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BABY DRIVER

We hiked the mighty five in utah with an eight week old baby, and you can too

By Tommy Nagle

July 15^th, 2019

TEN TIPS FOR VISITING THE 'MIGHTY FIVE' IN UTAH WITH AN EIGHT-WEEK OLD BABY

INTRODUCTION

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My wife, my infant son and I spent five weeks on the road in a rented RV, exploring 'The Mighty Five', which comprises five of the most beautiful national parks in the US, all located in a relatively small geographic area of southern Utah. If this kind of trip interests you, then great! If it doesn't, then screw you.

Just kidding, if it's not your style, then that's great too. Bonding at home with your new baby is a wonderful thing, but we knew that being at home for any significant period of time would give us cabin fever. If we could bond with our baby and get out to see the world at the same time, then we would absolutely do so.

Additionally, since the holiday allowance in the US is so pitiful, why not kill two birds with one stone and get a decent break by using parental leave as vacation time?

Prior to the birth of our son, we spent idle time researching our trip, knowing full well it was all speculative, as all kinds of unplanned things can happen when a baby is born.

In the weeks following the birth, which was fortunately uncomplicated, my wife decided she was keen and able to go, so we booked flights, reserved the RV and most importantly, I tried to find a hat that didn't make me look like a total dork.

It must be said we are acutely aware of how lucky we were to be able to undertake such a trip, time-wise, as well as physically and financially. We wouldn’t change our journey for the world, but this kind of thing isn't for everyone.

You'll know if you're not the type of people to want to do it (even though I think everyone should if they have the opportunity...) But if you're interested, or even on the fence about it, read on and hopefully we'll encourage you to get out there!

The road to Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

ONE:

TRY NOT TO LET THIS BABY DICTATE WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO

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There will be plenty of time for that later in life.

Sure, everything changes when you have a child, but the way some folks just fall off the face of the earth doesn't compute with me. Certainly toddlers require more attention, stimulation and interaction. But babies? Yes, some are harder work than others. Some are fussier. Some are more relaxed. But they're all portable. They don't do anything. They can't do anything. Take them with you!

Perhaps we've been lucky and are totally unaware of what other people go through, but my opinion (grounded in not much else but my own limited experience, conversations with older, more experienced parents, and a bit of research) is that if you can set out your stall early just by doing things with your baby, going places, trying not to let everything revolve around them, being flexible about their needs and your own, then your baby will reflect that and be more adaptable too.

TWO:

DON'T WAIT

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If you're on the fence, just jump off and do it. If you have the time and the funds, and women: if you're physically able postpartum, don’t wait. We knew we wouldn’t be able to afford a similar trip for a long time, so it was a now-or-never type of decision, but the positives certainly out-weighed the negatives.

At eight weeks old, your baby is about as mobile as a grapefruit. Now is the perfect time to get out there. A baby is only going to get more independent, and potentially make this kind of thing more of a stressful experience, so why not do it early?

Our son is almost two now. If someone offered us an RV trip with him, yes, we'd definitely go, but with a bit more planning and trepidation - travelling with a toddler comes with its own challenges and pleasures. In comparison, carting around an eight-week old is positively straightforward.

• Go while all they can eat is milk. Later, they will have the opinion that a dinner of tuna and sweet potato, previously happily consumed, is now poisonous.

• Go while they can fall asleep at a moment's notice, not when they can voice their displeasure at nap time by shouting "Daaaaddddyyyy, me get out!" from their crib.

• Go while they're tiny and portable and not able to decide that they want to 'hike' and then spend the next twenty minutes walking 50 yards, picking up rocks and pointing out every ant in sight, then deciding they want to get back in the carrier.

The surreal landscape of White Pocket in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

THREE:

CHOOSE WISELY

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Obviously hiking in the Southern US with a newborn in the height of summer wouldn't be the best idea. Neither would going camping in Alaska in December. Choose your destination wisely, taking into account weather, foot traffic, indigenous carnivorous bugs, prevalence of vegan barter cafés (if that's your deal) and so on.

