The Glenwood Springs Fairy Caves offer indoor/outdoor adventure fit for a 3yr old! The caves are accessible through a gondola to the top of a mountain nearly 11,000 ft. The ride itself is awe inspiring as it traipses along wind twisted juniper and granite outcroppings. The guided cave tours are offered all throughout the day, and are gentle enough for everyone from toddlers to grandparents. Jiah was enraptured by formations named after favorite foods. His attention was completely riveted to the guide's knowledge of everything from a cheeto to an ice cream cone. It pulled him up down and through both small and enormous "rooms" filled with carefully protected environmental treasures. I was so proud of my little one's stealth and fascination. The tour took over an hour, and he didn't ask to be picked up one time. It was cool inside compared to the over 100 degree outside weather on that arid Colorado day. It was the perfect place to exercise and learn deep appreciation for nature's profound artwork.

A species list is just what it sounds like, a list of species you see in a particular area or from a specific trail.

This may sound a little intimidating a first, because to make a species list you must first be able to identify the species. Not such a big deal with mammals, but when you get into plants or insects, it gets a little tougher.

Start easy. Just keep a list of the animals you see. If you can't tell an alpine chipmunk from a yellow-pine chipmunk, don't worry about it. Simply list "chipmunk".

If there is more than one species of a particular mammal just throw a couple adjectives into the species list so that you can tell who's who. Linnaeus be dammed. The point is to stop and notice the inhabitants of your stomping ground.

If you are motivated, bring along a field guide to expand your list. Or check with your local native plant society, forest service office or nature center to find their next plant walk.

When you think your species list is complete for a given area (you'll probably finish listing the animals long before the plants) laminate your list. Then bring it with you whenever you visit your stomping ground and check off the animals you see with a grease pencil.

Find more ways for kids to connect with nature at Your Wild Child.

I am not sure why it still holds this name since it was named after William Granstaff, who was an African American cowboy and prospector who worked in the area in the 1870’s.  After having control of part of the Spanish Valley he fled in 1881 because he was charged with bootlegging.  It seems like the unfortunate name of this hike should be changed, but regardless it is a great Moab area hike for families.

This trail is a gentle rolling desert canyon hike that takes you to a swimming hole near a water fall.  The trail follows a creek and it is really fun to wade in the water and walk along it with children.  There is some shade along the hike but it was very hot even in the spring.  At different times of year you can see the desert in bloom.  Spectacular rock formation can be seen along the way.

 Where: The canyon is located directly adjacent to  Utah State Route 128.  The trail head is 3 miles from the intersection of route 191 and 128.

Specs: The Morning Glory Arch/Natural Bridge is located about 2.5 miles (4 km) from the trailhead and has a span of 243 feet (74m).

After going on a hike recently with my kids I thought it would be helpful to touch on trail etiquette here at Nature For Kids. We came across a lot of people, the majority polite and cheery. But there was the occasional crazy kid running down the trail, singing at the top of their lungs and making others step to the side...oh wait, those were mine . Whoopsy. Those little rascals are getting faster by the minute. My husband and I had to grab them by the ears and do a quick rundown on trail etiquette.

• Stay on the trail. Don't cut switchbacks or take shortcuts.

• When it's a wide trail, like driving, stay to the right and pass on left.
• When you stop for a rest get off the trail if others are coming.

• Yield to hikers coming uphill. They are working harder than those coming down.
• When hiking in a large group yield to those who are alone or in a pair.

• Hikers and bikers should yield to horses. And bikers should yield to hikers as well but in most cases hikers will step aside first.
• Report vandalism
• Take only pictures, leave only foot prints
• Look for trail specific rules like no dogs, motorized vehicles or horses.
• Be friendly and polite to others on the trail

Happy Trails from Nature For kids!

I recently hiked with a friend and her two little girls in an absolute downpour. Just a few observations from that hike:

-- If its a short hike, don't worry about your kids splashing in the puddles. Their feet will get wet but you can dry off back in the car.

-- Play the "Slug Count" game. Kayla (5) and I made this up: find, count, name, and "pet" all the slugs you find on the trail.

