Throughout the years several people have contacted me asking for routes suitable for kids & dogs. Here some information.

I already included the very basics in the How to Start main pinned post. I will try to elaborate a little further here. Quite some ideas will sound obvious, but some people, surprisingly, do not think on them before heading out.

Children

Kids need to build their confidence in their skills and gear slowly. Most young kids are naturally predisposed to learn and they can get confident relatively fast. But they can get frustrated or tired fast too. Get snacks, colorful band aids and patience and just think that the journey (as short as it might be) is the reward 😉

You need to be really comfortable yourself in any kind of activity before you could take your kids with you. No matter if stream hiking, coasteering or else. If coasteering, you need to be a good enough swimmer to rescue and pull/drag them in, at least, short swim sections. Bring a rope for it. All of you should have a helmet and a floating device. Either PFDs or at least waterproof backpacks. If in streams, you need to be the steady hand to help them on slippery rocks and initial tiny scramblings. Bring at list helmets initially anywhere and floating devices if the stream is big enough.

You should not head to new routes that are completely unfamiliar to you. Unless they are very hiked, really easy to exit from, or you are sure that they are well below your level. The perfect example of what not to do explained in the Fa Tam stream post. Extract from a longer comment from a reader:

About 75% along the stream, a little before Slider waterfall there was an unmarked fork, and we veered away from the track. Once we realised, we tried to cut across back to the track through shrubs, and it was extremely slippery despite having good hiking shoes and gloves, and we could not progress further while retracing our steps downhill was dangerous due to poor grip. It was getting dark and we had to give up and call 999. In the end we were rescued by CAS Mountain Search & Rescue with a 3 hr challenging hike to safety in pitch black (no safe place for helicopter to land), and reached home at 1am. We were extremely lucky to have 1-bar mobile signal so we could send accurate GPS location to the rescue team, as the police, fire dept and CAS had not heard of this Fa Tam stream before.

He had been in Ma Dai, Tai Shing, Wang Chung and other well hiked streams and decided to go with the kid(s) to this one in December. Way out of the stream hiking season (less water, more vegetation), relatively remote, without having been there before… He compounded by trying to “cut across back to the track through shrubs”. You should never do so (navigation post – tracking) if you are a relative beginner, even less if with kids. Late and no gear… Be extra cautious you all!

How old should the kid be? I have seen all ages. From a toddler on a specially designed backpack shouting to his dad to trail run faster, to over 5 years old fully geared (helmet, life jacket, grippy shoes) up the streams. Young teenagers complaining about the difficulty of a relatively easy route.

My niece loved Lo Fu stream.

It ticks all the requirements to be a good initiation ground for kids. Relatively easy with different gradient short climbs, tons of potential early exits, pools where to take a break. She got hooked to wet scrambling and my snacks 😅

I have seen kids enjoying lower sections of Ma Dai, Shek Lung Chai, even Wong Lung Hang.

I am creating a new tag for kid-friendly routes. It doesn’t mean that the full route needs to be so, but at least parts of it are. Tai Hang for example is perfect to bring a small kid. Clear water, tons of small creatures to see, easy enter and exits, tons of shade. But I wouldn’t suggest you to hike it all your first time there. Nor go up any of the climbable waterfalls unless you have a one to one (or more) adult to kid ratio. Be extra cautious with kids.

Two examples of potential progressions. Tyler, part of the A team, started to bring his daughter to the streams and coastline when she was months old. Enjoying the small pools initially. As soon as she was able to walk, she was doing it so on the stream nearby their home. Tyler set a tiny climbing wall at home and the kiddo was soon climbing all around. I went with them mini coasteering to Sharp Island when she was 4. She was very enthusiastic initially, until she scratched her hand. Time for band aid, snack and return to the beach.

Take it easy with them. Now 5 years old she is climbing everywhere in Singapore.

Mike and his 3 kids started at an older age. Covid time, when everything was closed, he discovered this web and they started stream hiking. Aforementioned Lo Fu stream when the youngest was around 6 and the oldest 10. Sometimes his wife was also joining, but initially it was mainly the four of them. He is huge: over 1.9m pure muscle. Nevertheless, that time they tried some crazy outings that I wouldn’t recommend to other parents. Like he dragging them on a raft to Round Island 😅Eventually he met Diaz from the wildconquerors, who are now also parents of kids of similar age. With them they learned the basic of sport climbing and eventually start attempting more difficult routes. Building year by year their experience.

The walls in Chi Ma Wan or Inverted Wrist when ten years old. Not bad! Do you want some more fun? The cliffs of High West on Halloween mode? 😉

If you lack the experience, WildernessExplorersHK provide guided activities for kids and full families. To start the easy guided way. Highly recommended.

Dogs

I have had similar requests regarding dogs and I have experienced with friends bringing theirs to easier routes.

There are official guidelines by the Government that are summarized by you need to be able to control your dog any time. So that it doesn’t scare, approach or chase other hikers or, important, wild animals. Each dog will be different. I have seen dogs completely ignoring snakes and other dogs that tried to attack them, putting them both in danger. Same with wild boards and other animals. You should be able to order it to retreat and keep distance. Are you able to control it not peeing and pooing in streams? Same as humans, it should be avoided…

Assess your dog and let it get comfortable on the rocks. Again, each one will be different. Even among dogs the same breed and size. Sake below is a local dog who was relatively clumsy initially. Its “instincts were wrong”. As soon as it was stressed he was trying to use its nails to get better traction on wet rocks. Nah… It took it quite some outings to get comfortable. On the opposite side its “twin” (super similar dog from another friend) was happy in streams from the very first day.

In any case, no matter how dexterous, a dog will not be able follow you if the route requires climbing heights higher than, let’s say, 2-3 meters. Or you will need to figure out how to pull it up.

Consider also that they tend to overheat a lot faster than humans. So you might need to reduce the length of your outings, avoid overexposed paths, hotter months, etc. Pat Sin Leng for example is a bad option for a dog but in the cooler months. The picture above was hiking Wang Chung in September. After the stream part of the group went down to the road and the rest decided to hike Pat Sin Leng. Henry, the owner, thought that they could come with us but soon Sake “said” No. Too hot, too exposed, it was trying to find any shade and stop there for a while to cool down. I eventually found an easy path down for them to go back to the civilization.

Nowadays there are specially designed backpacks to carry a dog that you could use to help it in longer routes.

And also light emergency slings.

I would consider the latter not only for emergencies, but in case you need to carry it in short scrambling sections. As mentioned in the video, the dog needs to be used to be carried that way. Practice at home or in extremely easy routes. Don’t put it and yourself in danger!