Expanding Horizons
            Gazing in the distance where the sky meets land or sea, the weight on our shoulders feels lighter. Problems don’t feel as big.
          There’s a sense of possibility. Whoever we are, whatever is happening in our lives, we can see beyond our small selves.
           Those coping with daunting developmental or physical challenges may find going to new places overwhelming.
           Getting far enough from home to find a horizon to gaze at can feel impossible for caregivers, too.
          Our autistic son used to find the slightest change from the familiar intolerable, to the point that we felt virtually housebound for years.
     With extraordinary support new and old (In Memory and Thanks), gritty determination, and unconditional love, we even managed to get our son to do overnight cabin stays, immersed in a forest, facing the ocean, somewhere away from home.
         He—and we—evolve into new selves even by the end of a brief hike. Being outdoors, stopping to take a deep breath, and seeing the bigger world around us not only calms us but opens our hearts.
        Take a moment each day to look up at the sky, the trees, or shimmering water, even if it’s just dewdrops on a spider web.
         Small moments offer broader horizons, too. Keep putting one foot forward!
     This week’s Hike Notes are from the HikingAutism archives, Point Bonita Lighthouse in the Marin Headlands, a great place to catch a daylight or sunset horizon view.
            Do you have a favorite walk? Share with readers in World Walks! Two or three sentences and photos allow other readers to share your special hike. See the World Walks link for how to submit your walk to share. It’s easy!
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 13): Point Bonita Lighthouse
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism

Sharp Contrasts
            Starkly delineated shadows of roots, trees, rocks, people… Contrasting shadows trigger emotional sensors. Why does the silhouette of a lone figure—human, animal or tree—stir our hearts?
            The frequent foggy, overcast days in my ocean beach neighborhood mean that my typical visual landscape is subtle shades of gray. On a bright, clear day, though, watch out. The dark shadows against zingy blue skies stand out like a Maxfield Parrish painting.
            There is always something dark happening in the world, something tumultuous occurring in our individual lives. Enjoying calm moments despite rough stretches is a key to survival.
            A walk along a beach, a hike on an earthy trail, a brief neighborhood stroll, a moment tending plants, or just looking out the window watching birds, have been the magic tricks for turning dark times to moments of gratitude for me and my family.
            May we all learn to enjoy the bright spots as we navigate unpredictable waters. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Crissy Field East Beach and Crissy Marsh, leads readers along a stretch of beach at Crissy Field that has amazing views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge facing one direction, and a sparkling marsh dotted with water fowl on the other.
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism
New this week:
Hike Notes 137: Crissy Field East Beach and Crissy Marsh

Sharing Beach Walks, Old and New
            Eons ago, I had the luxury of six weeks traveling around Asia, a rare break floating between years of living in Japan and a return to living in the U.S.
            One of the places my husband and I stayed was a sea turtle refuge on the east coast of Malaysia. Visitors were woken before dawn by staff to run down to the beach with flashlights and see the last straggling baby turtles make their way to the water, inviting visitors only after turtles emerged and made their way to safety. Turtle egg poachers were as big a concern as natural predators.
            We met a wonderful couple from the Netherlands during our stay at that Malaysian turtle beach, and have remained friends decades later. They visited us in the US, and we visited them in the Netherlands.
            Life sometimes throws us curveballs that prevent us from traveling much, but we can still enjoy looking at other places, and thinking how we may enjoy a beautiful place, whether virtually or some day in person.
            Our Dutch friends’ World Walks share, this week’s highlight, starts from a city train station and ends up at the beach: Hague Central Station to Scheveningen-Netherlands. This scenic Dutch World Walks is a great example of beautiful hikes within an urban environment. Hague Central Station to Scheveningen-Netherlands ends near a scenic pier, which triggered a memory of this week’s Hike Notes from the HikingAutism archives, Pacifica Pier from Mori Point. 
            It’s a treat for me to vicariously enjoy walks from locations far from Northern California. Have a favorite walk? Share with readers in World Walks! Two or three sentences and photos allow other readers to share your enjoyment. See the World Walks link for how to submit your walk to share. It’s easy!
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 62): Pacifica Pier from Mori Point
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism

Get Up, Get Out
            Weather’s not great. Weighed down by a long to-do list. Feeling sluggish, mentally and physically.
            There are a million reasons to say, “I don’t feel like going for a walk today.”
            In our house, overcoming those instincts are a matter of necessity and habit.
            Getting outdoors for fresh air and exercise has proven to be the top stabilizing force for our severely autistic son over the years.
            It took a lot of work for him to overcome extreme sensory overload to get out in the world, but now our son nudges us to get ready for an outing if we’re not moving fast enough.
            “Black shoes, brown-yellow shoes, brown shoes, blue shoes!”
            Listing each family member’s shoes means he wants to go out. He sees the shoes lined up by the door and knows we’ll be leaving for the day’s adventure soon.
            Getting up and getting out doesn’t have to be a big destination trip. Sometimes we take old familiar walks, or explore nearby paths we haven’t tried before.
            Fresh air and seasonal light, trees and flowers, bird songs and the whisper of a breeze—these are highlights most of us can experience near home.
            We just have to get off the sofa and out the door to enjoy them.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Lake Merced East Walk, takes readers on paths along Lake Merced, a refreshing sight on foggy or sunny days, at the southwest corner of San Francisco.
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism
New this week:
Hike Notes 136: Lake Merced East Walk

