National Parks Rock!

Had a chance to do an extended 4-day family car camping trip last weekend. It reminded me just how much I love the National Park Service. It's pretty amazing what you get when you adequately fund a recreation program. Pleasant campgrounds, clean restrooms, trails in good shape, ranger nature talks, and informative and fascinating visitor centers.

Our weekend adventure took place at Colonial Creek campground in North Cascades National Park. We arrived mid-week, so it was easy to procure a lakeside walk-in camp site. Weekends are much tougher--there are no reservations at this first-come-first-served campground. This is a great base camp for all sorts of day hiking adventures:  Thornton Lakes, Pyramid Lake, Sourdough Mountain or Thunder Creek (with the trailhead right in the campground) are all superlative hikes.

There was plenty for the kids to do. They splashed in the emerald green waters of Thunder Arm. We hiked up to the summit views at the top of Thunder Knob (a fantastic hike for kids, although not exactly easy, with its 4-mile round trip distance and 650 feet of elevation gain). And every night, we went to see the ranger program.

An amphitheater in the campground provided a venue for rangers to give really cool slide shows and talks in the evening--the three nights we were there, the topics included migratory birds, the ecological importance of forest fires, and the life and habits of cougars.

Not only did the kids get outdoors, but they also learned something and had fun doing it. Not that every minute of a hike or camping trip has to be a "teaching moment." Far from it--it's important for kids to just goof around and use their imaginations and just play while outside.

But this trip reminded me how important a well-funded Park Service is, and how it would be great to see these sorts of programs on the many National Forest lands in our state, too.