How to use MongoDB Subdocument _id with EJS - node.js

Question

I'm trying to get a subdocument from MongoDB using Mongoose, then pass the data to an EJS doc but I'm getting an Uncaught SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token because of the _id object. Ideally I would like the _id to be a string, but using toString() or toHexString() doesn't work.
Here are my basic Schemas:
var hikeSessionSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
hike_name: {type: String, required: true},
hike_date: {type: String, required: true},
mileage: {type: Number, required: true}
})
var hikerSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
username: {type: String, required: true},
log: [hikeSessionSchema]
})
var HikeSession = mongoose.model('HikeSession', hikeSessionSchema)
var Hiker = mongoose.model('Hiker', hikerSchema)
And here's my GET request:
app.set('view engine', 'ejs');
...
app.get('/users/:id/:hike', (req, res) => {
var id = req.params.id;
var hikeId = req.params.hike;
Hiker.findById(id, (err, hiker) => {
const hike = hiker.log.id(hikeId)
console.log(hike)
res.render('editHike', { data: hike })
})
When I console.log(hike) I get:
{
_id: 6125629447cec024c067c1da,
hike_name: 'Hike Name',
hike_date: '2021-08-04',
mileage: 10
}
I've tried saving the _id to a variable as a string, then replacing the _id with the variable, but it goes back to an object. I've also tried delete hike._id but that doesn't work either.
I need to be able to be able to reference the _id in the EJS doc for later use. Maybe there's a way to get the HikeSession object without the _id and then save the _id separately? How can I make this work? Thanks

Answer 1

I came up with a workaround by duplicating the object without the _id field, making a variable for turning _id into a string, then adding that variable to the new object.
app.get('/users/:id/:hike', (req, res) => {
var id = req.params.id;
var hikeId = req.params.hike;
Hiker.findById(id, (err, hiker) => {
var hikeData = hiker.log.id(hikeId)
var hike = (({ hike_name, hike_date, mileage }) => ({ hike_name, hike_date, mileage }))(hikeData);
var idStr = hikeData._id.toString()
hike.id = idStr;
res.render('editHike', { data: hike })
})
Then importing in the EJS file like this:
var data = <%- JSON.stringify(data) %>;
There's probably a better way to do it, but this worked.