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