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Will Hike for Ice Cream

David Blanchard has been going up to Acadia National Park for just about every summer of his life. His parents took him there as a baby, and it became the Massachusetts family’s “home away from home.” When Blanchard met his future wife, Jocelyn, in college, the couple started making the trek up to Maine together. When they had kids, it felt natural that the tradition would continue.

In 2016, when the Blanchards’ girls were just three and five years old, David and Jocelyn decided to set a family goal to hike every trail in Acadia. In 2023, they accomplished just that, with the exception of a few particularly dangerous hikes, which David completed with a friend.

“Seven years ago we set the goal, we got a map from one of the hiking outfitter shops in town for Acadia, and we got a red Sharpie and we just would mark all the trails that we did the old-fashioned way,” Blanchard says. “And then I would keep track of mileage and everything like that on my phone or with Strava or AllTrails, and we just kept picking away at it year after year.”

The Blanchards’ girls, Avery and Natalie, initially rode along on these family hikes in a backpack and a Baby Bjorn carrier, but they certainly don’t anymore. The two have grown up hiking in Acadia, and Blanchard says it’s been an absolute delight, even when it hasn’t.

“I hope that when I’m dead and gone, they’ll look back on the time they had with their mom and dad trekking through the woods of Acadia and those will be fond memories,” he says. “I hope that it’s a tradition that carries on and they do it with their kids. Maybe they do Acadia, maybe they find their own park, but I hope that as much as they might complain ‘we’re going hiking again,’ day after day, they’re excited, they walk up ahead of us on the trail, holding hands. They’re singing songs and they’re making memories whether they realize it or not. And what better place to do that than in the great outdoors?”

Blanchard says the time spent with his kids on the trails has led to some deep conversations and opened up a space for them all to talk about life, especially now that the girls are approaching their preteen years. For Blanchard in particular, who was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease in his 30s, this time and these memories with his family are nothing short of sacred.

“[That diagnosis] has changed my perspective on a lot in life,” Blanchard explains. “It definitely instilled a seize the day, carpe diem mentality of ‘I’m young, and I don’t know how much time I‘ve got to do things, but there’s no time like the present, so let’s go and let’s hike every trail in Acadia.’”

As to how exactly the Blanchards got their kids up every morning at 7:30 AM for hike after hike in Acadia National Park, Blanchard unabashedly states: bribery. Like many parents, Blanchard knows the power of a good snack, and, at the end of the day—or rather, at the end of a long hike—he is not afraid to wield that power.

“Ice cream is always the great final achievement,” he laughs. “So we got ice cream pretty much after every hike, which the kids were totally okay with.”