Still Standing
            This ongoing pandemic situation sometimes feels like swimming in slow motion through a thick, transparent goo. We see terrible things happening left and right, yet are unable to reach through the gelatinous trap to help.
            We fumblingly attempt to take care of those immediately within reach: selves, loved ones, pets. When something goes awry with those, our sense of helplessness and frustration explodes.
            Seeing favorite restaurants, stores, fitness studios, museums, sports venues, performing arts institutions, and countless other places fall by the wayside knocks away our sense of foundation.
            Worse than the business and institutional closings is the people-related losses. Livelihoods. Homes. Health. Lives.
            Those harsh realities can’t be brushed aside, nor should they be. But to survive tough stretches like this, we have to find some sense of hope and optimism. I look out and remember the special places that are still here, the treasured people who are still here, the spirit of goodness that is still here among many.
            There’s no way to dodge the devastating reality brought on by the pandemic, but we can appreciate what is here today, and know that there will still be people, places and the essence of things we care about in existence going forward.
            Remember to tell people you love them. If you have a little money to spare, support a local business you love, or donate to an organization you value.
            Most of all, stop and take deep breaths. Look out and see that many of the things we love and rely on to sustain us are still standing. Even the worst pendulum swings eventually swing back in a good direction.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Fort Mason Stairs to Hyde Street Pier, a walk that offers classic views of Alcatraz, the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, and more.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:

1. (Original Hike Notes 58): Fort Mason Stairs to Hyde Street Pier

Old Comforts
            Finding comforting people, places and things is important any time, but especially during challenging times like the pandemic the world is suffering through.
            Pine forests. Gentle rolling mountains. Deep blue lakes. Raptors soaring overhead. Leaves rustling in a light breeze. These are comforting thoughts from my childhood, camping at lakes in the Adirondacks.
            Thousands of miles away and decades since I had easy access to those places, I still find comfort from those mental images.
            As years pass, the people and places we spend time around may change dramatically. We cultivate new comfort zones.
            Years of living in San Francisco means that broad beaches, rough surf, and areas that combine ocean views, mountain views and cityscapes have become comfort elements.
            I still dream of my old favorites, small lakes in the hills, surrounded by forests. Time spent hiking around the five lakes of the Marin Watershed have made them “new old favorites.” They feel like my Adirondack childhood, but are part of my current life in California.
            May everyone find places and things in their current life that bring back old comforts from the past.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Kent Lake from Shafter Bridge, take readers to one of the lovely lakes of the Marin Watershed that remind me of the Adirondacks where I grew up.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
New this week:
Hike Notes 112: Kent Lake from Shafter Bridge

The Big Picture View
            A week doesn’t go by without someone mentioning how the pandemic shutdown has them feeling like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” Fewer places to go, not as many people to see, less variety of activity. Each day is a recycling of small details from the day before.
            Friends can’t remember what day of the week it is, because everything repeats in a loop. This is surely not the first time I’ve made these points in a HikingAutism.com post in recent weeks. “Groundhog Day” it is.
            Being caught up in a narrow-scoped, repetitive loop can be discombobulating. For some it is depressing. For others it allows underlying emotional and psychological issues to mutate and grow. Relationships are subjected to new stresses.
            Simple things are helping people cope in a more positive way. Enjoying the slower pace, the lack of traffic-filled commutes, the ability to hang out with family (even if for some that means distracting background noise on work calls).
            Getting outdoors for a walk, even just in the immediate neighborhood, has been a lifesaver for many during this restrictive time. Parks and nature areas opening up more means more opportunities to expand our mental horizons as we drink in broader views.
            Cliché as it seems, standing on a high hill looking out at the distance is a healthy perspective-changer. Realizing how small we are in the big picture is oddly reassuring. 
            Even if our attempt at a broader view is limited to our back window or the top of a hill from a city block, looking away from our immediate surroundings helps put circumstances into context. There’s always something new in the distance that we can’t see clearly yet. (And some of it has to be good!)
            If you can get to the top of a high mountain to refresh your life perspective, good for you! For the rest of us, looking at the horizon from a hilltop or a window will still help us shake that “Groundhog Day” feeling.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Moraga Mosaic Stairs to Grandview Park, one of San Francisco’s many great stair walks with a priceless view.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 68): Moraga Mosaic Stairs to Grandview Park

Other Places, Other Times
            Restricted from going almost anywhere but home. Unable to join in regular activities with groups of people. Feeling trapped, stress builds and tempers become short.
            Sound like the pandemic shutdown? This is the day-to-day reality for some people even without an international health emergency. Being restricted in terms of location, people interaction, what we eat, where we shop, the ability to get medical care… Welcome to the world of a special needs family.
            One day the havoc wreaked by this virus will lessen. Our ability to move freely will return, maybe in somewhat different form, but things will be easier someday.
            In the meantime, thinking about beautiful places we’d like to visit, activities we want to do, and people we want to spend time with is a healthy fantasy escape. This vivid daydreaming about future highlights can brighten our restrictive current reality.
            I enjoy tapping into the past to think about the future, and have archives of photos from past favorite hikes that I haven’t yet posted on HikingAutism.com. I dreamed of going to Big Sur for many years and finally got there a couple of years ago. Looking at images of the stunning scenery of Big Sur, including the glorious Pfeiffer Beach, transports me to another time and place, with happy thoughts toward a future when I can visit again.
            This week’s Hike Notes take readers for a walk on Pfeiffer Beach – Big Sur. Pfeiffer Beach with its keyhole rock is a stellar highlight of the already magical Big Sur Coast.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
New this week:
Hike Notes 111: Pfeiffer Beach – Big Sur

