Too often when we think of national parks, we think of distant places enjoyed by tourists—yet millions of people in cities across the country are just a bus ride or a quick car trip away from these inspirational places. Part of what I do is help connect people—especially kids and young adults—to the nature and history that is right there in their own community.

Florida City in South Florida is an excellent example. This city is just six miles from Everglades National Park, yet many of its residents have never been to the world-class park that is right in their backyard.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Nature Valley® partnered with Miami-Dade County and Florida City last month to help engage the next generation of park lovers in meaningful, hands-on experiences in nature. Our goal was to restore a piece of land known as the Florida City Pineland Preserve to its natural beauty. This 25-acre parcel was once part of the Everglades but had since become an island surrounded by development, suffering from dumping and neglect, and not easily accessible to the public.

So, on October 13, I drove down the Florida Turnpike while the sun was rising, eager to get to work. As I drove, I feared that the fickle weather would foil our plans. After a promising week of sunny 80-degree days, Mother Nature seemed to play a nasty trick and ominous dark clouds filled the sky. With a loud crack of thunder, a vicious downpour of rain lashed my windshield—the kind of rain that drives many South Floridians running for cover. However, my spirits soon lifted. Within an hour, the clouds had passed, and the day turned warm and sunny. As an added bonus, the rain made the soil more suitable for planting. Mother Nature was on our side after all.

Despite the early storm, more than 50 volunteers arrived to help. Most of our volunteers were high school students from the urban core of Miami. The students were beaming with enthusiasm and eager to plant trees, remove invasive species, collect pine needles to spread as mulch, and clean up trash. Not one of them complained about the heat and hard work; in fact, they worked so well together that we finished all of our planting and mulching early. They even asked for more work!

This was not our first time working with some of these volunteers. Last March, NPCA hosted a volunteer day to build a pathway with educational signs through the Pineland Preserve—a successful project that makes it easier for Florida City residents to enjoy and learn about the Everglades. Now, as the group arrived at the park, they could see the small native plants we had planted in the spring were starting to sprout gorgeous flowers. Neighbors could already see that these 25 acres were no longer just an unkempt plot of land, but a refuge and a pathway to the Everglades.

The restoration will benefit more than just people. South Florida’s torrential rains have traditionally fed pristine wetlands and hardwood hammocks, but many of these natural areas have been lost to construction over the past 20 years, as urban sprawl creeps closer to the Everglades. But pocket parks maintain pieces of what the natural environment used to look like, and the Pineland Preserve contains some of the few remnants of pine rockland habitat that once covered much of Miami-Dade County. Restoring this property to its original state will provide endangered species with critical habitat despite the urbanization taking place all around them.

One of the kids asked whether such a small parcel was worth restoring, since it seems like a disconnected island without much purpose. I answered—and spending the better part of a day in the Pineland helped to show—that, in fact, it isn’t an island at all, but rather an oasis teeming with wildlife.

One of the most rewarding parts of this project was getting to connect dozens of local students to the park and to help them to see the fruits of their labor. It was clear that these youth felt a sense of accomplishment and ownership after their hours of hard work. When we were done, students stood tall next to a sign that we posted, letting locals and tourists know that this property, once neglected and overgrown with weeds, has been restored as native habitat and is now a pathway park–open for all to come and experience a taste of the Everglades.

“Shhh … He’s sleeping!”

“I think I saw him blink!”

Over the course of the week, nearly 1,000 urban youth in Washington, DC, explored the landscape of the Anacostia River, a part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, with the Urban Canoe Wilderness Adventure, a partnership project organized by NPCA, Wilderness Inquiry, the National Park Service, National Park Trust, and others. NPCA is partnering with a variety of groups throughout the Chesapeake watershed to bring awareness to landscape conservation efforts and promote outreach to advocates of all ages, including our youngest future stewards.

With 80 percent of America’s youth living in urban areas, it has never been more important to connect children with the great outdoors and our national parks. With our new National Parks in the Chesapeake campaign, NPCA has been engaging youth by restoring wetlands and planting grasses at Fort McHenry and along the water trails of the Chesapeake. Other projects have involved partner groups, NPCA members, and community youth in building new educational areas and birdhouses.

