The Three-Year-Old Thru-Hiker
/By Tara Karineh, produced by Out There Podcast
Released on January 28, 2021
Welcome to Out There Podcast. Our stories are written for the ear, so for those able, we recommend listening while reading along. Transcripts may contain minor errors; please check the audio before quoting.
WILLOW BELDEN: Hey there. Time for a pop quiz. How many mountains are there in the world?
Any guesses?
Turns out, there are 1,187,049 peaks that have names. And even more if you count the ones that don’t have names.
If you’re anything like me, you probably like to know what mountains you’re looking at, when you’re out on an adventure. But a lot of times, it’s hard to figure it out.
Lucky for us, there’s an app out there that can help. It’s called Peak Visor.
Peak Visor is our presenting sponsor for this episode. Their app provides mountain names, elevation, distance, and a ton of extra information on more than a million summits all over the world.
Check out PeakVisor in the app store. You just might love it.
(Out There theme music begins)
WILLOW: Hi, I’m Willow Belden, and you’re listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors.
A few years ago, I heard about a couple who had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail with a baby. I remember thinking that sounded impossible. Thru-hiking is hard enough when you only have to worry about you. Or maybe you and another adult. How could you possibly do it with a baby?
Today’s episode isn’t exactly about a baby. And it doesn’t take place on the Appalachian Trail. But it is about attempting a thru-hike with a very small child. A three-year-old, to be precise. Which, to me, seems equally extraordinary.
The toddler in question is a little girl named Acacia.
On this episode, her mother, Tara Karina, shares the story of Acacia’s first attempt at a thru-hike. It’s a story that takes us to an island in California, and explores what makes it possible for a tiny person to accomplish a huge feat.
I’ll let Tara take it from here.
(Out There theme music ends)
TARA KARINEH: When my husband Samuel and I first met five years ago, we were already acclimated to the culture of hiking.
We married soon after and fell pregnant instantly. Then we were faced with the question of how we wanted our lives to look like.
We weren’t the type of people to buy an SUV, sign a large mortgage, and begin nesting our way into “normal” living. We were still the same people we were before, so why should a baby suddenly force us into a conventional life that wasn’t us?
(music begins)
When our daughter Acacia was born we vowed that her life would be just as colourful, inspiring, outdoorsy and bold as ours had been. We hoped that having a baby didn’t have to tie you down. That perhaps, it might just do the opposite.
At age one we backpacked around the world for a year, with Acacia in a child carrier. And at age two we began encouraging her to walk sections of trail with us.
Now, this took a great deal of patience for us as parents. There were multiple meltdowns, a constant need to snack, and general boredom. But we knew she was capable, and we knew her limits.
For Acacia, and certainly for many other kids, running around a playground or at home, while jumping up and down for 12 hours of the day is more energy than Samuel and I could ever hope to have. So in terms of energy, we knew she had it. It was just a matter of harnessing that energy.
So instead of making her into someone she wasn’t, it was about taking what she already had and teaching her the skills of perseverance. To show her how to explore nature in her own way and open her up to learning how to love the simple things, away from technology.
(music ends)
By the time she turned three, life on the trail with mum and dad was just another part of her normal. Eating peanut butter crackers, like any kid, but doing it from two-mile lookout points and gentle river crossings. The meltdowns still occurred, just less frequently.
By the time she turned three, she was able to do a seven-mile day. But in the winter of 2019, after Acacia turned three, we tried something with her that even we didn’t think would succeed.
(music begins)
We had travelled to Los Angeles to visit my family for Christmas and heard about a little thru-hike called the Trans-Catalina Trail. The TCT (as they call it) was a 38.5-mile hike off the mainland of LA, on the island of Catalina. Most people complete it in four or five days.
I immediately wanted to try hiking it. Because who wouldn’t want to explore an exotic island with an ancient creature called bison roaming wild across the trail? And it was relatively achievable, as far as thru-hikes go. It was also close to the family home without the freezing cold temperatures. But would Acacia, at only 36 months of age, actually be able to walk it with us?
