Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 1

Can a toddler hike the whole East Coast Trail… BY HERSELF? Maybe it’s possible. Maybe it isn’t. We don’t know yet. But our two-and-a-half-year-old, Amélie, is giving it a try.

The rules are simple. So simple that there’s only one, which Séb has taken to call “The Rule of the Hike”: She takes every step. We hold her hands & help her keep her balance on treacherous parts of the trail, but we don’t carry her forward. When we’re done walking for the day, we carry her back. To resume an interrupted hike, we carry her to the point where she stopped the day before.

We tested the possibilities last week by getting Amélie to climb the Tolt in Witless Bay, which is basically right behind our house: She made it! So it might just be possible!

At the Tolt in Witless Bay

We’ve decided to keep this blog as a record of our attempt.

NOTE: There’s a lag of a few days between the hikes & the posts to give us the time to do the writeups, upload pictures, make videos, etc. 🙂

 

DAY 1:

It took an hour to get ready. Which shoes should Amélie be wearing? How are we going to tell if she’s too warm in her many layers? Are her hands going to be cold in those wool mittens? Is Évangéline going to be warm enough? Too warm?

When we finally make it out the door, it’s 5:30pm and the sun has already gone down quite a bit. It’s already starting to be too cold for the clothes we’d put on Amélie. We aren’t even at the top of the hill next to our house when Amélie looks up at her dad and said, “Papa, can you carry me?”

Séb manages to convince her to walk up the rest of the hill, where we call it a day. With only 150 metres between our house and Alder Hill Road, this is a very discouraging performance for the first day. But it’s a first attempt at establishing the necessary routine and getting Amélie to understand The Rule of the Hike.

 

  • Amélie’s progress today: 0.15km/316km
  • Amélie’s total progress: 0.15km/316km
  • Distance walked by the adults today:  0.3km
  • Total distance traveled by foot:  0.3km
  • Total time invested today: 1.25 hours
  • Total time invested in the effort: 1.25 hours (includes prep, driving/walking to hike’s starting point, total time on the trail, and the drive/walk back home.

4 thoughts on “Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 1

  • Claire would love to join get for this!!! Maybe in a few summers they can try it out together!!! T’es capable Amélie! Continue! Xoxo

  • Great accomplishments usually start slowly. 100 years ago her great great grandfather did his graduating climb for membership in the Alpine Club. Perhaps she will climb the mountain named to honour him one day! Certainly this is historic. Glad to see you are documenting history.

  • Quel magnifique projet!!! Et que de merveilleux souvenirs à léguer à Amélie et Évangéline. C’est aussi une très bonne motivation pour Grand-mére à se remettre en forme pour se joindre à vous à un beau moment donné… Je vous accompagne déjà …

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