Maybe there's somewhere you've always wanted to go, but bear in mind it might not be practical with a newborn. Yes, we visited 'wild' places on our trip, but they were all within easy striking distance of civilisation and medical care if any of us had needed it.

We chose southern Utah, because in mid-October the temperatures were pleasant in the day and not freezing at night, and children are back in school so the parks weren't overly busy. All in all it was the perfect time to visit. Aside from the tarantulas. I didn't know about the tarantulas.

Dawn at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

FOUR:

FLY HAPPY

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Most people know that kidlets under two years of age fly for free. You just have to call up the airline after you've booked and ask them to include an infant-in-arms ticket.

Up until about 14 months old, our son flew with us and we held him in our laps. He fell asleep every time. (More on that later). But soon after that, he became far too wiggly.

Unless your flight is only 20 minutes long, or your child can be forced into a narcoleptic sleep cycle with a handful of Cheetos, flying with your kid on your lap isn't something you're going to want to do when they're approaching two years old.

So infants fly free, and will likely sleep all the time. Add these to the reasons to take your wee one on a trip sooner rather than later.

TO BOARD, OR NOT TO BOARD. THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Because you're there with your teeny baby, you get to board the plane first - feeling like a rockstar as you saunter past all the business-class passengers, holding up your baby as some kind of all access travel pass.

But there are two schools of thought on whether your should take advantage of this perk. If you've got a particularly cranky baby, you may want to board first to settle them down. Or, if you can't do that, you might want to wait as long as possible so as not to subject the rest of your fellow passengers to your devil spawn.

It really is up to you. See what works. But we always went on first, because it's nice to feel special.

Also, just because you can have the baby on your lap, doesn't mean you have to. We always travelled with a car seat. That way, you can check with the gate agent and ask (really nicely) if there's space on the flight for the kid to have their own seat. If there is room, then great, just buckle your car seat into the plane seat (rear facing, please). If not, gate check the car seat and pick it up when you arrive at your destination.

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A BRIEF ASIDE ABOUT CAR SEATS:

The car seat we have for travel is a Cosco Scenera Next, it's about $40 from Walmart, if you're interested. But don't worry, just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's not safe, all car seats have to pass stringent safety tests. It just means it's not as fully featured as the fancier ones. The benefits of it being cheap are that it's light and portable, as well as it not being the end of the world should it get damaged if you have to gate check it. We've had to gate check ours a handful of times and it has never been damaged. Your mileage may vary, obviously.

We rented an old Jeep 4x4 to drive through the deep sand to the remote 'White Pocket' area

FIVE:

COMFORT IS KING

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Yes, some people might think we're big wusses for using an RV in the first place.

"If you're going to go out west and camp, why not do it properly?"

Here's why. We met a couple with a similar age baby to ours, doing a similar trip to ours. They were travelling in a normal estate (station wagon) car, using a tent for sleeping and an additional tent as their kitchen/living room. All power to them!

But they looked knackered.

knackered | ˈnakəd |

British informal

extremely tired: you look absolutely knackered.

• worn out or damaged by overuse: a knackered CD player.

It's tiring enough dealing with the demands of a baby. Seemingly minor things can add up and send you overboard. Having to get up in the middle of the night to answer nature's call is inconvenient enough, but having to do it from a tent? In the cold? With a baby right there?

No. Thank. You.

Those of you who didn't give birth to a baby: Remember that an actual human being has exited your partner's body. It's mind boggling and beautiful and disgusting (sorry, but it is), and there are all kinds of things that you need to take care of afterwards. Stitches, aches, pains, and so on. If you're weird enough to be considering taking an RV vacation in the months post-birth, there is no reason not to be as comfortable as possible while doing so.