The Long View
            Sometimes we hit a bump, realize we’re facing a big challenge, and figure, “That’s okay. I’ll work like hell to get past this, and then things will be back to normal.”
            In the early days of our son’s autism diagnosis, we—like many other parents—were told that if we worked hard enough, did enough research, and spent enough time and money filling every possible minute with special therapies and diets and learning tools, that our autistic child would “get better” and move on to have a normal life.
            Special therapies, diets and learning tools are great. They really are. Truth is, though, most autistic children go on to be autistic adults. Improvements, progress, yes. Being “cured” and “becoming normal,” not so much.
            Many who are on the autism spectrum resent the idea that they need to be “fixed.” For high functioning people, that’s an argument they can make, but for severely affected individuals with extreme communication limitations, and related medical conditions such as seizures, gastrointestinal problems and sleep disorders, relief from these challenges and a greater ability to function independently would be welcome.
            When our son was three, we were jolted by his diagnosis of having a “speech delay with autistic traits.” By age six, we felt discouraged at the lack of progress in overcoming speech and neurosensory challenges. By age nine, we realized that this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and that we had to figure out how to keep running at a pace that wouldn’t kill us.
            Long term caregivers have to figure out that balance.
            The current health crisis and social upheaval are similar. The world as a community has hit a big bump that initially looked like it couldn’t go on for long, but it is. We are in for a marathon on several fronts, so stop, look out in the distance, and try to enjoy the beauty of the big picture, without letting the in-your-face trauma knock you off your feet.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Ocean Beach – North End. San Francisco’s Ocean Beach offers sights and sounds that take the edge off city life.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 22): Ocean Beach - North End

Cool Gray Days
            Sometimes things feel too hot to handle. Temperatures, tempers… Add to that flare ups in a deadly virus, and explosively hot emotions over social issues. It’s easy to get caught up and feel feverish ourselves.
            Finding an escape from the heat—literally and figuratively—is a matter of survival. For lack of a better remedy, I “cool off” an overheated mind and soul with long walks.
            People in the San Francisco Bay Area know that heading to the coast is the best way to get a break from inland heat, which can easily rise over 100 °F. Living near Ocean Beach in San Francisco means chilly summer days with the heater on, nary an air conditioner to be seen.
            Though we enjoy hikes further inland, the heat knocks us back quickly as we’re used to our coastal average range of 45°F to 72°F. Our favorite hiking spots parallel our own microclimate.
            One of those “comfort zones” is Rodeo Beach and Lagoon in the Marin Headlands. We find happiness and calm just from the Golden Gate Bridge drive and a short walk on the beach, but also enjoy more challenging hikes in the hills. Memories of earlier days when my sons were little—before my younger son’s overwhelming neurosensory challenges trapped us in our own home—float up when we take the lagoon trail rising toward the Marin Headlands Visitor Center.
            My older son enjoys choosing the path sometimes. On a recent cool, foggy day, he led us around the full circle of the Lagoon Loop Trail, which we hadn’t done for years. Caught without my camera, I took iPhone snapshots, hoping to capture the soothing gray-green coolness of an overcast summer walk by Rodeo Lagoon.
            This week’s Hike Notes lead readers around the Rodeo Lagoon Loop – Marin Headlands. Rodeo Beach is a great starting spot for many hikes, including this 1.5 mile loop around the lagoon, which is also a bird watcher’s delight.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
New this week:
Hike Notes 110: Rodeo Lagoon Loop – Marin Headlands

Moving by Instinct
            The longer shelter in place goes, the harder to remember what day of the week it is, much less have a sense of the direction we’re going, whether big picture or small.
            Concentrating on familiar tasks takes more time and effort than normal. Uncertainty about disease and social unrest has the world feeling discombobulated.
            The need for routine, engagement in facilitated activities, and interaction with familiar people and places makes this an especially tough time for people like my son on the autism spectrum.
            Trying to complete work projects despite my son’s need for 24/7 supervision is hard (he’s edgy enough that we hear him ambling around the house rearranging objects at 2 AM), but daily walk breaks with him are a highlight.
            Some old favorite areas are opening up. This week we found ourselves at a site that has a return loop option through a vague, faded patchwork of paths. For some reason, we hadn’t taken those hard-to-see back trails in a couple of years.
            For some on the autism spectrum, processing information in language, and executive functioning skills that require thinking in strategic layers, are not strong points. Our son often relies on instincts—or whatever name you choose for sensibilities that go beyond the standard five senses—as well as exceptional visual and sound memory. The upside is that he remembers where the car is parked better than we do sometimes. The downside is that the “fight or flight” instinct operates on a hairpin trigger.
            Our last walk on those back paths being so long ago, I decided to let Sean lead the way back, watching to see if he’d take the easy direct return trail, or the meandering, obscure paths most people would have no idea to look for.
            He headed toward the hard-to-find paths. Staying silent (an accomplishment for me), I let him walk a few yards ahead. Silently and steadily, he navigated every turn correctly, naturally finding a key spot that even I miss sometimes.
            Watching him cut through the brush to instinctively, confidently wend his way back to the trailhead, I felt an unexpected sense of pride. That’s MY son, moving by instinct on hidden trails.
            Despite the foggy confusion, our underlying instincts are still here. A quiet walk on a back path helps us tap into ours. May you find opportunities to recognize your own instinctive abilities.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Rockaway Beach via Calera Creek Path. This mostly paved walk leads to stunning views from Pacifica’s Rockaway Beach, with the opportunity to be a little more adventurous on the return trip.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 44): Rockaway Beach via Calera Creek Path

