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5 Tricks For Getting Tired Kids Through a Hike
By Michael Lanza After hiking 1,000 vertical feet uphill on the dusty Upper Yosemite Falls Trail in Yosemite Valley, baking under a thermonuclear Sierra sun, we sat on rocks for a snack and a...
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Ask Me: How Old Were Your Kids When You Started Taking Big Trips?
Hi Michael, We have a newly turned six-year old, a three-and-a-half-year-old, and I’m expecting! How old were your kids when you started doing “big” trips with them? By big I mean hiking and camping...
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New at The Big Outside: Ask Me Menu Page
By Michael Lanza Ever since I launched this blog almost five years ago, readers have emailed me with their questions about trips they’re planning, gear, taking kids on outdoor adventures, or some kind...
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Photo Gallery: My Father-Son and Father-Daughter Adventures
By Michael Lanza The annual tradition began when my son, Nate, was five years old, and we hiked about a mile up a trail in the Boise Foothills, starting at a trailhead a 10-minute drive from our house,...
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5 Classic (Age-Appropriate) National Park Adventures for Families
By Michael Lanza What national park adventure should we take with our kids? That’s a question I get frequently from parents. It’s a tough one to answer, given all the great choices. But my advice...
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Photo Gallery: Idaho’s Craters of the Moon
By Michael Lanza Few places bear a name as simultaneously hyperbolic and yet as descriptively true as Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in south-central Idaho. Over the past 15,000...
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Are You Ready for That New Outdoors Adventure? 5 Questions to Ask Yourself
By Michael Lanza We heard the young girl crying from a distance, even through the howling wind and mid-July snowstorm on Besseggen Ridge, in Norway’s mountainous Jotunheimen National Park. As we caught...
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One Photo, One Story: A Huge Dayhike in the Presidential Range
By Michael Lanza As soft evening light filtered through thin, high clouds, we hiked toward the 6,288-foot summit of Mount Washington, highest in the Northeast. It was the final uphill hump of a 17-mile...
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10 Tips For Keeping Kids Happy and Safe Outdoors
By Michael Lanza Some people might say my wife and I are bad parents. We’ve repeatedly and deliberately placed our kids—at young ages—in risky situations. And I’m not talking about letting them ride...
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Looking For A Great National Park Trip? Look Here
By Michael Lanza When I think about U.S. national parks, I remember hiking with my family to Yosemite Valley’s waterfalls. Seeing Yellowstone’s geysers both in summer (a great park trip with young...
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Photo Gallery: Raising Outdoors-Loving Kids
By Michael Lanza As my 14-year-old son, Nate, and I paddled our kayaks toward one of the class III rapids on the Payette River in southwest Idaho, I suggested he run it ahead of me: My son’s knowledge...
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Photo Gallery: My Top 10 Family Adventures
By Michael Lanza Looking for an unforgettable adventure to take your family on? How about hiking a volcano, exploring slot canyons, or paddling mangrove tunnels? How about backpacking a wild coastline...
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10 Tips For Getting a Hard-to-Get National Park Backcountry Permit
By Michael Lanza The first time I backpacked in Yosemite National Park, more than 20 years ago, I applied months in advance for a permit to start at the park’s most popular trailhead, Happy Isles in...
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3-Minute Read: Raising Outdoors-Loving Kids
By Michael Lanza Several years ago, on a four-day, family backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon when our kids were nine and barely seven, our son, the oldest, told me that he wanted to carry his own...
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Photo Gallery: My Favorite Hike in Bryce Canyon
By Michael Lanza Bryce Canyon’s Navajo Loop/Queens Garden Loop is a popular trail for good reason, with constant views of hoodoos—the multi-colored, limestone, sandstone, and mudstone spires that look...
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Photo Gallery: Hiking and Backpacking Utah’s Wild Escalante
By Michael Lanza Explore slot canyons so narrow you have to take off your daypack and turn sideways to squeeze through. Dayhike to a waterfall that pours 126 feet over a multi-colored cliff into a...
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10 Really Cool Outdoor Adventures With Kids
By Michael Lanza Want to guarantee that your kids are always excited about getting outdoors as a family? Find adventures that excite them. We adults tend to look for nice scenery, but that, by itself,...
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5 Great Adventures to Take in 2017
By Michael Lanza Where will you take a big outdoor adventure in 2017? This is the time of year when I like to start planning for next year, because if you lead a busy life, big trips don’t happen...
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My 10 Most-Read Stories at The Big Outside
By Michael Lanza Which story of mine first led you to this blog? Which stories here interest you the most? (I’d really appreciate reading your answers to those questions in the comments section below...
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Why and When to Spend More on Outdoor Gear
By Michael Lanza You need a new backpack, backpacking tent, rain jacket, boots, or a sleeping bag. You’ve read some reviews. You’ve winnowed your short list to a handful of possible choices—with a...
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