Prepare, Practice These Tips to Keep Kids Safe in the Outdoors

By Leon

In an instant, the backpacking trip in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains turned from an idyllic family outing to every parent’s nightmare. One moment, my son Daniel, 16 months old at the time, was playing around the campsite. In the next, despite the close supervision of four adults, he had vanished.

Though warmly dressed, this youngster would be hard to find if she got lost in the winter woods. Her clothing blends in with the surroundings and there is no whistle attached to her coat.

The adults immediately split up to search for Dan. I sprinted back down to the lake, while my wife, Debbie, ran the other way, up the hill. Out of the corner of her eye, Debbie caught a flash of Dan’s bright red jacket as he disappeared over the rise. She collared the would-be wanderer, who thought the chase was part of a game.

We took my oldest son, Dan, on his first backpacking trip when he was five months old. Debbie carried him and all the paraphernalia associated with an infant, and I carried all the camping gear. When my brother, Mike, went backpacking with us, he and I would split the weight up. We didn’t go far, but we still managed to get back into the mountains, away from most of the crowds.

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