The kids involved understand that the national parks in their community make their backyard a whole lot bigger, and just like the other things they own at home, it’s important to protect and take care of them. With our parks increasingly at risk, we think it’s important to take time to explore them with our kids, classrooms, or the youth in our communities. They are the future generations we protect the parks for, and the growing stewards that must advocate for the generations to come.

Planning your Chesapeake adventure has never been easier. Download the Park Service’s free new smartphone app at www.chesapeakeexplorerapp.com.

Visit our website to learn more about the National Parks in the Chesapeake campaign.

-Edward Stierli, Steve & Roberta Denning Land Conservation Fellow

The final two destinations of our summer adventure in the national parks, though neighbors, are a study in contrast. One, Mount Rainier, is a national park. The other, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, is not part of the National Park System, but easily could be. Today, it is operated by the U.S. Forest Service. Both places captivated our kids, but Rainier’s accessibility made for a much richer experience. Unlike Rainier, Mount St. Helens has no overnight accommodations–no lodge or campgrounds–making it a challenge to explore deeply with young kids, unless you want to backpack in a location remote from the park’s center–the gaping crater created by the volcano’s 1980 eruption. We were fortunate to stay at the nearby, family-run Eco Park Resort, a lodge with delightful cabins, yurts, campsites, and great food.

The premier destination at Mount St. Helens is Johnston Ridge Observatory, with its birds-eye view of the crater, its fancy theater and film, and several exhibits the kids enjoyed–particularly one that enabled them to create their own earthquake and see its intensity on a seismometer. The shortcoming is the lack of interpretive options beyond the observatory. A Forest Service ranger delivered an engaging Junior Ranger talk to the kids, which was held outdoors overlooking the mountain. But, when we all got hungry, there was no place to eat. No restaurant. No picnic tables. So, we pulled out our cooler from the car and ate sandwiches on a concrete median strip in the parking lot. It wasn’t until we visited Coldwater Lake at the end of our day that we saw there were actually picnic tables; they were simply 10 miles away from where all the visitors were!

Once you venture away from the observatory building, the hiking options for kids in this part of Mount St. Helens are limited. The hike to the valley floor is a fascinating journey, but too much for young kids–long, strenuous, and exposed. So, we hiked a ways down the trail and turned around. There are nice trails in other parts of the monument, but getting there is an hours-long, challenging journey.

Fortunately, Mount Rainier, our final park, offers a bounty of hiking options that the kids truly enjoyed. At Paradise on the south side of the mountain, we hiked the Skyline trail through glorious fields of lupine until we reached a delightful snowfield that provided us with a slippery playground, much to the viewing pleasure of two nearby marmots. We couldn’t tell what the Marmots thought of Isabelle’s wolf puppet, Logan Lightning Bolt, who accompanied us.

The ranger-led Junior Ranger talk in the Paradise visitor center was probably the best we encountered in any national park we visited. The seasonal ranger, a retired school science teacher, “made” a glacier with the kids—a concoction similar to Dr. Seuss’s “oobleck,” with a consistency equivalent to Jello mixed with Silly Putty—to demonstrate how a glacier moves and show some other interesting properties of these ice forms. The session was fun and engaging, and as a bonus, each budding Junior Ranger who shared something they had learned received their own piece of the concoction. In truth, we all learned something! 

Since Rainier was our last park on a journey of many weeks, we treated ourselves to a stay at the Paradise Inn. The great room in the historic inn proved ideal for card-playing, completing Junior Ranger packets, and relaxing together to music emanating from a unique, one-of-a-kind piano. The inn is a fantastic location for exploring the popular Paradise area of the park.

The Sunrise area on the northeast side of the mountain also has fantastic hiking, and is where we elected to enjoy our last national park hike of the season. Of course, first our kids became Junior Rangers for the tenth time. Our loop began with a short ascent to Sourdough Ridge, and wound its way past Frozen and Shadow Lakes, before returning to the snack bar near the visitor center for a well-earned ice cream.

