Our4Outdoors
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Trip Reports
    • NATIONAL PARKS >
      • Yellowstone National Park
      • Glacier National Park
      • Zion National Park
      • Arches National Park
      • Bryce Canyon National Park
      • Canyonlands National Park
      • Capitol Reef National Park
      • Yosemite National Park
      • Kings Canyon National Park
      • Sequoia National Park
      • Pinnacles National Park
    • DOMINICAN REPUBLIC >
      • 27 Waterfalls in the Dominican Republic
      • Flattop Mountain - Hiking in Jarabacoa Dominican Republic
      • Fronton - Camping on the playa
      • Canyoning the Rio Camu, D.R.
      • Paradise Island
      • Rio San Juan and Playa Grande, Dominican Republic
      • Pico Duarte
      • Spelunking...caving, that is!
    • IDAHO >
      • Biking the Route of the Hiawatha
      • Free Kid's Fishing Day
    • MONTANA >
      • Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, Whitehall, Montana
    • WASHINGTON >
      • Sucia Island Marine park
      • Big Rock - Tower Mountain
      • Saltese Uplands
      • Antoine Peak
      • Liberty Lake County Park
      • Palouse Falls Hike
      • Orcas Island
    • COLORADO >
      • Gem Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
      • Georgetown Loop Scenic Train Ride
      • Erie Hot Air Balloon Festival and Street Fair
    • UTAH >
      • Utah Slot Canyons
      • Devil's Garden
      • Calf Creek Falls, GSENM
    • RAFTING >
      • Rafting the Lower Salmon
      • The Grande Ronde - A Perfect First Multi-Day Raft Trip
  • How-To Guides
    • 5 Tips for Staying Safe and Warm with Winter Activities
    • 5 Things Every Parent Should Know About Rafting with Kids
  • About Us
  • Contact

Yellowstone Photo Contest

9/20/2016

0 Comments

 

by Harley McAllister

The Yellowstone Park Foundation is holding its second annual photo contest, and the deadline for entering has  been extended an additional month.  This is a fundraiser, so there is a $25 fee to enter up to 20 photos, but it goes to a good cause and there are several categories with prizes up to $5000.  So if you are a shutterbug who loves the National Parks, you might want to check it out on their website here.

And for a little inspiration, here are a few of our favorite Yellowstone photos.
Picture
Grand Prismatic Spring
0 Comments

been out playing...want to see where?

7/15/2016

2 Comments

 
By Abby McAllister
So...we don't blog much in the summer...that's because we're too busy being outside!  Duh!  I am in between trips at the moment and am struggling to get photos downloaded, sorted, edited and posted.  I recently shared on FB our gallery of photos from Pinnacles NP and today got photos from Sequoia NP up.  You can find the inspiration galleries for each park under our "trip reports" tab above and then under the "National Parks" tab or by clicking the green linked text above.  We loved our time in California and will be posting more photos from the other parks as soon as we quit playing outdoors and find the time to get in front of the computer again!
Family in Sequoia national park
checking out lady bugs
Family together in Pinnacles NP Picture
Nothing beats family time at Pinnacles NP
2 Comments

Countdown!  Utah book release coming in March!

2/12/2016

2 Comments

 
We are excited to begin a countdown to our official Utah guide book release.  Although it is already available on Amazon and doing well, we have been planning to have a special release event in March.  In order to count us down to March 11th we will be posting our favorite Utah national park moments each Friday.  We will feature a favorite moment from one parent (Harley or I) and one moment shared by one of our kids.  Today we kick off the countdown with our Zion National Park most memorable moments!

Surprised by Unexpected Beauty

By Abby McAllister
Picture
Picture
​Although Zion National Park offers stunningly deep canyons, famous peaks and terrific hiking, canyoning and climbing, my favorite moment came one evening after dark.  It is probably my favorite because it was totally unexpected.  I like to be surprised.  I like a moment when my breath is taken away by unexpexted beauty.  When that happens, it feels like a special gift.  When it occurs in nature it feels like I am blessed beyond measure to be in the right place at the right time to take in a sight that will never be repeated in exactly the same way.  In Zion I had one of those once-in-a-lifetime gift experiences when we came out of the lodge after the evening ranger led program.  It was late, the baby had fallen asleep on my lap and I was just expecting to head to the car, get all the kids buckled in and head back to the campground.  As we exited the lodge and walked across the big lawn towards our car we happened to look up.  Directly across from the lodge the full moon’s glowing light was reflecting off the sheer cliff walls that make up the peaks of The Court of the Patriarchs.  They seemed to be the face of the moon dropped in our laps.  They rose dramatically into the black night sky that is only found so far from cities.  We all stood mesmerized on the lawn that dark fall night and just drank it in.  Somehow the dark of the night and the light of the moon had transformed the peaks that seemed so rooted, so grounded each day, into something ethereal.  I don’t know how long we stood there but I remember I never wanted to leave.  We tried to capture the majesty with our camera but all attempts failed.  Sometimes you just have to be there.  I guess that is why we go to national parks, why we take our kids.  Photos in books and online, videos and movies-none of those can compare to being there.  

Feeling Like An Action Movie Star!

