Our monthly post to highlight the best writing and most useful tips written by Outdoor Parents the previous month.
You won’t typically find gear reviews or travel guides here – on this site we focus on the skills and inspiration to help you get outside and stay outside with your kids. We also believe that everyone should feel welcome in the outdoors, so we share articles by parents and outdoors-people of color to make sure everyone is learning each other’s perspectives.
Hopefully, this encourages you to plan your next outdoor adventures, reflect on what you were able to accomplish over the past month, or what you learned and would do differently. Enjoy!
We are still missing ski season and only have another month here in the Sierras until we move. We enjoyed a Mother’s Day hike around our local ski resort to see what it looked like under all the snow.
Backpacking
- Family backpacking trip. Blackwater River, The Florida Trail | Sunshine State Seekers (video)
- What is it REALLY like overnight hiking with baby or toddler – the TRUTH: Backpacking with your kids | Danielle Andreasen (via the Backpacking with Babies and Kids Facebook page)
Camping
- 10 tips for camping with kids| Pit Stops for Kids
- Best Camping with Kids Hacks | Tales of a Mountain Mama
- How to Find a Last-Minute Campsite for Unplanned Adventures | Morrison Outdoors
Climbing
- A New Kind Of Brave | Outdoor Research Interview with Beth Rodden
- Postpartum Survey | Lattice Coaching and Training “This is a survey designed to understand more about the postpartum experience in the climbing community.”
Cycling
- Deliblatska peščara: Oldest European Desert? | Family Adventures on Trikes (video)
- Two Wheeling Tots with Natalie Martins and Carrie Wren | Outdoorsy Families (podcast)
- Biking The Route Of The Hiawatha: What you MUST KNOW before riding! | Bring The Kids
Diversity & Inclusion
- Climber Jordan Cannon Shares His Coming-Out Story | Outside Online
- Emily Ford Hiked 1,200 Miles in the Dead of Winter | Outside Online
- Escaladora | Outdoor Research Films (video) “For Monserrat Alvarez Matehuala, bringing her full identity as a woman of color to rock climbing has been both challenging and healing.”
- Women in the Backcountry Don’t Need Your Help | Outside Online
- 7 Things My White Outdoorsy Friends Don’t Understand About Race | Melanin Basecamp
- A Village | OutsideTV (video) Kai Lightner’s plan to make climbing more inclusive.
- The Racist Defacing of Petroglyphs Is a Teaching Moment | Outside Online
- Reflections on a Magazine Cover, Jimmy Chin, and Representation | Outside Online
General
- 9 tips to get outside with teens and tweens | Rain or Shine Mamma I am in this phase with my older child and it is a different kind of challenge to get her out with us.
- Letterboxing for Kids | Tales of a Mountain Mama Another great activity to do while hiking with your kids
- How to Clean Your Outdoor Gear | Tales of a Mountain Mama So important to stay on top of this.
Hiking
- Adventure, Baby! Fullerton Loop Day Hike | Get Outside
- How to Hike with Kids of Different Abilities | Morrison Outdoors
- Go Take a Hike | Hike it Baby
- Dartmoor Way Circular Walk 3 | Eclectic Rambles
- Wenatchee Wildflower Hike + What Kind of Snake is that??? | Visiting Wenatchee, WA with Kids | Wild Tales of… (video)
Paddling
Travel
- abby.outdoors: Getting dirty is sometimes the best part of the trip for kids.
- alaskawildlings: Backpacking with kids in the snow.
- babyhikingadventures: When your hiking poles turn into a toy for your kid.
- bethrodden: “For me, my postpartum body wasn’t a point of no turning back, instead it was the opposite, it was the turning point that led to the largest transformation in my life. It’s amazing what some self love can do.”
- downwithadventure: Great tips on picking the right food for backpacking when your kids need special foods
- gallimore.family.adventures: What do you bring when backpacking with a baby?
- heyerikanorton: “The key is to keep doing it.”
- legacyforkids: “The greatest legacy we can leave our children is happy memories…”
- mommy_and_me_adventures: Thru-hiking family making it to Harper’s Ferry – I remember making it there 23 years ago on my thru-hike!
- mountainmomadventures: “If we want our children to move mountains, we first have to let them get out of their chairs.-Nicolette Sowder”
- mtnbabe: I also love it when my kids ask me to repeat my outdoor adventure stories.
- runwild.mychild: “You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.” Alan Watts
- she_colorsnature: “My daughter and I have found a sweet new connection through mountain biking after a school year from hell.”
- thebackpackingmom: “I don’t want to camp EVER again.” We’ve all been there, but we still end up loving it.
- trailcollectiv: A great response to those people who say that you’ll never be able to do outdoor adventures once you have kids.
- Wefoundadventure: On the importance of taking chances in life.
