Monday, June 1, 2015

Camping With a Baby - Goblin Valley State Park-

Before I went camping with my little 6 month old Madison, I did some research. I was terrified to take my baby camping for fear it would ruin a sleep schedule, she would be cold and miserable all night, thus making her parents miserable, and honestly just ruin my good memories and memories to come that I have with camping. I searched Pinterest thoroughly for blog posts and lists that could be helpful in making a camping trip successful with a baby. Although most of these articles and ideas were very helpful, I decided to add my own wisdom to the list. My wisdom is down to earth and for the average/poor family. A lot of the posts made it seem that you need to bring every single little toy, have the coolest bed for them, and bring every imaginable baby product to make the trip a success! I am a witness (from my one time :) ) that this isn't necessarily true. Madi is the happiest of campers and her Dad and I brought the bare minimum.

Location

This past weekend, we decided to travel with some friends to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. We were going to camp overnight and then do some hiking and site seeing the next morning. Our destination is about 3 hours from Provo. I am lucky that traveling with my baby is fairly easy. We made one little pit stop at a gas station where the building was inside a rock! Madi got the chance to get out of the car for a few minutes while we bought firewood and ice. Jordan hates to buy firewood, he would rather just chop his own, but when you live/camp in a vast desert, lumber is hard to come by!

My little happy traveler!


Hanksville, Utah


We found the coolest of campsites on BLM land so we didn't even have to pay a fee. Madi was so happy to sit on a blanket in the warm night air and watch us set up camp, cook dinner, and play frisbee. For the camp trip we decided to invest in a tarp. Not only to put our tent on, but for Madison to have somewhere to lay her blanket and play. This tarp wasn't necessarily an essential item, but if you have blankets you would like to keep as clean as possible it definitely helps.Plus I feel it keeps cool air from coming in the tent through the ground.
Madi enjoying the view

My happy little camper

Our cool little campsite






For a first camping trip, it was a must that we needed to go somewhere we wouldn't freeze at night. (Although it was somewhat chilly) I would prefer somewhere closer to home, but Provo is still a bit cold at this time of year.

Sleeping


Sleeping! This was definitely my largest fear going into the trip. A lot of my research pointed toward little compact camping beds for children that can fit into a backpack. These seemed ideal, but they were so expensive! I thought a pack n' play would be the best bet, however, we ran into a few problems with this for this particular trip. Our tent is a little small for that, we don't have one yet, and there was a lack of room in the car for such a bulky object. Although a play pen is a must for Madi as she gets older, this trip we decided to camp with a plastic tub. My mother came up with this great idea and it worked fantastically. Because Madison isn't quite mobile yet, it provided a great sleeping space for her and for me to pack her stuff in and save room in the car. I put her to bed just like I do at home. She laid awake for a few moments staring at the tent and listening to the crickets, and then fell asleep. She didn't wake up at all that night, even when Jordan and I came into the tent later that night. She had a blanket underneath her acting like a pad and a blanket on top for covering. She wore fleece pajamas, and then wore one of those fleece wearable blankets. She stayed warm enough to sleep soundly and woke up very happy the next morning.






Hiking

A baby hiking carrier is a must and probably where Jordan and I spent the most money for a specific object. We tried a cheaper one for a few days, but opted out when we found a deal for a much better one for just 15 extra dollars. In all we spent $115 on this hiking carrier. My only wish is that it had a canopy on top.


This carrier was awesome. It has some space for storage for her diapers and baby supplies, and even places for grown-up snacks and a camel back. I LOVE this carrier. I not only use it for hiking, but also around the house. Madison seems to want to be packed around at the times of day when I need to cook dinner or do chores. She is on my back daily as I vacuum, cook dinner, or even dig in my garden. This carrier is not only for babies, but can be worn until the child is over 40 pounds. Amazing investment! Because of the lack of a canopy, she had to have her hat on at all times, and I made sure she had a fresh coat of sunscreen every hour or so. One little trinket I think I want to add next time is a little spray bottle to spray her face to keep her cool. She loves when we flick her with water. (Except when my fingers accidentally flicked her in the nose)

My poor baby can't see

We hiked through Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyon. The hike we went on was through a slot canyon. We were so excited to do one of these hikes before we left Utah. We had the option to do one of the canyons then turn around. But by the time we realized we could turn around we had already gone about halfway. We ended up doing two canyons (one of which had knee deep water) and hiking about 8 miles. I took a break about halfway and nursed Madison.This hike was a little to long for a 6 month old. She slept in her carrier, but started to get tired and ornery around mile 7. I would probably recommend a 5 mile hike as a 'challenging' but 'doable' hike for a baby. However, we were so thankful for our nice carrier and loved this hike.



Fast asleep on Dad's back

At the start of the slot canyon



After a little picnic lunch we entered the park to see the hoodoos. We walked around for about an hour exploring the strange towering rocks and took some pictures. The park is extremely small, and although the rock formations were pretty cool, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Plus after our 8 mile hike, we were pretty tired.







Looking out over Goblin Valley

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