By Kaden McAllister, age 14
The most memorable part of Zion NP for me has to have been the hike to Hidden Canyon. This particular hike took us along a really steep cliff wall. The trail was carved out of the rock or sometimes followed a narrow ledge.  In some places chains had been drilled into the rock wall for you to hold on to, so you wouldn’t fall down the few-hundred-foot drop. I remember looking down and being glad of the chains! It made me feel like I was in a movie or something, hiking along that precipice. At the top of the mountain, the end of the path, there was a ravine with boulders that you could scramble over and around. We spent hours jumping over and crawling under the boulders. I also loved the view from the top. You could see all the way back to the trailhead, and see all of the people, as small as pinheads along the trail. It really let you see how far you had come. Going down was fun too because I didn’t have to work as hard as I had coming up.
kids holding chain as they walk the fine line
Trail skirting the side of the cliff
Surprise arch at the end of the hidden canyon
kids along the high trail
the views are only one of the rewards
beauty not seen by the masses far below
2 Comments

It's that time of year again...Camping Reservation time!

2/2/2016

1 Comment

 
By Abby McAllister
Boats on the shoreline at sunset in Glacier National Park
The clouds lift at sunset to give us vies of the higher peaks!
image from Glacier National Park near Grinnell Glacier
A cool and cloudy day near Grinnell Glacier
Kids atop high peak in Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park
Kids enjoying the thrill of the ascent in Glacier NP Two Medicine district
 As you may have seen on our facebook page, we have just finished reserving our campsites for an epic trip to see many of California's amazing National Parks (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Pinnacles and Lassen).  Although it may seem hard to believe, now is the time to start planning that family trip to your national park of choice.  Many of the sites are available 6 months in advance from www.recreation.gov and they are filling up fast.  Already we had difficulty reserving 6 nights in Yosemite in a row!  Other big parks like Yellowstone and Zion fill up equally early.

Last year we spent a bunch of time exploring Glacier National Park since it is in our backyard.  We checked out many of the regions scattered around the park but were also unable to see some due to fires and bear activity.  We are looking forward to spending time exploring them this coming summer.  Although most of the campgrounds at Glacier are first come, first served (and tend to fill by 8 am in the summer), some are by reservation.  Previously you could reserve sites on recreation.gov in the St. Mary's and the Apgar campgrounds.  Starting on Wednesday the 3rd, the national park service will be releasing sites on recreation.gov for 41 of the 103 sites in the Many Glacier campground.

We hope that you find inspiration here at our4outdoors or elsewhere to start planning your 2016 family adventure to one of your national parks!  Don't forget, now is the time to start planning so go get those campsites reserved!  If you are planning a trip to Yellowstone, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon or the north rim of the Grand Canyon then you might also like to check out our guidebooks on those parks.  You can learn more at www.nationalparkswithkids.com.


1 Comment

Glacier National Park Family Vacation

10/4/2015

0 Comments

 

by Harley McAllister

We made a number of trips to Glacier this summer, and we tried to fit in as many hikes as we could.  Unfortunately it was also a very busy fire season this year, and we had to change plans due to some of the fire activity - and some bear activity!  We had some of our camping reservations cancelled due to a bear in the area.  Anyway, we persevered and had some really great times on the trails, with more to come next summer.  But below are some photo highlights from this past summer.
Picture
Amazing scenery abounds at Glacier National Park.
0 Comments

A New Era in a Familiar Land

9/29/2014

1 Comment

 
by Harley McAllister
As we write this, we have recently completed a couple of major changes in our lives.  We moved back to the US about a month ago, and our family has grown by one with the completion of our adoption of Isaac - a 2 year old Dominican boy who will need heart surgery soon.

As we think about this transition, together with this adoption, we see things with some new perspective.  Not only have we given this little boy a name and family, but as Americans we have also given him a rich heritage of all the rights and privileges that come with being a citizen of this country.  In particular we are thinking of the privilege we enjoy of our public lands.  The US was the first country to come up with the concept of National Parks, National Forests, National Monuments, and the like.  And as citizens, we are all owners of these lands - we all have an equal right to access and enjoy these lands.

We have a new appreciation for this heritage, this birthright, this inheritance.  And we owe a great deal to the leaders and conservationists who pioneered these ideas and got the laws passed to make this happen.  Men like Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Thoreau, and countless others.  It is now in our hands to ensure that these public lands continue to be protected and maintained so that they can continue to delight our children and future generations.

Accordingly, we are now embarking on a journey with the start of this website.  It begins with sharing this rich heritage with our children, and continues with our efforts to encourage and enable other families to share this great gift, this great treasure, this great heritage with their children.  In a couple of days we plan to put up some photos of our first trip upon return to the U.S. - Yellowstone National Park. So come along with us and enjoy!


1 Comment

    Authors

    Harley & Abby McAllister
    We are an adventurous husband and wife duo who drag our 4 feral kids outside with us as often as we can stand it!  Maybe, just maybe, our adventures will help inspire you! 

    Categories

    All
    Biking
    California
    Camping
    Coeur D'Alene
    Dominican Republic
    Eagles
    Fishing
    Geocaching
    Glacier NP
    Hiking
    Idaho
    Montana
    Musings
    National Parks
    Pinnacles National Park
    Rafting
    San Juan Islands
    Sequoia National Park
    Skiing
    Snowshoeing
    Utah
    Washington
    Winter Fun
    Yellowstone
    Zion National Park

    Archives

    December 2019
    October 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    May 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

    Blogs That Inspire Us!

    • The Big Outside
    • Spokesman Review Outdoor Blog
    • Blue Ridge Hiking
    • Montana Vacation Blog
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.