Same Yet Different
            Standing at the trailhead above the beach, I watch the surfers. I have a secret rule that I can’t move forward until I’ve seen three surfers catch waves. Every wave and every ride is different.
            I make my way down to the beach, the surface made of tiny, ocean-ground pebbles rather than fine sand. A peaceful lagoon lies to my left as my eye is drawn to the rough waves and rock formations on my right. On one day the sun is bright, on another a gusty wind blows from a gray sky.
            Walking toward the rusty colored trails and bluffs ahead, I turn left and take in the view of the quiet lagoon, sometimes dotted with birds, other times empty.
            I make my way up the hill along the trail that takes me through a mixture of open spaces, stretches of trail narrowed by thick brush, and an iconic eucalyptus tree that feels magical every visit, the light and shadow highlighting the branches differently each time.
            Wildflowers line the trail in spring, dry brush at the end of summer. The rolling hills in the distance are a vivid green after winter rains, and shift to a pale gold by the end of the dry season.
            Like any favorite trail, favorite place, or favorite person, every visit varies. The sky is brighter, the temperature is lower, different flowers are blooming, the mood is different.
            Familiar places, events and people constitute the comfort zones of our lives, even though they—and we—are always changing.
            What makes familiarity comforting? Do we notice the differences each time? Perhaps it is the combination of both sameness and novelty that keeps us coming back to old favorites. Enjoy your special places, and keep putting one foot forward!
             This week’s Hike Notes from the archives is 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.
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 110): Rodeo Lagoon Loop-Marin Headlands
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area page. Check out selected articles and interviews under Media. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact. See products with inspiring designs that support the efforts of HikingAutism under Support/Shop. The Links page lists a loose collection of helpful information links.
            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! Feel free to share and follow on Facebook at HikingAutism, follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism and Instagram at lisalouis777

Two Steps Forward
            My younger son Sean, who is challenged by severe autism, was so overwhelmed by sensory overload in his early years that he could barely get out of the house, much less go for long hikes.
            With a lot of work, we got him out in nature to walk. He often walked while clinging to one of us parents, head on one of our shoulders. Or he walked with his head slumped down and his shoulders hunched.
            We often did what we called the “Fred and Ginger,” moving face to face with Sean, one of us guiding him like Fred Astaire while he moved backwards like Ginger Rogers. Instead of being light on our feet, we were slow and dragging.
            Even when walking forward, Sean often shuffled his feet along the dirt, barely picking them up off the ground, though he did move forward. Maybe he liked the feeling of scuffing his feet.
            Our outdoor activity helper suggested he try using hiking poles. Sure enough, over time with some coaching, Sean started walking with better posture. He lifted his head a bit, though he still looked mostly at the ground. He still liked to scuff his feet, though the hiking poles helped some.
            Many years later, Sean walks with pretty good posture without using hiking poles, though he still keeps his head tilted toward the ground.
            He picks his feet up step by step much better than he used to, but once in awhile that scuffing habit kicks in again.
            When I encourage readers to, “Keep putting one foot forward!” I mean that both literally and figuratively. Step by step, we can all make progress. And if you slip back a little sometimes, that’s okay, too.
            As people repeatedly told us over the years with Sean, life often involves taking two steps forward, then one step back, but that means we’re still moving forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Gerbode Valley-Bobcat Trail, offers a hike offering views of the soft rolling hills of the Marin Headlands and the ocean, all over a relatively easy rise in elevation.
            Check the Home page for the broader background story. Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area page, and scroll to the bottom of each hike page to see full photo galleries.
            If you’d like to support HikingAutism, check out the Support/Shop page! Check out selected articles and interviews under Media. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact. The Links page lists a loose collection of helpful information links. Feel free to share and follow on Facebook at HikingAutism, follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism and Instagram at lisalouis777
New this week:
Hike Notes 201: Gerbode Valley-Bobcat Trail