-- Motivate the kids to keep going by looking for waterfalls (big & small), which come out of the woods all over when you've had a lot of rain.

-- Don't tell your kids that you don't like to hike in the rain...they often think its a blast and don't whine as much as us adults! When the drizzle turned to monsoon-style rain, we just laughed at the ridiculousness of trying to stay dry (coats, pants, and shoes were soaked).

This is a joint review of the book "Babes in the Woods" by Jennifer Aist. Heather read the book coming from the perspective of a mom-to-be, while Carrie read it to apply all of the great tips and ideas to her outings with her toddler Drew.

Heather: "Babes in the Woods" is a great book, full of detailed information to ensure that you have fun and stay safe/healthy on your outdoor adventures with little ones. I enjoyed the author's gentle reminders of how durable kids are and which things parents shouldn't worry too much about. For example, she suggests not trying to move your crawling baby back onto the blanket if she wants to go off of it. After all, as the expression goes, "a little dirt never hurt". I also appreciated learning about reasonable hiking distance expectations for little kids.

Carrie: I thought this book was great. Especially the charts the author created for quick reference. Her "Wild Facts", found throughout the book, included something I did not know: "you lose approximately 7% of your body heat through your scalp" and only when you are hypothermic and shivering does it increase to 55%. She says once your body returns to a normal temperature, the number returns to 7%. I think I can relax the over stress on my son wearing hats.

When I try to help another family plan a camping / backpacking / hiking trip with kids, the first thing I suggest is to think through the essential parts of your day at home, and then think how you can adapt them to your trip.  There seem to me to be six core aspects of life with kids:  Eating, Sleeping, Diapering / Potty Training, Transportation, Clothing, and Entertainment.  How you deal with these issues at camp is going to be partially dictated by how you deal with them at home, so I will say up front that at home we co-sleep and cloth diaper, and therefore we do the same on the trail.  Obviously, you should pick and choose from the following tips, depending on what works for you.  You should also try everything at home before you set out -- you might discover that your child has an irrational fear of sleeping bags, or discover a new food allergy along the way.  Better to do that at home. 

And without further ado, here are some things that we've found useful, organized in those six categories.

Eating:

• If your child is nursing, or eating the same food as the adults, that's easy to deal with.  If you're at the baby food stage, one possibility is to use a portable food mill for pureeing adult food.  A simpler but more expensive option is to carry purees.  Baby food is increasingly available in squeezable pouch form, and this makes a great meal for an infant or snack for an older kid.  Less messy and lighter than jars and spoons.
• If your child is a messy eater, bring bibs.  The bigger, the better.  Particularly in areas where wildlife are a problem, you want to be able to easily separate your children from the food smells.  It is particularly nice to have one that is easy to hand-wash along with the dishes.
• There are lots of freeze-dried fruits and vegetables available these days.  These make great, healthy snacks, and many dissolve well enough to be suitable even for babies. 
  

Sleeping:

• We co-sleep with our babies, and we therefore find it useful to have a large sleeping bag.  Northface makes a couple's sleeping bag which is plenty large enough for a baby, and Functional Design makes sleeping bag extenders which are great for enlarging a single-person bag.
• If you don't co-sleep, it will take more effort to keep your baby warm at night, particularly in the spring, fall, or winter.  Fleece / down buntings are a great way to make sure baby stays warm.  Don't forget a hat, and don't be afraid to use several layers.
• Our kids have always napped in carriers while we hike.  Make sure your child can fall asleep in your carrier!
• For bedtime, do your best to bring along any items that are critical components of the at-home bedtime routine.  Books, a favorite stuffed animal.  We have a kid's mp3 player that we use for playing the lullaby music that is part of our children's bedtime ritual.
  

