50 Hikes with Kids California

On the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest

PREFACE

This is my love letter to California. I grew up in this mind-blowing state, hiking and camping with my family, cutting my teeth on it as I learned to rock climb its mountains, surf its waters, and roll on its hills on a mountain bike. Today, I act as a guide for the many adventurers and stewards of the future. I wouldn’t be the hiker I am today if it weren’t for the diverse landscapes of California and the family members who shared them with me—I hope I do them justice in the pages that follow and that your kids see this inspiration, too.

In 2007, I was dissatisfied with the small amount of science my fourth-grade students were exposed to and that little of it connected to the real world. I signed up to be a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Teacher at Sea. For seven days, I lived aboard the research vessel Shearwater. We embarked from the harbor of Santa Barbara to find and count the Xantus’s murrelet, an endangered seabird. I used video to record our Zodiac (small, raft-like vessel) boat rides into remote caves, inviting viewers to help me count. I used the numbers and spreadsheets for students to compute real-world calculations and actually feel part of the adventure and scientific process. This is what University of Minnesota’s Dr. Aaron Doering calls “adventure learning.” It’s a philosophy I use with the students and teachers I work with today.

Then as now, I studied each day’s adventure with the eyes of a child—finding the nooks that delighted me, asking myself big questions, documenting things that interested me but I couldn’t identify on the spot, and pondering how to find out more about them. Twelve years later, I am thrilled to be writing this book for the kids of California, creating mini-adventures in my home state that will help them become their own intrepid adventurers. However, in much of the state, the 2018 spring and summer were plagued by wildfire—a reminder from Mother Nature that even though my goal is to share the beautiful California wilderness with parents, caregivers, and kids, she isn’t going to make it easy. That’s totally fine, because that’s the spirit of this book—not only enjoying getting out and getting dirty but learning to be okay with all kinds of weather, things not working out according to your original plan, and pivoting instead of giving up. I hope to impart this life lesson and spark this adventurous spirit in all kids, creating a generation of resilient, curious minds. As an educator, my mission is to make sure every child gets a chance to fall in love with something that resonates enough to make it his or her life’s work.

Trail signs point the way to adventure

The driving question behind this book is how we can design experiences that inspire wonder in our children. If we can provide a fun environment and the initial sparks of curiosity, we can—as educators, caregivers, aunties and uncles, grandparents, and parents—help children discover and explore the world around them and learn to appreciate natural beauty even from the youngest of ages. This guide is full of tools to help ignite questions on the trail, to teach kids that it’s great to stop and look at things instead of just rushing from point A to point B, and to begin to introduce a broader understanding of just how many unique places we live near in the Golden State and how they all connect. By simply venturing out and interacting with kids along the trail, we are helping them build the skills they need to question things they see around them—everywhere—and to look for answers.

Many of these adventures provide a taste of treks kids may embark on as college students or adults—imagine them summiting Mt. Whitney or backpacking the John Muir Trail in a few years. In the meantime, this guide will provide kids of all ages a curated selection of some of the most varied and interesting destinations in California, while reassuring busy adults about what exactly to expect from any given trail, the features they’ll see when they arrive, and the logistics that can make or break an outdoor excursion with kids. I hope you feel the love steeped in these pages—the love for outdoors, the love for adventure, the love for planning and preparation, and the love for family and community. My family members were my co-adventurers on every hike, tackling bathroom mishaps, downed trees, and often squeezing in up to four hikes a day to test and find just the right ones for this guide—no easy task. The number of “kid-friendly” hikes in California is staggering, but I developed a firm Kid Filter, which mandated awesome features, simple driving and turnkey instructions on the trail so you’re not second-guessing yourselves, honest-to-goodness dirt on the bottom of your shoes (not pavement), and no interpretive signs, giving you a more adventurous and hike-like experience rather than a sterile stroll.

Many of us have seen copious amounts of research about the benefits of getting kids outdoors and interacting with nature in an open-ended way. As you romp with your own crew through the outdoors, keep in mind that while the scavenger hunt items called out on each hike might help you to add excitement or provide teachable moments, finding them all should not be the main goal of your outing. I wrote this guide to help you get outside, spend time with your family, and have fun. Kids lead more structured lives today than ever before in history. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how much they enjoy simply being set loose in wide-open spaces. I hope this guide will help you foster curiosity and a love of nature in the kids in your lives, and that it helps to raise our next generation of naturalists by putting the guidebook in their hands. Experiencing the wonders around us creates lifelong habits of seeking out adventure, appreciating the gifts nature gives us every day, and caring about keeping our natural resources clean, beautiful, and accessible for many future generations. All the scaffolds you’ll need to build even more of your own adventures are here.

Adventurers take it easy at a summit

CHOOSING
YOUR
ADVENTURE

This guide is designed to help children become co-adventurers with you across the diverse Golden State landscape, so build excitement by involving them in the planning process from the beginning. Let them flip through and mark the pages they’d like to tackle in the future. Ask them what features they love to encounter when they’re outside. How hard do they feel like working today for their adventure? How long do they want to hike? Each entry includes info on the closest town as well as the closest adventure hub (what I call the larger Californian metropolises). For maximum success with younger kids, no hike is over 5 miles long or gains more than 900 feet—perfectly attainable for most little legs. This means there can be plenty of time for exploration, rest stops, snacks, and just taking in the sights and sounds around you. Remember—challenging means it’s going to be a little bit of extra work for young adventurers, but it’s not an adult level of challenging.

ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

ADVENTURES IN THE DESERT

ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AND THE SIERRAS

ADVENTURES ON THE CENTRAL COAST

ADVENTURES IN GOLD COUNTRY

ADVENTURES IN THE BAY AREA

ADVENTURES IN THE SHASTA CASCADES

ADVENTURES ON THE NORTH COAST

ADVENTURES BY FEATURE