Rhode Island Feeds

Maple sugaring has started here in the north country. It’s an odd process, if you think about it. For a handful of weeks that usually starts in late February and ends before taxes are due, people collect water from trees and cook it. Drive any road, and you’re likely to see farmers walking their sap lines, trucks carrying tanks full of sap to be boiled down for syrup, and steam billowing from sugar shacks around the clock.

It all begins when the sap starts to run — that is, when the nutrient-rich liquid travels up from the roots of the maple sugar tree, following pathways behind the bark of the tree. This happens when the temperature rises above freezing. The best sugaring conditions, though, require a set of opposites: warm, sunny days, to make the sap run well; and nights below freezing, to keep it sweet.

A couple of years ago, we decided to join the fun. Our “sugarbush” is pretty small for a sugaring operation — just six trees along our road. We bought old-fashioned metal buckets with the peaked-roof lids and a dozen taps. Last weekend, Ursula and Virgil walked the trees with Jim. They stopped before each tree and took turns cranking a hand drill with a 5/16-inch drill bit through the warm bark. In went a metal tap, and within seconds, sap dripped out the end of the spout.

We don’t keep track of how much sap we collect. It might be as much as 40 gallons. If we boiled that amount down for syrup, we’d get about one gallon of syrup. But we don’t bother with a boiling operation. We’re happy to support our local maple syrup producers. What’s priceless is sap, which you can’t buy in any store.

So we drink sap water. We lift out frozen disks of skim ice when we check the buckets in the morning and drink the extra-sweet water straight from the buckets. We boil it for sweet tea. We send it in with the kids’ lunches. (A neighbor of ours boils hot dogs in sap and considers it one of life’s delicacies, but she’s from Ohio.) Sap keeps for only a day or two before it turns.

Maple-sugaring time is equally brief, a moment of balance between the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Sap, the clear ambrosia that arrives when everything else turns muddy, is a sweet distillation of a short, sweet season.

Learn more
"How Sweet It Is: Making Your Own Maple Syrup" (AMC Outdoors, January/February 2007)

Photo: Eva tasting the promise of spring. Photo by Tiffany Calcutt.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Two years ago this month, Lori Sklar leafed through a magazine from her insurance company. She saw an article about AMC's trail crew programs for teenagers — and immediately thought of her son. Noah Kantro was a sophomore in their Long Island community’s high school, an enthusiastic Boy Scout drawn to camping and hiking. Would he like to sign up for a trail crew in the Berkshires? Would he ever!

This summer, teenagers with a similar desire to get their hands dirty can choose from 25 AMC trail crew opportunities. Projects range from clearing brush, blowdowns and drainage ditches to constructing rock cairns, building bridges, and cutting new trails. The programs run from one week to four weeks in the Berkshires or the White Mountains. Some crews work out of base camps; others set up in the backcountry. Trail crews are open to boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 19, though age ranges vary slightly, depending on the specific crew. Longer programs, such as the Berkshire Trails Leadership Crew, include training in wilderness first aid, Leave No Trace camping, and outdoor leadership.

"I had no idea what to expect," Kantro says of his first year on trail crew. Most first-year participants come to the program with similarly little trail-work experience, according to Regional Trails Coordinator Matt Moore, and may not have much backpacking experience, either. What participants tend to share is openness to new experience and willingness to work as a team. Groups are typically split about 60/40 between teenage boys and girls, although young women usually fill more than half the crew-leader roles. "Brute strength is not a requirement," Moore says. "Trail work is about using tools intelligently."

Trail crews use their tools on eight-hour days that frequently involve hiking several miles and carrying loads between 40-60 pounds. Some of the crews tent near their work areas, and all promise plenty of hard work, bugs, and blisters, rain or shine.

Kantro returned for a second tour in 2009, helping build a stone staircase on a steep, "nasty" section of the Haley Farm Trail on Mount Greylock, and a "crush pit" across a muddy stretch. Now a senior in high school and planning to study engineering, he wrote his college application essay about "an experience in which immense natural beauty and grueling physical work combined into one of my fondest memories."

Regional Coordinator Moore can tell by the crunch of tires in the gravel driveway of the Berkshire trail crew office when the nine-passenger van pulls in at the end of a program. And he can tell something else without looking. A group of teenagers goes into the woods at the start of each program, he says. But every time a van returns, it’s a trail crew that steps out.

Learn more
Trail crews fill up quickly. Register online.

Read blog posts from the 2009 trail crew season.

Images: AMC teen trail crews enjoying their work on the Appalachian Trail in western Massachusetts. Photos by Phil Kolling.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

As I mentioned in my previous post, winter is the best season to watch or simply listen to owls. In some parts of the Northeast, prime owl-watching season has already passed, but you can still find full-moon walks, winter nature walks, and daytime owl programs at nature centers, parks, and AMC’s lodges through March. February 28 and March 30 are full moons, so look for full-moon walks around these dates.

Connecticut
A nice summary of the owls’ “night shift” from Connecticut Audubon.

Full Snow Moon Walk at Haley Farm. Groton, Conn. Sunday, February 28. The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, Conn., which runs this walk, held its Owl Prowl on February 18, but it’s quite possible that owls will make an appearance at this program.

Full Crow Moon Walk at the Walden Preserve. Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, Mystic, Conn. Monday, March 29.

Full Moon Walks. Connecticut Audubon Society at Trail Wood, Hampton, Conn. Saturday, February 27, and Sunday, March 28.

Raptor Aviary and Visitor Center. Sharon Audubon Center, Sharon, Conn. Although the Sharon Audubon Center has no owl walk scheduled, the center cares for owls and other raptors in its raptor aviary, and its visitors’ center has live-animal displays and other nature discovery exhibits for children and families.

Maine
Maine Audubon has a Maine Owl Monitoring Program that begins on March 5.

Massachusetts
Moon Rise Owl Prowl. Holly Hill Farm, Cohasset, Mass. Saturday, February 27.

Full Moon Owl Prowls. Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, Natick, Mass. Friday, February 26 and March 27.

New Hampshire
Life in the Cold: Exploring in Winter. Pinkham Notch, NH. Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6. AMC senior naturalist Nicky Pizzo runs a full-day program at Pinkham Notch.

New Jersey
Winter Evenings at the Meadows. Cape May Bird Observatory. The Nature Conservancy’s Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, NJ. Friday, February 26. This “winter evening” will be looking for such signs of spring as woodcock mating displays and snipes on the move.