At Shadow Lake, Lucas finally hit the pumice jackpot. He had been determined to find a sample of the one rock that can actually float, and in an exciting turn of luck, he finally found one. Monty Python was right; very small rocks DO float on water … provided they’re pumice and have plenty of air pockets.

The big tip this week is that both of these famous mountains are world-class treasures. Both are worth visiting, but Mount Rainier is the clear winner when it comes to variety, interpretive programs, and available accommodations. Mount St. Helens is full of untapped potential. When it comes to engaging visitors, Rainier is in a different league.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)

“It’s like a crater and a lake.”

That profound observation made by another visitor at Crater Lake National Park provided us with many a chuckle over the next few days. Of course, this fascinating, 1800-foot-deep azure lake is the deepest in the nation and the cleanest in the world and resides within the crater of Mount Mazama, a volcano which literally blew its top some 7,000 years ago. In the middle of the crater and the lake is an island with magic all its own, appropriately named Wizard.

Our adventure on Wizard Island was our most memorable outing at the park, though the kids also enjoyed two other terrific hikes and a mid-afternoon game-playing diversion in the Crater Lake Lodge. But Wizard’s siren song entices park visitors from virtually every stop along the rim drive–calling adventurers to explore and ascend the 760 vertical feet of this omnipresent volcanic cinder cone. We were no different.

We had planned to start our trip with a full-day visit to the island, but were thwarted due to high winds and possible lightning storms. Once we spent the two hours necessary to reschedule for a half-day excursion the following morning, we improvised. The kids finished their Junior Ranger packets and we all hiked up the Watchman Trail to the old fire tower on the caldera rim for a fantastic view of the lake and surrounding mountains. We also hiked the new, easy Plaikni Falls trail to an enticing waterfall–a very enjoyable afternoon adventure recommended by both our kids. By the time we reached Wizard Island the next morning, our kids had the confidence of knowing they had already climbed two-thirds of the altitude of the island to reach the fire tower, and we knew we would have little trouble making the round trip excursion in the time allotted. 

In fact, we had plenty of time to picnic under a shade tree Isabelle found, to circumnavigate Wizard’s caldera, and allow Lucas to venture on a solo rim-to-rim journey into the caldera itself. His high fives with other hikers upon rising again to the caldera edge were merely the most visible manifestations of his feelings of independence and confidence instilled by this accomplishment. And when we returned to the lake, both Dad and Lucas took the frigid plunge into the polar lake.

Rescheduling our trip for a shorter exploration of the island was serendipitous. The full day would have been too much for the kids, given the hour-long boat ride coming and going and the energy required to hike from lake level at Cleetwood Cove back to the caldera rim upon returning. At ages 8 and 10, both kids enjoyed Wizard Island and endured the return hike to our car. We passed several younger kids on our final ascent who were having a tougher time of it, making me thankful that ours no longer require an uphill piggyback ride. 

Tips:

• Hike to the top of Wizard Island. If unsure about your kids’ stamina, first see how they do with a slightly easier hike like the Watchman. Take a picnic lunch and explore.
• The Junior Ranger program is well worth doing. Our kids particularly enjoyed the fascinating ranger program at the Sinnott Memorial Overlook explaining how the Mount Mazama eruption occurred
• Eat a meal at the historic lodge or at least spend some time hanging out in the common area playing board games or cards.
• The park has many great campsites. In dry weather, you’ll want to use the showers at Mazama Campground to fight off the omnipresent dust
• Check out an evening ranger program at the Mazama Campground amphitheater. The kids particularly liked the one about creatures that go bump in the night.
• Take the waterfall hike on the Plaikni Springs trail and drive the short additional distance to the Pinnacles. They’re worth seeing.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

A kid can hardly leave Yellowstone without volcanoes on the brain. It is a fascinating place. As parents, we knew we had a long drive ahead of us, and we came close to skipping Craters of the Moon in Idaho. That would have been a big mistake! Craters of the Moon is only a few hours journey from Yellowstone or Grand Teton, but receives little visitation. Yet, it is among the best parks for kids that we encountered.

Both kids were absolutely captivated. I had been there twice before, but the kids made it new and fresh for me, too. About midway through, Isabelle declared it one of the best days of her life.  