Diapering / Potty Training:

• Our diapering system of choice while camping is similar to gDiapers.  This is a two component system, which a washable waterproof cloth cover, and an inner absorbent layer that is disposable/compostable/flushable.  If the cover gets soiled, you need to change it, but with urine-soaked diapers you can re-use the cover, and only change out the absorbent liner.  This means you can carry fewer diapers.  You can hand-wash the covers if you run low on them (A well-labeled gallon ziploc is my container of choice for hand-washing poopy diaper covers) and if you have sun and are concerned about the weight of the urine-soaked inserts, you can set them out in the sun to dry before packing them home.
• Our potty training son spent a lot of time hiking bottom-less.  This helped with potty-training, and made for fewer diapers.  Not sure if it works as well for girls (urine-soaked shoes don't sound like fun), but it's something to think about.  You can use Babylegs to protect them from skinned knees.
• For a portable potty, both around town and on the trail, we have had very good luck with the Potette.  It's quick to set up, and packs down small, and the waste gets packaged into something like a doggy bag for easy disposal later.

Transportation:

• We have used a number of different carriers:  a Moby wrap, an Ergo, a Deuter Kid Comfort II, a Deuter Kangakid.  All have their place, and I would heartily recommend any of them.
• Encourage your child to walk, as much as they can, as soon as they can.  It's slow, and you'll spend a lot of time motivating them, but it will pay off in the long run.  And they sleep great afterwards!

Clothing:

• We do try to keep the kids in synthetic clothing, if there's any chance that they will get wet.  Outdoor companies sell technical kids clothing, but you can buy fleece from any children's clothing manufacturer, and you can buy polyester clothing marketed as pajamas.  Carter's makes soft pajamas that make comfy polyester technical shirts and come in a wide variety of designs (for your dog- or dinosaur- or tractor- or what-have-you loving kid).  Do be wary of cotton trims, particularly ribbing, which can make for soggy cold cotton spots at wrist and neck.  The more expensive technical brands of course work just great, but they don't go on sale as frequently as the more mainstream clothing lines.
• Get good outerwear!  You want to make sure your kids stay warm and dry.  REI makes a very nice rain suit which is thoroughly waterproof, adjusts for a wide variety of sizes, and packs down small and light.  It's easy to throw in the bag even if the chance of rain is small.
• Leg warmers like babylegs are great.  Pants tend to ride up in carriers, and weather can change for the worse.  It's nice to be able to add an extra layer to arms or legs without first removing shirts or pants.  They are also nice for diaper changes in inclement weather, because they allow you to leave the legs covered throughout the change.  Unfortunately, I haven't found commercially available fleece legwarmers.  You can sew them yourself pretty easily, if you sew.
• If you can, keep your baby inside your own coat.  If you share an outer layer, it makes it easier to know whether they are warm, wet, or cold, and you can use your own body heat to help keep them warm.  Google "babywearing jacket" to discover some options.  We used a babywearing insert with our babies, but I had to custom make it for my jacket using these instructions, so it requires some sewing skills.  It was invaluable for hiking in the woods and around town in rain and snow.
• Get good shoes!  You want your kids to have blister-free feet.  If they have leather shoes / boots, they can be waterproofed, and that will help keep the rain from getting in (whether it comes from the sky or the puddles they insist on jumping in).
  

Entertainment: 

• Generally, we found that a prime source of entertainment for our toddlers was imitating us / helping around camp.  They love to help set up the tent, gather kindling, inflate air mattresses, set the table, wash dishes, etc.  We do have some toys that we occasionally take along in order to encourage this role-playing -- dishes from our toy kitchen, a doll sleeping bag.  We also sometimes take along a beach ball, for a lightweight multi-use toy.  Small plastic animals or finger puppets are great for imaginative play.  Maybe you have a toy deer or squirrel or woodpecker, that can live at your campsite too, and provide the starting point for a talk about natural history.  We also take books, for reading in the tent.  The "Who Pooped in the Park" series is fun for talking about tracks and scats.
• Along the trail, we play a lot of games for motivating forward movement.  Sometimes we look for the next trail marker, or the next bench, another flower or insect or rock.  Sometimes we play hike-and-go-seek, where one person runs ahead to hide behind a tree adjacent to the trail, and the rest of the party has to find them.  You can talk about what's coming up on the trail, or about the plants and animals that live around you, and what signs of them you might be able to find.
• The Wisconsin Explorers booklets are available in PDF form online and have lots of great activities for camp and along the hike, for kids 3 and up (and maybe 2 and up, with lots of help).  Take a peek, even if you don't live in Wisconsin.
  

