Do you know what the deepest lake, the highest waterfall and the longest cave system in the US have in common? They are all found in a National Park (Crater Lake, Yosemite and Mammoth Cave, respectively). It is fun to dream of exotic foreign countries when planning a summer vacation, but there is a lifetime's worth of wonder to be found within our own National Park system. While not every park is set up for a family trip, many of them have specific programs geared towards children of all ages.
Two publishers of travel books, Fodor's and Frommer's, have compiled a list of the top parks for kids. While Fodor's only chooses five and doesn't pick anything east of the Mississippi, it does give detailed descriptions of why they believe their choices are family friendly. Frommer's chooses fifteen parks, and while light on specifics, it at least spreads the wealth by choosing some parks on the east coast. Wherever you go, look for the very popular Junior Ranger Program, which includes activities such as guided hikes, animal tracking and star-gazing.
There is also a free National Parks Journal, courtesy of the National Park Conservation Association, full of puzzles, pictures for coloring and pages to record park adventures. With so many parks to choose from and so much emphasis put on educating and entertaining kids, the options for fun are endless. Happy Trails!
(Image 1 by Flickr member zaui and Image 2 by National Park Service licensed for use under Creative Commons.
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I just took my 3 year old son to Bryce Canyon last weekend. We had a blast. If you are planning on hiking with a preschooler, just plan on plenty of extra time. We went for a 3 mile hike and it took about 3 hours. Toby got pretty cranky halfway through so we ended up bribing him with fruit snacks ("okay, you can have another one at the next switchback. What color do you want?") but hey, whatever works.
I enjoyed the national parks trips as a preteen and teenager.
"Parents forbidden" hikes were amazing and had plenty of Rangers to answer questions and supervise.
No temper tantrums among the kids, but several among the adults left behind.
Campgrounds have free evening talks as well- check in the park when you arrive and you DO NOT need to be camping in that campground to attend the talk.
My family enjoyed the photography talks so much, we followed that Ranger for several easy hikes and campfire talks. Hikes were about arranging groups for a group photo in different ways(challenging in a group of 30 adults and kids), perspective, cheap camera tricks and so on. Best lesson on perspective I ever saw was from a fellow 3 foot hiker who showed the Ranger the amazing arching branches at his height over the trail. Ranger in turn showed the not-fully-grown-hiker what the taller hikers were seeing. The bonus information was for your own camera (point and shoot or dslr), local photo spots, history and any wildlife/plants/rocks info we saw.
Plenty of other talks or hikes for area-specific sports and hobbies or just history. Those we did were free, once you were in the park.
I had a national park passport, which I believe they still sell, when I was a kid and LOVED getting my stamp at each new park. the rangers were great and always made a big deal about it. they would give me the stamp and look through my book and ask me about the other parks I had been to.
it worked out well for me because we lived near a number of national parks and so my book was pretty impressive filled (you can get the stamps at historic parks as well as natural ones)
I love the National Parks system! A few things to consider when planning a trip:
Campsites and hotel rooms at the biggest parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc) get booked up very quickly, and very far in advance. Unless you're planning a trip for a year from now, you might need to look into staying outside the park (we stayed in Gardiner, just outside Yellowstone, and it was fine.)
If you're planning a road trip, a National Parks annual pass is a great value (around $125 or so)--it gets you in free to most national parks for a whole year. Even better, senior citizens are entitled to a very inexpensive lifetime pass (something like $25), and is good for everyone in the car, regardless of age, as long as the pass holder is riding along (so bring Grandma to the park!) The best part about both of these passes is that carrying them encourages you to visit even more National Parks all year!
In addition to the Junior Rangers program, for kids starting at age 7, a few parks are introducing a "Pee Wee Rangers" program for kids 3-6. I haven't tried these out yet, but they sound like a lot of fun!
Happy travels!
I live about an hour from Yosemite and a half an hour from Sequoia, so I'm a frequent visitor and future-child has already been recruited for hikes by his most active aunt. The only sad thing about our (California) parks is the threat of closure due to the wonderful state of the economy. Hopefully this won't happen.