The top 7 national park hikes for families with young kids

February 9, 2024 • 5 min read

We’re believers that there’s no age requirement for instilling a love of nature in your kids. Hiking is a great place to start, but little legs get tired fast, and no one wants to piggyback for miles. So check out our favorite kid-friendly hikes that are easy enough for little ones, while still packing plenty of adventure.

Points of interest

Hikes under 2 miles are best for children
Allow your kids to stop and explore (even if it takes forever)
Snacks are key to preventing trail head tantrums

A young family takes in the grandeur of a massive waterfall.

1. Anhinga Trail

The Anhinga Trail in Florida’s Everglades National Park is a family-friendly hike, whether you have infants or small children. The trail’s combination of paved pathways and boardwalks make it easy to bring a stroller. The trail is 1 mile round-trip and has zero gain in elevation, which makes it more than manageable for most kids. Along the way, children will enjoy spotting the endangered and exotic animals that live in the park’s sawgrass marshlands, including herons, turtles, armadillos, and manatees.

Best places to stay

Homestead, FL or Florida City, FL is about 25 minutes away by car.

2. Door, Window, and Notch Trails

Take your toddlers where dinosaurs once roamed. Fossil beds, towering rock formations, desert creatures, and easy-to-moderate hikes make Badlands National Park in South Dakota a top kid-friendly choice. Choose from Window Trail (0.3 miles), Door Trail (0.9 miles), or Notch Trail (1.5 miles)—all accessible from the same parking lot. While Window Trail and Door Trail are stroller-friendly with little elevation change, Notch Trail is better suited to older and more agile kids (and adults). It has a 127 foot elevation change, which visitors scale using a wood-and-rope ladder.

Best places to stay

Wall, SD is about 30 minutes away.

3. Fern Creek Loop

Wind through sky-scraping redwoods on this short, stroller-friendly hike at Muir Woods National Monument in California. The 1.3-mile trail has plenty to offer in terms of scenery, including gurgling creeks, colorful wildflowers, and lush ferns. Northern spotted owls, black-tailed deer, and otters are just some of the wildlife living among the park's trees. Parking reservations are required at gomuirwoods.com.

Best places to stay

Vacation rentals in Mill Valley, CA are only 16 minutes away.

An airstream trailer in front of a checkerboard lawn.

Entire guesthouse in Mill Valley, California

4. Double Arch Trail and Window Trail

With several easy hikes and jaw-dropping scenery, Arches National Park in Utah is an excellent choice for a family hike. More than 2,000 naturally-formed arches mark the park’s landscape, including its most-accessible family trails. Double Arch Trail (less than a mile long) and Window Trail (1 mile round trip) can both be accessed from the same parking lot, and have minimal elevation gain (both under 100 feet). If your kids are up for a short scramble, you can crawl beneath the double arches, making for a memorable experience and great photos.

Best places to stay

Moab, UT is only 10 minutes away by car.

5. Clingmans Dome

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which stretches the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, has many family-friendly hiking trails. Its highest lookout point is the Observation Tower at the end of Clingmans Dome Trail, which is well worth the 1.2-mile trek. The 300-foot gain in elevation may be challenging for kids, but paved trails make it easier to navigate with strollers or wagons.

Best places to stay

Knoxville, TN is about 50 minutes away by car.

6. Trail of the Cedars

This short (under a mile) loop in Glacier National Park, Montana has towering trees, a shady canopy, a trickling creek, and epic lookouts on Avalanche Gorge. The trail’s wooden boardwalk and minimal (about 50 feet) elevation gain make it a perfect low-impact hike for families with toddlers or strollers.

Best places to stay

Getting the kids back for bedtime in Columbia Falls, MT will take about 55 minutes.

7. Sunrise Point to Sunset Point

Sunrise Point to Sunset Point, also known as The Rim Trail, in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, boasts some of the best viewpoints of the Bryce Amphitheater. The colorful hoodoos (rare, chimney-like rock formations) that jut from the canyon floor are all the more dazzling at sunrise and sunset. With paved trails and a total elevation gain of less than 90 feet, this 1.2-mile hike is sure to please both kids and parents without proving too challenging—just keep an eye on your kids so they don’t get too close to the edges!