The parents hiking America’s longest trails with five kids
Taking on three of the most remote and rugged long-distance trails of America would be a challenge for any hiker.
But attempting to hike them with several young children in tow – well that’s a completely different ball game.
However, after completing both the Appalachian Trail, which stretches over nearly 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometers) between Georgia and Maine, and the Continental Divide Trail, a 3,028-mile (4,873-kilometer) trail extending from New Mexico to the Canadian border in Montana, the Netteburgs are well on their way to doing just that.
Made up of Danae and Olen Netteburg, both 44, and their five children Lyol, 14, Zane, 12, Addison, 10, Juniper, seven, and Piper, two, the family of hikers from the US, are on their way to completing North America’s holy hiking trinity, the Triple Crown, which covers almost 8,000 miles (around 12,900 kilometers).
Currently around halfway through the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,653-mile (4,270-kilometer) trail extending from the border of Mexico through California, Oregon, and Washington to Canada, the Netteburgs feel very lucky to be able to hike these iconic trails as a family.
“We realize, a lot of people can’t do it,” Danae tells CNN Travel. “They [either] don’t have the time or money or they don’t want to. So we’re very blessed.”
Danae and Olen, who are both physicians, met at medical school in 2003 and married around three years later.
In 2010, the couple relocated to Chad, a landlocked country in north-central Africa, to run a medical practice and went on to have their children, who were all born in the US.
While the pair had gone on a few backpacking trips together over the years, including a visit to the Canadian Rockies after they got married, it wasn’t until Juniper, their fourth child, was aged around two that they decided to attempt an extensive trail as a family.
Taking on three of the most remote and rugged long-distance trails of America would be a challenge for any hiker. But attempting to hike them with several young children in tow – well that’s a completely different ball game. However, after completing both the Appalachian Trail, which stretches over nearly 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometers) between…