Snowshoeing

Today we took Carder on his first Snowshoeing Expedition.

There are guided trips that take place at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park every weekend.  Last year we couldn't go because the hikes are 2 hours round trip and Carder couldn't be out in the cold that long.  This year we were anxious to try it but I was also anxious about how it would go since the time of the guided hikes was right smack in the middle of nap time.*

We bundled Carder up in warm clothes and packed some snacks just in case.

He was acting tired so we fed him his lunch a bit earlier than normal and then strapped him in the car seat.  He napped on the way there and woke up a few minutes before we were supposed to meet the park ranger for our snowshoeing instructions at the ranger station.  I fed him a protein filled snack and then we headed into the ranger station.

After our instructions (and a whole bunch of crap that I didn't want to listen to while we chased our toddler around the room because he surely wasn't interested), we headed out to some woods and strapped on our snowshoes.  We popped Carder into the hiking backpack and we were off.

We trampled through the woods for about an hour.  Carder seemed to have a good time - except when the ranger stopped to explain some animal tracks or whatever else she saw.  The way we combated that was Derek walked in circles while she talked.

We had a nice time, but I think we have decided that for future trips, we will go on our own.  The ranger made a great point about being able to follow your tracks in the snow to find your way out.  This way we could avoid the drive to and from the park and can also schedule our walks for a time of day that works better for us (read - not during nap time*).  And, then you don't have to snowshoe with a herd of 30+ people who have never showshoed before (read - avoid the people who kept falling and slapped you in the face with branches). 

*You may be noticing a pattern that I have a lot of anxiety centered around Carder's sleep.  I think that since he doesn't sleep well at night and all of the experts cite how an over tired child sleeps even worse, I have some severe anxiety about him getting over tired.  Perhaps once he sleeps through the night consistently, that will get better.  But right now I am still too sleep deprived to take on these activities without worrying about what the end result will be.