The advantage of a small park like Craters of the Moon is its accessibility. For all of Yellowstone’s gravitas and fame, Craters is like an eccentric cousin, seldom thought of, but whose presence produces memories and stories for years to come.

Craters is a lava flow, with volcanic cones easily climbed and explored, small craters allowing young eyes a glimpse into a mini volcano, lava tubes offering awe-inspiring subterranean experiences, and a moonscape that may be unequaled this side of the Sea of Tranquility. The Park Service guided us perfectly to kid-friendly hikes that introduced the kids to different types of lava, helped them understand how life can take hold in such a barren environment, and opened their eyes to a fascinating, unique landscape different from any they had ever seen.

Craters is not the place you visit to be awed by mountain peaks, babbling brooks, grand trees, or large mammals. But it has a stark beauty all its own, enhanced by the reactions of excited kids who can readily see how different it is from everything else they know.

The Junior Ranger program there is excellent, and those who are sworn in can opt to wear either a ranger hat or an astronaut helmet during the ceremony. It’s a real kick to see a child consumed by a huge astronaut helmet.

Tips

1. Start early in the day. The landscape is mostly black and unshaded, which means it will heat up quickly in the summer sun. If you hit the trail by 8:00 or 8:30, you’ll have plenty of time to hike around before the heat of the day. Nonetheless, bring plenty of water.
2. Indian Tunnel is a must-hike. Nearly three football fields in length, this massive lava tube is sufficiently open and lighted, so this unique excursion feels enjoyable, and not claustrophobic.  It was the highlight of our trip.
3. Take the short walk to the spatter cones.
4. Hike to the top of Inferno Cone. It’s doable for young kids, particularly in the cooler morning hours, and offers a tremendous 360-degree view of the entire moonscape.
5. Make sure your kids do the Junior Ranger program.
6. Bring your own food. Because the park is so remote and small, it lacks food facilities—the nearest restaurant is at least 20 miles away.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

• Encourage your kids to do the Junior Ranger program.
• Go swimming at String Lake after an early morning boat ride across Jenny Lake.
• Take the early morning boat ride across Jenny Lake and hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point
• Go swimming in the shallows of String Lake, which is a short distance from Jenny Lake.
• Do a horseback ride out of Colter Bay or Jackson Lake Lodge.
• Take the tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain at Jackson Hole Ski Resort (when haze from wildfires doesn’t obscure your view).
• Spend at least one evening or early morning on the deck at the Jackson Lake Lodge in search of wildlife.
• Rent bikes to cycle along the park’s new pathway system, which may offer the best view of any bike ride in the country, when haze from wildfires doesn’t obscure it.

I know, that probably sounds like a full itinerary already. But, before you leave, the park has two of the best visitor center experiences we have encountered for kids. First, the Craig Thomas Visitor Center has a wonderful tactile display of animal fur, from wolves to bison, and paw/hoof print impressions into which the kids (and adults!) can place their hands for comparison. Somehow, kids always know exactly what to do. Isabelle and Lucas were then drawn to a small climbing wall, simulating their imagined first ascents of the Grand. Leaving the ropes behind, they soon had managed to climb every boulder inside and outside the visitor center. The fact that the park orientation film in the visitor center was out of order, though disappointing, didn’t matter much.

Second, the Lawrence S Rockefeller Preserve at the south end of the park is an absolute treat. I had been there once before and wanted to see how the kids would react to the experience in the visitor center’s two rooms designed for quiet contemplation (quite appealing after several weeks with our adorable children…). The first room has four video screens with different nature and wildlife scenes, accompanied by the sounds of zephyrs, cascading brooks, bugling elk, and more pieces of nature’s symphonic mosaic. After being quieted in that room, we slid into the adjacent meditation room, closed our eyes, and listened to thunderstorms, birds flitting from one ear to another, wolves’ plaintive howls, tumbling autumn leaves, and other soothing natural sounds. As we ambled down the exit hallway, I thought we would spend just a few minutes in the beautiful library. Instead the kids, still captured by the impact of our auditory meditation, each silently entered, grabbed a book off the shelf, sat in the comfy leather chairs, and began quietly reading. We joined them.

