5 Best National Parks for Young Kids

All of the US National Parks are great destinations for families, but some of them rise above the rest when considering which ones to visit with young kids. Ash Nudd, a former park ranger and mom to young kids, joins Lisa to share her five favorite National Parks to visit with her kids. She takes driving time, dangerous spots (high cliffs!), gateway cities, and more into consideration for her list of favorites. Join us to learn about Ash’s favorite national parks for young kids and all of the great things to explore in those parks.

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“Plan enough time for your kids to do some exploring.”

— Ash Nudd

WIth so many fabulous US National Parks, it can be a challenge to narrow down where you want to spend your vacation time. If you have young kids, there are some things you may want to consider when chooise where to vacation. Ash Nudd, a former park ranger, mom to young kids, and founder of Dirt in My Shoes, shares her insights on national parks that are great to visit with young kids.

Great National Parks for Kids Criteria

Popular activities are exciting
Low amount of driving time within the park
Lack of dangerous places like high cliffs or geysers
The park allows a lot of touching and exploring
Great gateway cities

Arches National Park

Gateway city is Moab, Utah.
Lots of short hikes that are great for young kids.
Delicate Arch is a 3-mile round trip hike. This is to the iconic arch that you see in many photos of Arches. Probably great for ages 5+ but you will need to gauge the abilities of your kids.
Plan to spend 2 days in this park.
Double Arch hike and Windows are each just 1/2 miles hikes.
Moab is only 40 minutes from Canyonlands National Park so you could visit both parks on the same trip.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Gateway city is Alamosa, Colorado.
It’s a great big sandbox!
You can rent sandboards from the lodge in the park. Use the sandboards to sled down the sandhills. You could also bring your own sleds.
It’s only a 10-minute drive from the entrance of the park to the sand.
When the water is flowing in Medano creek in May and June, that is a great time to visit because the water adds a fun element to the experience. This is a busy time so you need to weigh that in your decision of when to visit.
You can take your 4 wheel drive vehicle and do some exploring. Check the NPS site for road conditions.
Pathfinders4X4 offers both jeep rental and tours in the park.

Olympic National Park

Port Angelos and Forks are the two gateway cities. Forks is more central to all four park regions and it will take about an hour each way to get to them. Port Angelos is closer to some areas but around 2.5 hours from other areas. You could spend two nights in each city if you don’t mind packing things up and changing where you are going to stay.
This is on the NW tip of Washington state along the ocean.
There are four different regions in the park: mountains, beach, rainforest, and lakes.
Plan to spend at least 4 days here. One day per region!
Tide pooling at Kalaloch beach is a favorite activity.
Walkthrough the Hall of Mosses. It’s less than one mile and stunningly beautiful.
Plan to spend time at Lake Cresent. It’s a beautiful mountain lake with a dock. You can kayak and swim. It’s near Lake Cresent Lodge.

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

On the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.
Cade’s Cove is a great loop drive.
Go on the Grotto Falls hike.
There are a lot of short and scenic hikes that are great for young kids.
Check out the historic homesteads.
The gateway cities are Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. These two cities offer a lot of entertainment options for families.

Grand Teton National Park

Hidden Falls HIke. You get to take a shuttle boat across the lake to get to the hike. Kids love this! The hike is only 1/2 mile each way.
Visit String Lake to hike, play and swim. You can paddleboard and go out in canoes.
Rent a bike and ride from Jackson, WY to Jenny Lake. Bike, canoe, kayak, and paddleboard rentals from Dornans.
Biking tips while in Grand Teton.
Year-round fun. You can snowshoe or cross country ski here in the winter.

Connect with Ash Nudd

A huge thank you goes out to Ash for joining me on this episode of the podcast. Her practical, useful, and fun knowledge will make planning a trip to one of these national parks so great.