Have to completely disagree with those saying your kids are too young. We started taking our child camping and to national parks while she was an infant. Since she started walking she has been to 120 National Park sites. She is five now and we just did a 4 hour hike this weekend in Shenendoah. She loves it!

Not counting local places, Yosemite at 7 & 8. Younger is very outdoorsy and happy at any national park. Older is an inside kid but we had him take a kids photography class as part of their junior ranger program and found that he was happy to go for a hike if we let him take pictures the whole time.

Great Falls. Then Acadia.

We started camping with our DD @ 3 years old. Our favorite was Yosemite. If you go, stay at Wawona campground. I don’t think your children are too young as long as you are prepared. There are lots of small children visiting the parks. Better to start them young IMO

DS was conceived in a national park, does that count?

Anonymous wrote:I'm 42 and have never been to a national park and couldn't care less. I hate woods, bugs and "nature". I'm not the outdoorsy sort at all. This has not affected me negatively in any way.

If Golden Gate Park is a national park then my daughter has only been to that one. I think she was 2 the first time she went there.

You may have done others without knowing it! The Mall, Rock Creek Park (incl Georgetown Waterfront), and Arlington House are parts of national parks. Due to the weirdness of DC, many of the city parks like Lincoln Park and Stanton Park are too. Also the Freedom Trail in Boston and Ellis Island in NY.

Waiting until 6?? YMMV but that’s not our experience. Beyond the obvious local parks (Great Falls, Shenandoah), we’ve done:

Rocky Mtn NP: 2 and 6 (2 YO in backpack carrier)
Joshua Tree: 3 and 6
Acadia: 3 and 7
Everglades: 3 and 6.5
Glacier: 4.5 and 8
Smokies: 5 and 8.5
Death Valley: 5 and 8.5

Every NP will have hikes for all ages and abilities!! You don’t have to go on death marches.

Minute Man as a baby when we lived up in New England. Just easy day hikes for the first couple of years like Great Falls. Did cabin camping at Catoctin at 3 and tent camping in Shenandoah at 4, but pit toilets did cause a setback in potty training. Probably won't do a big Western trip until elementary achool, spending all my PTO on maternity leave this winter and possibly all my money on a house.

We did Glacier when our kids were almost five. It was great!!! We were in the area for a wedding so spent a few days at Glacier. We stayed in the park (highly recommend!!) at a no frills lodge along a lake, which was great for just relaxing at the end of the day. We did o d five mile bike that took all day and was great plus some shorter hikes. The glaciers are melting so go soon.

Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce canyons at ages 1, 6 and 10. Denali and Kenai Fjords at 1, 7 and 11
Arches, Capitol Reef, and Bryce Canyons at 7, 12, and 16. All were great. The older they are, the longer they can hike. I did a lot of hiking with a baby backpack.

We have taken our kids (now 4 and 2) to Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, and Shenandoah a few times. We all had a wonderful time. I have found that kids can generally hike 1 mile per year- so 2 year old can hike two miles at a time without being carried (but with breaks). We don’t do the long hikes we did pre kids but we still have a blast.

Rock creek park; age 0 and every weekend. It is right here!

Disney....age one

I'm 42 and have never been to a national park and couldn't care less. I hate woods, bugs and "nature". I'm not the outdoorsy sort at all. This has not affected me negatively in any way.

If Golden Gate Park is a national park then my daughter has only been to that one. I think she was 2 the first time she went there.

Whenever you want to go! My parents drove us all over New Zealand in a camper van when I was between 1 and 2 (my sister was 3-4). I remember none of it, but the stories the rest of the family tell are great, and as far as I can tell my parents have no regrets about the decision!