Hiking is definitely one of our favorite outdoor activities, and I happen to have two kids that are always up for a hike. We love our weekday hikes the best. The trails are relatively empty and we feel carefree to move along the trail at whatever pace feels good, even coming to a complete stop when we find spy a treasure worth investigating.

Interested in a few of our past hikes?

We’re definitely 4-season hikers, and I adapt our gear to the challenges that each season brings, whether it’s summer sun, spring mud, cool fall breezes, or winter’s expected snow. But another winter obstacle on our favorite trails is ice, and until last year, I didn’t have a solid ice plan.

Winter Traction

The trails in our county are so well-loved that the snow gets packed down pretty quickly and turns to ice that often doesn’t melt between storms. It’s easy enough to add traction to adult-sized shoes, but I was struggling with traction for the boys.

Here’s what what’s worked for us:

• The extra small Yaktraks are adult-sized, but they work well on some kid’s boots because of the larger outer surface size. Although, if the fit isn’t just right, the ‘traks can slip off unnoticed. I often walk behind the boys and will keep my eye out for lost gear. #momlife
• Having Yaktraks with the upper cross-band seems like a great solution, but they don’t seem to come in the extra small size? Maybe you could DIY the strap with a simple piece of velcro? I haven’t tried, but I’m hoping you will and let me know how it goes.
• Our favorite solution so far as been these simple one-strap traction cleats. We’ve found that if you strap them around the front of your shoe where it starts to narrow for your insole, then they won’t slip off the front. They obviously don’t provide traction for your heel, so if you’re prone to slip when putting your foot down, that would be a problem. We easily adjusted our hiking gate and have found these to give us just enough traction to keep us from slipping.

There you have it. We’ve tried a few options, and our final pick is a simple and cheap traction solution that adds very little weight to our winter pack. Happy trails! xo