Of course, I had my reservations. And Samuel was even less convinced that she would ever complete the entire thing. She would have to average almost nine and a half miles a day to finish it in the four days typically aimed for. Not just that, but climb a colossal 8,329 feet in total. That’s tough for even the fittest of hikers.
But there were bail out points on each day, and if we gave ourselves five days to complete it, we were being relatively smart about it. And why not?
(music fades away)
Tent, water filter, sleeping bags, mats, food for five days, clothes, thermals, and jackets. We were well set up for the very UNLIKELY chance of actually completing it.
So in the cold month of January we hopped off the ferry and began our hike.
The sun was strong and the climb was already unrelenting. We were only three miles in and Acacia began asking if we had almost finished our hiking trip.
Were we nuts?! Were we completely out of our depth to think that our three-year-old could actually hike the entire stretch of island?
Just as we reached the ridgeline, a couple (who had taken their time behind us) finally passed. A pink-faced young woman panted towards us and said, “Hi there! Are you guys doing a nice day hike?”
Samuel and I looked at each other, to see who wanted to be the idiot parent to say it first.
“We’re actually going to try and do the whole thing,” Samuel admitted half-embarrassingly.
Before they had a chance to react, Acacia chimed in. She exclaimed her age, full name and that her favorite colour was purple.
The couple looked stunned for a moment, most certainly thinking we were deluded. Then looked down at Acacia, who beamed back at them.
Their names were Riley and Gareth, university students from the midwest, both nature enthusiasts and in their mid-twenties.
“Well then, I guess we’ll see you at Black Jack,”Riley waved enthusiastically as they pushed on in front of us. Black Jack was where we planned to camp that night.
(music begins)
Samuel and I both went to hold Acacia’s hand so we could hurry along, but she had already begun walking, trying to catch up to her two newest pals.
The day was long. It had started at 5 a.m. back at my mum’s house in L.A. and it was already now becoming dark. We were about a mile from Black Jack Campground and Acacia was starting to lose it.
With nowhere to turn back to it was either push on, or camp in the valley with the bison.
Before we were about to genuinely consider the latter we caught a glimpse of the campsite in the distance, and saw someone setting up their tent.
I quickly bent down to Acacia and encouraged her to walk a bit faster, so that we could say ‘Hi’ to the hiker before it got too dark. And with hearing that, she was off again, with miraculous energy from out of nowhere.
(music ends)
It didn’t dawn on us fully at the time, but what we hadn’t realised was the crucial difference between a fully-grown person attempting a “thru-hike” and a child. Besides the obvious difference, the core purpose for many of us adult hikers is usually to “escape life” or “find ourselves” or even just tackle the trail to say you did it.
For Samuel and I it was to be with ourselves, alone. And for much of the time it was just to say we did it. We climbed it. We defeated it. We accomplished something.
But for a child like Acacia who has no sense of mileage or climb, no need to escape or isolate to heal, it was about connection. Finding another soul to share her joy with.
It was about being a part of something together.
WILLOW: Hey. It’s Willow. We’ll hear the rest of Tara’s story in a moment. But first…
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And now, back to Tara’s story.
(joyful music begins)
TARA: The next morning Acacia bounced out of the tent and began bounding around the campsite. She met Aaron, a scientist from Pasadena, and soon began discussing breakfast options with him. It was comforting for Samuel and I to know we weren’t alone.
Day two started off well, and I was starting to feel optimistic. As we walked along a ridgeline, Acacia stretched out her arms, as though she were flying, with the ocean breeze running through her fingers.
Somehow we were doing it. Acacia was doing it.
But we had no idea that within ten minutes we were going to be hit by a severe rainstorm.
(sound of strong wind and rain)
It happens that way on islands. One minute you’re sweltering and the next you’re layered up in down jackets and waterproofs, soaked to the bone.