Falling Petals
            In the five and a half years I lived in Kyoto, Japan, I came to understand the reverence for cherry blossom season. In my school days, I was moved by Japanese poetry comparing the death of a samurai in the prime of life to a falling cherry blossom petal in its fleeting moment of beauty, but I didn’t truly understand the cherry blossom obsession.
            Instead of studying Japanese at a school for foreigners, I hired a private tutor to teach me to read and write. She taught me the three different character sets using textbooks for Japanese students, starting from kindergarten level. I was bewildered by how many lesson pages were about hanami, the Japanese tradition of cherry blossom viewing.
            But the first April came, and then the second, and on until I passed through six cherry blossom seasons in Kyoto. I repeatedly visited personal favorites among countless stunning places to see glorious blossoms from a variety of trees. Pale pinkish-white blossoms, deep pink blossoms shaped like pompoms, medium pink blossoms draping down like a willow tree.
            I made sure I caught the blossoms at their peak each season. “I saw them!” I thought each year. “I didn’t miss them!”
            My husband and I planted a small cherry tree as soon as we bought our little house in San Francisco. We took photos of our boys in front of the tree each year when it blossomed.
            Sadly, our little cherry tree is looking forlorn. Too many years of drought? The lichen growing on its branches and the lack of buds are discouraging. We went to see the cherry blossoms at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park last weekend, and saw many trees that looked like ours, still dormant, few buds, some with branches marked by what might be a disease.
            There were still plenty of beautiful cherry blossoms to see. Perhaps the bedraggled trees that looked like ours will be late bloomers and surprise us all.
            And if our little tree has bloomed its last bloom, we will gently put it to rest and plant a new one.
            Cherry trees bloom at different times by location and type. Enjoy finding these treasured ornamental trees where you live!
            This week’s HikingAutism Hike Notes from the archives is Japanese Tea Garden Stroll, an easy walk through the garden paths of the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 56): Japanese Tea Garden Stroll
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area page. Check out selected articles and interviews under Media. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact. See products with inspiring designs that support the efforts of HikingAutism under Support/Shop. The Links page lists a loose collection of helpful information links.
            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! Feel free to share and follow on Facebook at HikingAutism, follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism and Instagram at lisalouis777

Unexpected Blossoms
            In search of spring blossoms, I remembered that the Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park features various flowers mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. Time to visit and see what was in bloom.
            Looking down at the ground-level flower beds, I was disappointed not to see spring colors on display. Then I looked up.
            My vision was filled with a lovely canopy of pale pink and white petals mixed with spring-green leaves and gray-green moss. Visitors strolled beneath the tunnel created by these delicate blossoms along the walkway that leads past a sundial to a bust of Shakespeare himself on the back wall.
            These aren’t cherry blossoms, I thought. The pale, fluffy flowers had a similar visual effect, but they were not the iconic cherry petals so many of us look for in March and April.
            I found out that these were crabapple trees. Why crabapple trees in the Shakespeare Garden? Turns out there is a story about William Shakespeare falling asleep under a crabapple tree, which supposedly later attained magical powers.
            Enjoy the emerging array of spring flowers where you live. If you’re lucky, you’ll stumble onto some surprises. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s HikingAutism Hike Notes from the archives is Shakespeare Garden-Golden Gate Park, one of many special feature areas within San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 183): Shakespeare Garden-Golden Gate Park
 
            Click Insights/Hike Update News for inspiring reflections. Browse hikes on the main Hikes page or on the Hike Search by Area page. Check out selected articles and interviews under Media. Click World Walks to see or share favorite family-friendly walks! Stay in touch with Lisa Louis and HikingAutism via Contact. See products with inspiring designs that support the efforts of HikingAutism under Support/Shop. The Links page lists a loose collection of helpful information links.
            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! Feel free to share and follow on Facebook at HikingAutism, follow on Twitter at @HikingAutism and Instagram at lisalouis777