Until I adopted my son last summer, I had never really gone hiking. At least not where hiking was the main reason for going out -- I had reluctantly hiked to campgrounds and other destinations, but I'd never hiked strictly for the sake of hiking. I just didn't see the point.

Then, last summer, my son and I discovered a wooded area in a neighboring town. It's right off the main drag, but there are acres and acres of protected woods. The trails are groomed and the inclines are gentle, so it's definitely a playground for the novice hiker.

I thought I was doing it for some quality time with my son. To my great surprise, I found that I enjoyed it for myself. There's something about hiking that is a true escape from your life. Deadlines, bills, dirty dishes, and life's other little stresses just seem so far away when you're surrounded by nature. Even on the easy trails my son and I choose, I still get a great workout.

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If you like to daypack, backpack and volunteer for a good cause in the great outdoors, the 2008 American Hiking Society's (AHS) Volunteer Vacations may be for you.

On these trail stewardship programs across America's public lands, you'll join anywhere from 4-16 volunteers to rebuild eroded trails, perform ecological restoration, "log out" fallen trees and perform other general trail maintenance duties. This year, AHS is offering 75 trips across 25 states. Trips cost a mere $275 and include food, but you will have to cover transportation to the starting line. Trips are rated from easy to very strenuous depending on length of backpacking or daypacking required to reach base camp. Accommodations range from cabins, bunkhouses and car camping to primitive camping.

As a past National Sierra Clubs Outing leader (backpacking and canoe trips), I can attest to the calories you'll burn and the muscle you'll build on outdoor work trips. You'll also be surrounded by a fascinating group of people willing to give their time to public lands enjoyed by all. I adore Sierra Club participants, we always had a lot of laughs, terrific campfire conversations and relative age didn't matter. I suspect AHS attracts a similar brood.

I'm closely looking at AHS's Flathead National Forest trail maintenance trip in Montana this July. Here's a complete list of their 2008 trail stewardship projects. The AHS website also has a FAQs section which is quite helpful to answer initial questions.

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Before we had kids, outdoor vacations were a summer tradition, and we enjoyed camping, hiking, and bike riding every chance we got. After our older child was born, I read about people who continued their camping and hiking traditions with baby in tow, but I just couldn't fathom it. Safety was my first concern, along with the gear I'd have to carry. When our second child came along, we searched out simple day outings at our local state park and city forests. This summer, we've decided to take the leap, and this week I plunked down a deposit on a "rustic cabin" in a campground near a popular national park in our state.

The vacation we've planned is very low key and the park is known for being family friendly, but the mother and organizer in me is already making lists. So I thought I'd share this website with you because it has a lot of great information about hiking with children, including a formula to figure out how much your child can carry in his or her pack (if they're big enough to even carry a pack), how far to travel in a day, and how to make it fun and exciting so you don't end up with a miserable child on your hands.

If heading out into the wilderness isn't your cup of tea, keep in mind that hiking with children doesn't have to mean leaving civilization behind. Many urban areas have nature trails, rails-to-trails routes, and other routes that can get your child up close and personal with natural surroundings without packing more than a light snack and some water. That's likely the kind of hiking we'll be doing, we'll just be doing it away from home and adding in the adventure of camping each night.

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