Animal Tracking: The Basics. New Jersey Audubon Plainsboro Preserve, Plainsboro. NJ. Saturday, February 27.

New York
Whooo said that? Orchard Beach Nature Center, Pelham Bay Park, NY. Sunday, March 14.

Pennsylvania
Owl Prowl. Peace Valley Nature Center, Doylestown, Pa. Saturday, March 6.

Owl Prowl. Bucks County Audubon Society at Honey Hollow, Solebury, Pa. Friday, February 26.

The History of Barn Owls. Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, Pa. Saturday, March 13.

Vermont
Full Moon Family Foray. VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science), Quechee, Vermont. Saturday, February 27 and Saturday, March 27.

This is by no means a complete list of all the ways that kids and families can learn about owls, or take full-moon walks, so I hope you'll add any I've missed.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Jim saw his first owl of the season the other morning. He was turning to leave the kitchen, but a flash of movement outside the window caught his eye. Our kitchen windows look out over the backyard, from the garden and the compost bins to the apple trees and the sledding hill. He stopped and looked, just in time to see a barred owl gliding along the forested edge of the yard. Jim kept watching as the great bird flapped its large wings once, and again, then banked into the woods and disappeared from view.

Jim was struck by how big the bird was, as he is every time he glimpses one of the owls that inhabit the deep forests around here. He could make out the brown and white bars on the barred owl’s wings that give it its name, although they’re easier to recognize as wide stripes when the bird is sitting still. He’s taught Ursula and Virgil how to mimic its faintly nasal, croaking call, “who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all,” along with the call of the more voluble great horned owl, with its slightly syncopated “whoo-who who-whoooo” rhythm.

Owls are early nesters. In fact, the great horned owl has been known to lay eggs even in late January. Around here, we can tell that it’s mating season when we hear the owls calling at night. On nights like that, often when it's calm and moonlit, we go out and listen. We’ve done this with Ursula since before she could walk, ever since we read the book Owl Moon, a Caldecott Medal winner written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by John Schoenherr. In that book, a father takes his young daughter on a walk into the forest on a full-moon night, where he gives the call of a great horned owl, and where, as the daughter tells the reader, “sometimes there’s an owl and sometimes there isn’t.”

There’s a full moon this weekend. If the storms that have swung our way this week depart in time, we’ll walk out into the woods, quietly, and call to the owls. If we’re lucky, they’ll call back.

In my next post, I’ll list places that host “owl walks” around New England.

Learn more
Read about Owl Moon on Jane Yoder's website.
Listen to the call of the great horned owl.
Listen to the call of the barred owl.
Watch a video of Owl Moon.



“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

For the past several weeks, AMC volunteers and staff have shared some of their favorite winter walks, hikes, and other outings for families throughout the Northeast. We started in the White Mountains, inscribed a suburban semi-circle around Boston, and traversed Connecticut from eastern shore to western slope. For the last post in this series, we explore the Delaware Valley and its winter offerings for families.

Two AMC Delaware Valley Chapter members are our guides. John Urick, Delaware chapter trip leader, took his son on many hiking trips and now goes hiking with his granddaughters, ages 13 and 9. Not surprisingly, Urick takes the long view on hiking with children. If you want kids to grow up as hikers, he believes, you want them to enjoy their hikes as children. And that is especially important for winter hikes — where one cold, miserable day can ruin a kid for a whole season or more.

Delaware Valley Chapter member Linda Dallas has moved to two different towns in eastern Pennsylvania in recent years with her young family. Both times, she’s found herself in an unlikely role for a newcomer, that of an outdoors ambassador, encouraging other families to come hiking with her and her children.

Both Dallas and Urick place a great deal of importance on proper clothing for winter hiking with children. “The key to winter hiking is adjusting layers,” Urick says. “It’s harder with young kids, because they don’t really know how to keep from over-heating or getting cold.” Dallas, who has introduced many of her children’s friends to the pleasures of winter hiking, keeps a collection of kid-sized outdoor gear and hand-warmer packs on hand, and makes sure to bring hot chocolate along on outings.

Here are some of their favorite winter outings with children, all of them in east-central Pennsylvania.

Hawk Mountain, Kempton. Urick recommends Hawk Mountain as a hike in any season. The raptor sanctuary and nature center maintains 8 miles of trails and a visitor center that often offers programs geared to young naturalists. “The trails are well-maintained and not too tough on children,” Urick says, and the mountain’s spectacular 360-degree views of the Delaware Valley make it a prime spot to watch spring and fall raptor migrations.

Tekening Trail, Martin’s Creek. “My husband loves to hike on this trail in the winter,” Dallas says, “because we don’t have to worry about ticks on us or our dogs.” It’s also easy to create point-to-point trails that suit the weather and the family’s schedule, whether they plan to hike one mile or one of the longer loops. The trail follows the Delaware River along one side, and the family often sees ducks bobbing on the water, even in the winter.

Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton. The park, which is especially known for its many waterfalls, closes some of its 26 miles of trails during the winter months. But Dallas has learned that many of the falls are only a short distance in from the road (as little as 50 feet) and make for easy winter walks. The icicle-laden falls never fail to delight. The Bear Walk and Old Beaver Dam Road trails, both about 1 mile roundtrip, also offer fairly level trails for hiking or cross-country skiing.

Promised Land State Park, Canadensis. The higher elevation on the Pocono Plateau means that the Promised Land is often snow-covered. The park contains a number of glacial ponds, which are shallow and freeze solid in a good winter. The Dallas family sometimes hikes in to one of the ponds carrying ice skates. “If you hit it right, it’s like skating on glass, and all around you is forest,” Dallas says. “It’s magical.” The last time Dallas took her children to the park, she pointed out the cross-country skiers and promised, in keeping with its name, “That’s where we’re going to go next year.”

This post ends our “winter walk” series, but we hope you’ll tell us how your family spends time outside during the winter, regardless of where your outings take place.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 “Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains
- 5 “Best Winter Walks” in Boston’s western suburbs
- 4 "Best Winter Walks" in Connecticut

Image: Iced waterfall at Ricketts Glen State Park.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

We’ve been hearing from AMC volunteers and staff about their favorite winter walks, hikes, and other outings for families throughout the Northeast. We started in the White Mountains, then inscribed a suburban semi-circle around Boston. Continuing south, we explore winter outings in Connecticut, where Debra Rich organizes family trips for AMC’s Connecticut Chapter.