Had we not already decided to leave the Tetons that afternoon in pursuit of breathable air (wildfire smog and haze, again), I’m convinced we could have lingered for hours, sat on the porch, sauntered along the preserve’s less-traveled trails, and been the better for it. As it was, Isabelle had become so engrossed in her book, “Forest Animals,” soaking up every syllable about wolves, that she didn’t hear me for almost a minute as I announced it was time to go. The experience with Lucas was identical.

Whatever magic exists at Grand Teton, it was well at work that afternoon.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

The world’s first national park is, not surprisingly, a fascinating, magical wonderland. Take your kids! There’s nothing quite like watching your children thrill at their first Old Faithful eruption, or feeling your souls jump in unison at the primordial howls of wolves in the Lamar Valley. Yellowstone offers so many surprises. It is a place for sharing time and for solitude. And, believe it or not, it’s possible to find your own small corner in paradise even when the “buffalo jams” on Yellowstone’s roads are in peak season.

We entered through the famous Roosevelt Arch by Gardiner, Montana, and Mammoth Hot Springs provided quick evidence that we had entered a different realm. The Norris Geyser basin confirmed the difference, with its mess of color, mineralized trees, frothy cauldrons of super-heated water and steam, and a nose-curdling aroma like cracked, old Easter eggs. Steamboat Geyser quickly became Lucas’s benchmark for geyser comparisons. Steamboat is the world’s tallest active geyser and it demands your attention by continually threatening to erupt (though it seldom does).

If we had only experienced the Upper Geyser Basin, the kids would have been satisfied. Both loved every minute there. Their glee at seeing Old Faithful for the first time is indelibly etched in my memory. Beehive Geyser, a turn of the head away from Old Faithful, became Lucas’s favorite. We had the good fortune to see Beehive’s jet-stream twice—first, shortly after our arrival at Old Faithful and once again when we were joined the next morning by the kids’ friends, Matthew and Samantha.

Our two families spent the entire morning traveling the Upper Geyser Basin from Old Faithful to Morning Glory Pool with a Young Scientist backpack supplied by the Park Service at the visitor education center desk during one of our multiple visits there. Its contents included an infrared thermometer for determining water, steam, and ground temperatures from a distance; a stopwatch for timing geyser eruptions; and a microbe wheel that was easy enough for the youngest of the kids to use to guess the temperature. We missed those fun tools when we visited the colorful Grand Prismatic, the Fountain Paint Pots, and the Artist Paint Pots, all of which were a hit.

The only disappointment at Old Faithful was unavailability of age-appropriate “Young Scientist” booklets for the kids to earn a Yellowstone Young Scientist patch along with their Junior Ranger patches.  At peak season, we were told none would be available for another two weeks!

The wildlife, however, did not disappoint. The kids wanted to get up early enough our first morning in the park for a chance to see wolves. That meant reaching the Lamar Valley by sunrise. Our early morning was rewarded with coyote and pronghorn sightings and rambunctious bison of all ages, running, jousting, and, in Isabelle’s words, just standing there looking fat. About 75 minutes after sunrise, shortly after turning the car around, doubting wolves were on the program, we suddenly found our giddy selves standing with other lucky wolf-seekers, gazing at four howling, yipping wolves, winners of Yellowstone’s early-bird lottery. Isabelle, who had recently purchased her own wolf puppet, Logan Lightning Bolt, could not find the words to describe how thrilled she was to see the real thing.

A short time later, having returned to Canyon for breakfast and a trip down and back up the 328 steps to the view of Lower Yellowstone Falls from Uncle Tom’s Trail, we were ready for much more of the world’s first national park.

