Around the Corner
            Intriguing, mysterious, a little scary. A turn in the trail lies ahead, and we can’t see what’s around the corner.
            Even familiar turf—a favorite park or hiking trail, the well-worn path from our living room to the kitchen—can hold surprises around a blind turn. Time and the changing nature of the world guarantee that nothing stays exactly the same, even in our most familiar settings.
            For an autistic person like our son—who desperately clings to familiarity in terms of sight, sound, timing and place—not knowing what’s around the corner can be panic-inducing. And yet he walks around new corners in some way every day.
            Spending time in nature gradually adjusted his sensory panic switch. Now our severely autistic son enjoys walking in new places and exploring, even if it’s a little bit scary.
            Any of us can feel overwhelmed at not knowing what’s coming up around the next bend. We can’t control the changing, unpredictable nature of the world, so we walk onward with appropriate caution. The next turn may just as well reveal something calm and neutral as it does an uplifting adventure or something dark and ominous.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Sutro Heights, takes visitors to a historic city park at the very western edge of San Francisco, with it’s own surprising visual treasures at every turn, including views of Ocean Beach, Seal Rocks, the Sutro Bath ruins, and the Marin Headlands.
            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 125: Sutro Heights

Blooms of Promise
            As a kid growing up in Upstate New York, I reveled in cold, dark winters. Snow country folk are a hardy bunch, the harshness of winter only making us stronger. Much as I loved winter, I was transfixed each year when somewhere from under the sparkling snow, daffodils would force their way up to the surface. Those green shoots and yellow buds were a perennial wonder to me, proving the power of spring blooms to overcome the forces of winter.
            Even climates without snow can have long, grueling winters with a damp cold that sinks into your bones. I complain about the cold in San Francisco more than I ever did in snowy New York, where we would comment that the temperature was finally rising UP to freezing.
            After a long stretch of chilly, gray days, seeing buds on trees lifts the spirits. Foreshadowing warmer days to come, we watch for plum blossoms in late winter and cherry blossoms in early spring.
            The stars of the show even during winter, however, are the dazzling magnolia blossoms that appear in many varieties and colors, whether in backyards or city parks.
            The annual show put on by glorious magnolias reminds us that the cycles of nature bring bold beauty even after the darkest, toughest stretches—indeed, even in the very midst of a difficult, chilling time.
            We take heart from the signs of beauty and goodness around us, and walk forward with a lighter step.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Magnolia Stroll-San Francisco Botanical Gardens, leading visitors through an important and varied collection of stunning magnolia trees, interspersed with other wonderful plant varieties at San Francisco’s Botanical Gardens.
            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 46): Magnolia Stroll-San Francisco Botanical Gardens

Seeing Beyond
            For caregivers tasked with maintaining the health, safety and hopefully happiness of a loved one unable to function independently, every day is a mixture of stark contrasts. Dark, doubtful moments are hopefully counterbalanced by a sense of goodness and gratitude.
            This may be even more true for the individual dealing with the extraordinary challenges. A parent with dementia and mobility issues. A child with autism, neurosensory disorders, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy. A loved one dealing with a head injury, stroke, or seizures. The list is infinite.
            It would be very easy for an affected individual or a caregiver to fall into depression or despair. The ability to look beyond the darker parts of a day—or a week, a year, a decade—and find light and hope, is a key to survival. Gallows humor is another saving grace. If we couldn’t laugh through our toughest moments, we would not be able to go on.
            Seeing the light beyond the shadows is an ongoing theme of HikingAutism.com, because it is such a core element for carrying onward.
            This is a basic truth for any person, any community, any country. When things are at their darkest, we stop, remind ourselves of the goodness in ourselves and others, and keep moving ahead.
            Taking that brief moment every day to absorb nature’s comforts—a view from a hilltop, the smell of fresh earth underfoot on a trail, an ocean vista, a flower popping up through a city sidewalk, a small plant we’re tending in our kitchen window—helps remind us of the bright spots.
            Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Fort Miley at Lands End, takes readers to an easily overlooked hill above San Francisco’s Lands End that has history embedded within its woodsy scenery.
            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 124: Fort Miley at Lands End

Rough Waters
            Living a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, when we see an orange Coast Guard helicopter flying toward the beach, our hearts sink. When helicopters and fire trucks hover near the water’s edge, it’s likely that someone got in trouble with big surf or rip tides, or slipped off a cliff or a boat.
            It’s scary, and it’s sad. We check the local news, hoping no lives were lost.
            This disconcerting scene has repeated countless times over long years living at the edge of the powerful Pacific. Yet we still visit the beach. We take walks, we take photos, we absorb quiet moments of nature’s solace where sand meets water.
            We respect the power of the ocean. When there’s a high surf warning, we stay away. We try to follow the rule of never turning our back on the ocean. Sneaker waves really do sneak up on people.
            Despite our efforts, we have been hit by rogue waves, enough to get wet, knocked off our feet and lose some equipment, but not enough to get pulled out away from shore, fortunately.
            There are many forces in the world that swell unexpectedly, sometimes with great danger. Listen for warnings. Stay vigilant. Stay safe and peaceful.
            We don’t stop enjoying the goodness and beauty of the ocean, despite its unpredictable dangerous swells, and we won’t stop appreciating the goodness and beauty of our world, and all the good people in it. Stay safe.
            This week’s Hike Notes are from the archives, Pillar Point Harbor – Mavericks Beach, a place where just offshore, some of the biggest waves a human can ride draw the best surfers from all over the world.
            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 101): Pillar Point Harbor – Mavericks Beach

Light Through Dark Forest
            Roaming through a deep forest passage, view sometimes blocked by tangled branches, can both exhilarate and exhaust us. We may find ourselves there by happenstance or by choice.
            Goodbyes to loved ones who left this earth unexpectedly. Bad fall, bad biopsy, breathing in the wrong air. Job gone, school sites closed, support systems on hold. In this pandemic, many have suffered through more than one of these traumatic ordeals.
            We fall onto a temporarily murky, twisting and difficult path through no fault of our own. Yet we will set one foot in front of the other and walk, because moving onward is in our nature.
            Give up sure work to do something creative. Welcome a new member into the home, be they human or animal. Undertake a challenging course of study for better opportunities down the line. These are conscious choices to walk down an unsure, partially obscured path, emboldened by the hope that things will brighten as we plod onward.
            The promise of bright open spaces ahead draws us powerfully forward. Sitting stagnantly on the cold, soggy dirt of a dispiriting trail for too long is not helpful. We get up, brush off the damp earth, and move our feet again.
            Sometimes the misty, spooky stretches of a path have a haunting beauty that remains in our minds long after the bright stretches fade. Tales of our shadowy stretches mark us with thrilling badges of accomplishment. We survived the lurking creatures that rustled the bushes along our trail.
            We see light ahead, and we walk forward. Bathing in the sunshine, we know we will walk along challenging, clouded trails again in the future, and also that we will reach the sunny clearings again over time.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Devil’s Gulch, leads walkers through mossy, damp, shady trails, as well as open sky spaces with rounded grassy hills and turkey vultures flying overhead, a perfect example of the joys of both dark and light on a trail.
            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 123: Devil’s Gulch