Walking In Loops
            When we aim for a destination, the simple “Point A to Point B” concept comes to mind. Yet how often do we move in a straight line on our journeys?
            Whether walking along city streets or on a trail, I typically take several turns to get where I’m going. The same holds true when traveling in a vehicle.
            Life in general? Not only do we take meandering paths and detours during significant stretches of our lives, but many of us end up at a different destination than our original plan.
            Not only is that okay, it’s good for us. We gain knowledge and flexibility by navigating unexpected paths.
            Though I enjoy out-and-back hikes (trailhead-destination-same trail back to trailhead), I really love loop trails. Every step offers new scenery, even after reaching the featured goal site.
            This week’s highlighted World Walks hike is a four mile loop walk offering a stunning mixture of mountain and water scenery, with a reasonably smooth path for walking: Gros Morne – Western Brook Pond. This scenic Canadian World Walks hike is an offering from Marjorie Turner Hollman, a fellow hiking and disabilities writer who helps others get out to enjoy nature. Though based on the east coast, Marjorie has been kind enough to share some of her international walks with HikingAutism. Check out her handy guide, Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are, and her website https://marjorieturner.com for more information on walks, many of them in Massachusetts and other New England states.
            HikingAutism shares mostly Northern California hikes, but readers enjoy seeing the variety of walking sites in other countries and parts of the U.S.
            Have a favorite walk? Share with readers in World Walks! Two or three sentences and photos allow other readers to share your enjoyment. See the World Walks link for how to submit your walk to share. It’s easy!
            Marjorie’s Gros Morne contribution is a four mile loop walk, and so is this week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Tennessee Valley. A four mile loop through chaparral, eucalyptus trees, and gently sloping trails through a valley lead to a dramatic beach opening up to the powerful Pacific Ocean.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 7): Tennessee Valley
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism

Summer Brothers
            My two sons walk behind when I need a clear shot of a trail, but often they amble ahead while I stop sporadically to take photos.
            I cannot count how many images I’ve taken of my older son taking my autistic son by the hand for our walks. Maybe it’s the other way around. Younger son Sean reaches for his brother, rejecting mom or dad’s hand if his brother is available.
            Recent hot weather made even our chilly ocean neighborhood feel like real summer. I watched as they walked ahead on the beach, heart fully aware that they have just the summer to walk together. In the fall, big brother is moving to London for his job, staying for who knows how long.
            People ask if we’ve explained that to nonverbal Sean yet. We say, “Not really,” because there is no clear way to explain such an impending absence to a severely autistic boy who is used to having his brother nearby.
            There will be screen time interaction, and there will be visits, but regular walks on a trail together will be until summer ends.
            Sean will have only mom or dad’s hand from fall, and that will have to be enough.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Sand Ladder to Baker Beach, leads readers down the long, sandy stairway in San Francisco’s Presidio to popular Baker Beach, with dramatic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands.
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism
New this week:
Hike Notes 135: Sand Ladder to Baker Beach

A Regular Escape
            Words in a recent World Walks contribution hit home for me:
            “I enjoy this walk because it provides access to nature and solitude very close to my house ... It’s more of a regular escape than a special walk.”
            Contributor Sally captured the key to many of our family walks. Our regular dose of nature and peace doesn’t require a long drive out of the city. Walks right near home have as much power to soothe souls and lift hearts as a special destination hiking trail.
            Check out Sally’s stunning photographs of her Green Farm Conservation Park walk, and see why she loves going there.
            Last week we were on one of “our own backyard” walks a few blocks from home, the always spectacular Sutro Baths. On clear days you can see the shape of the coast sixty miles away. On foggy days you can still make out pelicans flying in formation low over the waves.
            Do you have a favorite walk near home, or a special hike you make a special trip to get to? Share with readers in World Walks! Two or three sentences and photos allow other readers to enjoy spots you love.
            We are grateful for exceptional, far-from-home hikes, but tapping into nearby nature spots is our daily sanity saver. Remember to take a deep breath and enjoy a quiet nature moment, even if just listening to a bird or watering a plant at home.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Sutro Baths, the scenic ruins of a once-grand structure at the western edge of San Francisco, where sea lions and whales swim offshore, and big ships can be seen heading out to the Pacific from the Golden Gate.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 70): Sutro Baths
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism

