First trip with Abby

“Joy and I were finally able to take Abby on her first overnighter this wknd.

We drove down to Nigals, picked him up and headed to Zaleski. We got on the trail a little late so we only went in about 2 miles or so. She did really well in her pack. The trail was slick clay so it was slow going,but it was a beautiful day.

Setting up camp was a bit slow with her needing to be tended to plus we had our 2 dogs. By dinner we realized that when we take her the dogs need to stay at home, to much to business and not enough R&R. We loafed around camp,ate and had another bper named Brian join us for the evening. He was an Air Force med student just starting his residency at Wright Patterson A.F.B. We hung out traded tales and enjoyed the fire.

For an hour or so we could hear people in the distance.We finally saw flashlights,so I decided to go let 'em know where we were (due to hour dogs etc...). It turns out they were a group of 10 scouts...who had gotten "turned around". They quietly set up camp in the drizzle that started a bit earlier. We then were visited by a Conservation Officer. A real nice chap who hung out for half an hour talkin. We turned in.

Our trekker tarp was packed that night,two adults,Abby and two dogs. But it was sure warm. Joy didnt sleep well,Abby fussed a bit on and off.

In the morn we decide to head home instead of add our second day. A good trip all in all.

Oh yeah, before I went to bed I had to answer natures call. So I steped into the tree line. I noticed something kinda glowing on the ground. Little bits of something scattered about. I turned on my light and picked up a piece of it, it was either chichen or tuna from a can. The smell wasn't a dead give away cause it was old. But the stuff literally glowed a faint bluish in the dark. Note to self...never eat that stuff again. Nigal and Brian didnt believe me till they saw it themselves,weird!”

“your sure that wasnt fozfire you were looking at Hyper? Im glad to here you guys got out with Abby kids are so much work but it will be very memorable for all involved.we have a 3 year old grandson that absolutly loves going backpacking when he gets the chance to go , and really does very well for about 3 miles. He got use to sleeping in tent when we bought one of those walmart pop up tents and left it on top of his bed for several monthes. now he sleeps just find in a tent.”

“Fozfire? whats that?? I picked up a few pieces of it. It looks like shredded chicken/tuna and when squeezed it was juicy and kinda smelled like rancid meat...who knows it was weird stuff!”

“Abby is a luckey girl!

I've heard of Foxfire but never seen it. Saw catapillars with glow in the dark stripes and a glow-grub, though.

Watch the ticks @ Zaleski, believe me. Have ya checked the dogs yet?”

“Why am I not suprised that even a youngun' couldn't keep y'all off the trial?

Sounds like it was a good start.”

“Joy & Hyperpacker, I remember when you didn't think you'd be hiking with Abby for a year or two! I'm so glad you're finding a way!!”

“Even though you had a few things go wrong, it sounds like it went pretty well. Good for you and best of luck with the next ones too.”

“Joy/Hyper, I would venture to guess that even a day hike with an infant would be quite an accomplishment. Wait until Abby is old enough to hear about her first trip. Make sure you take pictures.”

“Did you get plenty of pictures of her on her first BPing trip? Hope so.
Which campsite did yall stay at?”

“Hey you guys, that is great! Reading this makes me really excited to take my daughter. I am going to by that Kelty pack this weekend. What did you guys pack her in?”

“Thanks for the kind words y'all!

Walkindude,we stayed at the site that you and the rest of us stayed the first night last december.

Buddur, NO SH!T about the ticks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got paged by my sitter about an hour ago. She said that there was a "spider" on Abbies head. I asked a few questions regarding what it looked like,and guess what a FRIGGIN' TICK!!!!! I race home (after telling her to wash her hair and put alcohol on the site). I called the pediatrician, then the Ohio DNR and Vinton county dept of health. NO reported incidents of Lymes (thank God!). I can't figure how I missed the tick, I gave her 2 baths since we returned on Sat night and didnt see it. Fortunately the tick hadn't began to draw blood, it wasn't all bloated. What an afternoon!

Newgirl,we carried her in a Kelty Expedtion Kid Karrier. Very nice pack, but pricey $$$.”

“Not the Expedition, but REI-Outlet has a few Kelty carriers on clearance:
Link”

“wow, hyper, good thing your sitter spotted it, and mentioned it to you instead of just pushing it to the floor. My hair stood on end just listening to you rushing home from work. Damn ticks!”

“Oh My God, now I'm not so excited. I will flippin' freak out if a tick touches my child. I am going to have to be very, very thorough searching those damn things out. They are thick in MT.”

“How did you guys handle food for Abby?”

“ALWAYS leave the dogs at home! (fewer ticks)”

“Newgirl, we carried her formula and rice cereal in ziplocs and fed her like at home except at home she doesn't get bits of dirt and twigs in her food LOL. Diapers were the pain, bulky and quite heavy, the dogs carried the used ones.”

“I better get a dog.”

“I hate tics too. I actually went on a dayhike (don't tell anyone) Sunday and pulled a few tics off. I thought I had 'em all but later that night I found two of the little b@stards chewing on my @ss.
I hope Abby will be OK.”

“hyper, sounded like a nice trip until poor little Abby got that tick. How scarry for you. I'm glad she's ok. Yep, I never thought about having to carry all those diapers in your packs. Bet they are much heavier on the way out! Glad you used the dogs for those. Thanks for sharing!”

“Great Report! Great for you and Abby that you took her out so soon!”

“Glad to hear the little one is O.K. If there is one thing that I don't like about hiking, it's the ticks.

I'm waiting until my boy gets outta diapers before I take him. My wife won't go, so I would have to carry them, plus all the gear for him and me. I'd be back up to 60 lbs.”

“When we went to Lake Powell last week we had a heck of a time keeping enough sunscreen on the kids. Anyway, I just spent the morning looking at sun protective clothing for them. There is lots to be had but it is awfully expensive for something worn not too often and the little suckers are growing so fast it would not fit for long.

So after much reading I found this cool stuff made by Rit.

http://www.dermadoctor.com/pages/branddetail118.asp?x=1&WID=%7B1257D640%2D69E6%2D11D5%2D9174%2D0002B330452B%7D

For ticks doesn't that permethrin stuff work on clothing?”