10 Unforgettable things to do in Glacier National Park with kids

The reasons we love the outdoors are many and varied. For some it may simply be a matter of recreation and exercise. Others enjoy nature and chance encounters with wildlife. Some enjoy relaxing around the campsite, while others challenge themselves on more difficult trails. Many experience healing and reinvigoration by spending time in nature. Many of us want nothing more than to share with our children our love of the outdoors and pass something on to the next generation. We know that there's much to learn about and from nature. But what may not so quickly come to mind is the chance to learn history from some of these outdoor adventures. It's not just something to be read about in books or found in great cities full of old buildings. Hike it Baby members experience history in a much more compelling way in the great outdoors. Here we present five terrific places with miles of trails that can also teach us something of history in addition to the usual benefits we seek in nature. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming How fitting it is to start our tour with Yellowstone National Park. By the late 19th century, the vast North American continent was quickly seeming less so as it became settled. Species whose numbers had once seemed inexhaustible were disappearing. It was slow in coming, but thankfully some far-sighted individuals began to recognize that the natural gifts we had been given could disappear without good stewardship. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that created the world's first national park. Thus, the wonders of Yellowstone were protected for future generations. There is much, MUCH more to the fascinating history of this natural gem. Why not learn for yourself along with the kids? Here's a great itinerary for exploring Yellowstone with kids. There are several visitor stations, museums and information stations around the park. Rangers are full of helpful information and interesting stories as well. Learning a little history of the park can only enhance your family's enjoyment of the natural wonders that attract millions of visitors. When you're ready, Hike it Baby members recommend taking Observation Point Trail to Observation Peak. Once there, you'll be treated to an incredible vista of the Upper Geyser Basin, including Old Faithful. Mt. Rushmore National Monument, South Dakota Mt. Rushmore National Memorial can be found in Black Hills National Forest. It was the brainchild of a South Dakota state historian named Doane Robinson who wished to put his state on the map. For this, he engaged sculptor Gutzon Borglum in a project to create monumental carvings in the Black Hills. It was Borglum who chose Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt for their historical importance and perceived broad appeal. Securing funding was the biggest obstacle to overcome in the beginning, and many politicians and other VIPs were involved in support and fundraising. Perhaps the most important persons involved were the 400 or so workers who toiled from 1927 to 1941 to complete the heads of the four presidents. There is more to the story, of course, and it can all be found at the visitor center in the form of talks by rangers, museum exhibits, films and books. Just as there's more to Mt. Rushmore than huge faces carved into a mountain, there's more to Black Hills National Forest than Mt. Rushmore. Outdoors enthusiasts, kids included, will find plenty to captivate, entertain or challenge them. If you can do it outdoors, you can do it here: camping, climbing, hiking, cycling, picnicking, wildlife viewing and on and on. For a perfectly good family-friendly hike, Hike it Baby members recommend Iron Creek Trail in the northern part of Black Hills National Forest near the town of Spearfish. Amazing views of rock formations along the creek will bring hikers to Iron Creek Lake, which is perfect for picnicking and relaxing. Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania There are places that are considered hallowed ground, usually where people died for the values their society holds most dear. In the U.S., Gettysburg National Military Park is one such place. Surely there can be few, if any, places better to learn history, for young and old alike, than the battlefield of one of the most consequential Civil War battles. Most of those took place in the South, but General Robert E. Lee attempted a bold stroke in taking the war to the North. His Confederate Army was checked in a bloody slog from July 1 to 3, 1863, at the town of Gettysburg. Why did the armies meet there? What happened at Little Round Top? What was Pickett's Charge? And what took place after the battle? Find answers at the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War, which offers exhibits, a short film and much more. Upon leaving the museum, visitors can do what is seldom possible – actually experience the subject of the museum by walking the battlefield. The 2 miles of Battlefield Trails near Devil's Den come recommended by Hike it Baby members. There are great views of the places where men fought and died, as well as several monuments, memorials and information plaques where families can now rest and enjoy the peace those men could only dream of. Devil's Den, with its large boulders strewn about the area, is a perfect playground for kids. How appropriate it is that the awful sounds of battle are replaced these many decades later by the delightful sounds of children at play. Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs The history of Garden of the Gods is intimately tied to that of the American West. It got its name in 1859 when surveyors arrived in the area to lay out a townsite for settlement. Struck by the beauty of the sandstone formations scattered around the place, one of them gave it its name, which stuck. A little over a decade later and just a few years after the transcontinental railroad had been completed, railroads were crisscrossing the West. Railroad tycoon Charles Elliot Perkins initially purchased 240 acres in 1879, eventually expanding to 480 acres. However, he never built on the land, preferring to keep it in its natural state and allowing the public to enjoy it. Perkins died in 1907, but his children respected his wishes and bequeathed the land to Colorado Springs as a public park. Over a century later, we can all now marvel at the sandstone structures of Garden of the Gods. We should also feel gratitude for the farsightedness and generosity of those who saw fit to preserve what is now a registered National Natural Landmark. The best way to take it in? Hiking, of course! There are 15 miles of trails of varying levels. One popular trail is the Siamese Twins Trail, an easy 1-mile loop around the famous Siamese Twins rock formation, which offers incredible views of the surrounding natural wonders and even Pikes Peak. The best time to visit Garden of the Gods is at sunset when the rocks turn a deep reddish-orange. For those considering a trip to Colorado Springs, check out this itinerary of 15 fun things to do with kids in Colorado Springs, which includes, yes, Garden of the Gods. The kids will love this outstanding public park. And parents will love knowing that the kids may one day return with kids of their own, and little will have changed. Mt. St. Helens, Washington May 18, 1980, may have started off as a peaceful Sunday morning, but it wouldn't last long in the area of Mt. St. Helens, a once-dormant volcano. In fact, there had been seismic activity for weeks. Scientists knew that something was happening. And boy, did it! The eruption began with an earthquake that caused a landslide of the north side of the volcano. What followed was the most destructive volcanic eruption in U.S. history. Rock and magma overtook the landslide and laid waste to hundreds of square miles. An ash column was thrust 15 miles into the air, and ash fell across the western U.S. and Canada. In the aftermath of the eruption, 110,000 acres were set aside as Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to preserve the vast area of flattened forest and land buried under lava flows and ash. Now researchers and members of the public alike can see how nature responds to such a catastrophic event. Opportunities to enjoy the outdoors abound in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, where Mt. St. Helens is found. Just south of the volcano and within the borders of the monument is Ape Cave, a popular hiking destination, as recommended by Hike it Baby members. The cave is a lava tube, the third-longest in North America, at 13,000 feet. Upper Cave is more rugged than Lower Cave, but both were born in the distant past of the same kind of volcanic activity that struck so violently in 1980. No need to worry though; the last eruption of Mt. St. Helens was in 2008, and the volcano is quiet ... for now. What historical parks or trails are your favorite? Please share with us in the comments below! To find more local trails to you or trails in or near vacation spots, visit the Hike it Baby Family Trail Guide. It's a great resource for anyone looking for kid-friendly trails around the U.S. Read more: 10 Fun things to do with kids in Yellowstone 3 Amazing hikes for families with young children in Wyoming 15 Fun things to do with kids in Colorado Springs 3 Memorable hikes in Colorado for families with young children Photos by Vong Hamilton and Krystal Weir.

Acadia National Park protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the United States. The park includes land on 20 different islands, as well as the southwest tip of the Schoodic Peninsula. The largest and most well-known part of Acadia is located on Mount Desert Island. When visiting, you'll find lakes, ponds, meadows and a mixture of coniferous and deciduous forests, in addition to mountains and cliffs that rise abruptly from the sea. The abundance of habitats leads to a variety of sea and land-dwelling animals. The park offers a little bit of everything: hiking, camping, boat trips, carriage rides, scenic drives, swimming and much, much more. Not only will you leave in awe of the beauty of Acadia, but you won’t be disappointed in the amount of family-friendly activities that the park has to offer.     After my husband was laid off at the end of August, we decided to buy a pop-up camper, throw our camping gear in the car, along with our two kids (ages 1.5 and 3.5 years) and head north, hitting several destinations, including Acadia National Park. We had a general idea of where we wanted to stop, but our “itinerary” was created as we went. If you haven’t tried traveling like this in the past, consider doing it someday. It frees you from a rigid, over-planned trip and allows you to live in the moment. That being said, we did look at a map before we left, making a list of places that we wanted to see, and we rented some travel books from the library to take with us. From our experience, here are a few tips and a list of family-friendly things to do while visiting Acadia National Park. PLANNING A few important things to consider when planning a trip to Acadia are what time of year you want to go and where you will be staying. Since our travels in Acadia were driven by the timing of the layoff, we ended up visiting at the very end of September. The