Tips

• Encourage your kids to do the Junior Ranger program and check out a free Young Scientist Kit at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center.
• Allot plenty of time for the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. It is fantastic and the exhibits are designed with kids in mind. The visitor center at Canyon also had fascinating and engaging exhibits. We spent at least an hour in each.
• Hike the geyser basins early to avoid the heat of the day. Bring an infrared thermometer from the Young Scientist Kit, or bring your own if you want it available at other places in the park. It can keep your kids occupied for hours as they test the temperature of hot springs and geysers.
• If you’re serious about trying to see wolves, stay at Roosevelt or Canyon the night before and be at the road through the Lamar Valley at sunrise. There are no guarantees, but the payoff is high.
• Make dinner reservations at the Old Faithful Inn well in advance, lest you be denied or offered a less-than-ideal dinner time.
• Whether you stay there or not, explore the Old Faithful Inn. If you have the time, watch Old Faithful erupt from the front deck. We read, journaled, and wrote postcards during a relaxed wait for our final show.  
• Although you can drive the Grand Loop in a day if you’re pressed for time, try and break it up and spend time in each area.
• At Mammoth Hot Springs, you can maximize your chances of a good experience with younger children by bypassing the lower parking lot by the terrace in favor of the lot at the top, which is further down the road as you leave Mammoth.
• If you have an RV, be prepared for parking challenges at peak times.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

Glacier is a spectacular place with much to offer young kids. To make the most of it, be prepared to move your feet. With a little luck, your kids will experience the thrill of seeing wildlife and gain an appreciation for hiking.

Glacier is a hiker’s paradise, with a variety of kid-friendly options. On the park’s west side, the Rocky Point Trail is an easy hike from the Fish Creek Campground (we did it after dinner) with convenient access to the shores of Lake McDonald and beautiful views of the peaks to the east. Avalanche Lake is a terrific, slightly longer adventure, bounded by several plummeting waterfalls and countless rocks for a 10-year-old to skip. Our longest hike was a 7.5-mile adventure in the less-visited Many Glacier area in the northeast corner of the park (my favorite, having spent a summer working there longer ago than I care to admit). The length sounds like a lot, but it’s largely flat. To cut down the walking by one-third to one-half, you can hop on boats across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine instead of hiking those portions. The energy you save could enable you to make the climb to upper Grinnell Lake to see the spectacular view of the lakes below. We enjoyed a relaxing picnic lunch on the shores of the turquoise lower Grinnell Lake, gazed at the waterfall emptying the glacial melt, and even had some spectacular moose watching on our return.

Many Glacier may provide your best opportunity to see grizzlies at a safe distance. With luck on our side, the kids saw their first two grizzlies ever, chocolate and blonde, foraging on the hillside between the historic Many Glacier Lodge and family-friendly Swiftcurrent Motor Lodge. Wildlife sightings are also frequent on the park’s storied Going-to-the-Sun Road, the site of our best, most memorable hike. At the high point of the road, Logan Pass,  we hiked to the Hidden Lake overlook with goats, marmots, ground squirrels and spectacular views all along the way.  The more important event for this and many other hikes, however, was Isabelle’s purchase of her own wild animal—a small wolf puppet she appropriately named Logan Lightning Bolt, having liberated him from the Logan Pass Visitor Center. Logan spent many a hike peeking out of Isabelle’s camelback and was a head-turner for passing hikers.

Back on the west side of the park, the Park Service in Apgar operates a nice “discovery cabin” with samples of animal tracks, pelts, bird sounds, and other goodies for kids of all ages to explore. The write-up on the website made it look more like the cabin was geared toward younger kids, but both our 8-year-old and our 10-year-old enjoyed themselves, as did their moderately older parents. The Apgar and St. Mary Visitor Centers offer backpacks full of activities and guidebooks (PDF, 412 KB) that can be checked out for 24 hours free of charge. We grabbed one, and Isabelle was very into it, though we didn’t end up with enough time to use it. The reason? We spent almost the entire glorious day whitewater rafting on the Flathead River, which delineates the park’s western boundary. It was a hit with everyone in the family, and I felt very confident in the competence of our river guide, Amy, with Glacier Guides. By late season, the water is calm enough to provide an exhilarating whitewater experience for kids as young as five. It was a highlight of our trip.