(thunder sounds in the background)
Storms such as these aren’t unpleasant; they’re actually rather dangerous on a ridgeline up 350 metres….especially with a three-year-old.
I held Acacia’s hand for the first few minutes, while Samuel took photographic evidence. But she was slipping and sliding all over the place and I was losing my grip on her.
The wind was smacking right into us and I was barely able to walk in a straight line. The trail was a one-person width wide, so my right foot would take a slip down the cliff face now and then and my pole wasn’t doing much in the way of balance. It was about 10 minutes into the storm and we were already completely drenched.
Eventually, Samuel turned to me and shouted, “We need to pick up the pace. We need to get off this ridgeline!”
At that, Acacia started to cry. Samuel knelt down and grabbed Acacia by the arms, as though he were coaching a NBL player with seconds left on the clock.
From what I could tell he was explaining to her the severity of our situation, as though she were an adult. That though she was cold, wet and scared, we had no other option than for her to simply walk as fast as she could.
It was one of those moments you remember as a parent. When your baby girl suddenly gets it. That she decidedly left her self-centered mindset behind and recognised that she has to step it up. That we couldn’t carry her.
So she nodded her little dripping head in the hurricane about us and walked, fast. Gripping onto Samuel without a wail or complaint.
Forty-five minutes had gone by and the storm hadn’t ceased and we were still on the ridgeline.
We were tired and I was getting worried. One slip and one of us would be rolling down the face of the mountain. One trip and we’d be injured with no easy access to help. We couldn’t see where we were or how far we had left until shelter. There were no trees, no refuge. We were fully exposed to the elements and it was getting cold.
I remember praying, asking God to help us make it through this safely. It wasn’t even about finishing it anymore. It was about the survival of my family.
And was all this worth it? Would we be that family you saw on the headline news, who had taken an unnecessary risk and put their child in harm’s way?
Finally, about 300 metres ahead of us at the bottom of the descent, was the faintest distinction of a shelter. And by shelter I mean wooden benches with a table and a few roofing beams, without a roof.
The lower we got the lighter the rain became and by the time we reached the shelter the rain had ceased.
As we approached, we noticed a tarp on one side under the table. A head popped out and there, under the table, was Aaron, the thru-hiker Acacia had met earlier that morning at Black Jack Campground.
“Hi guys! How’s it going?” he said nonchalantly.
Out of nowhere Acacia burst into laugher. It was apparently the most amusing thing she’d ever seen. That is, a grown man hiding under a table like an infant, with what looked like to be a garbage bag wrapped around him.
(music begins)
The entire trauma of the storm had completely dissipated for Acacia, in the same way most toddlers pendulum from one extreme emotion to another.
Perhaps she didn’t quite understand just how dangerous the last hour was for us. Or maybe, Acacia was the kind of child who could see through the storm and enjoy the little things that the trail had to offer her. Like company. A friend.The comedy of it all. That we were all in this together.
(music slowly ends)
This togetherness, this camaraderie, continued to get us through each trying moment on the trail. We kept meeting other hikers, and each time, they became Acacia’s new best friends.
On day three, we either had to finish the trail or bail early.
We were exhausted. My feet were aching. My brain was sore from the constant sing-song, conversation, games, and encouragement, while Samuel was spent from rationing out food and water, while calculating terrain and bail out points.
There was also a part of me that wondered if I was hurting my baby girl, by asking her to walk that much further. Might we break her somehow?
As we always do, Samuel and I turned to Acacia and asked her if she wanted to go home, or keep going and finish the trail.
“I want to camp with Riley and Gareth and Malcolm and Aaron tonight!” she beamed.
So we did.
Riley and Gareth walked with us for part of the time, sharing stories, sharing snacks, pointing out whale spray. Sharing the trail. Sharing the load. Giving Samuel and I a break. Giving Acacia kindness and encouragement.
