Family Snowshoe Outing

We headed out on an outing in early March to take advantage of the snow and test out some new products. Aubrey (3 ½ ) tested out the MSR Denali Tyker. I was testing out the Macpac Possum child carrier with Kellen (1). We headed out to the Petersburg Pass in the Taconic Range and hiked about 3 miles. Aubrey loved the snowshoes and was so proud to have climbed all the hills up and down. She traded up snow shoeing and riding in the sled pulled by Cynthia. What a beautiful day. It snowed as we hiked through the woods making a perfect setting.

The MSR Denali Tyker's were great in deep snow and packed trails. She handled them well, even at 33 lbs. We loved the high front shovel because it allowed her to shuffle int he deep snow without tripping. She loved the red color. The bindings are not the easiest for her small shoe size (Kids 9) but they stayed on very well and fit nicely.

I liked the Macpac Possum. It fit me very well and handled like I expected. There were no surprises when I moved around and the weight was centered nicely. I liked the mirror on the front hip belt and used it often to check on Kellen in hope that he would be sleeping. Kellen did not seem to mind the ride. The one complaint is that we did not find the right height where Kellen's arms would be either in or out of the pack comfortably. I will have to play with the adjustments and further test it for final conclusions. I carried the bulk of supplies with significant extra room. You could really load this pack up. We will continue to test it and report back soon.

What a great way to spend an afternoon with the family. We headed back down the mountain to Williamstown MA for well deserved hot chocolate and cookies before we headed home.

Upside Over Family Program

The Upside Over Family Program was created to enable families with similar outdoor interests to share ideas and expertise. It is our goal to promote education of products and sports via input from other parents and kids. There are two opportunities to be a contributing Upside Over Family.

Family Stories:
Write a short narrative of one of your family’s adventures. Stories should be inspiring and informative. Recommendations and “tips” for other families could also be included. Please include a picture to be added to the website. The Upside Over staff will review your submission for posting on our website. Please email submission to family@upsideover.com.

Gear Testers:
Select families are given an opportunity to test gear and write reviews based on your interests and knowledge. Your personal stories and photos of family adventures will be included on our website. Families who participate in testing gear will benefit from Upside Over discounts. The Upside Over staff will select families based on expertise and need.
Current gear testers needed for:

• Hiking Gear (1)


• Snow Shoes (1)


• Cycling (1)

If you are interested, please email family@upsideover.com for details. If we do not have your sport listed above, please apply for consideration.

The Poling Family

Location: Houston, Texas
Interests: Hiking
Story and Gear Review: Hiking with My 3-Year-Old to Phantom Ranch in Grand Canyon
Mom has graciously decided to stay with our 7-month-old youngest son while we travel with some of her old college friends. We have reservations at the Phantom Ranch for one night. I will use a childcarrier for the first time. My son and I have been breaking our new boots and shoes for the trip with small hikes to the park and back. This trip will be interesting since he and I are flatlanders in Houston, Texas. At least we have the heat here to acclimate ourselves.

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My son, three adult friends, and I traveled to Arizona and hiked from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch and back over the Labor Day weekend. We traveled down to Phantom Ranch on the South Kaibab Trail and out of the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. The entire trip was around 17 miles. Nathan, my 3 1/2-year-old son hiked about 10 of the miles, thanks to the many interesting conversations by Mary, a friend from California, to keep his focus. He rode in the Sherpani Rumba for seven miles, 4 miles going down and 3 miles going up, which provided a decent test of the backpack. Nathan weighed 37 pounds before the trip began.

Nathan seemed very comfortable in the bucket seat and never complained about lack of padding. He did not use the stirrups too often so circulation was not a problem. The five point chest plate did take some effort to keep straight while climbing in and out. The backpack had enough storage for our clothes and accessories for one night. If you need to travel longer or plan to tent camp, someone else will have to play sherpa for additional gear. The top sunshade was difficult for us to understand how it fits in place. Maybe Nathan was too tall which made the fit difficult. We did not use the sunshade at all since Nathan's hat and sunglasses were adequate. The suspension system was comfortable for the adult carrier. Two of us, primarily my friend Dave the hiking viking, carried Nathan, and we had no problem adjusting the backpack to fit our frames. Overall, I would rate the Sherpani Rumba as favorable.

