Start Em Young, Start Em Old

Short version: I climbed 7.38 miles with my brother, friend, and 2 under two.

Actual version:

Thursday afternoon, my friend Kenzie came over for lunch. We started talking about our weekend plans, and realized both of us would be up in the Duluth area over the weekend. I asked her if she would want to split the price of a place, and come hiking with my brother, the girls, and myself in the morning. She said yes, and we began to plan!

Having never hiked before, I jumped on Facebook Marketplace (literally where I get everything) and started looking for hiking baby carriers, and a pair of shoes for myself. Note: this was Thursday afternoon, 3 days before our planned hike. On Friday over lunch break, I ran and picked up one baby carrier, and my first pair of Keens (hiking shoes).

On Saturday, I picked up one more baby carrier, and the girls and I took off on our Duluth road trip!!! We picked up my brother (Micah) from a party, took him out to eat, and then stopped for one last snack break, and then the girls and I met up with Kenzie, and we caravanned up to Beaver Bay!

Once settled in, the reality of our adventure the next day started to sink in. As we sat fireside, we started to anxiously laugh about what we were about to do. We looked up the Bean and Bear loop on All Trails and the feedback was that this was a “moderately challenging course for the avid hiker”. Again, neither of us have ever hiked, so we were panicking a little bit. We looked up Bean and Bear on Instagram, and reached out to people who had tagged the trail in the past 24 hours, and asked them for any advice. What they said:

•pack lots of snacks

•layers are your best friend

•bring more water than you think you’ll need

•take breaks when you can

So Sunday morning, with our bags packed full of snacks, water, layers, and diapers, we headed over to the trail!

The first half mile, we went off the path a bit, so it wasn’t off to the best start. But we quickly got into rhythm, with myself carrying Mayzie (22lbs plus baby carrier) Micah carrying Mettelynn (33lbs plus baby carrier), and Kenzie hauling our bag of snacks/water/diapers which much have been at least 20lbs as well.

On the way up to the Bean Overlook, we ended up stopping 5 times. We took the “climbs” (which meant you were hiking up some steep hills/rocks but NOT rock climbing) with a lot of caution, as it was still wet from the rain before. Our stops consisted of bathroom breaks, water and snack breaks, and mainly to remove some layers, as we all dressed a little warmer than we needed to.

We made it to the Bean Overlook, and it was truly breathtaking. What a beautiful reminder of how spectacular our world is, and how much world is actually out there. I made sure to take a moment to really be proud of myself as I looked over this lake at 1,350+ elevation. We decided to turn back at the Bean Overlook, instead of adding 1.5 miles to our hike and going to Bean and Bear Overlook. We had already been hiking for 2.5 hours, and had a 3.5 hour drive back home so the Bean Overlook was where we turned around.

I have wanted to get in to hiking since my junior year of college, when I saw many friends go on their own adventures across the US and study abroad trips. I love walking (honestly I would consider myself an avid walker) and hiking was always something I wanted to try. But in the past 3 years, every post I had seen of people hiking, or getting out in nature, made me a little sad and slightly jealous.

When I had Mette (2020) the pandemic had a huge part in the emptiness of my social activities calendar. Then in 2021, we were surprised to find out that Mayzie would be making her arrival in the fall. This time last year, we had 2 under 19 months, and that’s when the invites really stopped coming. When I would see posts of people going on hikes, I would always find myself thinking I could and should do that with the girls, but didn’t know how to start, and didn’t want to invite myself with. But I realized, I can’t wait for someone to invite me to join along on their hikes, I just had to do it, and prove to myself I’m able to do it.

And I damn well did it!!! With the immense help from Kenzie and Micah, we hiked up that dang hill, with the girls and our supplies on our backs. We passed people on the trail who all were super supportive, and gave us compliments and cheered us on. My favorites:

“You’re one bad ass mama”

“Keep it up mama”

“Start em young!” Which I replied, “start em old, this is our first hike too!”

The positivity, and encouragement on the trail, was uplifting. Everyone was respectful, and happy to be out hiking. Some were quiet, but still respectful (except one person who was giving weird looks but I’ll ignore that).

We ended up taking 2 stops on the way down, enjoying the consistent decline, instead of an incline. Another “milestone” of this hike, is that is was the first time since my Septoplasty that I was able to breathe through my nose while working out. For about a mile stretch, I intentionally focused on what it felt like to breathe through my nose, instead of opting to breathe with my mouth. What a difference it was to breathe!!

When we broke through the tree line, and could see our cars in the parking lot, we started to laugh and were so happy to be able to take off the backpacks, and change clothes/shoes.

The final stats from our first hike, as documented by FitBit:

7.38 miles

3:55 hours

17,024 steps

1,504 calories

1,341 elevation

106 bpm avg

I want the girls to remember that their childhood was something special, and look back on all the things we did with them. Any chance I have to get them out of the house, and away from screens, I will take. Even though we didn’t make it to the Bean and Bear Overlook, we still did it. The girls did wonderful, and ended up sleeping on the way down. No one was injured, we broke in all the equipment, and experienced some amazing views.

Thank you Micah and Kenzie, for being apart of this adventure. Thank you Emily E. for your hiking advice! And thank you to all the people on Instagram who responded to a strangers message and gave tips for the trail.

We’ll be back next year to do the full Bean and Bear Loop, but until then, if anyone wants to go on any hikes, the girls and I are in!

Be Yourself; Every Body Else Is Taken,

Mama Mir