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.