Outdoor Inspiration for February

​​Our monthly post to highlight the best writing and most useful tips written by Outdoor Parents over the past month - slightly delayed by a 7 day power outage and 3' of snow!

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!

A street in Arnold, CA (Central Sierra Miwok land) after one of the biggest snowstorms in recent history.

Backpacking:

• ​After our 112-mile hike in the Sierra Nevada, I won’t underestimate my kids again | The Guardian I appreciate the author’s honesty about the challenges they encountered with their kids and also her appreciation of how special it is to go backpacking with our kids. 

Camping:

• Winter Car Camping With Kids | Run Wild My Child Don’t be afraid to go camping in the winter! Kids are tougher than you think.

Cycling:

• Child Bike Carriers: 7 Ways To Haul Kids By Bike | Rascal Rides An excellent comparison of the different options for transporting kids that I wish I had read when I was pregnant with my first child.

Diversity & Inclusion:

• The Outdoor FUTURE Initiative Wants to Make Outdoor Adventure Available to All | Backpacker As outdoor parents, I believe it is our responsibility to work towards diversity and inclusion in the sports we love to build a better future for all children. This looks like a great effort to support towards that goal.
• DC Students Leave the City to Explore a National Park | Outside Online A great example of the work the National Park Trust is doing to get kids outside. My daughter went on one of their field trips and loved it.
• Video: 12-Year-Old Legally Blind Skier Takes on the Big Couloir | Outside Online My kids were so inspired to watch this.
• An Oral History of the National Brotherhood of Skiers | Outside Online An important read on the history of Black skiers in America.

General: A bunch of tips and tricks to get outside more often, especially in the winter.

• Get Outside Every Day | Tales of a Mountain Mama
• A Simple Plan to Get Your Family Outside More Often | Outside Online 
• Organizing Your Mudroom for Winter (and other storage tips) | Tales of a Mountain Mama

Skiing: 

• Skiing and snowboarding, is it worth it? | Snow Kidz If you’re recovering from a tough day trying to ski with a small child, this is motivation to keep going.
• Best Tips to Use your Car as a Base Lodge for Skiing | Tales of a Mountain Mama More tips for how to manage what we’re all having to do while skiing this winter.

Travel:

• Your 2021 National Park Calendar | Outside Online A good guide for which park to visit each month.
• 31 Road Trip Essentials You Don't Want To Leave Home Without | Crazy Family Adventure A useful list, perhaps for a summer National Park tour.
• The Best Cities in the World (Our 20 Favorite Cities Ranked) | Travel Babbo Travel inspiration for when we can get back out there again safely from a family that has traveled more than 800,000 miles together.