Tips

• The early bird gets the parking spot. If you want to drive to the Avalanche Lake trailhead or Logan, arrive early or you risk great difficulty parking. The park shuttle from Apgar is a good alternative.
• Hike at least to the Hidden Lake Overlook at Logan Pass. It’s spectacularly beautiful and offers a good chance to see marmots, goats, sheep, and maybe a bear. If you’re game for a longer excursion, hike all the way to the lake.
• Raft the Flathead!
• Spend some time in the less traveled parts of the park, like Many Glacier and Two Medicine. There’s spectacular hiking for kids of all ages.
• Check the website for the Glacier Institute to see if any of their excellent kids’ programs line up with your schedule on the park’s west side. The timing didn’t work for us, but it might for you.
• Go within the next ten years if you want to see a glacier.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week three, Olympic–A Gold Medal National Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

Fresh after landing in Seattle and battling our rental car company to finally get the kind of vehicle we had reserved for a month on the road, we mercifully found ourselves in wondrous Olympic National Park. The massive trees enchanted us–towering, moss-laden rainforest wonders and carcasses littering the Pacific Coast as part of a massive jungle gym. So did the fascinating tide pools teeming with sea life and the easily accessible high country with remnant winter snowfields, looming peaks, and deer mothers and their new fawns. All of it produced a fantastic start to the next leg of our family adventure.

Lake Quinault was a hit. We kayaked the lake, circumnavigated the largest spruce tree in the world (Lucas said that was his favorite part), explored a historic homestead, watched baby salmon swimming in nearby creeks, and dined at the same table used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his visit to Lake Quinault Lodge (believe it or not, the kids made the request).

The first places that come to mind for many when thinking of big trees are national parks like Sequoia or Redwood, but Olympic and its surrounding neighborhood harbor jaw-droppers for kids and adults alike.  The Hoh Rainforest has kid-friendly loop trails, bounded by numerous fallen trees nursing descendants than can outstrip their size. There’s nothing quite like crawling under a massive tree, in its own cavern of roots. In the end, though, the tree that stuck with the kids was that massive spruce.

The north side of Lake Quinault (which is in the park–the south side is not) includes a delightful, picturesque hike to the Kettler Homestead. We took it with a park ranger who handed the kids each a Junior Ranger packet and a magnifying glass for exploring the fern forest around us. Isabelle actually held a slug (very slimy!). Lucas seemed fascinated by the multitude of spores under the fern leaves. We all learned about the cedar tree, known as the tree of life. Rangers truly are the air that breathes extra life into park experiences.

The rainforests ultimately end along the Pacific Coast, which is scattered with miles upon miles of fallen trees that lost their battle with salt and sea and that now provide kids with a climbing and exploring paradise. The time we spent at Rialto and Ruby beaches showed these trees to be magnetic, captivating places for kids. Isabelle found a small shelter a prior visitor had fashioned out of fallen timber and made it her own, while Lucas honed his rock-skipping skills. I tried to get them to walk up the beach with me to see several seals, but couldn’t pull them away from their adventures. Leaving was hard to do.

The sting of leaving the Pacific Coast was soothed by our adventures on the north end of the park, particularly tide pooling. When Dad got everybody up shortly after dawn to hit low tide at Salt Creek along the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the park, the skepticism was palpable. But once they saw the countless crabs, urchins, starfish, barnacles, mussels, and even a dead octopus, Dad was off the hook. Salt Creek was a hit! And the breakfast we ate afterwards at a diner on our way to Port Angeles was just as popular with hungry stomachs.

Salt Creek is convenient to Lake Crescent, if you stay at the Lodge or sign up for a family program with a park partner like NatureBridge. While we were visiting, a group of families was enjoying a week-long NatureBridge program with their young children, and Isabelle was excited to learn that she, or anybody, can sign up. The kids also enjoyed the hike to Marymere Falls and the wonderful, musical, ranger/magician talk at Lake Crescent Lodge on the restoration of the Elwha River.

From there, we had yet another, completely different, Olympic experience. We visited Hurricane Ridge, where we reached the frozen alpine climate in a matter of minutes–enveloped by peaks, treading on snow, and staring down spotted fawns. Of course, on our way, we dropped by the ranger station for the kids to be sworn in as new Olympic National Park Junior Rangers, to rousing applause.

