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Travel with a Toddler: the Red River Gorge, KY

 


The last time my husband and I had been to the Red River Gorge was on our honeymoon. We moved to Cincinnatti, OH nearly a year ago; for nearly a year one of us would occasionally say to the other, "we should go back to the Gorge this weekend." Spoiler alert: it never happened.

Until last weekend, when my husband packed up the diaper bag, sneakily grabbed my hiking shoes, and told me we were going for a walk to the park. Two and a half hours later, we were parked at the Daniel Boone Coffee Shop, energizing ourselves for the trek ahead of us. 

We chose the Auxier Ridge trail, and followed the 5 mile loop. After hiking a 10 mile moutnain the previous weekend, I figured it would be easy money, but towards the end my exercise induced asthma kicked in and my will to live was slowly dwindling.


I highly highly highly recommend investing in a good quality baby carrier. The ErgoBaby 360 was a wonderful choice. As I share more photos from previous hikes, you'll see that carrier a ton. I prefer carrying the baby over the backpack full of water - this carrier seriously makes her feel like she weighs nothing!



This is still towards the beginning of the hike, when I was jogging ahead with a spring in my step. Towards the end, I was still jogging ahead, but only because I told myself if I rushed the uphill segments my muscles wouldn't have time to hurt. News flash: they freaking hurt.

We let her walk on her own for a little bit, but she's a runner. She got so excited to be in nature, unbound, that she let her intrusive thoghts take over and tried to make her own trail every two seconds. She let her dad hold her hand once she realized that she had to step over the roots and couldn't just plow through them. 


This was about halfway through the hike, where the most incredible views were seen. From where we were, we could see the peaks we had hiked on our honeymoon, and it may or may not have invoked some emotion in me. (I'm a Cancer, what can I say?) 


By the end, we reached a gravel road that stretched on indefinitely. It felt like we were on it forever, to the point where my husband suggested, hopelessly, we turn back and hike the whole. damn. thing. over again. Thankfully, after walking for literally five more minutes, we spotted the parking lot in the distance. I thank my lucky stars every night for that.

Pro tip: even if it's a short hike and you don't think you'll need food, bring food. Trust me. Trust. Me. Our toddler was nearly inconsolable for the entire second half of the hike. She was tired, hungry, and we had made about three wrong turns at that point which delayed us finishing the hike by approximately one hour. We did stop to take a break and let her stretch her legs in the last hour, but as soon as she was back in the carrier, she was crying for me to pat her bottom and bounce her as I walked. Try doing that while hiking uphill. It's not fun.

Bonus pro tip: bring the pacifier. Bring it. Just freaking bring it. I don't care if it's meant to be a two hour hike. She'll want the paci. She'll cry for the paci. She'll scream in your ear for the paci. Don't. Leave. The. Paci.


Where should we go next?

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