Around the Corner
            Just when life looks calm, things can blow up unexpectedly. We might experience a personal loss of a loved one or job. We may struggle on a global scale with a pandemic or social turmoil. We might be hit on both levels simultaneously.
            Yet when life feels like a series of disasters with no bright spots in view, something uplifting appears around the next corner.
            Families with members on the autism spectrum deal with unpredictability on a day to day, if not minute to minute basis. Ranging from the sudden onset of seizures for some, to more mundane issues like all the shampoo, toilet paper, and toothbrushes disappearing from the bathroom to be systematically arranged in another part of the house, “bad surprises” can be life threatening or just aggravating.
            On the flip side, hearing a new word, or receiving a smile with eye contact and a hug can be joyful surprises.
            Though “expecting the unexpected” doesn’t make hard times easier, remembering that good things might be around the corner helps us carry on. 
            Appreciate unanticipated good fortune and kindness. Gratitude is a surprising salve for anxiety.
            Keep putting one foot forward.
            This week’s Hike Notes bring readers to the Lyon Street Steps – San Francisco Stair Walk, one of San Francisco’s many stunning stairway walks that offer both stunning views and a good cardio workout.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
New this week:
Hike Notes 109: Lyon Street Steps – San Francisco Stair Walk

Seeing Past
            Our senses are remarkably capable of tuning out extraneous “noise” that makes sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and physical stimuli seem like a jumbled mess.
            We focus like a laser on the smell of pumpkin pie, even with a dozen other aromas in the air.
            We gaze at a painting and the surrounding visuals fade from sight. We distinguish the sound of our own child’s voice from those of twenty kids at the playground.
            One brightly flavored food item can cleanse the palate of the half dozen other tastes in our mouth. The feeling of a hug can transcend the pain of an injury, at least for a moment.
            What if these five senses and beyond—including our complex, multilayered senses that deal with stress and trauma—are pummeled from all sides simultaneously? How can we find focus?
            Tapping into our instinctive ability to hone in on a particular point helps us get through confusing, alarming times.
            The turmoil of political chaos, a pandemic, and social unrest combined make for an intense, multi-level attack on our sensory intake system.
            Pause and breathe. Stand still and look beyond the tangled branches. Past the confusing clutter, find something to look toward with optimism. Hope and clarity are always floating around us, they’re just hard to see sometimes.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Lands End Lookout to Mile Rock Beach. Lands End Trail offers dramatic views, fog or sunshine, with various views of the Golden Gate Bridge through the trees.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 3): Lands End Lookout to Mile Rock Beach

The Fallen Petal
            When I was a kid, my oldest brother spoke about how Japanese samurai looked at death like falling cherry blossoms. A symbolic bit of short-lived beauty fluttering to the ground in an aesthetically exquisite and noble demise. A lifelong fascination was ignited.
            I lived in Japan for five and a half years during my twenties. The Japanese passion for cherry blossoms is not just a cultural stereotype. Celebrating their transient beauty at their fleeting floral peak truly is a national pastime.
            The transitory nature of life sounds romantic in poetry, but for those of us who’ve experienced the sudden, unexpected loss of a young, apparently healthy person—never a chance to say goodbye, never a chance to express loving gratitude—once is more than enough.
          Sudden loss can lead to complicated grief, one that never seems to process fully. The HikingAutism.com web site is part of my ongoing grief process about the unexpected loss of our young “autism whisperer.”
            And yet we might experience such a loss again. And it hurts as much the second time. This week’s post is dedicated to the memory of another beautiful soul lost suddenly from our world.
            One can only keep walking forward, and believe that the overwhelming sadness will someday evolve into happy ways of celebrating a life once lived, and the legacy left behind.
            In western culture, it is a falling rose petal that symbolizes the intertwining of death and beauty.
            This week’s Hike Notes leads readers to the Rose Garden – Golden Gate Park, home to stellar examples of the western world’s iconic flower, the rose, and a great visiting spot for longer walks in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
            The long list of Hikes can be found on the Quick View Hike List and on the main Hikes page. All past Insights posts can also be viewed in the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photo galleries at the bottom of each hike page! Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Please feel free to share.
New this week:
Hike Notes 108: Rose Garden – Golden Gate Park