Yampatika Center Engages Families in Steamboat Get Outside Challenge

Steamboat Springs —The Yampatika Center for the Arts and Nature didn’t just host a few hikes this summer. They orchestrated a data-driven campaign that tracked nearly 3,000 distinct activities across dozens of local families. It wasn’t a passive nature walk; it was a gamified push for environmental stewardship, and the numbers suggest it actually worked.

Thirty-seven families and 21 individuals participated in the inaugural “Get Outside Challenge.” The total activity count? 2,739 tracked events. That’s an average of 748 activities for families and 1,991 for individuals. For context, that’s a lot of miles on the ground and a significant amount of time spent looking at trees instead of screens.

The program’s goal was to turn environmental protection into a competitive sport. Kristen Jespersen, Yampatika’s Executive Director, put it plainly: “We’re trying to motivate and incentivize children and families to become environmental stewards.” She added that reinforcing this behavior in young kids creates “lifelong environmental protectors.”

It’s a noble sentiment. The execution relied on an app called Challenge Hound to track points across four categories: Move, Explore, Observe, and Protect. You got points for walking or running in nature, identifying flora and fauna, collecting things, or actively cleaning up trash. The prizes were designed to keep the momentum going. The grand prize for individuals was an Ikon Pass. For families, it was a pass to Old Town Hot Springs.

The results were tangible. Four-year-old Miles Koenig Dirschl didn’t just participate; he obsessed. He asked his mother, Katie Koenig, and caretaker Daniela Varona to get out daily. They bought him Salomon trail running shoes and an Osprey hydration pack so he could run with his three-legged shepherd dog, Twinkle. Miles represents the ideal outcome: a child who sees the outdoors not as a backdrop, but as a playground and a workplace.

Then there were the Feagler brothers, Axel and Micah. They targeted the “Protect” category. “It was fun because we won the Protect category,” they said. Their method? Hiking Fish Creek Falls and doing river cleanups. Their dog, Daisy, was a key asset in the cleanup effort. It’s hard to argue with that kind of engagement.

For newcomers, the challenge served as a rapid orientation tool. Stephanie Schield and her children, Maddie and Eva, moved to Steamboat recently. They used the challenge to map out the local trail network. “Being new to Steamboat, we were eager to explore all of the trails when the school-year ended,” Schield said. They hit Upper Fish Creek Falls and Thunderhead trails repeatedly. Maddie aimed to hike specific routes ten times. By late summer, she was doing them in under an hour. She didn’t just visit the area; she learned its rhythms.

The Schissler family focused on the “Observe” category, winning the family competition in that specific bracket. Their highlight was a hike to Gilpin Lake in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, which Maddie described as feeling like a scene from “Lord of the Rings.”

The math is simple. The program cost the community nothing in terms of direct taxpayer burden — it’s funded by Yampatika, a private non-profit. The return on investment is measured in health, familiarity with local geography, and the formation of habits. When a four-year-old is asking to go for a run at 6 a.m., or a teenager is cleaning a creek bed for points, you aren’t just getting exercise. You’re getting a generation that knows how to care for the land they live on.

The program didn’t just fill calendars. It filled the local trail network with people who were actively looking for reasons to stay. That’s a win for the environment, and it’s a win for the community’s collective health.