Hiking special parks introduces your family to the beauty of this country!When choosing family hiking trails, don’t forget to look at hiking special parks. State parks and monuments are a great place to begin. Most of these places were designated as unique for a reason – take your family to discover that reason! 
When I used to take my students around to parts of Colorado, I was astounded at how few of them had seen their home state. It’s easy for parents to make sure their children have knowledge of their own turf. Start by checking out your state’s parks and recreation pages. On our Colorado family page, you’ll find a link to the Colorado Park and Recreation website. Most states have something similar – and you can research state parks, the cost of a parks’ pass, and places to hike and camp, as well as how to reach the various parks. Also on those pages, you might find Places of Interest, such as Summit Lake (which is near Mt. Evans, one of the over-fourteen thousand foot peaks in Colorado) – that’s where we are in the picture. Hiking special parks can also mean exploring national or state forests – or mountains. In Colorado, we also have open space parks – these are usually under the heading of the counties. Open space parks are great for hiking – especially for younger kids. The paths tend to be less challenging, and they’re often closer to the cities. 
The open space park in the picture is called Dinosaur Ridge, and it took us all of five minutes to drive there from our house. We have three other open space parks within fifteen minutes from our house. Of course, we live on the western edge of Denver, so that helps – but if these great hiking special parks exist, you’ll probably find them on your state’s or county’s websites.State parks are great – but so are national parks. 
When we take car trips (which we do every couple of years), we’ll stop at any national parks along our route. If you’re looking for hiking in special parks, try
here
for some ideas. We’re fortunate to have Rocky Mountain National Park within a couple hours’ driving distance to the north and the Great Sand Dunes National Park a few hours to the south. We’ve also taken the kids to Arches National Park (which has some wonderful hikes with fantastic sights), Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Cedar Breaks National Park. When I was little, my parents took us to the Black Hills (and Mt. Rushmore) and the Badlands National Park.
We also visited the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona – explore our country through hiking special parks, and enjoy the great family adventures which come your way as you recreate outdoors.Monuments don’t always have tons of hiking trails, but there are still amazing things to be seen. My parents took my brother and me to Colorado National Monument when we were children – we also visited Hovenweep, which lies on the Colorado-Utah border. Our country is amazingly diverse and beautiful, and sharing those experiences with children simply increases everyone’s joy – along with building family memories which last forever. The best part, as far as I’m concerned, is knowing that through national and state parks, my children are seeing the same thing I saw when I was little – so if you can, utilize hiking in special parks as a part of your family recreation and bonding activities.
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