Enjoy the Park with your Children

Our national parks are fabulous places to have fun with kids. Bringing them into the parks encourages a child’s love of nature and desire to protect our wild spaces, and it gives them challenging experiences to fuel their self-confidence and sense of adventure.

For the youngest children, it is usually best to keep walking or hiking distances very short. Most small children won’t have much fun walking more than 1 to 3 miles in a day. If they are typically curious, and pause to examine the bugs, plants, rocks and puddles along the way, the pace will be slow.

Bring plenty of snacks and drinks, and stop often to refuel. Remember children’s smaller bodies get cold faster than an adults’, so dress them in several layers of clothing to remove or add as conditions require. Because most children will want to explore off-trail, where conditions permit it, they will need sturdy shoes.

Teach young children to stay within eyesight and older children within earshot. They can wear a whistle around their neck to call for help if they become lost.

In North Cascades National Park, families with slightly older kids will enjoy the 4.4 mile roundtrip hike to Blue Lake. This trail starts just west of Washington Pass on Highway 20, and offers majestic views of the craggy Early Winters Spires on the way to the deep-turquoise waters of Blue Lake. On a warm summer day you may see families taking a swim in the lake, or kids clambering on the big boulders surrounding the lake outlet.