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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Marion mom accepts challenge to spend more time outdoors; experience leads to new book ‘The Linn County Family Outdoor Guide’
Summer is a great time to take the kids outdoors and explore new places in Linn County. But the best laid plans can quickly go array if the park doesn’t have a bathroom. Or the stroller can’t handle the trails.
Writer and Marion resident Briana Baranowski has written and published a book to help. “The Linn County Family Outdoor Guide” (113 pages, $17.99) is a guide to parks, trails, nature preserves in Linn County, written with parents in mind. The book can be found at Next Page Books in Cedar Rapids, Swamp Fox Bookstore in Marion and other locations.
“I knew I wanted to connect moms to nature,” Baranowski, 36, explained in a recent interview. “Not only for the many benefits for children — there are so many research-backed benefits to that — but also for the moms. You can just feel your anxiety float away when you’re in a forest.”
The best part? Every location is close and accessible.
“I live in Marion and I don’t think I had to go further than 25 minutes to any place,” Baranowski said.
Getting outside
Baranowski grew up near the beach in Southern California and was “very outdoorsy” growing up. She met her now husband out there, a “Midwest boy” who ended up getting a job as a professor at Coe College.
“We moved out here in 2013 and I really did love Iowa right away. But I really struggled with winter,” she said.
But last year she heard about 1,000 Hours Outside challenge by author and podcaster Ginny Yurich, where she encourages families to spend 1,000 hours outside each year.
“I saw a friend of mine posting about it on Facebook and it happened to be when I was really struggling. The spring had just been really ugly — like a really cold, wet spring. And I saw her challenge and I thought — you know what? Let’s just try it.”
The family — Baranowski, her husband, and their two boys, ages 5 and 7 — hit their goal of 1,000 hours outside in 2023, and they’re pursuing the challenge again this year.
The experience proved to be transformative, both for their family and Baranowski’s career path.
“The more we got outside, the more I learned about nature and the more I realized there’s so much I don’t know. So I just started Googling — what can I do as a nonscientist to learn more about nature?”
She learned about the Iowa Master Naturalist basic training course, a 12-week program that includes professional instruction as well as 40 hours of volunteer work.
“It was incredible,” she said. “Three months of classes on the weekends with other like-minded folks, and we learned about so many things.”
Participants also were challenged to think of a project they could do that would help the community be connected to nature.
“The book kind of started from there,” she said.
Writing the guide
The book includes chapters on Iowa State Parks in Linn County, parks that are county-maintained, trails, nature preserves, and natural areas. Baranowski also provides information on availability amenities in each location — including bathrooms and other must-haves for parents.
The book also has helpful chapters on packing for the outdoors, seasonal bucket lists, and tips for enjoying nature as an adult.
One of the biggest surprises to Baranowski? The beauty of nature preserves.
“For the sake of the book I visited every nature preserve. And I had gone to maybe one or two before writing the book.”
“They don’t have as many amenities as a park, which can turn people away from them, but they often have trails, they’re not busy, they’re not crowded. And there’s so much to see.”
One of Baranowski’s “hidden gems” is the J. Harold Ennis Nature Preserve, located between Highway 30 and Highway 1.
“It has gorgeous woodland wildflowers,” she said. “This year was really fun because we went several times over the last few weeks and the whole forest floor just changes each time you go to different blooms, different stages of the flowers’ development, different mushrooms you can find.”
The preserve has a manageable walking loop that goes parallel with the Cedar River, perfect for “your wandering, walking kiddos.”
Reaping the benefits
After spending more time outdoors, Baranowski noticed a change in her entire family, especially with her two sons.
“I feel like nature was designed to be their playground,” she said. “They might not love hiking with us as much, but if they can go off the trail and play survival for two hours, they’re set. They don’t want to go home.”
“Their imagination runs wild, their teamwork, their problems solving skills — and you just never hear I’m bored — which is my least favorite thing to hear at home.”
Baranowski also noticed a change in herself.
“I used to be a really anxious person,” she explained. “But I think in going outside more I’ve been able to slow down, appreciate life for what it is, and just be still. It’s a very beneficial place for me to be,” she said.
“I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that spiritual we feel so connected to God when we’re in nature. It opens up a lot of conversations with our boys about who God is and what nature provides and just the harmony in that. And that’s been really neat to see and to experience and I think that probably connects to the mental health benefits as well — just that spiritual connection.”
A change in her family. A greater connection to her home community. A new book.
And it all started with just going outside.
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