Welcome to GoodHiker.com!

GoodHiker.com is here to help you and the kids in your life to get outdoors and have fun hiking, while also learning about minimizing your impact on the environment — in short, how to have fun, stay safe and tread lightly!

Here in Colorado, we spend a lot of time outdoors. We hike, we ski, we mountainbike. If you grew up doing those activities, you probably have a good idea of what you are are doing — you don’t pick any flowers, you bring lots of extra water, you know you should be “off the summit” by noon, and so on. But if you are new to hiking (and I’m talking adults as well as kids), those guidelines might seem a little, well, crazy. After all, there are thousands of flowers out in that pretty field! What difference does it make if I take a few home? And what’s wrong with taking a late afternoon hike when those dark clouds are rolling in?

I’ll be writing about those topics in this blog. I’ll also be writing about specific trails, where to find online hiking guides, current environmental issues, and other related topics.

If you have any young kids in your life (offspring, siblings, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, students, friends) who you’d like to introduce to hiking in a fun way, I hope you’ll download the Certified Good Hiker Kit. Written just for elementary school kids, this activity teaches kids about the basics of hiking as well as how to have good trail manners. It was thoroughly tested on my nieces, Katie and Susie, and they loved it. They are very proud to now call themselves Certified Good Hikers, and best of all, they know how to be safe on the trail, minimize their impact on the environment and have fun hiking! You can read more about how GoodHiker got started when Katie and Susie first came out to visit me, in About GoodHiker.

Welcome!

Catherine Dold

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All content copyright © 2010, by Catherine Dold, Catherine Dold LLC, Boulder, Colorado. May not be reprinted or reused without permission.