Family Adventures

Book Review: The Family Traveler’s Handbook

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Family Traveler's HandbookBook Review
The Family Traveler’s Handbook
By Mara Gorman
136 pgs., Full Flight Press, $16.99

By Michael Lanza

Let’s face it: Traveling with kids can be difficult. Perhaps even, at times, somewhat less than fun, especially when they’re little. Taking the kind of trips you took pre-children when you have, say, an infant and toddler can feel so daunting that many parents mostly give up on it for several years. I’ve met many who have said to me, “We used to [fill in the blank here: backpack, hike, camp, ski, climb, travel internationally, etc.]—until we had kids.”

But you don’t have to give it up at all. And Mara Gorman has written an inspirational, positive, and fairly slender (read: no heavy studying for the time-challenged) book to help guide parents who enjoy travel but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of doing it with kids.

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Ask Me: Got a Family Backpacking Tent Recommendation?

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Hi Michael,

We discovered your website about a year ago, and have loved getting inspired by your stories!

We have planned a family backpacking trip on the Teton Crest Trail this August, based on your past trip, and need to replace our old tent. Our kids are ages 8 and 10, and we need something that will fit the four of us, as well as being light enough to be reasonable to backpack with. We do trips regularly in the mountains around home (Aspen, CO) and in the Utah desert, in spring through late fall. Occasionally we’re out in snow, and sometimes amidst  serious bugs. Can you recommend anything in particular that you’ve tried and liked?

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Rafting the Grand Ronde River, Oregon.

Stacking the Deck For Adventure: Rafting Oregon’s Wallowa and Grand Ronde Rivers

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By Michael Lanza

The Wallowa River hisses and slithers past us like a fat snake with ill intentions. An urgent line of muscular waves emits a constant, low rumble on this June morning at the launch site in the tiny burg of Minam, Oregon. The outfitter who rented us our rafts informs us that this waterway and the Grand Ronde River, which we will enter nine miles downstream, are running high enough to whisk our two rafts down the course of this 45-mile, normally three-day stretch of whitewater in just 10 hours.

Then he tells us that the first bit of technical whitewater we’ll encounter, Minam Roller Rapids, has flipped several rafts in recent days—and its hole is “guaranteed” to toss us into the frigid, snowmelt-fed water, too, if we fail to make the turn there hugging the right riverbank tightly. That grabs our attention in a hurry.

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Ponytail Falls, Columbia Gorge.

Nature In Your Face: Hiking the Columbia Gorge

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By Michael Lanza

Horsetail Falls slices a thin, glowing white, 176-foot-tall incision down a cliff of black rock wallpapered with moss and ferns, crashing into a shallow, chilly wading pool at its base. To see it, today’s first waterfall, we had to hike all the way across the road from the parking lot.

My son, Nate, and daughter, Alex, give Horsetail the once-over without much comment or enthusiasm. It’s not easy to impress elementary-school-age kids with nature, not even when it roars louder and looms larger than their favorite video games. I understand why: To kids, nature’s no good if it’s no better than a picture on the wall—they want to immerse themselves in it, get dirty and wet and throw stuff. And that water’s too chilly on this overcast, cool, June day to wade into that pool. But I know they’ll be more impressed with the next falls awaiting us. And sure enough, a little while later, when we turn a corner on the trail through dense, dripping rainforest and see Ponytail Falls, they pick up the pace and gush, “That’s cool!”

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A young boy backpacking the wilderness coast of Olympic National Park.

Featured Video: Backpacking the Olympic Coast

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Washington’s Olympic National Park protects the longest wilderness coastline remaining in the continental United States, and the season for hiking it is fast approaching. Watch this short video of a classic, three-day, 17.5-mile backpacking trip along the southern section of the coast, where you’ll see sea stacks rising out of the ocean, seals, sea otters, and tide pools filled with …

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