A good guide for those who live in or plan to visit the Virginia/Maryland area. Something for everyone with lots of great ideas to keep the family busy and happy.

I want to try any of this hikes and see those places. A perfect book for armchair travel or to help you organize a real one
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Humphreys and Gorton, both seasoned educators, have crafted a guide that covers a wide array of hiking trails across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Washington DC, each chosen for its kid-friendliness. I appreciated the thoughtful extras: easy-to-read maps, intuitive directions, detailed trail descriptions including elevation and length, restroom availability, and nearby snack spots.

Each hike is accompanied by a scavenger hunt, designed to spark curiosity and encourage learning about local flora, fauna, and geology. This interactive element transforms a simple hike into a dynamic educational experience, making it easier for even the youngest trekkers to engage with their surroundings.

The book is organized by state, making it easy to plan trips based on your location or travel plans. Highlights of the guide include:
+ Alapocas Run in Delaware, known for its scenic views and family-friendly trails.
+ Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, which offers a unique opportunity to hunt for fossils.
+ Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington DC, a hidden gem with rich historical significance.
+ Blue Ridge Tunnel in Virginia, a fascinating historical site with a gentle trail suitable for children.
+ Harpers Ferry in West Virginia, where history and nature intertwine.

All in all, it's a very useful guide! Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a fantastic book for hiking in the Mid-Atlantic region. It is focused on Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington DC.

First off, this book is aimed at families or people who will be hiking with kids. I am not the intended audience. Nevertheless, I found it interesting and useful.

I am a birder and take a lot of nature walks. This book covered some of my favorite places (like Bombay Hook in Delaware) and gave me ideas for places I have never gone but would now like to visit.

The book is organized in a useful manner. You can find hiking suggestions (known as "adventures") by state and season. You can also find a list of highlights for each location. For example, waterfalls, ruins, history, marshland, flora, fauna, summit, views, etc.

There is also a table for each trail that identifies the length of the hike (in miles) and the difficulty level/elevation of the hike. Each suggested hike is 5 miles or less.

Other extras include maps, scavenger hunt ideas, preparation tips, and more.

I loved this book. I would purchase it and recommend it to anyone who lives in the area or plans to visit the area. This works for people with kids and may even be useful to people like me who do not have kids but enjoy easy hikes, nature walks, and outdoor adventures in every season.

Thanks to Net Galley and Timber Press for an advance reader copy of this delightful book.

50 Hikes with Kids Virginia and Maryland is an engaging, accessible, and very useful guide to family friendly local hikes all along the central and eastern part of the USA. Due out 9th July 2024 from Hachette on their Timber Press imprint, it's 292 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This handbook is full of ideas for planning family hiking and finding opportunities to experience nature together. It's specifically aimed at kid friendly areas with practical suggestions for planning, choosing, and executing trips. The general introductory chapters contain numbered key tables with both names and features of each hike. Readers can look for general locations, plan an itinerary, or choose destinations based on geographical or historical features.

The hikes are arranged roughly geographically by state: Delaware, Maryland, DC, Virginia, and West Virginia. Each trip guide includes maps, points of interest, length (important!), elevation gain, difficulty, seasons of interest (many are year-round), directions, fees, facilities, extra treats and features, and contact information for the sites.

The book is beautifully illustrated throughout, with topographical and local maps, color photography, and line drawn illustrations. There are beautiful clear photos of local nature and wildlife as well.

This is a valuable guide. It is part of a series of hike/destination planners for different areas of the USA from the same publisher. It would be a great choice for home use as well as library acquisition.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A thoroughly researched and detailed description of hikes that are suitable for families with children in the Chesapeake Bay Region

There were many hikes that I had not heard of before for hiking with children. The sections were easy to navigate. I wish there were more BIPOC hikes that were listed.

I'm from the Midwest but I love the beauty of Virginia and West Virginia. I was really excited when I saw this, because even though it's for kids, it's also perfect for someone like me who still loves getting out in nature but has to deal with the limitations of a bad knee. Even though I am an adult, I also really loved the advice on how to enjoy the outdoors, with the many tips on everything from bathrooms to how to keep track of what you see.
All of the hikes in this guide are relatively short but each one has enough information to make me want to try it. There are so many unique places to see, and the photographs really show how gorgeous these areas are. I hope to use this guide the next time I drive east. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

My kids are grown and flown and we're expecting our first grandchild, so I'm not the target audience for this book. However, I have arthritis, and I found this book to be an excellent resource of hiking opportunities with trail descriptions throughout our region.

The hikes are well described with difficulty level (much appreciated by me and parents of young ones), distance, a list of things to look for while hiking a particular trail, and even a fun place to visit after the hike. I also appreciated that hiking safety is covered as well as what you should pack on a hike.

If you're looking for places to take your kids or grandchildren, or if you need a trail difficulty description like I do, then this is the book for you!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I’ve read several of these 50 hikes with kids series and have enjoyed them. These books are great for kids but also adults that want to do easy hikes as well.

I love this! I recently moved to Virginia and have been looking forward to checking out some of the trails in the area and this is such a great resource. This book is organized by state and has a wide diversity of hikes/trails. I love all of the details, from the standard length/elevation to where the restroom is and if there is a fee. I also appreciate the maps and pictures. There are some ideas of activities to make nature more exciting for kids throughout too, which is fantastic. I don't have kids myself, but I will absolutely be doing some of the scavenger hunts myself because they looked so fun.

I think this is a great resource for visiting the area, if you have children or if you're just looking at getting more time outdoors.

I live in the Maryland area and stopped going on “adventures” a bit after I had my oldest.

This book, includes a lot of different places, including traveling to other states near with highlights depending on what you desire to experience. I love how it’s broken down even by seasons.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the outdoors with children. I love all of the tips included to not only keep your children safe, but to create memories for them as well.

I’m going to try visit Black Water Falls & Bear Creek Lake. Places I didn’t even know existed!!

I def want a physical copy of this book when it’s released. The boys would enjoy this.


I volunteered to read this ARC through NetGalley.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Timber Press for eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I wish I could have read this on my kindle but had to read it on the NetGalley app on my phone-which personally is to small. But that is personal preference. The book is well thought out and I liked the diversity of the hikes. I enjoyed that you talked about the difficulty of the hike and the terrain, and had them seperated by state. Great book Can't wait to try some of the hikes. 5 stars

I had no idea I needed this resource until I saw it listed and had to request it!

I moved to VA from NJ 4 years ago and loved hiking / walking trails up there but since moving I’ve felt lost in where to go. Add two nieces (6yr, 3mo) and a nephew (4yr) who visit and I meet up with all over the DelMarVa area, I needed things outside our normal to do.

This. Was. Perfect. It’s comprehensive and gives great details on everything you could think of while out on your hike. I feel like this is a great resource even if you don’t have children and just want to get back into nature but are unsure what your first step should be