Jump Hill Preserve, Easton. Rich and her family like to walk the forested trails of this 117-acre preserve (2.6 miles). The preserve is dotted with reminders of Ice Age glaciers — and those boulders make for great exploring in all seasons. Another Connecticut Chapter family trip leader, Eric Stones, is leading a walk around Jump Hill on Sunday, February 21.

Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden. Rich and her 8-year-old son, Zachary, visit this park several times a month, year-round. “It’s one of our favorite places to go,” Rich says, and the castle at the top of the Tower Trail is a “great motivator” for kids. The trail can be icy in winter, so Rich bought traction devices for Zachary to put on his boots. Watching her son explore familiar ground again and again, Rich has learned that kids don’t necessarily need new places all the time. In fact, some of the pleasure for both of them comes in noticing what’s changed.

Brooksvale Park, Hamden. This park occupies a corner of Naugatuck State Park. Rich is leading a “Sugar Maple Hike” for the Connecticut Chapter on Saturday, February 27. She's planned a 45-minute hike that starts and ends near an operating sugar shack — and there’s a barnyard zoo, too!

Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, Mystic. The nature center offers a number of winter programs for families and children, including nature discovery for young children and wildlife programs for older children.

For the final post in this series, we will explore winter walks with children in the Delaware Valley. We’d love to hear how your family spends time outside during the winter, regardless of where your outings take place.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 “Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains
- 5 “Best Winter Walks” in Boston’s western suburbs
- 6 "Best Winter Walks" in Boston's southern metro area


“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of Audubon and The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, starts this year on Friday, February 12, and runs through Monday, February 15. I know this because Ursula and Virgil have both brought home information this week about how to participate.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that enlists anyone and everyone around North American to count birds. The effort creates a real-time snapshot of where birds are across the continent. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day — or people can count for as long as they like each day of the event. As the project’s website says, “It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.”

In 2009, volunteers submitted more than 94,000 checklists, observed more than 620 species, and counted 11,558,638 birds. Looking at the Great Backyard Bird Count website, I learned that bird watchers in New Hampshire spotted 99 species, and that American Goldfinches were reported most often, at 3,643 birds seen — just barely edging out Pine Siskins, at 3,631.

Our kids are happy to have an excuse to use their binoculars. Ursula was surprised to learn that birds stay here throughout the northern New England winter. She’s already started scanning the skies and the bushes for them, and yesterday when we came home from school, she stood outside, just listening. Virgil has asked to be our data guy, inputting our bird list on the computer — and although I know it’s so he can sit in front of that mesmerizing screen, I’m happy to say yes, because he’ll be adding to our knowledge of wildlife and even aiding the cause of science.

Click on the links below if you want to join in.

Learn more
- Sign up to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count and learn more about it.
- Especially for kids: how to keep a bird list, pictures of common birds, and Did You Know questions to answer.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

We continue our series of posts on favorite winter outings for families with children, featuring recommendations from AMC chapter trip leaders and staff. We started in the White Mountains and moved south to Boston’s western suburbs. Now we hear from Boston Chapter family trips leader Heather Hodgson DePaola with suggestions for winter outings in Boston’s southern metro area.

Several of DePaola’s favorite walks — the first three listed here — are in land protected by The Trustees of Reservations. In 1890, Boston architect Charles Eliot, who would become an originating force behind Acadia National Park, proposed that a volunteer conservation organization be created to hold land free of taxes for the public to enjoy “just as a Public Library holds books and an Art Museum holds pictures.” The Trustees of Reservations conserve and care for more than 25,000 acres of forest, wetland, and open space around Massachusetts.

Noanet Woodlands, Dover. DePaola and her daughter, Mckinlee consider this nearly 600-acre Trustees of Reservations preserve “home” territory and visit it in all four seasons. It’s a short drive from their home in Dover. DePaola used to bring Mckinlee in a baby backpack to the top of the hill with its spectacular views of the Boston skyline. Now that Mckinlee is walking on her own, they are just as likely to explore the little ponds around the preserve.

Noon Hill, Medfield. The short trail of another Trustees of Reservations preserve, Noon Hill, leads to a gentle summit and sweeping views. The DePaolas especially like the loop trail around Holt Pond.

Rocky Woods, Medfield. Two brooks, many ponds, and wetlands in nearly 500 acres means there’s always something new at Rocky Woods. In the winter, that can mean exploring the many varieties of ice — the lacy edges of frozen ponds, panes of ice on the trail that are fun to stomp, ice pockets tucked away — and then sharing a winter snack at a picnic table.

Blue Hills Ski Area, Canton. This small downhill ski and snowboard area is still very much in operation and makes for a great winter outing all by itself. DePaola also likes the trails maintained by the ski area and nearby Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, a one-mile uphill walk from the ski area parking lot. Check ahead for tours of the weather station. The observatory is offering kite-flying lessons on President’s Day, February 22.

Elm Bank, Wellesley. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, fondly known as “Mass Hort,” is the oldest horticultural institution in the United States. The 36-acre hands-on horticulture center offers adults and children the opportunity to experience, enjoy, and learn about plants and the environment. “Weezie’s Winter Story Hour” is held every Friday in February from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Education Building. The Charles River runs along one side of the center, and DePaola and Mckinlee often take “great strolls” along the river, where there are always ducks and other waterfowl, even in winter, and dogs along the trail for Mckinlee to enjoy.

Children’s Museum, Boston. On some days, the best winter outing for DePaola mother and daughter is to walk to the commuter rail stop near their house, take the train in to Boston, and walk to the Children’s Museum. Sometimes, that’s all the weather lets you do — whether it’s raining or snowing outside or whether it’s a tired child who’s having a stormy day...

Next, we will explore winter outings for families in Connecticut, then winter walks with children in the Delaware Valley end this series. I hope you’ll share your best winter walks with us, too.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 “Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains
- 5 “Best Winter Walks” in Boston’s western suburbs

Photo credits: Heather DePaola

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

This is the second in a series on best winter walks with children. AMC chapter trip leaders and staff have compiled lists of their favorite winter outings for families. We started in the White Mountains, with suggestions from AMC senior interpretive naturalist Nancy Ritger. Now we move to exploring winter with children in the suburbs around Boston.

