After a fairly long break (and for Alisa, it was her first time ever), Sergey and I went on a three-day trip to the mountains, a full-fledged, albeit children's, hike.
For me, this was an experience of the “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” variety, meaning that we had previously gone hiking either alone or with friends. And here: four unfamiliar families + guides, and 10 adults and seven children. The whole gang were the same age, from three-year-old Tima to the almost adult Sonya 😀
Before the trip, I was most concerned about the adequacy of the parents, but hooray! And wow! The company turned out to be unusually cheerful, quick-witted, with similar values, so we had a lot to talk about, a lot to laugh about, and in general, it turned out to be a surprisingly soulful 25 km walk!
Thank you, kuluar, for organizing everything.
We had two team leaders with us, and they took care of almost all the everyday chores. Plus, they know a lot of stories for both adults and children, told us how to behave in nature, how to navigate a map, showed us all kinds of wildlife, and collected herbs. And the little ones around the campfire — that's a whole other story.
Overall, we were pampered. It was very strange for me when they woke me up at 7:30 a.m. and the campfire was already burning, hot tea was waiting, and breakfast was almost ready. The same thing happened in the evening: the female team leaders were the last to leave and watched over the dying campfire (usually, when hiking with our own group, we did all this ourselves), but here it was truly an “all-inclusive” mountain experience.
So if you want to go hiking with your kids but are afraid for various reasons, I recommend trying this option — the “Child of the Mountains” program is a great thing for a first experience. Three days and two nights in the mountains, but you'll get a clear idea of what to expect if you want something longer.