whole family loved traveling at this time of year because the trees were still beautiful and the weather was cooler. In addition, the park and campgrounds weren’t as busy as they are during the peak season. However, I must mention that the nights got pretty cold, so we did need to use a space heater in the camper as well as our down sleeping bags. In addition to perusing websites and travel guides to help plan our trip, we also referred to Hike it Baby: 100 Awesome Outdoor Adventures with Babies and Toddlers to help us plan some kid-friendly hikes in Acadia. LODGING While in Acadia, we stayed at a beautiful campground that was well-kept AND had clean bathrooms/showers called Mount Desert Campground. It ended up being our favorite campground during the whole 3.5-week adventure. There are four other campgrounds located within the boundaries of Acadia National Park: Blackwoods Campground, Seawall Campground, Schoodic Woods Campground and Duck Harbor Campground. If camping isn’t your thing, there are dozens of places to stay on Mount Desert Island. The author of my favorite Acadia travel book compiled a list of these options on his blog.  You can also find free maps (including one with lodging options) available by National Parks Maps. 10 Fun Things To Do With Kids in Acadia 1. Park Loop Road One of the first things that I would suggest doing is going on the Park Loop Road drive. This loop is a twisty 27-mile drive located on the eastern half of Mount Desert Island. It can be done all at once or over the course of your visit. You can also opt to do this loop as a guided bus tour or take the free Island Explorer shuttle. We didn’t use either option because the convenience of having our own car with two young children was really nice.  Over the course of the drive, you'll pass many popular tourist destinations, mountains, rocky shorelines, dense forests and pristine lakes. The Park Loop Road is, hands down, one of the most beautiful drives in America.    Photo from http://npmaps.com/acadia/. 2. Sand Beach Our first stop was Sand Beach on the east side of Mount Desert Island. Because of the secluded nature of Newport Cove, this beach is able to exist. The cove protects it from the powerful waves and summer currents, allowing the sand to build. Sand Beach was a big hit with both our kids as they loved playing in the sand and running in and out of the water. Even though the water was too cold to swim in, the kids could have spent hours playing alongside it. There is also a really nice hiking trail, The Ocean Trail, that leaves from this parking area. The trail will take you right along the rocky shoreline from Sand Beach and Otter Cliffs. Insider tip: Even in the off-season, the parking for this location was packed, so plan on getting there early!    3. Thunder Hole As we continued on along the Park Loop Road, our next stop was Thunder Hole. This was one of our favorite parts of the park. It is a narrow rock crevice that booms like thunder when waves hit it just right. At the end of the crevice, there is a small cave, and when waves rush in, they compress the air inside. If enough pressure builds, air explodes outward in a burst of spray. That is what makes the deep, thundering boom. It is best viewed/heard about two hours before high tide. We were very impressed with Thunder Hole and thought that it would be a wonderful place to cool off on a warm, summer day.   4. Jordan Pond House and Hike Back in the car and super excited to check out our next stop, we made our way to Jordan Pond House. This restaurant has been serving guests for over a century and is famous for its tea and popovers. You MUST stop and get some of these delicious little air-filled, muffin-shaped popovers and spread jam/butter all over them. My husband and I had so much fun watching the kids run around on the huge lawn while sipping on tea, eating popovers and basking in the warm autumn sun. Insider tip: If you go when the weather is decent, I would recommend waiting the 1-2 hours for a table outside. There's also the option to make a reservation, but if you do, take into account the time it will take to find a parking spot, as this is a very popular destination. After tea and popovers, we headed to the pond to Jordan Pond as suggested from 100 Awesome Outdoor Adventures (p. 156). We enjoyed the clear blue waters of the pond, which is the deepest freshwater body of water on the island.  The book mentions you can hike all the way around the pond (3.2 miles), but we only did a shorter route because of our young walkers. From the trail, you can see the two glacially sculpted mountains, North and South Bubble, that appear to be symmetrical. After your hike, as you continue your drive on Park Loop Road, keep your eyes out for Bubble Rock, located on South Bubble. This 14-ton boulder, precariously perched on a high ledge, was deposited by a melting glacier roughly 15,000 years ago. This is one of the most famous glacial erratics in the world!   