We are back from a very fun trip to the White Mountains. The occasion was a multi-day AMC trip that Megan was a part of and Caleb and I were lucky enough to tag along for a portion. Megan’s group would hike to the Zealand Falls Hut and then to the Galehead Hut over two days (with a variety of routes and itineraries among the attendees. (Click on the photo to see more images and read a trip report!)

Caleb and I chose to hike over Mt. Hale and meet Megan’s group for the night at the Zealand Falls Hut, and then hike east on the A-Z Trail for a night in the backcountry before heading to our car to pick Megan up on the morning of the third day. Caleb and I had muddy, wet and rainy conditions on our first day but Caleb made it up and over Mt. Hale all on his own! If you don’t count his Moosilauke hike (since I carried him for roughly 2 of the 7.5 miles), Mt. Hale is Caleb’s first 4000-foot peak!

The night at the Zealand Falls Hut was pleasant (Caleb did not really dig waking up in the middle of the night to pitch black, nor did he like ramming his head a few minutes later on the corner of the shelf on the wall in his bunk — yet he still had a great time) and we look forward to returning soon. Caleb and I opted to hike 5.5 miles out to our car on the second day instead of camping near Mt. Field (as originally planned) because the weather was a bit of a drag on our morale, and we had a hard time spotting suitable tent sites from the trail, let alone 200+ feet away.

The rest of the trip was very relaxing and we opted not to do any more major hikes (we took a few short strolls…). We look forward to going back again very soon!

A few photos from this past weekend. Despite the fact that we were in Arlington, MA, Caleb looks like he is back in California.

Caleb has been fascinated with knights, armor, etc. lately, so we decided to make him some. We fired up the smelting oven, brought our anvil and hammer out of storage, and fashioned him some custom-fitted battle accouterments.

Caleb’s preschool provides a monthly newsletter and our favorite thing to read is almost always the latest, “Children’s Chatter.” This month’s issue did not disappoint:

Caleb: “Jonathan, you are my best friend. I think about you in my heart.”

Caleb’s mountaineering boots, Daddy’s mountaineering boots. Caleb’s ice axe, Daddy’s ice axe.

Awesomeness. Unfortunately my boots are winter boots so I have just a few more months before I get to play in them. Caleb’s are normal hiking boots and he has been wearing them since the moment I bought them. As for the ice axes, there are actually a few trails in the Whites that necessitate bringing along an axe this late in the season… Unfortunately winter is still 7 months away. :(

Dave (a friend of mine from work) generously offered three tickets to us for last night’s Red Sox game. We had a blast, despite the rain, as the Sox routed the Indians 13 to 3. Thank you Dave! We had a great time watching the game with you and meeting your family!

Caleb checking out the game during one of the earlier innings. It started raining in the first or second inning, I think, and Caleb wore his rain jacket and pants for the rest of the game!

Caleb’s view of the game, before I propped him up on my backpack…

The view was amazing, especially as the sun started to set.

Caleb and Megan having a great time.

Dave’s brother, Dave, his sister-in-law, Megan, and Caleb.

If you managed to check out this video you know already that Caleb and I went camping in the White Mountains this weekend. We were there for two days and one night and had a great time. Our plan was to camp for three days and two nights but we headed back a day early leaving on a high note. On the down side, I remember one of the main reasons I like winter hiking so much — no ticks, mosquitoes, or spiders getting in your face, secretly attaching themselves to your body while you hike, or crawling all over your tent looking for a way in.

Caleb did a bunch of hiking and had a fantastic time. He did not enjoy the bugs (mainly those that crawled on the tent) but really liked the hiking and playing at our campsite. We came prepared with two footballs, a soccer ball, a bunch of toys and books, and had several short hikes in our back pocket if we ran out of things to do. One highlight was a massive rainbow (sorry, no photos) that appeared during the short rain shower just after I woke up on our second day. Another was when Caleb came out of nowhere with information we discussed about hiking with an ice axe. But I think my favorite part of the trip was watching my son scramble up to the peak of Bald Mountain like a champ. Enjoy the photos below (click on the image for more…).

Caleb and I went hiking and camping in the White Mountains this weekend. Here’s a clip from our trip. (Note: It’s a bit long. My favorite part, if you want to skip ahead, is around the 4-minute mark.)

We took a little family hike today (photos to come later) and I thought this clip of Caleb scrambling up the last bit of trail before the top of Ram’s Head Hill was pretty cute.

Sometime during the past few weeks I made up my mind to get Caleb some proper outdoor gear. He’s made it through two winters now in his bulky Columbia snow jacket, which served its purpose very well, but is too puffy for some applications. The jacket is waterproof and warm, which is great when playing/hiking outdoors in the snow, but overkill for any semi-warm to warm wet weather during the other three seasons. He had a rain jacket at some point but grew out of it. And about a year ago, when we were exploring New York City, we ducked into a store to buy him the only rain jacket available — an oversized pullover anorak.

I like being outdoors quite a bit (a lot, actually), but Caleb may actually like being outside more than I do. So, rather than force him to wear his winter jacket in wet spring weather, or his bulky (width-wise) anorak (I suppose he could also wear it over his backpack like a poncho…), I figured it was time to get him a proper shell for his torso, and perhaps a pair of rain pants as well.

I did a bit of research online as well and decided that the jacket should be more of a performance item (waterproof with as much breathability as possible) and figured he could live with semi-breathable rain pants to save a few bucks. Now comes the hard part… In looking at the various jacket options in-person, I found that as the sizes increased from the toddler range to the “boys” range, the girth noticeably expanded as well. This was a consistent feature in many of the jacket brands I checked out. (I’ll save my comments about childhood obesity, diabetes, exercise, quality of diet, television, parental responsibility, etc. for some other time…)

I managed to find two jacket brands that stayed slim as the size increased: The North Face, and Marmot. Since Caleb seems to grow a few inches in height every time I blink, I eyeballed the jackets for a size that I figured would carry him through two seasons (we did the same with his Columbia jacket, which was also on the trim side). Both jackets were quite nice but I settled on the Marmot for a few outdoorsy-geeky reasons (front pockets above the hip belt, double storm flap, lightweight and more flexible fabric) and because Marmot is an awesome company.

For pants I chose REI’s Cascade Pants, which have a waterproof, windproof, breathable material. They are also nice and trim and the pair I bought him may actually last him three seasons (the first two will require some cuffing, of course!).

So, head to toe, save gloves, Caleb is now water and wind-proof. For winter outings we’ll layer him up (just like we do) rather than encase him in a single puffy layer, and for the other three seasons we’ll do the same, with fewer layers, of course. I’m eager to get him out for longer hikes and have a few camping/hiking trips for he and I (+ Megan and Nadine for a few) planned between now and next winter.

Here’s a photo of Caleb in his new high-tec shells:

And what does any responsible outdoor-type person do as soon as they bring new gear home? They test it out of course! (Yes, I know I’m a dork but I’d rather find out something is not waterproof in my shower than 5 miles down a trail in pouring rain…)