Water break on the Skull Rock Trail. Joshua Tree National Park, California.
Mommy blogs. Do a search and you come up with 4,300,000 results. As a new mom, I’ve pilfered through the links, looking to find someone out there who mothers like me–that is, drags their newborn on 3,000 mile roadtrips to the Rockies and breastfeeds on sailboats. I want to know which baby carrier can handle 16-mile hikes along the Backbone Trail and what to do about bee stings. Are there Epi Pens for infants?
So I searched out adventure mommy blogs, finding only varieties of “adventures in mommyhood”; the usual list of laundry and sleep-deprivation ramblings. Certainly, I’m not the only woman on the planet who’s baptized her infant in Montana’s Blackfoot River (or can relate to it)?
Before I became a mother of two young girls, I worked full-time as a professional river guide and a freelance travel writer. I still write professionally about outdoor adventures, but now, instead of writing about first descents of Himalayan rivers in India, my forays are closer to home and are logistically engineered to include daily naps (there’s an amazing carseat mosquito net ideal for back-of-beyond siestas!).
I look forward to hearing about your experiences with backcountry baby travel, and to sharing some of the highlights from the adventures of Little Mama and Baby Licious.
The Adventures of Little Mama 
This is great! I look forward to more posts about your adventures and all the little tips you pass along. We are looking at adopting here in Mexico. So we too will be dragging our kid around with us eventually. 🙂
Jennifer, thanks for reading! Do you live in Mexico? We are dying to check out the whales at Laguna San Ignacio in Baja. Have you been?
Hello Bridget,
I bought The Best Women’s tr. wr. 2011 and enjoyed The Labyrinth. Great writing! I too enjoy travelling with my children (now 10 ans 12). My next backpacking trip is in a few weeks (winter in the Middle Kingdom). Would you know of any good rivers my 10 year-old son and I can try kayaking in China – in winter? Also perhaps a good outfitter?
I know that on your blog you ask for mothers who can help each other share travel adventure advice. I breastfed everywhere – so much healthier and less. But my backpack baby carrier is certainly out of date now. And no idea about baby Epi-pens. My kids don’t have allergies…(yet)!
Have you ever kayaked, snowshoed, skiied mountained biked in the Gaspe Peninsula?
Manjula
manjule@immersionbdc.com
Manjula! Thanks for checking out “The Labyrinth” and The Adventures of Little Mama. Congratulations on your upcoming trip to China. How long will you be backpacking? I have several friends who have rafting in China, I will ask around and see if there’s a stretch suitable for a 10-yr-old. I have never been to the Gaspe Peninsula, how is the adventuring up there?
Thanks a lot Bridget,
I would really appreciate any ideas about rafting or kayaking with kids in China. My son and I will be there for four weeks, December and January. Yes, it’s winter but in the south the climate should be okay for camping and being on a river.
In the Gaspe Peninsula the people are fairly adventurous – mosting skiing, snowboarding, telemark, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and back-country skiing. A friend of mine also does parachute skiing on the frozen bay. Her name is Joanne Coté and she will probably blog you to tell you about how that is.
In the summer we do a lot of hiking in the mountains, kayaking the rivers and sea kayaking, many people also sail. My boyfriend and I do a bit of wakeboarding. But the list is long and I won’t bore you with the details. If you are interested in winter fun activities – and yes all this can be done with children, consider coming to the Gaspe Peninsula for a visit.
I Bridget,
I red few articles on your blog and they are very interesting. I went to Costa Rica with my kids, but they was 7 and 13 years old, so they are not a littel baby!
We went to Nicoya and my best place was Malpais! I leave in Gaspésie and you can do many sports. You can climbing many montains in Gaspe park, it’s wonderful in winter. My sun and my boyfriend snowbording….they are crazy!
Thank you to share your experience!
Katia from Maria