s/o: What's your kid's first national park experience
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Anonymous
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and at what age?
Itching to take my boys (4 and 2) out west to see some great national parks. |
Anonymous
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Way too early. At 4 and 2, get them used to the outdoors. Our first camping trip was Cunningham Falls with the kids as toddlers. Go from there.
Think about your earliest childhood memory. Was it 4 or 2? Do you want your kids to remember these trips? |
Anonymous
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Yes, this is way too early. Not only will they not remember, but you may turn them off to hiking and the outdoors. DH and I are avid walkers / hikers, and our now-six year old is just barely starting to emerge from a lengthy "I hate going outside" phase. We are trying not to push it.
I grew up camping but my mom didn't get "into" national parks until I was probably 10. We still had many years of good memories, park passport stamps, and photos in front of those darn entrance signs. |
Anonymous
| Took my kids to Arches. It was an amazing experience. They were 3 and almost one. I know they won't really remember it, but the 3 year old and I look at the pictures frequently and remember stories from the trip while we look at the pics. Good enough for me! By the way, she hiked for miles every day. The 10 month old was on my back, obviously. |
Anonymous
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We did the Blue Ridge Parkway because we were at a family reunion. DD was 2; we stuck her in a hiking backpack when she couldn't walk the trails or got tired.
She has no memory of it but we had a great time. |
Anonymous
| Probably Great Falls. |
Anonymous
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Well I guess we took my older boys on a day trip to Shenandoah at 4 and 2.
We live in Fairfax County and have been to Great Falls a few times. When my kids were 7, 5, and 2 we spent a week in Acadia in August and had a great time. This past spring break with kids 9, 7, and 4 we went to Zion & Bryce and had a great time. I hope to plan a trip to Mt. Rushmore / Badlands next summer. My ILs live in Miami and I think we’ll get to the Everglades soon, maybe even this upcoming winter break. We have still been wearing my youngest in a backpack carrier on hikes when she gets too tired to walk. She only weighs 31 lbs. We only do the easy / moderate hikes with the kids and we still feel like we get to see a lot. I personally think you can go at any age! |
Anonymous
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Have been going to great falls since she could walk. Last time we went she was 3.5 and climbed all over and keeps asking to go back.
We will go further afield around 5. I took some big camping/train/hiking trips with my parents at 8 and only vaguely remember pieces. |
Anonymous
We hike a lot. DD (3) has been to Shenandoah, Everglades (grandparents live there), Great Falls and Acadia. DS went to Acadia at 8 weeks. I'm sure he enjoyed it immensely 
For the major parks we do plan on doing them when kids are 7-12. DH and I have actually been to every NP and many of the other NPS sites. |
Anonymous
| 5 and 7 to Grand Canyon |
Anonymous
Oh and last time we went to Great Falls she recited the Gruffalo for us and said we were in the deep dark woods. She would have loved to have seen a mouse. hah. |
Anonymous
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At those ages, would definitely visit Shenandoah and Great Falls. Even a short walk in the woods is doable. We started car camping in Shenandoah when our kids were just out of diapers.
We actually wound up going to Zion for a wedding when our kids were 5 and 3 and our older kid wound up loving it so, so much and talked about it for years afterwards. But we missed out on a lot of the amazing stuff to do there (which DH and I did pre-kids) bc it wasn't feasible. We also did Acadia when kids were ~6 and 4 and loved it but again, missed out of some of what you can do there. |
Anonymous
| When my child was about 8 we went to volcano national park in hawaii. It was very manageable, and on an island with other cool diversions (pretty scientific too, if you want to sneak in some education). |
Anonymous
| You mean you haven’t taken your kids to the mall?? |
Anonymous
| No brainer in DC. Shenandoah |