Eddy Luttmer “retired” from leading family trips for AMC’s Boston Chapter on the last day of 2009. Now that his children are older — his daughter is 22, his son is 18 — he’s looking forward to following their lead in the outdoors. He drew on his own parenting experience, as well as 14 years of leading family trips, for the following list of winter outings in and around Boston’s western suburbs.

Mt. Misery, Lincoln. This close-in peak off Route 117 jumped immediately to Luttmer’s mind. “It has a nice network of trails,” he says, with great views of the Sudbury River.

Walden State Park, Concord. “Obviously,” Luttmer says, Walden pond and the surrounding woods are a great natural retreat in any season, but for locals, some of the appeal of a winter visit is the absence of crowds. Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden, “Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, ... and it is not to be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more.” Trails are open for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and also for simple rambling.

Cat Rock Park, Weston. The downhill ski area that ran here for two decades starting in the 1950s left open slopes that make for accessible “back-country” skiing and snowshoeing only a few miles from downtown Boston. In spite of the name, the park has become known as a leash-free area for dogs.

Cutler Park, Newton Highlands. In the summer, Luttmer and his children ride fat-tire bikes along the trails of this well-known green space right next to Interstate 95 (take the Kendrick Street exit). When there’s snow in the winter, those same trails make for great cross-country skiing.

Auburndale Park, Newton. Luttmer recommends this park for families with younger children because of its combination of playground, walking paths along the Charles River, and small-scale nature walks.

The next post explores southern Boston. After that, we learn about great places for families to go in the winter in the Delaware Valley and Connecticut. I hope you’ll share your own thoughts and ideas, too.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 "Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains

Photo credit: Pick-up hockey at Auburndale Park. Newton Conservators.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Ever hear these words? I'm cold. Why are we doing this? I lost my mittens!

If you have, you know the special challenges of being outdoors with children in the winter. How do we encourage hesitant children — and perhaps ourselves — to enjoy the cold air, snow, and even the freezing rain? AMC family trip leaders have lots of experience with this question, and some tips to help answer it. (See below for links to specific recommendations for child-friendly winter outings.)

Explore close to home. "We stay a little more local in the winter," says AMC Boston Chapter family trips leader Heather DePaola, who is mother of Mckinlee, age 3. Last winter, DePaola carried her daughter in a backpack, but discovered that she kept taking off her mittens. Instead of the longer hikes that DePaola had imagined, mother and daughter took advantage of trails near their home in Dover, MA, maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. One of their favorite walks goes through the Noanet Woodlands, a 600-acre preserve dotted with little ponds, to the top of a hill with an expansive view of Boston's skyline. "She's a little better about wearing mittens this year," DePaola says, but they will continue exploring local places.

Be flexible. Pick walks or hikes that give options for bailing out or changing course along the way. "We look for short, point-to-point hikes," says Linda Dallas, a member of the Delaware Valley Chapter, "and hikes that we can shorten" by taking different routes back to the car.

Make it an outing. Debra Rich looks for ways to motivate children on the trips she leads for AMC's Connecticut Chapter. "If I just lead them through the woods, they're going to be asking, 'What's the point? Why are we doing this?'" The castle that looks as if it belongs on a Harry Potter movie set in Sleeping Giant State Park in Easton, CT, is a favorite destination of Rich's 8-year-old son, Zachary. John Urick, Delaware Valley Chapter trip leader, notes, "It's always good to stop for ice cream" — even in winter.

Dress for success. "The key to winter hiking is adjusting layers," says Urick. It's hard enough for adults to dress so that they don't overheat or get cold, he notes, and even harder with young kids. "You don't want them to have a miserable experience and not want to do it anymore."

Dallas sometimes "borrows kids" to encourage her 6-year-old daughter, Sadie, on their winter treks. Some of those young friends show up without the basics, like warm boots. She keeps a stash of extra winter clothing for such situations. "I've learned that plastic bread wrappers work almost as well as wool" in keeping cotton-clad feet warm.

Gear — hiking poles, hand warmers, traction devices — can make winter hikes safer, more fun, and motivating, too. And one piece of "gear" that never fails: a thermos of hot chocolate.

Take advantage of the season. The Dallas family prefers to hike the Tekening Trail in Martin's Creek, PA, during the winter months because "all the ticks are dead then." At the same time, they can watch for ducks and other migratory waterfowl on the Delaware River, which winds along one side of the trail. They also make regular winter pilgrimages to Ricketts Glen State Park, in Benton, PA, which is known for its many waterfalls. The park often closes longer trails during the winter, but Dallas has discovered that her family can reach one of the falls by hiking only about 100 yards in from the road. They've taken to calling that special place "Icicle Heaven."

Toward the end of winter, visit maple sugaring operations. Such outings reassure children and parents alike that winter won't last forever — and sugar on snow is a treat that kids will remember long after. Later this month, Rich will lead a "Sugar Maple Hike" in Naugatuck State Park for the Connecticut Chapter. She's planned a 45-minute hike that starts and ends near an operating sugar shack. There will even be an outdoor petting zoo. And of course she'll bring hot chocolate — and maybe marshmallows, too.

Read more "Best Winter Walks with Children" lists from AMC trip leaders over the next week on the "Great Kids, Great Outdoors" blog.


Learn more
- Noanet Woodlands, Dover, MA
- Tekening Trail, Martin's Creek, PA
- Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton, PA
- Sugar Maple Hike, Naugatuck State Park
- You can also view a complete Family Outdoor Resource Guide on AMC's website.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

You’ve packed the warm clothes, the thermos of hot chocolate and snacks, maybe the snowshoes or cross-country skis, and yourselves. You want a winter outing that doesn’t involve lift tickets or the mall. What to do?

AMC chapter trip leaders and staff have compiled lists of their favorite winter outings for families with children. Suggestions range from short walks for children in backpacks or still finding their cold-weather legs to short-but-steep challenges. Some of the outings include activities, too.

We’ll start with the North Country, explore the suburbs around Boston, and discover winter’s beauty in the Delaware Valley and in Connecticut. I hope you’ll share your own favorite winter walks in these and other areas as we go along.

In this first post of the series, Nancy Ritger, senior interpretive naturalist at AMC’s White Mountains headquarters in Gorham, NH, offers a local’s trio of suggestions at three levels of difficulty.