Going on an RV trip doesn't mean you have to give up all your home comforts. Our little RV (a Winnebago Travato) had a toilet, a shower, a microwave, a fridge, a TV, an RV-wide surround-sound stereo, double gas burners, and heating. The TV we barely used, and I only figured out how to work the bizarre bluetooth stereo after about three weeks, but the rest of the amenities really improved our quality of life on the road.

For example, we would drive to a trailhead in the middle of nowhere. We'd prep our lunches from our nicely stocked fridge. We'd lock up and go for our hike. On our return, while everyone else had to drive back to town to clean up and relax, we could use our RV bathroom, freshen up, change the baby, and enjoy a cold drink or snack from our fridge, right there at the trailhead.

"Yeah, OK Jeff Bezos, we don't all have a squillion dollars to spend on an RV trip." OK, fine, I did say we were lucky. But it wasn't that expensive, and you can always do a shorter trip, or do the car/tent thing. I'm just saying that for us, for this trip with an infant, it made total sense to prioritise comfort.

A 1949 Buick Super outside Cow Canyon Trading Post, Bluff, Utah

SIX:

WITNESS THE FITNESS

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Getting out there and walking every day really helped my wife recover from the birth, build up her fitness postpartum and get back to normality.

You're going to be carrying, holding or picking up a real live human baby for the foreseeable future, you might as well help yourself and get your body used to the rigours of such activities.

We started off easy, doing hikes of only a few miles, taking frequent breaks and just being sensible. This was a holiday, after all. But the great thing about it was that it didn't feel like exercise. Being out there and enjoying the incredible landscapes, fitness comes as an added bonus.

Climbing a makeshift 'ladder' in the Wire Pass canyon, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Utah

SEVEN:

EAT WELL

PACK LIGHT

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For baby: Initially we prepped bottles, but soon gave up. We hadn't thought too far ahead regarding keeping milk warm, so the bottles got cold in the rucksack while we were hiking and he rejected cold milk. Instead my wife breastfed our son under a muslin cloth during breaks whenever needed. If this isn't an option for you, then a thermos filled with warmed milk or formula would work just fine.

For us: We stocked up at Costco the day we arrived. We probably should have planned our meals a little better (if only to save time spent in Costco), but we just went with our instincts and bought a load of staples: pasta, rice, vegetables, fruit, cheese, bread and so on. Things that were easy and quick to cook. We ate out perhaps once a week, and replenished our pantry stash whenever we passed a supermarket.

ON THE SUBJECT OF 'STUFF'

The RV had to be packed quite methodically, given the amount of luggage we had, but we made it work. For these kind of trips I find I always bring too many clothes, so ask yourself if you really, really need that extra pair of shoes, or that second jacket. High quality merino wool tops can be worn for days in a row without needing to be washed.

Baby items we tried to keep to a minimum too. We didn't need a pram/stroller, so we left that at home and just used the baby carrier. As well as a first aid kit, be sure to construct a mini-medicine cabinet for you and your baby. Things like infant Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and so on.

As for cleaning clothes covered in desert-dust or baby vomit, we frequented coin-operated laundromats when needed, often when driving through towns on our way to the next destination.

Sunset in Canyonlands National Park, Utah

INTERLUDE:

EXCLAMATIONS

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All the hikers and outdoorsy people we encountered were, to a person, extremely supportive. Everyone was excited to see a little one with us as we enjoyed nature, and we had plenty of comments from fellow hikers when they saw one of us carrying him.

Generally, people said variations of the following:

"You’ve got a little hitchhiker there!"

"Room for one more?"

"Good for you, starting 'em early!"

"Oh look a little baby! So cute!"

"OhMiGerrd! How old?"

Our responses:

"He’s heavier than he looks"

"Want to swap?"

*Hold up baby's arm and wave it*

*Laugh as if haven't heard same thing four times this morning*

EIGHT:

SLEEP TIGHT

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We were slightly worried about our son having to deal with ear pressure problems on the plane, but having a bottle or a boob on hand (ahem) negated any of those effects. We held him and he fell asleep under a blanket for the entire plane journey out.

