6 Great Tips for Trail Mix on a Hike

• Food and water basics for day hiking with children
• Hiking: A great time to snack between meals
• Great snack ideas for your hike with kids
• Gorp recipe
• Kiddie Mix Gorp recipe
• Know your berry before eating it when day hiking with kids

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Bring healthy snacks when hiking with kids

Among the many wonderful things about hiking, at least for the kids, is that snacking between meals isn’t frowned upon. Unless going on an all-day hike in which you’ll picnic along the way, you want to keep them fed, as hungry children can lead to lethargy and whininess. It’ll also keep toddlers from snacking on the local flora or dirt.

Before hitting the trail, you’ll want to repackage as much of the food as possible as products sold at grocery stores tend to come in bulky packages that take up space and add a little weight to your backpack. Place the food in re-sealable plastic bags.

Bring a variety of small snacks for rest stops. You don’t want kids filling up on snacks, but you do need them to maintain their energy levels if they’re walking or to ensure they don’t turn fussy if riding in a child carrier. Go for complex carbohydrates and proteins for maintaining energy. Good options include dried fruits, jerky, nuts, peanut butter, prepared energy bars, candy bars with a high protein content (nuts, peanut butter), crackers, raisins and trail mix (called “gorp”). A number of trail mix recipes are available online; you and your children may want to try them out at home to see which ones you collectively like most.

Salty treats rehydrate better than sweet treats do. Chocolate and other sweets are fine if they’re not all that’s exclusively served, but remember they also tend to lead to thirst and to make sticky messes. Whichever snacks you choose, don’t experiment with food on the trail. Bring what you know kids will like.

Give the first snack within a half-hour of leaving the trailhead or you risk children becoming tired and whiny from low energy levels. If kids start asking for them every few steps even after having something to eat at the last rest stop, consider timing snacks to reaching a visible landmark, such as, “We’ll get out the trail mix when we reach that bend up ahead.”

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Get kids motivated to hike this summer!

NOTE: This blog entry originally appeared in Seattle Backpackers Magazine.

Finally summer has arrived – sun and warmth reigns, trails surfaces run dry, green leaves and grass beckon. In short, it’s time to hit the trail, maybe for a day hike, maybe for an overnight campout.

Packing the gear and hoisting a backpack over the shoulders is a lot easier to think about than to do, however. After a long week at work, there are always enough chores around the house to keep you busy, and sometimes you just want to plop down in the sofa and relax.

Even if you get yourself motivated to go, the kids’ calls to instead go to the local water park may drown out your announcement that a family hike is planned this weekend.

What to do? Try some of these pre-hike activities with children to get them (and you!) excited about hitting the trail rather than the Wii console.

Watch videos
Beat your kids’ television addiction by using it as a tool against them: Watch videos, if available, of the area you plan to hike. Usually videos of national and state parks can be checked out from public libraries. The narration can be a bit dry, but sometimes the videotaped scenery is so spectacular, that kids want to go there and see it for themselves.

Make your own hiking gear
Children also can make their own hiking gear, such as a trekking pole. For materials, you’ll need a stick, knife for carving wood, sandpaper, and wood finish. Start by walking with your children into your yard (if you have a lot of trees), or go to a nearby woods. Each child than can pick a stick that their hand fits nicely around and that comes up to their hips. At home, carve off bark and sand it. Then have children stain it with a brown or reddish-brown finish. They now have a hiking stick. Most children can’t wait to use it.

Make trail mix
Nothing wins the hearts and minds of kids as readily as food. Before going on hike, have kids help you make homemade trail mix, also known among backpackers as gorp. For ingredients, you’ll need a cup each of salted peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl. Add other ingredients (sunflower seeds, cashews, granola) as you and your children desire. Portion out – and other than a quick sample for a taste test, don’t let kids eat the trail mix until you hit the trail!

Word finds
For older elementary school kids, word finds (also known as word searches or word puzzles) featuring hiking and nature terms are available online for free. These are great activities to keep kids busy while you go through the less interesting aspects of planning the hike and can spur discussion as they ask you what a word they’ve never heard before means. Type “hiking word searches” in a search engine for downloads.

Play dress up
Four- and five-year-olds love to play dress up. So why not dress up as a “hiker”? Explorer sets are available at a variety of toy stores or online fit outfit your child with such items as a fishing vest, canteen, binoculars, compass, and more. Your child almost certainly will want to use the cool new toys on the hiking trail this weekend.

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Trail Mix Recipe: Kiddie Mix Gorp

Have kids help you make homemade trail mix, also known among backpackers as gorp. Here's how to make a kiddie mix variety of gorp. You'll need 4 cups of Chex cereal, 1/2 cup of dried fruit bits (apple chips, banana chips, or dried cranberries), 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup salted peanuts, and 1/2 cup M & Ms. Mix it in a large bowl or pour into a gallon-size re-sealable zipper bag and shake.

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Trail mix recipe for kids: Gorp

Have kids help you make homemade trail mix, also known among backpackers as gorp. To make basic gorp, you'll need 1 cup each of salted peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms. Mix it all in a large bowl. Add other ingredients (sunflower seeds, cashews, granola) as you and your children desire. Portion out.

Read more about day hiking with children in the guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Great snack ideas for your hike with kids

Trail mix also is known as "gorp" among hikers.

When day hiking with kids, bring a variety of small snacks for rest stops. You don’t want kids filling up on snacks, but you do need them to maintain their energy levels if they’re walking or to ensure they don’t turn fussy if riding in a baby carrier. Go for complex carbohydrates and proteins for maintaining energy. Good options include dried fruits, jerky, nuts, peanut butter, prepared energy bars, candy bars with a high protein content (nuts, peanut butter), crackers, raisins and trail mix (called “gorp”).

A number of trail mix recipes are available online; you and your children may want to try them out at home to see which ones you collectively like most.

Salty treats rehydrate better than sweet treats do. Chocolate and other sweets are fine if they’re not exclusively served, but remember they also tend to lead to thirst and to make sticky messes. Whichever snacks you choose, don’t experiment with food on the trail. Bring what you know kids will like.

Give the first snack within a half-hour of leaving the trailhead or you risk children becoming tired and whiny from low energy levels. If kids start asking for them every few steps even after having something to eat at the last rest stop, consider timing snacks to reaching a seeable land-mark, such as, “We’ll get out the trail mix when we reach that bend up ahead.”

How much food should you bring? Enough so each child can have a couple of snacks over a couple of miles is a good rule of thumb, but the older the child and the more difficult the terrain, the more food you’ll likely need. Each child is different, of course, and may require more or less as the eating habits and metabolism dictate.

Many hikers use food to create a fond memory of hiking. Says Jackie S., of Brevard, N.C., “Bring a special snack to enjoy upon reaching your destination. When my two daughters and I hit the summit or take a break at the waterfall we’ve just walked an hour or more to see, we break out a package of freeze-dried blueberry cheesecake. After a long hike, it’s like eating in a gourmet restaurant.”

Read more about day hiking with children in the guidebook Hikes with Tykes.