Camping/Hiking With Pets!

[chisos muse]

Ok fellow Bender's...now that my little girl is a big 1 year old, she'll be going to NM and CO this year. She already does great in the car and on regular local hikes. I've been researching gear, pet friendly area's as well as pet friendly campground's like this.

I'd love to hear any advice, stories, and must do's & do not's from anyone willing to share.

sleepy??? I know Zephyr has had some experience.

BTW.....I already know all of the rules & regs on Federal Land's, so this advice is NOT necessary! 

[Cookie]

For hiking with little ones we used the Kelty Pathfinder kid carrier. We started with our daughter when she was 2 and she fit in the carrier till she was almost 4 yrs. old. I think the weight limit is around 50 lbs. She was just getting too long for it, her feet were hitting the back of my husbands knees. We did a lot of hiking with that in CO, UT, NM and Big Bend of course. It was comfortable, and had a detachable backpack, great for diapers, snacks etc. We got it at REI for around $185 (also had a shade attachment, but we never used that) and definately got our moneys worth.

Were you looking for campgrounds, or primitive camping in BLM type places (that is pretty much were we camp outside of TX)? We know a lot of great places to stay but some youv'e got to do some 4-wheeling to get there, some are just on mountain roads though.

~Cookie

[RichardM]

Actually, I believe Muse was referring to Sasha!

I'm not sure how Sasha would feel about riding in a child carrier.

[Cookie]

 
that would explain the "with pets" I thought maybe she had both, when she said "my baby"....
disregard
~Cookie

[chisos muse]

Thanks anyway, cookie! 

[sleepy]

Colorado, NM and Utah all have many many places for dogs and their owners, but you know that.  On one trip to NM, we had to buy Zephyr some boots, because his pads became split.  They were actually more like P.J. Soles' leggings with vinyl feet.  He had an 80's girl look going on.  I didn't think we'd need them, because we walked everyday along the greenbelt and on pavement.  But at least one hike in NM was long and on very sharp and rocky terrain.  He also got his aura read and guided imagery by a hippie lady in Taos and that seemed to make him feel better.  whatever works,  i think he just liked the attention.

He has his own backpack from Wolfpack.  The key for getting them to use  it is wearing it with only stuffing at first, then gradually increasing the load.  I usually only make him carry his own water and food.  You don't want to overload your girl. 

I can't say enough about not overdoing it.  I think now that we have overdone Z-boy, walking an average of 5-6 miles a day, lots of pavement.  In addition, lots of fetch time with high jumps and crazy landings.  Result: torn ACL with cartilage damage.  He's in recovery now and probably won't be making any long hikes for awhile. I'll give this to him, he climbed a fourteener with an injured ACL (we didn't know it at the time).  Lucky I didn't have to carry his 60 pound ass down the mountain.  He's going to be swimming more now than walking.