Best snacks for a winter day hike – and why you should pig out on them

Mixing carbs and fats in snacks is a good idea for winter
hiking with kids.

Arguably one of the many fun aspects of a day hike in winter is that you can snack – and not just a little snack, like you might enjoy on a summer walk.

Your body uses more energy on a winter day hike than in summer. First, more exertion is required to move over snow, and secondly your body must generate heat to keep itself warm. Because of this, you can burn around 100 more calories an hour than you would during a summer hike on the same trail.

To keep up your energy, during winter you’ll want to mix carbs and fats in your snacks. If you stick only to carbs, you risk a sugar crash in which you’ll become sluggish and cold. Being tired on a trail is never any fun, but when your body struggles to stay warm during a winter hike, that’s problematic.

Some great snack carb/fat combos for a winter day hike include:
g Nuts and dried fruit – Almonds, walnuts, and pistachios provide the fats while dried fruit work as carbs.
g Nuts and chocolate pieces – The sweets give you carbs while the nuts again offer up the fats.
g Candy with cookie wafers – The frosted or chocolate portions provide the fats while the cookie wafer is the carb.

And don’t worry about eating larger portions of these snacks than you would during summer. You almost certainly won’t gain weight because the body actually needs the extra intake of food.

Finally, don’t forget water with those snacks. You’ll need extra water on a winter day hike not just to help to metabolize the nuts, fruits and candy but also to ward off dehydration. Hikers often don’t realize that dehydrating oneself in cold weather is just as easy to do as it is on an extremely hot day. Due to the freezing temperatures, moisture is locked up in the snow, and so the air is desert dry.

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

How to avoid, treat hyponatremia on hike

Hyponatremia is on the rise among desert hikers, such as
those at Grand Canyon National Park.

If hiking in the desert or on an extremely humid day, beware of suffering from hyponatremia. This ailment – a low sodium blood level – has been on the rise, in fact, at Grand Canyon National Park.

Sodium helps regulate the amount of water in and around your body’s cells; when it becomes too low, your cells swell with water, creating a variety of problems such as muscle spasms/cramps, loss of balance, nausea, confusion, fatigue and even death.

In deserts, this typically occurs because the heat causes people to sweat, resulting in a loss of sodium. When hikers drink water to replace the loss fluid, they aren’t replenishing their bodies with salt and other minerals, causing the sodium to become diluted and hence low.

To prevent hyponatremia, imbibe electrolyte drinks and tablets when hiking (sports drinks don’t contain enough electrolytes and so don’t work). Also bring salty food, such as beef jerky and sodium crackers with you. Continue to drink water, however, as your body still requires it in the dry heat.

If suffering hyponatremia, seek medical attention immediately. You will need intravenous fluids, restricted water intake and monitoring.

Read more about day hiking the Grand Canyon in my Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Grand Canyon National Park guidebook.

Stay comfortable, safe during hot weather hikes with children

With summer’s arrival, hikers have to shift their thinking about how they approach their favorite pastime. Hot weather isn’t a reason to avoid the trail, but especially when children are involved hikers should prep for their adventure with as much consideration as they would for a winter hike. Some hot weather guidelines that’ll ensure your comfort and safety include:
g Clothing – Wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing. Avoid cotton and be sure to don a hat with a brim as well as sunglasses with UV protection.
g Sunscreen – Use at least SPF 15 on all exposed areas of the body, even if walking through shaded areas. The sun is more intense during summer than other seasons.
g Repellant – Insects are more likely to be out in summer than early spring or autumn, so make sure you bring repellant to keep them away. A repellant made with oil of lemon eucalyptus is safest for children.
g Water – Drink plenty of it but not much too swiftly or you’ll suffer stomach cramps. You’ll need at least 2 pints of water per person for every hour on the trail. Avoid caffeine before hiking as that can lead to dehydration.
g Snacks – Salty snacks are needed to replenish sodium lost while sweating. Sweet snacks most likely will only melt anyway on a hot day.
g Mornings – Mornings almost always are cooler than the afternoon, sometimes by a good 20 degrees, so plan to hike before 10 am. Evening hikes after 6 pm also are a little cooler than afternoons.
g Easy – Stick to a trail that won’t prove too challenging in distance or terrain. The more energy you exert, the more likely you are to overheat.
g Shade – Select shaded routes, such as woodlands, rather than open meadows.
g Breaks – Take more of them, maybe one every 15 minutes. This also will give you time to ensure everyone is drinking water and getting a salty snack.
g Slow – Reduce your pace to avoid overexertion. You may not cover as much ground as you like, but there are plenty of interesting, short day hiking trails to enjoy.

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

Useful kid food rules for day hikes

Whenever going on a day hike with children, be sure to bring along snacks. Kids who exert energy will get hungry, and they’ll probably need to take in some nourishment to keep going.

Great snacks to bring include trail mix, granola bars, dried or peeled fruit, beef jerky and crackers. A picnic lunch also can be fun, though it’ll require carrying more food in your backpack.

Some basic food guidelines to follow when day hiking with kids include:
g Bring lots of different kinds of food that your children like – You never know what your children might be in the mood to eat, and that they eat is better than not at all.
g Don’t try new foods – Kids can be finicky, so bring something you know they’ll eat. Try out new trail mix recipes before leaving for the trail.
g Keep eating times consistent with those at home – If you have a regular morning snack time or will be hiking during lunch, offer food during at about the same time when on the trial. Kids’ stomachs are accustomed to eating at those times. At the same time, however, when kids get hungry, feed them regardless of the time.
g Remember adult food – You don’t want to end up eating goldfish crackers and kid-sized nutrition bars because it won’t fill you. Consider bringing whole fruit and hardboiled eggs for yourself.

Read more about day hiking with children in my 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.