Diana’s Baths in North Conway. An easy walk on level ground brings you to what could be the winter baths of the goddess of the hunt, complete with crystal and ornate designs, all formed from ice. One mile roundtrip. Take the Moat Mountain Trail off West Side Road about 0.3 mile south of the Conway-Bartlett town line.

Saco River Ski Loop, Bartlett. Ritger suggests that novice skiers explore scenic cross-country ski trails along the Saco River maintained by Bear Notch Ski Touring Center in Bartlett. Some of the touring center trails go right into the Village of Bartlett and by the Bear Notch Deli, where hot chocolate is sure to be on the menu.

Square Ledge, Gorham. Families searching for a more challenging outing that doesn’t take all day need only look across the road from the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. Square Ledge Trail begins at the same trailhead as the Lost Pond Trail. A steep (500-foot elevation gain) but short (one-mile round trip) walk, snowshoe, or ski offers breathtaking views of Pinkham Notch and Mount Washington, especially the dramatic headwall of Huntington Ravine.

Next: Winter outings in the Boston metro area.

Learn more
- Directions to Diana’s Baths.
- Information about Bear Notch Ski Touring Center.
- Directions and trail information for Square Ledge on the AMC website.
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

I wouldn’t normally consider the New York Times a go-to source for information on outdoor recreation, particularly on the nuts and bolts of packing for ski trips. I’ve spent nearly a lifetime on skis — my parents strapped me onto them (and it was straps, back then) as soon as I could walk — and I have time-tested systems that work. But I came away from reading a January 22 article in the Times with several solutions to persistent packing problems.

As in, we get to a ski area, and I’m digging through the rabbit warren of canvas bags, backpacks, and duffel bags in the back of the car, asking such questions as Where’s Virgil’s hat? I thought we packed Ursula’s gloves. (If you’re married, you know that statement functions as a question.) I know we have snowpants, but where are they?

Times sportswriter Bill Pennington offered a trio of tips to solve these problems. The first comes straight out of Parenting 101: Make children responsible for their own gear, at least once they’re of a certain age. Ursula, at 11, has clearly reached that age; at 7, Virgil may be there.

But then Pennington went a step further: Help them be responsible for their own gear by getting them to pack it in individual boot bags or backpacks, separate from their other clothing and off-slope gear. Pennington explained the value of having separate gear bags for each family member: “On the morning of your first day of skiing or riding, not only is there only one place to look for all that stuff, [but] should you have to drive to the mountain from your lodging, everyone takes his bags, carrying everything he needs into the lodge.” It’s a simple tweak of our current system that I can see immediately will smooth many of our trip wrinkles.

For the final tip in his packing trio, Pennington drew on the experience of Diane Mueller, a mother of two who also operates three ski resorts with her husband. For her skiing and snowboarding children, Mueller put together a checklist of everything that needed to go in those individual gear bags — boots, hats, goggles, gloves, helmet, chapstick... The kids had the list, but as Mueller said, “It was up to them to make sure they brought what they knew they would need.”

To that suggestion, I would add a back-pocket tip that might come in handy if you still want to ski while the responsibility lessons take hold. We keep a fabric bin in the back of the car with extra seasonal gear. In the winter the bin contains second-string wool socks, gloves, hats, extra jackets, even a sleeping bag and flashlights. (In the summer, we switch out the wool socks for terrycloth beach towels, swimming suits, tennis shoes, and sunscreen.)

It strikes me that these tips work well for other sports beyond downhill skiing and snowboarding. I wrote up my first gear checklists this morning for cross-country skiing .... and fencing and karate.

Learn more
Read the full New York Times article to learn the connection between instant oatmeal and easy ski weekends, and more.
Read an AMC Outdoors article on packing for winter hiking and camping trips.

Photo caption: What doesn't work.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

We’ve been hearing about the epidemic of childhood obesity for more than a decade. Every few years a new Centers for Disease Control (CDC) survey comes out, showing us how many more of our children are tipping the scales toward long-term health problems. The most recent shocking figure is that one in three American children is overweight or obese.

First Lady Michelle Obama put that figure up front in two recent speeches. On January 20, it topped the list of dire statistics she recited to the U.S. Conference of Mayors; on January 28, the day after the President’s State of the Union address, she quoted it in a speech in Alexandria, VA. Her appearances came in advance of a national campaign against childhood obesity that the First Lady is rolling out this next month. But statistics played a small role in these first speeches. If her language is any indication, Michelle Obama will make this an unusually personal campaign — with direct, simple appeals to families and teachers and community leaders.

She framed the epidemic in personal terms by telling a story, one many parents can relate to: As a working mom, she often turned to easy solutions to feed her children — fast food, take-out, pizza. At a check-up, the family’s pediatrician referenced one of the obesity battle statistics, one that cut close to home. Black teenage girls had the highest rate of childhood obesity — 27.7% — in the most recent CDC surveys. The “wake-up call” from their family doctor, as the First Lady called it, touched off a number of changes in the Obama household.

Each of the changes Obama mentioned in her speech was, by itself, a small one. She instituted a family rule against watching TV during the week. She put more fruit and vegetables on the table. Gave her daughters water instead of sugared drinks for their lunch boxes. Made sure that the family spent more time outside, riding bikes, going to parks.

Simple doesn’t mean simplistic. Research supports the First Lady: Add up such small change, and it can be the difference between health and health problems, between activity and inactivity, between a healthy weight and obesity. Without saying it in so many words, Michelle Obama has acknowledged that alarming statistics alone haven’t been enough to motivate a positive change in our nation’s habits. And this issue cannot be addressed through a single, big solution. That is the message that Michelle Obama hopes to share with other American families in her campaign, that “small changes can lead to big results.”

Her campaign doesn’t officially roll out until next month, but it is expected to focus on increasing opportunities for physical activity and on supporting better nutrition in school and at home, and will rely on local governments, schools, and families to make those small changes happen.

In her January 20 speech to U.S. mayors, a key on-the-ground group in her campaign, Obama highlighted successful, common-sense initiatives from around the country: the mayor of Arlington, Texas, who is a physician, gave children pedometers to encourage them to walk during summer vacation; the mayor of Columbia, Mo., is building walkways and bikeways; in Bowling Green, Ky., the mayor launched a website that encouraged citizens to use local parks and even provided trail maps.

Specific initiatives and proposals will emerge as the campaign unfolds. But in the examples she chose to share with the nation’s mayors, I was struck by how many of the success stories have something to do with kids being outdoors.

