Welch and Dickey

Our toddler hikes have been going so well, we decided to go on a big kid hike on Sunday. Kristian, LJ, and I drove up to New Hampshire with our friend Yogurt. We met up with my sister at Welch and Dickey for a 4.5 mile loop up and down a couple of little mountains.

(I was supposed to run 14 miles as part of my half-marathon training plan, but I’ve decided that I need to prioritize special time with my family over racking up the miles.)

It was a long ass drive, so we were very much ready to get out into the woods. Lilian was particularly excited.

Kristian has about 20 more years of hiking experience than I do (he did a *lot* of hiking when he was younger, plus he’s ooooold), so he was the lucky parent who got to carry 35+ pounds of toddler and gear. I should have strapped a tiny tot to him years ago! We’ve been together for nine years, and this is the first time I didn’t have to bust my ass to keep up with him.

My sister drove an hour to meet up with us. It was so great that we were able to get together like that. I think she had a pretty good time, too.

Lilian is starting to enjoy this whole outdoors business. Not only does she yell out “we hiking! we hiking!” she’s also starting to get into the gear. She was a big fan of our poles.

(Kristian would like you to know that the only time he needs poles is if there are 17 inches of snow on the ground, or if he wants to steady himself because his precious child is on his back.)

There are almost no pictures of the two of us, so I asked my sister to take a few snaps of LJ and me.

Then we did a family photo. Lilian would like you to know that she prefers peanut butter and jelly over cameras. Any day of the week.

Welch and Dickey is a great hike. As Yogurt put it, the effort to reward ratio is quite favorable. It’s a little tricky at times (I can already feel how bad my hamstrings are going to hurt tomorrow), but it’s very do-able. And a good chunk of the loop goes along a ridge line, so the views are fantastic.

The only problem? It’s a 2+ hour drive away. And we wanted to hike in the daylight, so we couldn’t do our usual “head up while LJ naps” noontime drive. Which means that Lilian had to nap on the trail.

She might have relaxed in the moment (I had no idea a human neck could swivel like that), but it was fairly short-lived. I think she only slept for a half-hour total (she usually goes down for a solid two hours). And there was no napping in the car. Which means that, by the time we stopped at the Common Man in Concord, NH for dinner, she was completely exhausted. I’m seriously impressed that she managed to hold it all together. There was definitely a lot more fussing than usual, but she made it through an entire dinner. This kid is resilient.

(She had a little meltdown when we got home, but I held her hand, sang her a few songs, and she was out like a light.)

I’m not sure if our schedule will allow another hike this month, but I hope we get at least one more in before this winter!