me that even though I was tired, I could make it back to the car OK. This game worked like magic! Suddenly she would have energy and forget she was tired. Often we played role reversal all the way back to the car. Think of roles that will enchant your children. Perhaps a general, or a native guide or superhero helping an injured visitor out of the forest, a scoutmaster, or the daddy. They will get so involved with their new responsibility and role that they will forget they’re tired.

Gadgets

Hiking with kids shouldn’t be anti-social. We never let our children bring gadgets such as iPods or Gameboys on hikes. However a couple of gadgets can keep them engaged and participating. An old digital camera is a fun way for them to capture images of what they want, and they can look forward to going home and looking at the images on the computer. If you geocache with the children, you can set a waypoint and they can monitor the compass on the GPS unit to see which direction to go in and how far the target is. Walkie talkies are always fun. If you enjoy birdwatching or if there is interesting far off scenery to view, bring binoculars. Try not to offer them until the children are bored or they will only focus on the gadgets.

Ranger leading a line of children into a crevice between the rocks in Yosemite.

Turn hiking with children into a game, find unusual places to explore.

Wait for it…

All of these methods worked for us, but one important point needs to be made. Save these methods for when you REALLY need them. At first, let the kids enjoy hiking and nature for what it is, plain and simple, without gadgets and distractions. Only take out your arsenal of distractions when they start to lose energy or interest. If hikes become all about the bribes and distractions, they will never learn what is so special about hiking and nature to begin with. Talk to them throughout the hike. Point out things of interest, things of beauty, how nature works, how animals survive. Also point out things that don’t belong in nature – scold the hiker who left the garbage or graffiti, teach them leave-no-trace ethics and let them feel some stewardship towards the natural landscape. And most of all, don’t forget to have fun! Yelling at your tired child for not keeping up or for whining isn’t going to leave a positive impression on them the next time you want to take them hiking. Remember to accentuate all that hiking and nature has to offer and show by your example how much fun it can be.

Tired kid lying down on a bench to take a rest during a hike.

Taking a rest

 

6 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/meltdown-on-the-mountain/

Dec
27

Half Dome with Sie – video from a climbing dad

Categories:

December 27, 2011

Found this video by a climbing dad on SuperTopo who goes by the nickname of “micronut”.  The video is a trip report of when he took his teenage daughter hiking to the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.  I thought it was very sweet and nicely done.  The teen reminds me a lot of my own daughter, skinny, dark hair in a ponytail, confident, and a little impatient with mommy’s silliness, yet a fun companion just the same. I also like the dad’s camera-on-a-stick technique of filming. Interesting perspective, I’ll have to try that sometime.

Here’s the video on vimeo: Half Dome with Sie

Here’s the trip report by micronut on SuperTopo, if you’d like some more background information about his video.

 

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/half-dome-with-sie-video-from-a-climbing-dad/

Dec
27

Half a Half Dome

Categories:

December 27, 2011

Here’s a fun trip report by a Jim Herson, a climbing dad and his spunky 12 year old daughter on Half Dome in wintery conditions. Don’t miss the last paragraph!

Half a Half Dome, 11/26/11

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://cliffmama.com/blog/half-a-half-dome/

Older posts «