Just in case any of us are dealing with recent arrivals in our families, here is an example of how not to go on a hike - from the NPS Morning Report, Feb 22:

Grand Canyon National Park (AZ)
Hikers Charged With Child Abuse

In October 2012, a couple attempted to take their eight-month-old daughter from the rim of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River and back to the rim in one day – a hike strongly discouraged by the NPS. They were unprepared for the hike and therefore resorted to eating the baby’s food along the way. On the hike out of the canyon, they could no longer carry the baby due to exhaustion, so gave the child to a hiker who was a stranger but had offered to help. When the hiker reached the South Rim – without the family – he immediately went to the Bright Angel Lodge and requested law enforcement assistance. Upon reaching the rim, the family of three flagged down a shuttle bus and reported that their baby had been kidnapped. Rangers responded and called for assistance from the Investigative Services Branch. A joint investigation was conducted by rangers from the South Rim and Canyon Districts, ISB agents, and personnel from Arizona Child Protective Services. The baby was placed in the protective care of CPS and each parent was charged with a felony count of child abuse, recklessly placing a child in a position where its health was endangered. Both parents ultimately pled guilty in court to Arizona Revised Statute 13-3619, permitting life, health, or morals of minor to be imperiled by neglect, abuse, or immoral associations – a Class 1 misdemeanor.
[Submitted by Investigative Services Branch]

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is a locality where the entire spectrum of human competence is on display 24/7/365

Belive me , there are many south rims around the world.
We have seen jaw dropping levels of stupidity and carelessness when it comes to handling small kids. One of the saddest and most painful I read about was a woman who had to wait for years before having a baby, and one day she was cooking with one hand and carrying the new born in the other. He slipped off and fell in the cooking pot !!!

The shock was unbearable for the mom , she had a nervous breakdown.

Happened several years ago, but I cannot forget it.
So painful, and so preverntable.

Wow... just... wow.

That's the most despicable thing I've read in a while.

I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to bring a baby on such an excursion in the first place, but I guess my imagination is not good enough to reflect the level of stupid out there.

The authorities missed the charge of False Reporting for the alleged "kidnapping."

Sounds like the kind of folks who dial 911 because they've run out of cigarettes.

There is something about the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that just draws out the worst judgment in people. Hahaha! But thanks for the story ... I will go and tell my wife. She is a fan of all of these absurd survival stories and tourist disasters that plague the area.

Pete2

Isn't there a law against bringing false charges against a good Samaritan? I feel like there should be one.

The story shows amazing stupidity, selfishness, and baseness of character. Going on an arduous hike against the advice of people who know better is stupid. Eating the baby's food is astoundingly selfish. I'm unable to comprehend handing the baby to a stranger... so they could finish the hike without the 15-lb burden? Fortunately the stranger turned out to be a good person, but they decided to reward his/her help with baseness! They could have ruined that person's life, just as they could have ruined their child's life!

Every element of "kidnapping" is present from the parent's standpoint - no false statements, just all-purpose ignorance.

Child Endangerment is a serious charge, and at some point the DA is going to start bringing those cases to trial. You'd like to avoid that because of the damage that does, but the truth is that some parents don't learn until they've had a taste of prison food...

Un-freaking-believable. UN-freaking-believable. Who in their right mind tries to go down to the Colorado River and back that isn't in good shape? And carrying a baby? And as if that were not enough, they ate their own child's food. Oh. My. Gosh. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And then they accuse someone of "kidnapping" when they voluntarily handed off their baby?

Speechless. I'm just speechless.

HJ

-Blast

I promise, you will NOT see myself, my wife, or our 3 week old daughter on the news for this stupidity.

In six years you may see an AAR of Savanah's first daddy-daughter camping trip, however.

The youngest I went camping with was four, and that worked pretty well for us. That was car camping, easy stuff.

Three weeks? heck, after four I'm still figuring out how to get out of the house to buy milk. I never mind trekking the Grand Canyon!

We took our son on his first overnighter when he was four (Years, not weeks), and that was at a drive-in Provincial Park. He's nine now and we just had what feels like our first season of serious camping, and even then, we weren't far from civilization.

I just don't get this.

Same here. The boy loved it; the only problem was I spent weeks after trying to keep him from peeing on the trees in the back yard.

For my sixth biryhday, my dad took me on an over nighter. Sa,e for my brother, but I actually enjoyed it. Hopefully she will too!

LOL! I think that's a right of passage for little boys.

Just little boys? Define "little..."

No doubt! A walk in the woods still provokes that desire!

LOL! Point well taken!

Three weeks is a little young, particularly if you haven't done something like that before.

I've done an awful lot of hiking over the years. I didn't take my daughter out for her first backpacking overnight until she was 2.


That was in mild weather, and we camped 1/2 hour's walk (or less) from the car.


Even though I'm a fairly good hiker, I can't imagine taking my daughter to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. That's just nuts.

HJ