I think she’s onto something.


Learn more
• Statistics on childhood obesity from the CDC.
• Reports on Michelle Obama's speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and in Alexandria, VA.


“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

The Appalachian Mountain Club will hold its annual meeting on Saturday, January 30, at the Crowne Plaza Boston North Shore (formerly the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort) in Danvers, MA. This event is open to members and non-members — and to AMC’s youngest audience, children.

AMC is offering a special rate for young outdoorsfolk ages 12 and under: $15 for the full event program — the AMC Showcase Expo, workshops, and dinner. Dinner also includes the keynote speaker, adventure writer and photographer Jonathan Waterman, who will be talking about his journeys into Alaska’s Arctic Refuge. The expo opens at 8:30 a.m.; the workshops run in one-hour segments between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. The dinner and keynote begin at 6 p.m. (registration required).

Several workshops are of special interest to outdoors families:

Staying Found. This workshop talks to kids and their parents about the principles of preparation and safe travel in the woods, as well as what kids can do if they get lost. The workshop includes a video and hands-on activities for parents and kids, as well as a demonstration of what every kid should carry into the woods so they can stay Safe and Found.

Adventure Travel with Families. Have you ever thought that you have to give up on adventure when kids join the family? Think again. Bring the kids along to enjoy a presentation about the joys of big travel with the whole family. Leaders will share their experiences and photos of their favorite outdoor adventures with kids ranging in age from toddlers to teens.

Climate Change for Families. Bring the family for an interactive workshop about how climate change is affecting New England’s mountains, waters, and trails, and what you can do at home to reverse the trends. This program includes an overview of climate change and how New England may change over the next 100 years. It also explores what individuals, families, and communities can do to take action on climate change. Appropriate for ages 10 and up.

AMC’s Historical Film Fest. Grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show, as librarian and archivist Becky Fullerton presents historic films from AMC’s collections. These range from “home movies” of AMC trips to the White Mountains in the 1930s, hikes on Katahdin in the 1940s, and whitewater paddling in the early 1970s. Some are narrated, others are silent, but all have fascinating stories to tell.

Favorite AMC trail games. This participatory workshop especially for kids will be held concurrently with the business meeting, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.


Learn more
Registration information, online sign-ups, directions, and more on the AMC website.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

One of our favorite winter picture books is Ollie’s Ski Trip, written and illustrated a century ago by Elsa Beskow, who is known as the Beatrix Potter of Sweden. In the story, Ollie receives his first pair of skis on his sixth birthday. When the first snow comes, he skis into the forest, where Jack Frost notices Ollie's delight in winter and invites the boy to visit King Winter’s splendid ice palace.

I've been thinking about Ollie’s trip today, because he and Jack Frost encounter Mrs. Thaw on the way to meet King Winter. Beskow depicts Mrs. Thaw as a blowsy hausfrau. Her galoshes squelch with every step, she blows her nose and sneezes as if she has a terrible cold, and wherever she goes, she leaves behind a slushy, muddy mess. Jack Frost roars at her to go away. Little Ollie, who has obviously been taught to be respectful to adults, is horrified by Jack Frost’s rudeness. The icy man explains: Mrs. Thaw is Winter’s cleaning lady. But she is terribly forgetful, and always shows up too early. The only way to keep her from ruining a good winter is to scare her away.

Mrs. Thaw is making a mess of winter all over New England right now. Monday morning at Boston’s Logan Airport, the temperature jumped 12 degrees between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Much of the region saw between one and three inches of rain before nightfall, with especially heavy rain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Mahoosuc Mountains of Maine. Weather reports are talking about ice jams, high winds, and power outages.

After Ollie returns from visiting the Winter King (our children especially like the polar bear guards), he follows Jack Frost’s advice for the rest of the winter, calling, “Mrs. Thaw, Mrs. Thaw, Please don’t sweep our snow away!” each time he goes outside. The refrain has become one of those bits of language that our family carries with us like an inside joke.

Our kids want winter to go on for some time yet. We need to plead with Mrs. Thaw, as Ollie does, and ask that over-eager cleaner to take her busy broom someplace else until we’re truly ready for spring.


Learn more
Find Ollie's Ski Trip at The New England Ski Museum.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Virgil invited his friend Liam over to our house a couple of weekends ago. The morning after their sleep-over, they played with LEGOs and stuffed animals, watched a couple of episodes of "Ben-10," tried a couple of card games. Neither was all that interested in going outside — until Jim suggested roasting marshmallows. It wasn’t the marshmallows that got them up off the couch, although these are two boys who never turn down a chance to rot their teeth. It was the chance to build a fire.

"To build a fire": Even for young readers who haven’t encountered Jack London’s timeless story of a man, a dog, and a match in a race against cold in the Alaskan wilderness, there’s magic in that phrase. Virgil and his friend Liam felt the pull. For fire, they'd agree to leave their comfortable spot indoors — but only for twenty or thirty minutes.

Jim is the fire-builder in our family. He heated a log cabin and our first home using wood stoves, and he’s taught Ursula and Virgil how to lay a fire, how to light it, and how to put it out. While Liam, Virgil, and Ursula pulled on snowpants and jackets, Jim poured hot chocolate and tea into thermoses and packed them, along with a bag of marshmallows, a box of matches, and Virgil’s first-ever Swiss Army knife, in a backpack. They walked into the back woods about 100 feet, just far enough so they couldn’t see the house.

Jim designated Ursula the day’s master fire-builder and Virgil and Liam her assistants. He sent the three of them off to find fire-starter material, telling them to look for downed trees or evergreens that had lost all their needles. Virgil found a dead birch tree and sliced the bark from it with his knife. Ursula showed Liam how to break small twigs and larger branches from another tree.

Ursula stomped out a small space in the snow that would become a platform for the fire. Then she constructed a small lattice-work with longer sticks and lay in the bark and twigs. Jim oversaw the carving of the marshmallow sticks, which gave Liam his first-ever experience using a jack-knife. As the fire builder, Ursula had the honor of the first match. The best fires, she’s learned from her dad, are those started with a single match. She touched the small flame to the strips of birch bark and dry sticks. The boys bent down low, too, so they saw the bark begin to curl and the tip of a stick redden and then brighten as the fire took hold.

