An Outdoor Parent’s Go-To Guide
Planning a family hike is hard. It takes a lot of research to find a relatively flat trail with easy access that will keep the kids entertained. I’ve suffered through many failed outings with the kiddos because the trail I picked was too long or steep or difficult.
Fortunately, I found Kids in Parks, which makes finding a hike much easier. The free national program does the homework for you. It has created a national network of 300 kid-friendly trails—called TRACK Trails, including more than 150 in the Southeast. At each of these TRACK Trails, Kids in Parks has built kiosks with brochures that introduce the wildlife and ecology of the area in fun, engaging scavenger hunts and challenges. Kids earn prizes for miles walked and badges for activities completed, and they can follow their progress on an online dashboard and web app.
These self-guided hikes give families the flexibility to show up to a trailhead on their own schedule. The trailhead kiosks are like virtual guides or rangers. It’s all free, and their interactive map at kidsinparks.com makes it easy to find a kid-friendly trail anywhere in the country.
Five years ago, the Jordan family visited Millers Pond Park in Rocky Point, North Carolina. It was an easy hike for then four-year-old Ian. With plenty to explore around the pond, Ian could observe the water, touch the trees, or find critters in the dirt. But it was also here that the Jordans discovered Kids in Parks. Crossing paths with a TRACK Trail sign, they picked up The Need for Trees brochure activity and began adventures that would continue to this day.
Now a sixth grader, Ian has hiked 151 Kids in Parks TRACK Trails across the country, including every TRACK Trail in North Carolina.
Kids in Parks is led by Director Jason Urroz, who has helped grow Kids in Parks from a Blue Ridge Parkway-centered program to a nationwide phenomenon. More than 1.5 million hikes have been completed by kids on TRACK trails, and 181,000 kids and adults hiked on a TRACK Trail last year. Urroz shared his thoughts with BRO about the successes and challenges of getting more kids outdoors.
BRO: What makes TRACK Trails different from the traditional family hike?
Urroz: Kids love games. TRACK Trails gamify a hike. Instead of a two-mile slog, a hike becomes a scavenger hunt. Kids and adults stop noticing the bugs and the heat, and they start looking for the sycamore tree along the trail.
Kids in Parks also allows kids to level up, like in a video game. Kids can start in smaller parks closer to home, then build up to national parks and wildernesses. And they get rewarded for their progress. And parents often enjoy the experience as much as their kids.
BRO: What are the biggest obstacles to getting more kids outdoors?
Urroz: There are at least four main obstacles: transportation, time, proximity to parks, and fear.
TRACK Trails remove a lot of the fear. Every trail in our network has been vetted to ensure it is safe, and the kiosks, brochures, and activities help make the experience less scary and more fun. The trails are available 24/7, so families don’t have to schedule anything. They can show up whenever it works for them.
With 313 trails—and more than 100 more being added soon—trails are close to home, especially here in the Southeast, where Kids in Parks started. More than half of our trails are in this region. You can also earn badges in your backyard without leaving home.
BRO: Many folks assume that the outdoors is a luxury that only rich people can enjoy. How is your program changing this perception?
Urroz: Many TRACK Trails are in rural Appalachian communities or in urban centers. We teamed up with Rutgers University and the U.S. Forest Service to research the kids visiting TRACK Trails over a 10-year period. We found that many of the kids and adults hiking TRACK Trails came from zip codes with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. We also found that a majority of the kids and families hiking more than one TRACK Trail were coming from low-income communities or communities where a majority of adults do not have a high school diploma.
BRO: What are some of your favorite TRACK Trails?
Urroz: One of the most unique TRACK Trails is along the Oconaluftee River on the Eastern Band of the Cherokee’s Qualla Boundary. The brochures for this hike are also printed and translated using the Cherokee syllabary, and the brochures highlight important medicinal plants and Cherokee stories about the animals along the trail—including “How the Deer Got Its Antlers” and “How Water Beetle Created Land.” It also includes exercises challenging kids and adults to compare themselves to animal athletes: Can you run as fast as a deer or hop as far as a rabbit?
BRO: Kids seem to have an innate curiosity and love of nature and animals. Where does that get lost as adults?
Urroz: I think the demands of raising kids today has become even harder and more time-consuming. Parents work all day, then pick up their kids, make dinner. Where is the time to get outdoors? They don’t lose the love of the outdoors, but they lose the time to experience it.
We see in the responses from kids and parents that getting out into nature, even on an easy one-mile stroll for 45 minutes—makes a big difference. They are unplugged and outside and active. Their joy shines through.
All photos courtesy of Kids in Parks