5. Cadillac Mountain Famous for its 360-degree views, and being the highest point on the eastern seaboard, Cadillac Mountain is definitely worth a visit. Instead of hiking to the top of Cadillac Mountain on foot, we opted to drive the 3.5-mile road to the summit. We enjoyed the 0.3-mile Summit Trail at the top. This short loop offered a fantastic view of Mount Desert Island. While there, we were even able to see Bar Harbor and the cruise ships that were anchored off of the town. The view from the top was so beautiful that we even decided to head back the following day to eat dinner on the summit while watching the sun set. 6. Wonderland Hike Since we were in Acadia and there was another hike suggestion from 100 Awesome Outdoor Adventures (p. 154), of course we had to check it out! This hike is on Mount Desert Island but on the less-crowded western side. The Wonderland Trail is an easy 0.5-mile path that takes you through a pine forest and dumps you right on the Atlantic shore. This trail is known for its tide pools that are visible at low tide. Our kids really loved seeing all the little sea creatures that are only visible at this time of day. Insider tip: Check at the visitor center to find the times for low tide each day. There will be a publication available inside with a tide table. If you do choose to explore this trail, know that the tide pools are very slippery to walk on because of the seaweed. 7. Bass Harbor Lighthouse The next place we stopped was Bass Harbor Lighthouse. This lighthouse is the only one on Mount Desert Island and is located close to the Wonderland Hike. Built in 1858, Bass Harbor Lighthouse was originally lit by whale oil. It is now powered by electricity and fully automated, still guiding ships safely into the harbor. We enjoyed seeing this pretty lighthouse. Please note that you aren’t allowed to go in it, so if you're short on time, you can skip this location. 8. Bar Harbor After a long day of hiking, we stopped in the quintessential Maine Coastal Town of Bar Harbor right before sunset. It made for a gorgeous walk along the harbor and a nice seafood dinner right on the water. While walking the 0.75-mile Bar Harbor Shore Path, we stopped at Balance Rock since it was suggested by a few of the travel guides. This boulder was left on the shore of Bar Harbor by glaciers during the last Ice Age. It was an impressive site to see and made for some funny pictures! If you make it to the end of the Shore Path, take note of the Bar Harbor breakwater. This man-made stone wall that shelters Bar Harbor from large offshore waves is rumored to have been built by J.P. Morgan so large waves wouldn’t spill cocktails on his yacht. After dinner, we walked around the cute town, stopping in the little stores and eating ice cream. It was the perfect way to end the night. 9. Little Hunter’s Beach One of the final stops for us at Acadia was Little Hunter’s Beach. This beach was extremely different from Sand Beach. Instead of soft, brown sand, the beach is covered in cobblestones that were formed roughly 370 million years ago and shaped like Easter eggs. At the time, we were disappointed that it was raining. However, while walking back to our car, we noticed that the dry rocks under the trees were not nearly as pretty as the wet ones. All four of us thoroughly enjoyed the different colors and sizes of the cobblestones. It was hard to resist scooping up a bucketful and taking some home with us. (Don’t do that, it’s illegal!) Insider tip: To get to Little Hunter’s Beach, drive roughly two miles past Otter Point. Look for a small wooden staircase on the left side of the road. The staircase is tricky to find, but once you do, it will lead you down to the beach.   10. Carriage Roads Throughout Acadia, there are over 57 miles of gravel carriage roads which were built by John D. Rockefeller starting in 1910.  They are closed to motorized traffic, but hiking and horseback riding are allowed on them. These carriage roads twist and turn through Acadia, revealing the island’s lush interior, which includes 17 beautiful stone bridges, handcrafted by stone masons out of rock native to the area. Even if you don’t have time to hike on any of the carriage roads, keep your eyes out for the impressive bridges. They are definitely worth stopping to photograph. The whole family was sad to say goodbye to Acadia. We would have loved to spend a whole week or two exploring the rest of the park and some of the other islands. Acadia definitely goes down in my book as one of the most beautiful national parks that I’ve visited in the United States. We hope to return one day to hike along its cliffs and play in its water once more. What are your favorite spots to visit in Acadia National Park? Please share with us in the comments below. HELPFUL RESOURCES Acadia: The Complete Guide (James Kaiser) Hike it Baby: 100 Awesome Outdoor Adventures with Babies and Toddlers (Shanti Hodges) Hike it Baby Family Trail Guide National Park Services Read more: 10 Fun things to do with kids in Yellowstone 6 Helpful websites to make outdoor adventure planning easy Ways to pack snacks and food on road trips Photos by Natalie Kendrach.   ABOUT OUTGROWN OutGrown is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to create a world where everyone can enjoy the physical and mental benefits of spending time outside. We are focused on creating opportunities and removing barriers to access so families with babies and young children can take their first steps outside. We believe all families have the right to connect with nature, benefit from spending time outdoors and be inspired to a lifelong love of nature. Since its grassroots inception in 2013, OutGrown is a growing community of 280,000 families and over 300 volunteer Branch Ambassadors. More information on all of our programs can be found at WeAreOutGrown.org    EDITORS NOTE: We hope you enjoyed reading this article from OutGrown. We’re working hard to provide our community with content and resources that inform, inspire, and entertain you. But content is not free. It’s built on the hard work and dedication of writers, editors, and volunteers. We make an investment in developing premium content to make it easier for families with young children to connect with nature and each other. We do not ask this lightly, but if you can, please make a contribution and help us extend our reach.