How do we rate our hikes?

Trails that are rated on sites like Vancouver Trails and AllTrails are based on an adult’s perspective.

Our ratings are based on a kid’s/parent’s perspective, but we start our little adventures by checking out the trail ratings on these sites first. We consider what each trail is rated, read the reviews, and gauge whether or not our kids would be able to (happily) do the hike! We also consider the duration that these trail guides suggest each hike will take and then double it to give ourselves a realistic idea of how long the hike will take us with our kids.

Each of the hikes that we go on are based on 5 components that we feel are important when deciding what to do with kids: elevation, distance, terrain, distance from nearest city center, and how many checkpoints there are on the trail (cool stumps, waterfalls, bridges, etc.).

The trail rating sites listed above give us the technical information on the hike like distance and elevation. We refer to Google Maps to understand how far the trail head of each hike is from the city center of the nearest city. The rest is on us!

We do the hikes with our kids and give an assessment on each category.

Once we have a figure for each trail we add up the points for each category and divide 5 by that number. We don’t often get a whole number so that’s where our experience with the trail comes in. For example, sometimes a trail will come in at a 1.3 on the scoring system but we thought it was worth a 2 based on our experience. That’s why it’s important to read the whole post on each trail so you know exactly why we rated it as we did!

We want to share with you the best information possible about each trail so that you can have as much fun as we do! Make sure you’re sharing your photos of your little adventures on our Instagram page by using #littleadventuresbigdreams