Junior Ranger Program

I've been reading The Ticknor Tribe blog (I swear I feel like a stalker; I'm going to have to introduce myself so I feel less creepy reading someone else's blog.)

I came across a program called The Junior Ranger Program. This looks really cool. "Rather than tying their park experiences only to the scheduled programs, Junior Ranger Programs are designed to provide participants with the flexibility to see and interact with the park at their own pace and within the limits of their own time. Many National Parks offer visitors the opportunity to join the National Park Service Family as Junior Rangers. Interested students complete a series of activities during their park visit, share their answers with a park ranger, and receive an official Junior Ranger badge or patch and Junior Ranger certificate."

So, now I'm going through the list of participating parks to see if we'll be traveling through or near any of them on our trek west. The obvious, The Grand Canyon, is part of the list. But I also found a few in Ohio. I'll do a more thorough search of the list and compare it to our driving route later. (When I'm not being a blog stalker.)


Another question that is raised is, will it be cheaper to buy a National Parks Access Pass for $80? Or just pay the park admission. How many of the parks which we are hitting are state parks and how many are national parks? Don't know. More research needs to happen.