50 Hikes with Kids Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio

Discover the 50 most kid-friendly hikes in the Midwest with this book featuring maps and scavenger hunts of items to find along each trail—plus fun extras that will foster a curiosity about the region's flora, fauna, and geology!

With its riversides, forests, rock ledges, gorges and prairies, the Midwest is a magnificent natural playground, and educators Sharon Dewar and Wendy Gorton are the perfect guides to introduce kids to these landscapes. In 50 Hikes with Kids Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio you will find easy-to-read trail maps, intuitive directions, elevation and length details for every hike, restroom information, and places to grab a snack nearby. Plus, scavenger hunts for each trail make it fun for even the youngest trekkers to learn about local flora, fauna, and geology. Hikes include the Leatherleaf Bog Trail in Moraine Hills State Park, the Bluffs of Beaver Bend, the Lodges Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and more!

 

Wendy Gorton holds a master’s degree in learning technologies and is a former classroom teacher. As part of her quest to bring science education alive, she worked as a National Geographic Fellow in Australia researching Tasmanian devils, a PolarTREC teacher researcher in archaeology in Alaska, an Earthwatch teacher fellow in the Bahamas and New Orleans, and a GoNorth! teacher explorer studying climate change via dogsled in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Today, she is a global education consultant who has traveled to more than fifty countries to design programs, build communities, and inspire other educators to do the same. 
Sharon is a U.S. Navy veteran, holds a master’s degree in communications management, undergraduate degree in psychology and has worked in public relations and journalism for more than two decades. Her passion for wildlife and nature conservation led her to a career working with zoological professionals at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Today, she is an award-winning communications consultant at Public Communications Inc. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the national chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimp Haven.