Hiking during Labor Day weekend was still very hot down in the canyon. I would only attempt this trip with a small child that is potty trained, with lots of knowledge of the trails, which was provided by my adult travel companions. Lots of fluids and salty snacks are needed when it is hot in the canyon. Dave, Mary and Carmen had hiked the trails in the past. I would never take anyone younger than 3 1/2 years down to the bottom and back. In fact, I found out later that there is a minimum age requirement for Phantom Ranch of 6 years of age. Although, no one at Phantom Ranch was concerned about minimum age once we were there. In fact, most visitors and staff were very pleased to see him there. I think there is a concern that noisy children will keep visitors at the Ranch from achieving a good night’s sleep. If we go again, we will try to get reservations at Phantom Ranch in October.

Isabella's Trip to the Boundary Waters

(Age 7)
Sunday, July 30th 2006
I am Isabella and I go to the Boundary Waters a lot. Today we walked through water and it was really pouring. We got a nice campsite before anyone else got our nice campsite. I slipped on a rock and I fell. I made a waterfall out of a puddle and some rocks with spider webs. Our grandma and papa come with us every year, except one year my grandma and papa and brother didn’t. My brother lost his worm, it was a red plasticky one so the fish wouldn’t swallow it and he wouldn’t waste any worms. I helped my mom filter water. We had five portages. I had to carry my backpack with my stuff in it, a paddle and my life jacket. We went over 3 beaver dams. We camped on a cliff. I am sleeping with my grandma and papa tonight. My grandma and I are going to play the card game war in the tent. We are going to have a campfire.

Tuesday, August 1st 2006
I saw a waterfall yesterday. It was really pretty. I got to see it up close. Yesterday I didn’t swim because it was really pouring. I left yesterday to another campsite. Today I swam in the lake out far. I saw a piece of driftwood. I went under water. I was walking and then there was a rock there. The rock went down and I slipped, but I had my life jacket on. I couldn’t touch. I had a pancake with syrup and bacon and sausage for breakfast. Later I had a peanut butter stick. Today we are camping on a cliff. It is not as big as the last one. This is medium sized one. Just right now I got sap on my fingers and I hate it. The sap sticks for a long time. I helped my papa filter water. In the Boundary Waters I love it here. I come back every year. I am seven. It’s my fourth year. Me and my brother have lots of fun. I love swimming, it’s so fun. I am going to another campsite tomorrow for our last day. This is so fun! I love it here! And I made another waterfall with water, just water.

Wednesday, August 2nd
Today we climbed on a waterfall and my grandma and papa took our picture. It might be for our Christmas card. We caught a big Norskie today that means Northern Pike. We went swimming today, I made a sand castle. It was fun.
I hope you like this story about my Boundary Waters trip.

Isabella Dusbabek

Long distance back packing

Doc, Llama, Coy, Spot and John

Location: North Conway, New Hampshire
Interests: Long distance back packing

Overview: A brief bit about us. I'm Llama, married to Doc, mother of John, with Coy & Spot, our two dogs. I'm 30 years old. Doc is 34. John is now 9 months old. Doc and I met on our first Appalachian Trail thru-hikes in 1998. We stayed together after the trail, worked for 3.5 years, then hit the Pacific Crest Trail in 2002 with our dog, Coy. At the end of the trail in Canada, Doc proposed to me. We were married in March 2003 and decided to thru-hike the AT again for our honeymoon. We did and had just as much fun as the first time. Shortly after, Doc joined the Army and was sent to Korea right out of training so I lived in Hingham, Massachusetts, first waiting tables then working as a dog walker.

After Doc came home in June 2005, I became pregnant with our first child, John, who was born in February 2006 at Ft. Hood, TX. He's the light of my life. And ever since he was born, I've had the strong itch to get back on the trail. I miss it so much!!! And I want him to experience it as soon as possible.

Doc has been deployed to Iraq. I plan to move back to New Hampshire. After much thought, I've decided to attempt a Long Trail thru-hike through Vermont’s Green Mountains with John while Doc is gone. I've never done much planning for my thru-hikes, but I think this one will take a lot of planning. John will be 1 year and 5 months old, and I have no idea what he's going to be like on the trail. Will he want to walk or ride, a little of both? I don't know. Will he even like being out there? He could hate it, sending us home on Day 2. So my goal is to at least get out there July 2007 and give it a whirl. I'll have both dogs with me, as well, so it's going to be crazy. It will probably be slow going since I'm sure John will want to walk some of the way. I'm nervous, yet so excited. So, LT '07, here we come!!!

Llama will be gear testing toddler clothing as well as a Sherpani Rhumba child carrier. If you would like to learn a little bit more about long distance hiking and follow Llama, Doc and John on their adventure, go to the following Trailjournals site:

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=141172