They became her pals. Her trail aunties and uncles. Holding her hand, holding us up.
(upbeat music begins)
When we finally reached the campground that night, our trail community, our family of hikers, all cheered and clapped and whistled as Acacia clambered down towards their tents.
There was nothing like it. The rising applaud of comradery. All because they saw a little girl who pushed through the trials of the trail, at age three, just to join in with them.
To sit by their fire, to share their snacks, to play in the sand and watch the moon rise with them from our tents on the beach. To be part of a community.
That was what she wanted. That was her triumph.
I realized then that, for any child attempting to do anything extraordinary, it doesn’t always take an exceptional child to do it. Though, there are those kids too.
It takes a village, a community, an extended family of believers who lift up and breathe encouragement to that child, every step of the way.
What it takes is a community of parents to give meaning to the trail.
(music slowly grows quiet)
The next day our three-year-old daughter walked the last six miles back to Little Harbor, and officially became the youngest-ever person to complete the Trans-Catalina Trail. And did it in just four days, a whole day less than what we expected.
It wasn’t even a title we initiated claiming when we came off the trail. It was the other hikers who had arrived first at the visitor’s center. They explained to the director of operations that they’d just witnessed a little girl, who’d only just turned three, complete the entire TCT on foot.
They wanted to make sure she had the surprise of celebrating her triumph, as soon as she hopped off the trail, with her trail family.
(music begins)
WILLOW: That was Tara Karineh. She’s a full-time mother and blogger, living in Sydney, Australia. You can see more of her work at TaraKarineh.com. And we have a link to that on our website as well.
If you enjoyed this episode, I think you’ll love an episode we ran a few years ago, called “Fractured Self”. It’s about a kayaker who struggles to come to terms with her identity, after having kids. How do you balance your old, adventurous self…with your new mommy existence? I have a link to that episode in the show notes, so you can find it easily. Again, it’s called “Fractured Self”.
(music ends)
One of the things I love about hosting a podcast is hearing your feedback. For example, here’s a review that one listener left us recently on Apple Podcasts. This listener said - quote - “I love stories about adventures in the outdoors, and I love stories about personal growth and transformation. This is a fusion of both.” End quote.
Reviews like that are not only encouraging to our team, they also help new listeners find our show. So, if you’d like to help us out, leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. We might even read your comments on a future episode of the show!
Before you go….
WILLOW: Alright, so I am out for a little afternoon ski.
WILLOW: This is a recording I made a few weeks ago, at this gorgeous spot near my home in Wyoming. There are beautiful views of snow-capped mountains, but I never really know which mountains they were.
WILLOW: Because my maps, my trail maps, just show the immediate vicinity, and these mountains are probably 80 or 100 miles away.
WILLOW: This is where Peak Visor comes in handy. As I mentioned at the top of the show, Peak Visor is our presenting sponsor for this episode. When I open up their app, it shows me a panorama that matches what I’m looking at in real life. All the peaks are labeled. I can see that one of the little nubbins I’m looking at is Long’s Peak, down in Rocky Mountain National Park. I can see Clark Peak which I’ve hiked around before. And a bunch of others.
If you, too, want to know what you’re looking at when you’re out in the mountains, check out PeakVisor in the app store. PeakVisor. Your personal mountain guide.
(Out There theme music begins)
If you’re new to Out There, check out our “Best of Out There” playlist. It’s a collection of our favorite stories of all time. You can find “Best of Out There” at our website, outtherepodcast.com.
That’s it for this episode. Our strategic advisor is Alex Eggerking. Our audience growth director is Sheeba Joseph. Jessica Taylor is our advertising manager. Our interns are Cara Schaefer, Forrest Wood, Cecily Mauran, Stephanie Maltarich, and Anmargaret Warner. Our ambassadors are Tiffany Duong, Stacia Bennett, and Ashley White. And our theme music was written by Jared Arnold. We’ll see you in two weeks.
(Out There theme music ends on a final whistle)