We spent four very full days in Olympic, and easily could have doubled down. I had been to the park many times before, but never fully realized what a powerful place it would be for kids.

Tips

1. Do the coasts! Allow yourselves time to explore the beaches. Bring a picnic lunch. And bring a good windbreaker. The Pacific Northwest can be a bit chilly, even in summer, and the Pacific Ocean produces cold winds. Come dressed for the weather and your kids will love it.
2. Check tide tables for low tide for the best tide pooling. Salt Creek is fantastic, though the Park Service can point you to other places in the park.
3. Experience at least one of the rainforests with a ranger if you can. The north side of Lake Quinault tends to be more lightly visited and may offer more ranger time on your hike.
4. Do the entire peninsula in a loop (or, more accurately, a letter C). You can drive from Seattle to the south/west end of the park, follow the coastal roads, and return to Seattle via the ferry from Bainbridge Island, or vice versa.
5. Be prepared for rain–after all, this is a rainforest. We experienced rain, clouds, and sun.  When it’s sunny, it’s glorious, but your pictures come out better when it’s overcast. The kids enjoyed everything, rain or shine.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week two, On to Pictured Rocks and the Ice Age Trail (September 7, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)

Our brief visit to Pictured Rocks was enjoyable, though not the biggest grabber for the kids.

Parents with young kids could try a couple of quick and easy excursions near the town of Munising, including Munising Falls and the Miner’s Castle—our kids enjoyed both. But our favorite experiences were simple walks on the beach, with the kids carving messages out of the sand and wading into the shallows where the Miner River enters Lake Superior in a mess of turbulent confusion. As we walked along the beach, our path was marked by the claw prints of what may have been a Great Blue Heron. Isabelle discovered her hand will have to grow a fair bit more before it can cover a heron print

Pictured Rocks is a pretty park. A boat trip was a great way to see the lakeshore, and the rocks themselves. We took the boat excursion to Spray Falls, which the adults enjoyed, but was a mixed bag for the kids, who would have preferred to move around and get their hands dirty. If we’d had more time, a kayak rental would have made for a very fun maritime adventure. The park that I really want to show the kids on a future excursion is the Apostle Islands, which I now think of as Pictured Rocks on steroids.

The real surprise for us was our next stop: the Chippewa Moraine Unit of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. While not technically a unit of the National Park System, it exemplifies the best attributes of a partnership between the Park Service, a state government, and committed volunteers. They also stamp your national park passport, which the kids have come to enjoy. The visitor center is perched upon a glacial moraine, which is an accumulation of debris such as rock and soil that formed by a glacier. This moraine overlooked kettle lakes (shallow waters formed by retreating glaciers), eskers (winding ridges of sand and gravel), and other remnants of the Ice Age that created today’s northern Wisconsin landscape. The air conditioned visitor center was particularly welcome on a 100-degree day, but it was clear this was a visitor center designed for kids as much as any I’ve ever seen in a national park. It was part nature center, part glacial exhibit, and highly interactive. The microscope near the entrance pulled the kids in almost immediately, as did tanks with live turtles and snakes, which, I understand, are quite popular with local school children. Lucas was thrilled to hold a snake for the first time in his life. Izzy opted for the painted turtle.

The trails were also a delightful surprise. There are short and long options. We opted for short, given the unusual heat of the day, and welcomed the escape from the sun beneath the tree-covered canopy of the Mammoth trail. Anybody headed toward the Apostle Islands or north of Eau Claire for any other reason should make this convenient side-trip with their kids.

More stories in this series:

• Read week one at Sleeping Bear Dunes (August 31, 2012)
• Read week three: Olympic–A Gold Medal Park for Kids (September 14, 2012)
• Read week four, Glacier–More than Ice and Snow (September 21, 2012)
• Read week five, On to Yellowstone! (September 28, 2012)
• Read week six, Inspiration, Perspiration, and Contemplation at Grand Teton (October 5, 2012)
• Read week seven, Volcanoes Are Cool (October 12, 2012)
• Read week eight, Adventures on Wizard Island (October 19, 2012)
• Read week nine, The Difference a National Park Makes (October 26, 2012)