Alternate Routes

Alternate Routes
            I started sharing hikes and insights on the HikingAutism.com website about five years ago, but the project to get my severely autistic son out from under his sensory-protective shell and out into the world started more than ten years back.
            In those early years, I took snapshots on a little workhorse digital pocket camera so I’d have images to share with Sean when we got home. His ability to process the world through visual images is much more powerful than his facility with language.
            I didn’t always get great photos in the early years, and on a few hikes at iconic places, I simply didn’t capture enough photos to create a hike post from.
            One such early hike was to West Point Inn, a hallmark hiking destination on Mt. Tam. For years I’ve thought about going back to take better photos for a hike post.
            Taking exactly the same footsteps we took before isn’t always the best choice. After stewing about returning to West Point Inn for years, I pulled out a map and realized there are multiple options for getting there.
            My younger brother visited recently to process the loss of our mom and dad. It felt like the perfect opportunity to climb up to West Point Inn using an alternate route from the one Sean and I first climbed with our old hiking buddy years before.
            It was a joy making a return hike to West Point Inn, with great weather, great company, and refreshing new views on trails I hadn’t walked before.
            When returning to the same place via exactly the same route doesn’t feel quite right, try switching up your path to expand your views and discover new things to appreciate.
            Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Old Stage Road to West Point Inn, takes readers up the ascending half of a loop hike between Bootjack Campground and West Point Inn on Mt. Tam.
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New this week:
Hike Notes 192: Old Stage Road to West Point Inn