Was that helpful?  I hope so.  It is also of course important to carry a good first aid kid, including kid medicines (teething without pain killers could ruin a night in a tent) and to know what dosage is appropriate for your child.  There's more I could say about trip planning, but I think that will have to wait for another post.

Get out and hike and camp and backpack with your young children!  It's different than doing so without, but it's fun and rewarding and not as difficult as you might think.

Written by Brennan Rose, 14-year old outdoorsman.

Overall, this is a good pack. It is lightweight but sturdy with ample room for any day hike. The zipper configuration takes some getting used to but the pack holds a surprising amount of gear. When loaded with about 10 lbs, the pack seemed comfortable but I wouldn't go much above 20 lbs. I only had two minor complaints. The first, the hip belt is unpadded and so can get uncomfortable on longer hikes. The second is that the pack is not hydration compatible and did not have separate pouches for water bottles. Although I fit the water bottles in the pack with ease, it would be better if it had water bottle pouches or was compatible with hydration bladders. Bottom line: yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

Brennen Rose islocal middle schooler and self proclaimed outdoorsman, WA.  He was assisted in this review by Carrie&Heather, co-founders of Backcountry Betties and Babies, WA

The prototype Jockey tank is not a beautiful thing to behold, but it is a beautiful thing to wear. I wore this tank as an underlayer on a spring ski tour. I am always looking for an an underlayer tank that is breathable & quick to dry (i.e. non-cotton)...they are hard to find! Although I'm not sure what it is made of, this tank is both breathable and wicking. I sweat quite a bit but it dried out fast, rather than being a cold cotton top stuck to my skin. Also, I like that it is a full-length tank top rather than just a short sports bra. Being full length, it can be tucked into ski pants or pulled over hiking pants/shorts. The only way it could be better is if it had a bra shelf to provide a little support.

For many of us, being outside, breathing fresh air, listening to bird calls and watching creeks gurgle and purl is enough. But kids might need a little more incentive to keep moving down the trail.

These games can entice kids into the outdoors while simultaneously getting them to pay closer attention to the environment. They might even get you to stop and smell the flowers!

• Color Search. Choose a color and have everyone in the group try to find 10 things of that color. Whoever finds them first gets to pick the next color. You could also do this with other parameters such as “things that are moving” or “animal signs”.

• Scavenger Hunt. Make a list before you head out on the trail (or in your head as you go along) of things for kids to find. Depending on your kids’ age and where you are, this might include: something green, something soft, a place where an animal has stopped, a food source, something unnatural…. the list can go on and on.

• Sound Map. During a rest break, pull out a sheet of paper (or a nature journal) and a pencil. Have your child shut his or her eyes and listen to the sounds around them. Then they can make a map of the sounds they hear. They can use symbols, pictures, words or whatever they choose to delineate the sounds.

• I Spy. This is a classic that can be easily played on the trail. Pick something everyone can see, but don’t say what it is. The rest of the group asks yes or no questions to figure it out. Whoever guesses first gets to pick the next item to guess.

• Find a Tree. This game is played in pairs. Blindfold one of the duo (now you know why you always carry a bandana hiking). The non-blindfolded person gently leads their partner to a tree. This works best if you don’t take a direct route. The blindfolded person spends a few minutes feeling their tree and getting to know it before they are walked back to the starting area. With the blindfold off, they try to find their tree. Switch roles.

• Memory. Select 10 or so natural items (pine cones, rocks, sticks etc) in secret and place them under a bandana or jacket. Then pull off the material and give your kids 10 seconds to memorize what they see. Re-cover. The players scoot about trying to remember and find the items they saw. When everyone returns, compare what they found to what you collected. Return items to where they came from. (Of course, don’t use flowers or other things that shouldn’t be disturbed. Check the Leave No Trace guidelines if you are unsure.)

What other games do you play with your kids on the trail?

Read more about hiking with kids! Check out these other posts at Your Wild Child.

Infants
Toddlers
Young Children
Older Kids
Trail Games

I tweeted about the June giveaway: http://twitter.com/YourWildChild/statuses/14381774572