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Hiking is a very fun but dangerous activity. It is excellent exercise, but there are some risks involved. First off, you need to pick a spot to travel to. It is very important to consider not only your own physical limitations, but your family's physical limitations. For instance, if you have a 8 year old child, you may not want to take a hiking vacation on a very challenging course. After considering what you are capable of and choosing a location, you need to plan for how long you will be there and what the weather will be. After doing that, it is important to pack the right clothes and make sure your family is doing the same. If other members of you family pack clothes that aren't suitable for the conditions, then that will create a major conflict for when you arrive at the destination. It is important to stay up-to-date with the entire family. Determine where you will be staying. If you decide to stay for multiple days, you will need to decide where you will be living for those days. You may decide to camp. Camping is fun and exciting, but it is also a huge amount of work. Staying in a hotel is the easier route, but also the most expensive. If you are wiling to drop a couple hundred dollars, the hotel route is the way for you. After deciding, you need to research accommodations in the area in which you are going to. Next, you should account for how much food you need to bring. If you have several children, make sure that you pack enough kid-friendly snacks, such as granola bars, pudding snacks, or carrot sticks. Cookies would be a nice, mess free treat also. Those would be nice for either the car ride or the trails. You will want to pack other easy to eat food as well, such as beef jerky, trail mix, celery sticks, or fresh fruit, such as apples or bananas. These are easy, relatively mess free snacks to curb your hunger while you hike. You will want a comfortable backpack to put all of this food in also. Another important issue is water. You will want to bring three times the amount of water you think you need. Each person will average about 1 bottle of water per day. This varies for everybody. If you bring about three bottles per person per day, you will have more than enough. This may sound like an obscene amount of water, but it will come in handy. Suppose the trails get extremely hot. The water can be good for cooling you off. Just splash some on your face and neck, and you are refreshed. Water is also good for cleaning a wound if you do not have a first aid kit. Water is an ultimate necessity, and should be carried in a seperate back pack from the food, so the food won't get crushed. Another thing you need to acquire is sturdy, comfortable shoes. Most stores sell running shoes, which is about what you'll need, but some people will want to buy hiking shoes, depending on what trails you go on. Hiking is an excellent activity, but it requires some planning.

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