A supervised winter fire is a safe way to introduce children to this elemental art. After feeding their store of sticks to the flame, Virgil, Liam, and Ursula let it burn down to hot coals, flamed a few marshmallows for good measure, and finally — reluctantly — piled snow over the remaining embers.

Jim glanced at his watch. They’d been out well over an hour. Still the boys lingered, not ready to break the spell. Before they left, Liam turned to Virgil and asked, "When can we do this again?"

Learn more
The title of this blog comes from Norman Maclean’s book of the same name about the Mann Gulch forest fire of 1945.
Two versions of Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire.”
Instructions on how to build a fire in the snow, from eHow.

Illustration from "To Build a Fire."

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

On the first day of the new year, Debbie Livingston went for a walk with her two children, three-year-old Shep and baby Dahlia, three months. If you didn’t know Debbie Livingston, you might assume that she went out for a stroll (literally, pushing a stroller) around the streets of her Connecticut neighborhood.

But Debbie is an outdoors mom. She and her husband, Scott, and several friends had rung in the New Year in New Hampshire’s North Country. On the first day of 2010, while Scott attempted a winter hike of Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison, Debbie and a friend decided to hike along the Old Jackson Road, which is part of the Appalachian Trail and offers views of Adams and Madison. Shep would have a friend along as well, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy.

It had been snowing for two straight days, was snowing still, and would snow for two more. On the Valley Way trail, Debbie’s husband and his climbing partners would find the going slow. Debbie checked the temperature before she left Joe Dodge Lodge: in the mid-teens.

This might sound like the set-up to a tragedy. But the two mothers had plenty of experience, a good plan, and a comfortable, safe transportation system. At Joe Dodge Lodge, the mothers belted the two toddlers into the seats of sleds called pulks. “Pulk” is a Scandinavian word that comes from the Sami, reindeer-herding people who live above the Arctic Circle and who’ve refined the design of snow sleds over many centuries. The moms put snacks and drinks for the little ones within easy reach in side pockets. Debbie strapped Dahlia, who is several months from sitting up, into a hammock-style sling next to her brother. A vented plastic cover protected the children from the elements and gave them a front-window view of the action.

The children settled, the two women then strapped on snowshoes and buckled themselves into pulling harnesses. Rigid poles kept the carriers and their cargo a constant distance behind the moms, leaving enough room for snowshoes or skis.


In pulling a sled, the hardest step is always the first. After Debbie got her 70-pound load moving, the runners slid easily over the packed snow, although the two women occasionally needed to help each other lift their pulks over rocks or push them through tight spots on the trail. Debbie, who trains for ultra distance trail-running, started running with Shep in a child-carrier from the time he was six weeks old. (The Livingstons use the same carrier chassis as a running stroller and a pulk, popping off the wheels to attach sled runners.) She learned to time her workouts around Shep’s naps, and now does the same for Dahlia’s. The motion of being pushed in the stroller or pulled in the pulk seems to induce a mellow drowsiness in both children, and they rarely fidget.

She also doesn’t push their limits: The first outing of 2010 lasted a little less than two hours, and mothers and children spent a pleasant afternoon back at the lodge. The two boys watched snowplows through the window, played in the Discovery Room, and ran the hallways.

The men? They made it to the summit of Mt. Madison in a stiff wind and blowing snow but turned around in deteriorating conditions before reaching Adams.


Learn more
General information about ski sleds from a cross-country ski website.
Information about the Chariot CX-2, the brand that Debbie Livingston uses.
Read Scott Livingston's blog post about the Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison climb.

Photo credits: Scott Livingston. Debbie Livingston carrying Dahlia. The Chariot CX-2 ready for action.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

There are times — usually on days when the kids spend 100 minutes in the car and 10 outside — when I wonder who I’m fooling. In those forehead-against-the steering-wheel moments, I worry that our children are just not spending enough time outside and are therefore missing a crucial part of their development.

I don’t think I over-estimate the hours I spent in imaginative outdoor play when I was a child. It’s hard to translate childhood memory into solid numbers, but I remember building forts with my brothers and returning to them over many weeks, remember freestyle roaming through woods and meadows, remember feeling that I was actually watching flowers grow. How can Ursula and Virgil develop a deep love of the outdoors, I ask myself at the end of too many days of too tight a family schedule, if we can’t give them that kind of time?

And then there are days like Saturday.

Saturday was a January-thaw day here and the start of a three-day weekend. Neither of the children got in the car, not even for a minute. Both — but especially Ursula — spent most of the day outside, in the sun and in the snow. Late in the afternoon, Jim sent me to look for Ursula, who had violin practice and some chores to get in before dinner. “I last saw her in the back yard,” he told me, so I headed out the back door.

I immediately came to bootprints that looked Ursula’s size. I tried to follow them, putting my feet into the same holes, but the tracks veered off at an oblique angle after only three or four steps, and then veered back again, crossing over the first set. What’s more, at each change of direction, the trail contained odd deep hollows. I stopped and looked more closely. What could have made those double indentations with the ridges that looked like ... bunched-up snowsuit? Now I had another question: What was Ursula doing on her knees?

I scanned the backyard. The setting sun cast its warm light and long shadows across the snow. I shaded my eyes and tried to get a general sense of where Ursula was headed. Nowhere in particular, it seemed. Her tracks marched — that is, if it was a drunken sailor doing the marching — up the hillside by the apple trees and back down, punctuated every few steps by those double knee-bends. I picked a set of wild zigzags at the far end of the yard and followed them toward the back pasture.

After a few weaving turns in her tracks, I started to smile. A few more and I laughed out loud. It was impossible not to. I saw Ursula up ahead. Or rather, I saw a mound of red and black in the middle of the pasture and recognized it as Ursula’s jacket. The mound moved, then stood up, facing away from me. There was a flurry of motion — a little jig in the snow, some windmilling of her right arm — and I saw something, a snowball, I guessed, flying off behind her. She whirled around and bounded off in the same direction as the snowball. She pounced. My first thought: She looks just like a fox. My second: Ah! Double knee-drops explained!

She saw me then and motioned me over. My little snow fox wanted to throw snowballs at me, and tell me about her game, and roll in the snow some more. Later, Jim and I figured that she’d been outside, doing whatever she’d been doing, for a good four hours. A rare experience? Yes, too rare. But she lived inside the outdoors on Saturday afternoon, really lived. And when she came in, she brought some of its wildness in with her.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

It felt like a holiday around here over the long weekend: three days without homework for the kids, a similar reprieve from driving and deadlines for Jim and me.

