21 hours with my nephew

[LIhikers]

I got to take my 12 year old nephew into NY's Harriman State Park.
We started hiking at 4:30 Sunday afternoon and got back to the car at 1:30PM on Monday.
We started from the Elk Pen parking area and followed the AT to Island Pond. While we were walking he asked me how long the trail was. I think he was trying to get an idea of how far we were going to go, but when I told him the trail was over 2000 miles his eyes opened about this wide. I went on to explain that we were only going to do a few miles of it and would hike on some other, much shorter trails too. When we got to the north west corner of the pond, and took a break to look at the water, he saw some high hills overlooking the pond on the south east side and said that's where he wanted to camp. At that point I threw my plan out the window and we headed off to find the "perfect" campsite. Once there, we set up the tent, picked a place to set up the stove and then he set about collecting wood for a campfire. Evidently he had to make a camp fire, using one match, for the Royal Rangers program he belongs to, and wanted to show me he could do it here. WE waited until after the sun had set for him to start his fire, and I have to say, he did a good job. The only problem was we couldn't get the "strike anywhere" matches to light by striking them anywhere. So we did the next best thing and used a lighter to light the match and then the match to light the fire. Once a good fire was going he decided that was enough and we let it burn down and out. Then we drenched the remains. Now we turned in and layed there listening to the night. First up was a coyote howling, then some kind of ground bird, maybe turkeys, calling each other. This was only his second night in the woods, so every sound was a scary one. When we got up in the morning he said he hadn't slept at all, but I know for a fact that isn't true. Since when do 12 year olds snore Our camp had become filled with bugs so we packed up and headed out, deciding to have breakfast later. We continued northbound on the AT to the Long Path and then picked up some othre trails that brought us back to the car. I think we hiked about 4.5 miles Monday and 2.5 miles on Sunday. Not many miles, but it was his first time carrying a pack and I didn't want to make it a death march. In fact, he was in on all of the decision making as for which way to go, what trails to use, and when to take breaks. Before we hiked even one step I told him the purpose of the trip was to have fun. He really got a kick out of drinking water that we had just filtered out of a stream.
I'm hoping he had a good enough time that he'll want to go again, I'm already thinking the fall school break.
I promised his younger brother, who's 7 years old, that we'd do a trip in August or September.

[dmax]

Glad to hear you had a good time with your nephew. I've been thinking of flying my two nephews in from New Mexico to do the same thing.

[Mumble's]

Sounds like you had a great 21 hrs with your Nephew. I know he went back home raving of the good time he had. I'll bet he will be begging you to go again real soon................

[jeff]

You are a great uncle to spend time with young people. We need more role models like you.

[LIhikers]

Thanks for the encouragement everybody.
While we didn't cover very much ground, we sure had a lot of fun. And fun in the outdoors is what this trip was all about. Like most boys in their early teens, he sure had a good time making the campfire!

[slowpace]

Originally Posted by LIhikers

I got to take my 12 year old nephew into NY's Harriman State Park.
We started hiking at 4:30 Sunday afternoon and got back to the car at 1:30PM on Monday.
We started from the Elk Pen parking area and followed the AT to Island Pond. While we were walking he asked me how long the trail was. I think he was trying to get an idea of how far we were going to go, but when I told him the trail was over 2000 miles his eyes opened about this wide. I went on to explain that we were only going to do a few miles of it and would hike on some other, much shorter trails too. When we got to the north west corner of the pond, and took a break to look at the water, he saw some high hills overlooking the pond on the south east side and said that's where he wanted to camp. At that point I threw my plan out the window and we headed off to find the "perfect" campsite. Once there, we set up the tent, picked a place to set up the stove and then he set about collecting wood for a campfire. Evidently he had to make a camp fire, using one match, for the Royal Rangers program he belongs to, and wanted to show me he could do it here. WE waited until after the sun had set for him to start his fire, and I have to say, he did a good job. The only problem was we couldn't get the "strike anywhere" matches to light by striking them anywhere. So we did the next best thing and used a lighter to light the match and then the match to light the fire. Once a good fire was going he decided that was enough and we let it burn down and out. Then we drenched the remains. Now we turned in and layed there listening to the night. First up was a coyote howling, then some kind of ground bird, maybe turkeys, calling each other. This was only his second night in the woods, so every sound was a scary one. When we got up in the morning he said he hadn't slept at all, but I know for a fact that isn't true. Since when do 12 year olds snore Our camp had become filled with bugs so we packed up and headed out, deciding to have breakfast later. We continued northbound on the AT to the Long Path and then picked up some othre trails that brought us back to the car. I think we hiked about 4.5 miles Monday and 2.5 miles on Sunday. Not many miles, but it was his first time carrying a pack and I didn't want to make it a death march. In fact, he was in on all of the decision making as for which way to go, what trails to use, and when to take breaks. Before we hiked even one step I told him the purpose of the trip was to have fun. He really got a kick out of drinking water that we had just filtered out of a stream.
I'm hoping he had a good enough time that he'll want to go again, I'm already thinking the fall school break.
I promised his younger brother, who's 7 years old, that we'd do a trip in August or September.

It's great spending time with young kids. Ever since My son and I took his two boys (my grandsons) out hiking and camping on the AT,they have been camping in there back yard for practice. They are just 7 and 9. We did about 13 miles in two days. They had very light day packs to carry my son and I carried all the weight.

We wanted them to carry something just to make them feel more needed and important. One carried all the food, the youngest carried the water filter and the stove. We did see some bear tracks along the way. Of course they like the idea that bears were around. They also got to experience what it's like to be in a thunderstorm on the trail. Glad you had a good time. Life is good.