We are the Petrie Family!
With five kids roaming around, there’s never a boring moment at our house, and we love taking the chaos outside.
With our first three kids, we were pretty proud that they all went camping before they were six months old. We were hiking while still counting their age in weeks and biking as soon as they could safely sit in a trailer.
But our fourth, Lydia, threw us for a loop.
Following a diagnosis of HIE at birth, time in the NICU, and eventually a cerebral palsy diagnosis, our life took an abrupt about-face. We still got outside, but it became much harder.
Suddenly, medical supplies dominated our packing. Camping while keeping feeding pumps and communication devices charged is not easy to navigate. When Lydia was little, we kept hiking—carrying her in a baby carrier until she outgrew it, then moving to a heavily padded hiking backpack until our bodies felt like they might break.
Eventually, we stopped.
We still went on adventures, but they shifted to museums and indoor spaces. Those experiences were still meaningful—we loved learning about history, dinosaurs, butterflies, all of it—but we missed hiking.
Then I came across Huckleberry Hiking on social media, back when it was still just an idea a dad had for his daughter. It was in the early design stages, and I followed intently, doing everything I could to get a chance to help test a cart.
I just wanted to get back on the trails.
We were lucky enough to get one of the original carts, and our world opened up instantly.
We were no longer limited to the one short “accessible” trail at each National Park or pushing Lydia’s wheelchair up unsafe inclines. Suddenly, we could go anywhere.
We’ve taken our Cascade Cart across several states—through National Parks, State Parks, and over rocks, sand, dirt, mud, snow, and ice. The world feels like our playground again.
The best part? No one gets left behind.
We still stay in motels, and medical equipment is still the bulk of what we pack.
But now, the destination can be anywhere we want it to be again.
With gratitude,
The Petrie Family