Our holiday spirits were boosted even higher by a happy change in the weather. After waking up to gray skies for days on end, we opened our eyes on the first day of the weekend to clear skies — and sun. What’s more, temperatures that had sunk below zero on Thursday ascended above 40 on Saturday.

We shouldn’t have been surprised. Meteorologists have identified a “singularity” — a weather event that occurs at a particular time of year more frequently than chance would indicate — in the Northeastern United States in the latter half of January. They’ve observed a historical trend of about four days in the second half of the month, often between January 20 and 24 and often after a cold snap, when temperatures rise above freezing and stay about 10 degrees above the seasonal mean.

Folk-lore has already given this phenomenon a name: the January thaw. To thaw, according to my dictionary, means to melt, which the snow on our roof was certainly doing on Saturday. To thaw also means “to become free of the effect of cold as a result of exposure to warmth.” My dictionary helpfully lists the following effects of cold: stiffness, numbness, hardness.

Everywhere I looked on Saturday, I saw loosening, softening, warming. Icicles dripped onto the porch. Bare ground poked through in a couples of patches on the south-facing hill behind the house. Our dirt road, which has been frozen since early December, turned into muddy ruts. The year’s first frost heaves buckled the pavement down on the state highway.

The four of us felt it, too. We couldn’t stay inside, even though the tree needed taking down, papers needed filing, and other chores called. I went for a long cross-country ski thinking I was dressed appropriately but ended up peeling off two layers on top and doing without gloves altogether. When I came back, I went looking for Ursula. I found her out back, lying in the snow, grinning. She patted the snow next to her, and I joined her, turning my face up to the sun, too. Moments later, I felt something solid splatter my jacket. Ursula exulted. “Finally, it’s decent snowball snow!”

I know it won’t stay like this. In fact, I don’t want it to. If we’re going to have winter, I want a real season, with snow to ski on and ice to skate on and smooth, frozen roads. And sure enough, the forecast calls for a return to below-freezing temperatures later this week.

There’s a third definition of “thaw” in my dictionary: “to abandon aloofness, reserve, or hostility: unbend.” I know this mid-winter holiday marks Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthdate. But it feels right to me that our remembrance of his life and his vision of social justice often coincides with a seasonal thaw. We can become numb to injustice, harden ourselves against change. Along about the third week of January, we need to be reminded not to freeze too far down, and to look for spring.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

Last winter, as part of a family ski weekend in Maine, Lucas St. Clair, his wife, Yemaya Maurer, and assorted siblings built a snow cave for six. They picked a flat open spot protected from the wind on one side and with a view over a wilderness lake on the other. Starting early on a winter afternoon, the group piled snow high and packed it down. They drank hot chocolate while the snow dome hardened. Several hours of sweaty digging out later, their sleeping quarters were ready. The group spent a warm night under the snow, and although they skied out the next day, the structure they created could have housed them many more nights — and, at a constant temperature right around freezing, in relative winter comfort.

St. Clair and Maurer were well qualified to lead that family construction project. Outdoor leadership instructors, they’re the co-authors of The AMC Guide to Winter Hiking and Camping. St. Clair and Maurer know that snow is a paradoxically wonderful building material, as children seem to understand intuitively: Snow can be hard or soft, is easily molded yet sturdy, and, though the product of cold, can be a surprisingly good insulator.

Children and families can create snow structures as close to home as the backyard or on winter getaways. Whether it’s a simple two-sided snow fort or the domed cave that St. Clair and Maurer and their relatives built, all you need to become your own snow builder are a few simple steps, a handful of household tools, and some basic safety guidelines.

Before building a snow cave, children need to be able to follow these safety guidelines:

1. Never construct or play in snow cave alone.
2. Never climb on top of snow caves.
3. Maintain proper ventilation and proper wall thickness.

St. Clair and Maurer called their snow cave a quinzhee, after the Athabascan word for the traditional winter dwelling built by native people of the far north. Athabascans created quinzhees by piling up great cones of snow and then hollowing them out. To create their quinzhee, St. Clair and Maurer piled snow about five feet high and a little wider than it was tall. Their group compacted the snow by stomping on it with their skis; snowshoes also work well, as does laying a board over the pile and standing on that. Before starting to dig it out, let the mound sit for at least 2 hours — or even for a day if the snow is light and dry.

* Stick ski poles, avalanche probes, or branches 12-18 inches into the snow pile before digging it out. They become thickness markers as the snow cave is being created.
* When the snow pile has hardened, start digging a tunnel. Lightweight mountaineering shovels and gardening trowels, even large serving spoons, may be easier for children to use than standard snow shovels. Angling the tunnel up slightly makes it easier to remove snow. Inside the cave, shoveling on one’s knees works well and is safer than lying on one’s back.
* Digging out a snow cave is hard work and should never be attempted alone. St. Clair and his family shoveled about four hours to complete their cave. (Smaller caves will take less time.) Working so hard, they had to be careful not to become drenched with sweat and risk hypothermia. Always work in groups of at least two. One person can shovel while another removes snow from the tunnel entrance. In a larger group, someone can check the thickness and overall soundness of the structure — or even build snow sentries (otherwise known as snowmen) to stand guard.
* Stop digging out from the inside at the thickness of the sticks or poles. The domed roof of the cave can be several inches less thick than the sides.
* Poke ventilation holes (three or more) into the completed structure and make sure that they remain open as long as the structure is being used. The holes left by your thickness markers can serve this purpose as well.
* If the temperature is below freezing, pour water over the finished structure to increase its strength. For fun, decorate it with food coloring, or pinecones and evergreen branches.
* With thawing temperatures, test the cave. If it has softened to the point that it’s no longer safe, have the pleasure of smashing it in (and keep it from becoming a hazard).
* Snow forts — two to four uncovered walls — require less time, less snow, and less adult supervision than quinzhees. Make snow "bricks" by packing snow into plastic bins or wastebaskets, let the bricks air-harden, and set them into place.

Snow offers children opportunities to build the playscapes of their imagination — and adults the chance to be a kid all over again. A well-built snow fort or snow cave can be shelter for a night — or fun for a whole winter.

Learn more
Watch a video of St. Clair and Maurer building a quinzhee.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.