During a camping trip this week, my 6 year old learned about the Minnesota State Parks Hiking Club. For some reason, he got REALLY excited about this and now wants to complete all the Hiking Club trails. We finished 3 of them since yesterday, and he has been diligently studying the state parks map to determine where we should go next! Of course, I’m on board, because I love being outside and keeping the kids active. Naturally, we followed his lead and now our family will be going on LOTS of adventures this fall to work on our goal of hiking all the Hike Club trails! Check out the video of my 6 year old below, refusing to explain why he wants to do the Hiking Club. 😉
Kids, right? So anyway, how does the Hiking Club work? Well, the Minnesota State Parks system is pretty great with lots of beautiful parks that have multiple activities and hikes to choose from. Each park has a designated trail that is part of the “Hiking Club”. Somewhere along each Hiking Club trail, there is a password. Once you find the password and complete the hike, you can record it in your Hiking Club book. Completing hikes gets you rewards, such as patches for every 25 miles hiked, and free nights of camping!
You can buy a Hiking Club record book at a state park or online at:
https://reservemn.usedirect.com/MinnesotaWeb/Merchandise/MerchandiseSale.aspx
I will be documenting our journey through the MN State Parks and posting some tips on hiking with kids along the way. Enjoy!