We are in the process of planning our first backpacking trip with the girls. It’s been a long time coming. We bought a family tent years ago and have just not been able to coordinate actually getting out into the woods for a few nights. So far, the girls are excited, taking turns walking on the treadmill with their new backpacks and planning the menu for cooking in the great outdoors.

As we’ve been inventorying our backpacking gear, I’ve been thinking back on the hikes that Kim and I did pre-kids, and there is one Colorado adventure that just keeps replaying in my head. Back in 2009, we were out in Tabernash, Colorado, and as you drive along the main road through the valley, there is this little nub at the top of the mountain ridge. It’s called Devil’s Thumb. I had to climb up to it.

So, Kim and I packed a day pack with a picnic lunch, drove our ill-suited rental car down some rocky, bumpy roads to a trailhead and set out. As we started up the mountain, I began to feel off, my legs didn’t want to move, and I felt really exhausted. I’m usually a good hiker, and as I started to complain about how I felt, I think Kim started getting apprehensive. How was she going to get me down from the side of a mountain if something was wrong?

We stopped to rest for a moment and to figure out what to do. I really wanted to climb this mountain, so I pulled out my secret elixir, although I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time: Candied Ginger. I don’t even know why I had it. Dried fruit generally is a tasty, sweet, energy-filled snack while hiking, and I think I’d raided the snack cupboard from the house we were staying in. I took a few nibbles and it tasted like little bites of heaven. Sweet, tangy, and spicy. Yum. I ate a handful, tanked up on cold water and Kim and I resumed hiking, with me feeling a little better. Fast-forward about 30 minutes and I am practically running up the trail – a far cry from the way I’d felt just a short time before.

Since then, not a single adventure in the woods has occurred without a bag of candied ginger. The girls, having heard this story a couple of times, have opted for jellybeans to come with us on our upcoming hike. Whatever it takes to get us all up the mountain.