by Stephanie Harper - You’ve got everything you need for your family camping or backpacking excursion except the one item that might slip your mind. Tent tarps - often called tent footprints - provide an extra layer of protection between a camping tent floor and the elements. Tent Footprint Buying Guide Not sure what type to get? The gear team at Outdoor Families … [Read more...]
80+ Outdoor Gifts for Adventurous Family Vacations
Outdoor Families Magazine is offering our most comprehensive outdoor gift guide ever. Outdoor gift ideas for hikers? Check! Outdoor gifts for backpackers? Check! Family gift ideas for campers? Yeah! Outdoor gift ideas for boys? Yep! How about gifts for outdoorsy girls? You betcha! The goal? To make sure you can find the best outdoor family gifts for everyone on your list, from … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Anchorage, Alaska Wintertime Family Vacation Itinerary
The stunning ocean view from Alyeska's slopes. Photo courtesy of Shannon Markley/Alyeska Resort. By Heather Mundt - Heading to a park in Anchorage, Alaska on a wintery afternoon in March, we'd expected to find a ghost town of forgotten, weather-battered play structures, neglected running paths and desolate parking lots. Instead we found Margaret Eagan Sullivan Park … [Read more...]
How To Talk To Your Kids About Climate Change
by Erin Kirkland and Stephanie Harper - The climate change headlines are ominous: Unprecedented heat waves, violent storms, melting sea ice, reductions of species. For any adult watching or reading news reports these days, the term “climate change” is a sobering reminder that Earth is undergoing a swift and drastic shift in environments in every region. So, how do you talk … [Read more...]
Tordrillo Mountain Lodge – A Wild, Luxury Family Vacation
by Erin Kirkland - It was a cloudless July morning in Southcentral Alaska when the float plane ferrying my teen son and I swooped neatly over a stand of spruce trees and landed with a gentle “swish” onto Judd Lake. I always feel a bit like a long-lost explorer when I travel via Alaska’s primary mode of transportation, for small planes generally mean adventure in Last … [Read more...]
How To Snowshoe With Kids
Many local parks welcome young snowshoeing families to explore and experiment with shorter, more-manageable adventures. Image courtesy Tanya Koob by Tanya Koob - People tell me snowshoeing is boring. It's not as fun as skiing, they say, or Why walk both up and down a hill To those individuals, let's rethink the process. I say, once you learn how to snowshoe with kids, … [Read more...]
Where To See The Wild Horses of Salt River, Arizona
[Photo courtesy Diann Bayes] by Brian Curtice - I can still recall the first time I saw the bright yellow Salt River Canyon 'Watch for Horses' sign. It stood in stark contrast to a landscape muted in greens and browns, immediately catching the entire family's attention. Watch for horses, in the middle of the desert? All eyes were on equine lookout as I slowly drove on … [Read more...]
Expert Family Skiing Guide + 6 Best Family Ski Resorts
by Amy Whitley - Have you decided this is the year the kids finally learn how to ski, but have no idea how? Well, you've come to the right place. Downhill (Alpine) skiing together has always been one of those core fibers of my family, an activity we all do together that is woven into the fabric of our shared history. I grew up skiing with my parents and sister high in the … [Read more...]
Brooks Lake Lodge, Wyoming: A Family Friendly Yellowstone Resort
by Melynda Harrison - Atop gentle horses saddled by the expert staff at Brooks Lake Lodge, my family climbs into an impossibly beautiful meadow in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming. With a background of striated cliffs, a creek running over a mountain edge into a thin cascade, and late summer wildflowers hanging on for just a little longer all around us, I decided this might … [Read more...]
Mammoth Lakes, California: Summer family travel just got more adventurous
by Rina Baraz Nehdar - My son, Kaleb, held his hands high, testing his grip on the grimy rope, suspended from a branch above his head. Although I wanted him to be brave, part of me pictured his hands slipping and his little body landing with a dull thud onto the sharp rocks as he attempted to swing into the lake. Besides our screams of terrified excitement, Gull Lake, near … [Read more...]
An Apostle Islands Camping Family Adventure
by Jenny Wisniewski - In the summertime, my young family regularly camped. I have always wanted my boys to get dirt beneath their nails, play from dawn to dark, and explore until they collapsed in their comfy sleeping bags, bellies full of s’mores. It was the packing of gear and meal planning that my husband and I dreaded. Our family camping trips had waned until this past … [Read more...]
Badass Women Who Are Dominating the World of Adventure Travel
by Erin Kirkland - Who Dominates Adventure Travel? These women. International Women’s Day is Friday March 8. Meet four professionals working to make outdoor travel a balanced place for women around the world. With a theme of #BalanceforBetter, the 2019 International Women’s Day platform is firmly set. Focusing on creating a more gender-balanced world to foster a better … [Read more...]
What is Wildschooling?
Wildschooling, noun; a progressive parenting philosophy which encourages the creativity, curiosity, and joy that children naturally express. by Nicolette Sowder - When my oldest daughter turned preschool age, my husband and I began having conversations about what we wanted her schooling to look and feel like. We found that aspects of the local school system and … [Read more...]
Hiking in Asheville – 15 Must-Hike Trails For Kids
Upper Catabwa Falls, Pisgah National Forest, Asheville, NC by Stephanie Harper - Asheville is the epitome of a mountain town complete with endless eateries, urban jaunts, and organic living--but it's the hiking in Asheville that will entice your outdoorsy family to stay forever. With the iconic Blue Ridge Mountains surrounding the city in all directions and one million … [Read more...]
Family Adventure for All Abilities Among the Trees at Ramblewild
by Jean Grant - We are a family of wanderers and nature lovers. Our lures: local trails, national parks, road trips, puddles, and oceans…or unique rock formations along the roadside. We reside in a state that is composed of 60 percent trees, with some towns in the western region over 90 percent forested. Though we are the third most-densely populated state, our inhabitants … [Read more...]
10 Reasons Why You Should Add Patagonia To Your Family’s Bucket List
by Cathy Brown - When it comes to unplugging and connecting with nature, there aren’t many places on earth that are more perfect for outdoor families looking for adventure, than Patagonia. Pristine, raw, and laced with a good mix between the Wild West (none less than Butch Cassady took up exile here) and Latino warmth and hospitality, there are endless outdoor adventures … [Read more...]
Women On The Snow: Empowering women to seek out backcountry and elevated skiing experiences
by Amy Whitley - On a sunny, bluebird February day, I found myself linking turns in the soft, forgiving powder of the Squaw Valley California backcountry, far from the crowded ski lifts. The month before, I joined a group of fellow women skiers in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, for some camaraderie on the snow and a day of dedicated on-piste instruction. In both instances, I … [Read more...]
