Trail Sense is an educational set of printables for a hiker’s kids or grandkids. It is not a class, not a permit, and not a promise you will be safe.
The tips follow publicly available guidance from the National Park Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, as I understood it when I published this. Agencies update advice. Conditions change. A moose or a bear does not grade on a curve.
Parks are blunt about this, and so am I: each animal and each encounter is unique. There is no single protocol that works in every situation, and no booklet, coloring page, or hike-the-game session can guarantee that you or a child will not be injured or killed.
If you go into the woods, you go as a grown-up making your own choices — distance, noise, food storage, spray, turning around. If you take children, you are the decision-maker, not the cartoon moose.
Check current guidance before you hike: NPS bear safety, Idaho Fish and Game, and the forest or park you’ll actually be in. If something on this page conflicts with a ranger, the ranger wins.
I am not liable for any injury, death, or damage that occurs on a trail or elsewhere after someone uses these printables.
For kids about 6 and up, with a grown-up. This is a field guide and coloring book, not a wilderness course. Adults are responsible for children in bear and moose country.
Click the links below to access the free field guide and coloring book.
