By Lindsey Miller-Voss, American Forests
The chance to share your love of the outdoors with your children is the perfect opportunity for some great family fun. Not only will it help them burn off some of their seemingly endless vacation energy, but it will also help them gain an appreciation for the importance of preserving and restoring natural spaces across the country. Here are some of our favorite places to find forest adventures with kids of all ages.
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Want your kids to feel like true alpine adventurers? Mount Rainier National Park is the place to head. First time trekkers will appreciate the one-mile Sourdough Ridge Trail, where they can enjoy classic snow-capped mountain views on a gentle trail, passing through fields of flowers. The park also offers several trails that are stroller friendly for those with smaller kiddos in tow. For more experienced families, there are a number of other day hikes to tackle. While picturesque in the summer, the fun isn’t limited to just sunny days. In the winter, Mount Rainier National Park offers winter camping for families and snowshoe adventures for kids ages 8 and up.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee & North Carolina
While Great Smoky Mountain National Park offers an incredible number of beautiful sites, including many waterfalls within short hiking distances, the most impressive feature of this park is its biodiversity. This massive 500,000 acre national park offers some of the richest biodiversity in America, making it a great place for children to meet nature face-to-face. While beautiful any time of year, the Great Smoky Mountains plays host to a nightly light show of insects for about ten days each June. These lightning bugs are the only species that can synchronize their light patterns to one another and the effect is captivating for kids of all ages! Make sure to stay the night so you can spend the next day discovering the park’s 30 species of salamanders, the world’s most diverse population, in one of the hands-on ranger led programs.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota
A visit to Mount Rushmore provides a great opportunity to see an iconic part of Americana up close, while enjoying the beauty of the Black Hills. The kid-friendly Presidential Trail takes you closer to the action on a short, half-mile trek. On the way, you’ll even pass the studio where sculptor Gutzon Borglum worked. This adventure offers the chance to throw in a history lesson on the way regarding the significance of each of the honored presidents. As you walk through the park on cool summer evenings, see if you can catch the sweet scent of Ponderosa pines. Some describe it as smelling like butterscotch! Mount Rushmore National Memorial is within easy driving distance of several other national parks, including Badlands and Devil’s Tower, so you can keep the outdoor family fun going.
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
We know what you’re going to say, and while this isn’t technically a forest adventure, it is a great adventure to bring to life what kids are learning in school, inspire budding scientists, and build excitement over giant trees. While much of the wide expanses of this park can be a bit dull for younger kids, you can avoid this by getting out on the trails where they’re sure to become enamored by the trees now made of stone. A great hike for tiny feet is the Giant Logs Trail. Starting at the visitor center, this path is less than half a mile and leads to many of the largest, and most colorful logs in the park. This includes Old Faithful, which is nearly 10 feet wide at the base! When it’s time for a break indoors, the visitor center features dinosaur exhibits, which always prove to be a hit with little ones.
Acadia National Park, Maine
You can thank John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for helping make Acadia National Park such a great place for families. He helped establish over 50 miles of “carriage roads”, broad gravel paths, which are now easily accessible by walkers, horseback riders, and even families with strollers! These paths pass throughout much of the park, including developed and more remote areas. Don’t want to hike this one? Consider biking the trails instead, bikes are easily rented in the nearby town and make for a lovely way to explore Mount Desert Island. As you ride, take time to stop and check out the 17 unique stone bridges scattered around the island. When you’re ready to relax, take part in one of the ranger-led boat tours which allow kids to get up close and personal with marine life!
Muir Woods National Monument, California
Found on many bucket lists, nothing can prepare kids, or even adults, for how tiny you’ll feel strolling beneath the redwoods giants in Muir Woods National Monument. Soaring to over 250 feet tall, the average age of these trees is 600 to 800 years old. For younger hikers, there are easy, paved trails along the creek. This allows for some family-friendly configurations of half-mile to two-mile treks. Young kids will love the hollowed out old trees designed for climbing through and exploration. Older kids will enjoy tackling “Redwood Discovery: A Quest at Muir Woods,” a rhyming scavenger hunt put together by the park rangers. Sprinkled in amongst the redwoods are Douglas fir, maples, tanoaks, and red alders, rounding out the spectacular scenery.
Sierra Nevada Parks, California
Another place to get up close and personal with some giant trees is in California’s southern Sierra Nevada national parks, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Everything here is super-sized and kids will love seeing the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states, Mount Whitney, as well as the world’s tallest single-trunk tree, General Sherman. The largest attractions of the park are easily explored by car (make sure to drive through “Tunnel Log” on the way), but that doesn’t mean you can’t get out and explore on foot as well. There are over 200 marble caves ready to be discovered year round on family-friendly tours. Boyden Cavern might be small by global standards, but that makes it the perfect size for younger adventurers. The caves stay a cool 55 degrees year round, making them great escapes on a hot summer day.
Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio
This Midwest vacation staple draws millions of visitors each year and for good reason. Cliffs, caves, and caverns are sprinkled throughout hemlock-shaded gorges covering an area over 2,000 acres. Hiking trails are plentiful and vary in length from the ¼ mile wheelchair and stroller friendly Gorge Trail to the 4-mile Rim Trail. Park staff lead numerous programs year round including wildlife talks and nighttime lantern tours. History runs deep in the region, and evidence of early humans is found among the sandstone and shale rock formation. Nearby canopy tours, canoeing, and horseback riding can round out your vacation experience for adventurous kiddos.
Everglades National Park, Florida
For a different type of forest experience, head south to Everglades National Park. While kids will enjoy traditional hiking and animal exploration, as well as ranger-led programs on a variety of topics, the water-ways are not to be missed! Rental kayaks and canoes allow for exploration of everything this park has to offer, including the massive labyrinth of mangrove tunnels. Island camping is a highlight that provides maximum family fun and a chance to see even more birds and marine wildlife up close. Everglades National Park is best enjoyed in cool winter months, before the heat and bugs get in the way of family fun.
Yosemite National Park, California
Speaking of water, the thundering waterfalls of Yosemite National Park are a spectacular site to experience with your kids. You’ll want to get as close as possible to really appreciate the scale and power of these waterfalls. This is easy to do on short trails to both Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls. Kids will love the chance to feel the mist and listen to the roar of the water. Just make sure to watch your step as you get close; the rocks can be slippery for big and little feet alike. The waterfalls of Yosemite are not to be missed, no matter the season, even in winter when the falls freeze and an outdoor ice skating rink is set up with an impressive view of Half Dome. Relatively flat trails along Tuolumne Meadows provide for even more exploration of the park. This sub-alpine meadow boasts six different plant communities, including a wide variety of plant species, such as beautiful lodgepole pines.
No matter where you go the memories will be sweet and the lessons will run deep as your children share your love for the great outdoors. So pack your bags, grab your kids, and head out on some great family adventures. Which destination will you be heading to first?