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Don't be like us and make the unforgivable rookie mistake of not at least one extra outfit on hand. It must have slipped our minds, because we had everything else, but a poopsplosion occurred and we had no clothes to put him in. We ended up having to wrap him in a muslin cloth like some kind of mini Gandhi costume. If Gandhi wore an outfit with cartoon tigers printed all over it.

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Moonrise over Canyonlands National Park, Utah

He slept in the carrier for most of the hikes, and as for sleeping in the RV, our pram/stroller has a bassinet attachment, so we brought that. He slept on his back, wrapped up in a warm onesie or two with no problems whatsoever.

The bed in the RV was a little small, even for us (I'm 5'8" and my wife is 5'6") but generally we were so tired we slept like the proverbial logs. And when the little man did wake up, it was useful to be able to get to him quickly.

If we happened to have a bad night's sleep, then we just slept in. We didn't worry about it. Again, it's a holiday, if you want to sleep in, sleep in. There shouldn't be any pressure to do anything.

A lonely road in between the national parks of Capitol Reef and Arches

NINE:

PLAN INACTION

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Once we had booked the flights and the RV, we had to have some kind of plan, however vague. My wife plotted a circuit, which ended up looking vaguely like this:

0. HOME

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1. LAS VEGAS

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2. ZION

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3. BRYCE

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4. GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE

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5. CAPITOL REEF

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6. ARCHES

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7. CANYONLANDS

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8. MESA VERDE

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9. VALLEY OF THE GODS

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10. LAKE POWELL

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11. GRAND CANYON

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12. CORAL PINK SAND DUNES

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13. WHITE POCKET

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14. WIRE PASS

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15. LAS VEGAS

But as for planning what to do when we were out there, we found the key was not to plan too much. My wife had earmarked a hike for most days, which was useful as we had a purpose, but that was more of a guideline than a rule.

We would encourage you to plan at least one activity for each day though - towards the end of the trip we had researched less, and so found it trickier while we were on the road to ascertain what to do at the next destination. Occasionally we just aimed ourselves in the direction of the next stop on our loop, and took it from there.

Thankfully the park rangers that work at national parks or monuments know their locations intimately, and after a short chat discussing the types of things we were comfortable with, they were able to recommend things to do.

As always, pre-cache google maps on your phone. Who knows when you'll lose signal.

Oh, if you're planning on going to more than one National Park, then make sure to get the annual pass ($80). And do it in advance! They have to post a physical card to you, which you have to present at park entrances. It's valid at over 2000 federal recreation sites. For whatever reason, their computer systems aren't set up to look up your details, so if you don't have your pass card with you, you have to pay again. Make sure you keep it with your vehicle.

We honestly found travelling with an infant to be fairly easy. Everything just takes a little more time. If you lay out your objectives too strictly and things don't go to plan, then you're likely to be stressed. Be relaxed and don’t cram your itinerary.

That said, it's always a good idea to check the website for the park or place that you're going a couple of days in advance. They'll have up to date information on what trails or attractions are open. Just be ready to adapt. And get good at changing nappies in the wilderness.

A walk along the river in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

TEN:

KNOW YOUR LIMITS

DON’T BE AFRAID

We hiked The Narrows and climbed Angels Landing in Zion.

We slid through slot canyons and under stone arches.

We assessed each situation as it presented itself and figured what we were comfortable with.

There were very few things we weren't able to do because we had a baby with us. Obviously activities like white water rafting and the like will have to wait a few years...

To conclude, we think it's important to kindle a sense of adventure early on.

Who knows how much of this is down to the luck of the parenting draw, our baby's genes or other external factors, but our son has been fantastic with travelling, sleeping in new places and staying up late if needs be.

Remember that you can always turn back if you're uneasy.

Unless you're on a rollercoaster. Then you can't turn back. Sorry about that.

Actually, if you have a baby, or are about to have one, then you're on a rollercoaster whether you like it or not. You can't get off. You might as well enjoy the ride.