Elsa's New, New Ride

Choosing a child carrier for our upcoming trip to California proved to be as difficult (if not more) as choosing her new car seat was last year. This was probably worse, seeing as we not only had to take into consideration Elsa's comfort, but our comfort as well. Since we are likely to be on the trail some days for practically the entire day, we knew we needed a carrier that would allow Elsa to comfortably conk out, as well as one that would not break our backs while hauling her around for hours on end, scaling mountain heights that we are not even sure we can scale without a 20-plus-pound child on our back.

We ended up purchasing two carriers and testing them out for days both around the house and around the neighborhood. Finally, after some extensive testing between the two outside on Saturday afternoon, the Deuter Kid Comfort III won the title of Most Comfortable All Around. There are still some features of the other pack that we liked better (mainly that it was overall more compact), but the Deuter proved to be the best overall.

We took Elsa to Stone Mountain again yesterday to try it out, and walked the five-mile loop around the park, and then hiked the mile up to the top of the mountain and the mile back down. Jarrett carried Elsa the entire time and said that he definitely felt it was more difficult with her in this new carrier than it was when she was in the other the last time we tried it, but we are hoping that the crazy pollen count, the increased temperatures, and the fact that we walked five miles up and down hills prior to taking on the actual mountain might have something to do with the increased difficulty. Obviously there is also no doubt that this new carrier is heavier (at 6 lb, 13 oz) than our everyday variety, but we are hoping that more hikes and camping trips will get us more used to carrying the new pack. We figured Jarrett was probably carrying around 30 pounds with Elsa in the child carrier, and I was carrying around 20 with most of the supplies we will have with us in the daypack. Thankfully both of the the packs are easy to adjust between the two of us, so I am certain there will be some trading off during our three weeks of hiking in June.

Elsa seems to love it. Sitting up higher, we think she better enjoys the view, and she just chatters away most of the time she is riding in it. She asks to "go for a ride" and then, when in it, often says, "Ride with Daddy, Mommy; Elsa ride Daddy; Elsa ride Mommy." And the fact that the carrier has a sun shade is wonderful when it comes to protecting her from extreme sun exposure -- especially when she refuses to wear her sunglasses and/or her hat. The only issues for her were that she did not end up falling asleep for her nap like I thought she might, and her chin rubbed a bit on the chin pad, creating some redness, but I think I might be able to come up with some sort of fleece attachment to prevent that from happening in the future.

A note to those with kids who might be considering getting an annual parking pass to Stone Mountain. The playground there is fabulous! They have an area for smaller kids and one for older kids -- both really nice, big wooden structures -- and then they have huge fields to run around in, and a enormous sand pit. We ate our lunch at one of the picnic tables at the playground, and both Jarrett and I commented later that we felt bad for Elsa that she could not run around and enjoy it all. We will definitely be back once she can!