Subtle Spaces
            The pansies, impatiens, and lobelia we’d recently planted were starting to fill out our front porch window boxes. Our house would again be painted purple, pink and white through late spring and summer.
            A pot at the back of the porch, neglected through winter, had a telltale sprouting of color in the unusual, alien shape that only fuchsia displays.
            “Aha!” I thought. “Time to visit an unexplored treasure.”
            On a winter walk, we had noticed the words “Fuchsia Dell” on a park map. How could we not know there’s a part of Golden Gate Park dedicated to one of my favorite flowers?
            I imagined the bright, bold colors and fascinating shapes of fuchsia giving us a visual blast.
            We followed a path from behind the Conservatory of Flowers to a forested, shady section of Golden Gate Park.
            “Where are the fuchsia?” I asked as we arrived in the general area noted as the Fuchsia Dell.
            “They’re here,” my older son said. “Just look.”
            Dotted here and there were a variety of lovely fuchsias, but they were not blazing at us like neon signs.
            Perhaps this was because it was early in the season. Another possibility: the place I’d imagined was simply more subtle and quiet than I’d expected.
            Old trees and blossoming bushes welcomed small gatherings on the grass, and lone figures reading on cozy benches. There was no pressing rush of crowds as we stopped to photograph the lovely, less-flashy-than-expected fuchsias.
            We had stumbled onto a quiet place in the park that was meant to be so, and enjoyed by those who know it’s important to stop and savor peaceful moments.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Fuchsia Dell-Golden Gate Park, takes readers to a quiet, shady part of Golden Gate Park, where fuchsias bloom from May to late fall.
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism
New this week:
Hike Notes 134: Fuchsia Dell-Golden Gate Park

And Yet a World Away
            I once was a world traveler. Living in Japan for five years after college, every vacation break was an opportunity to explore. I visited the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma (now Myanmar), Singapore, Korea, and also squeezed in a visit to Australia. After returning to the US, I found opportunities to travel in Europe.
            Two kids and one autism diagnosis later, my dream of taking my family on trips to other states and countries shrank to nothing. Our ability to go anywhere was inversely proportional to the level of my son Sean’s autism challenges.
            When his sensory overload problems were at their worst, not just plane trips, but even going across town felt impossible. We were trapped at home.
            With years of hard work, the support of gifted helpers, and Sean’s courage to keep trying, we gradually fought our way back into the world. We even manage an overnight cabin stay on rare occasions.
            I like to think that HikingAutism readers vicariously enjoy the hiking sites I share. By the same token, I pretend I’m immersed in the beautiful walks readers share in the new World Walks section.
            A recent World Walks share included a photo of a Canada goose, and another of bare feet in a creek. I was reminded of an iconic hike to Kirby Cove with Sean’s miraculous helper shortly before he passed away unexpectedly (In Memory and Thanks, and Getting Sean Out). A Canada goose decided to hang out by our beach blanket, and that day’s sensory therapy goal was for Sean to walk barefoot on the beach.
            That memory feels like yesterday and yet forever ago. Though my friend Wendy’s World Walks contribution with the Canada goose and bare feet, Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, is within California, driving trip struggles make it feel like a world away for my family. So glad the internet allows us to travel virtually.
            Many don’t have the resources or freedom to travel. Enjoy whatever adventures are available to you, even if it is a stroll around your back yard, or an armchair trip via page or screen!
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Kirby Cove, a beach at the bottom of a steep trail, looking out at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 11): Kirby Cove
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area (was Quick View Hike List) page. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact.
            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! Please feel free to share, and follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism

Trail Buddies
            “Don’t worry,” I assured the least enthusiastic member of our entourage. “This hike isn’t that long, it’s just a little steep at the start,” I said, vaguely remembering a visit a few years earlier.
            The trail marker was encouraging.
            Old Sled Trail, Carson Falls, 1.0 mile
            “One mile! How hard can a mile be?” I chuckled confidently.
            Turns out that “one mile” can feel like three pretty quickly.
            Used to the chilly fog of our San Francisco neighborhood, the dry heat knocked us back. The sound of cicadas, freshly emerged from their long slumber, reminded me of hot summers in my childhood.
            The half mile climb from the trailhead to the fire road not only had steep stretches, but the little-used trail offered slippery gravel underfoot, and poison oak at our sides.
            “Look at that view! Check out all these wildflowers!” I said, shaking off the dirty look I felt on my back in light of my overly optimistic description.
            Scenic views, including the falls—plus the end of the return stretch being downhill—added up to a good adventure for everyone.
            Hitting the trail together involves balancing varying levels of energy and enthusiasm. Staying together, nudging each other forward, reminding others to stop for water, or calling out when you need the rest of the crew to wait up are all part of the experience.
            May your trail buddies be patient, persistent, and stick together when the trail gets rough. Keep putting one foot forward.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Carson Falls, leads readers along a short but moderately strenuous trail in the Mt. Tam Watershed to Carson Falls, home of a rare yellow-legged frog.
            See walks contributed by readers in World Walks, and maybe share a walk of your own!
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. Browse the long list of hikes under Hikes or using Hike Search by Area. Check out the Insights/Hike Update News archives.
            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! Please feel free to share. Follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism
New this week:
Hike Notes 133: Carson Falls