Close Comforts
            My younger son, who is on the autism spectrum, needs to get out in the world and burn up some energy every day. Now a young adult, he still needs support in all facets of life. 
            Heat wave or atmospheric river, we get out for a walk every day that he’s not at his support program. 
            Weather aside, what if mom and dad are under the weather? We’ve seen a surprising upsurge in various viruses this summer, and our house was hit, too. 
            Whichever parent feels the least sick at the moment is in charge of outings. Lower energy levels mean a shorter walk closer to home. 
            As a kid, I had favorite walks around my home in the Adirondack Foothills that brought comfort when I was bouncing back from a cold or flu. A stroll down the big hill to the apple trees—maybe to the barbed wire fence that marked the border with our neighbor’s farmland—gave me an uplifting dose of fresh air and bright sky.
            Now I live at the western edge of San Francisco, and one of our easy comfort walks is at the old ruins of Sutro Baths, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. On normal days, we walk down and back up the steep hills to the baths, but on low energy days, we stick to a short easy walk above the baths that features amazing views of Seal Rock, the Cliff House, and ships heading in and out of San Francisco Bay.
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives is Sutro Baths, a historic site that once included various seawater bathing pools combined with museum-like exhibits of treasures from around the world, and now is an open space that looks out to the Pacific.
            Where are your nearby comfort walks? Find an easy, special place to restore yourself with a breath of fresh air and a view, even if only stepping out the door to look at the sky and listen for birds! Keep putting one foot forward!
 
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 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

Walking Through Hallowed Rows
            I love a good cemetery. As a kid, I not only liked classic monster movies and things that go bump in the night, but felt a special stir of the heart from the first cemetery I walked through.
            I grew up near a wonderful cemetery in my hometown of Holland Patent, New York, rows of old gravestones on rolling hills surrounded by trees that turn orange and gold in autumn, bare branches black against the snow in winter.
            My favorite cemetery from childhood, however, is the one my grandmother took us to on Tug Hill, New York, a place famous for long, harsh winters. Gravestones were tilted, some overgrown with grape vines, older graves sunk into the ground. That cemetery is hard to find even for those who know about it. Best epitaph ever, Where you are now, I once was, too. Where I am now, you too will be, was carved on a headstone hidden behind a fallen tree at the back of the graveyard.
            When traveling around Asia in my twenties, a fellow traveler from England told me that if I ever went to London, I had to visit Highgate Cemetery. I never forgot that suggestion and went there over thirty years ago. I liked it so much that I returned again on a recent trip to visit my son who works in London.
            I wondered if the powerful feeling of that iconic cemetery would strike me again. The moment I set foot on Highgate’s grounds, its atmospheric spirit whooshed through me. A fox looking back at us from atop a grave was pure magic. Highgate Cemetery is a treasure trove of moody monuments and jumbled pathways with fallen gravestones.
            Cemeteries are one of my favorite places to take photographs, and favorite places to explore by walking, but I do not feature them in Hike Notes for HikingAutism.com because cemeteries deserve respectful quiet without me steering people there for hikes. I make this rare exception for Highgate Cemetery because they encourage people to visit, for a fee, so that they can maintain the grounds.
            This week’s highlighted hike is a World Walks contribution, Highgate Cemetery Walk, London. When my son who works in London joined me for a visit there, I nudged him to add Highgate Cemetery to the World Walks collection.
            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 a few photos allow other readers to share your enjoyment. See the World Walks link for how to submit your walk to share.
 
This week’s Hike Notes is a new World Walks entry:
Highgate Cemetery Walk, London
 
              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

Jewels in the Shadow
            Muir Woods with its iconic redwoods, the San Francisco Bay highlighted by Alcatraz, Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the iconic California surf spirit of Stinson Beach.
            These are stunning, glorious places, stars so bright that people sometimes can’t see past them to lesser-known treasures right around the corner.
            In the shadow of both Mt. Tam which looms above it and the name recognition of Stinson Beach to the north, tiny Steep Ravine Beach is a hidden jewel. A small beach below the dramatic Steep Ravine cabins facing the Pacific, Steep Ravine Beach features tidepools, misty mornings, breathtaking sunsets, and even a natural hot spring.
            Take time to explore smaller dots on the map. You might be surprised at how many treasures are on offer away from the crowds. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Steep Ravine Beach, leads readers to this small beach with its tide pool creatures down the paths from the Steep Ravine Cabins on Mt. Tam.
            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 204: Steep Ravine Beach

Quiet Amidst the Hustle and Bustle
            In a rare break from work and special needs mom duties, I spent a few days visiting our older son who works in London.
            It is remarkable that a city as vast, densely populated and complex as London can offer free access not only to countless amazing museums but also to large green spaces.
            The sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves of deciduous trees as we walked through Green Park and St. James’s Park transported me back to my Upstate New York childhood. There are very particular sights and sounds characteristic of trees and plants at specific latitudes.
            On the grounds near Greenwich Observatory we saw a fox begging for picnic scraps. In Kensington Gardens we saw ducks, geese, swans, and precocious squirrels. A fox walking over a grave at Highgate Cemetery under a leafy canopy was another example of wildlife in a major city.
            Here in the much smaller city of San Francisco, we are also fortunate to have a wide array of green spaces and wildlife right within the city limits. Golden Gate Park covers a broad area and has many smaller gardens within its larger scope, including the Rose Garden, where one might occasionally see a coyote or raccoon walking at the periphery, or red-tailed hawks and ravens flying overhead.
            Take a moment to slow down and tune into the quiet green spaces around you. Your physical and mental health will thank you. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives is Rose Garden-Golden Gate Park. The Rose Garden is a pretty place to stroll or rest on a bench as part of a larger walk in Golden Gate Park, and exhibits many lovely varieties of roses in season.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 108): Rose Garden-Golden Gate Park, one of many free flower and memorial gardens in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, where a variety of lovely roses can be found.
 
            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

Together Apart Again
            Last time I visited Stinson Beach, a place that always makes me feel like I’m on summer vacation, it was November. That was two and a half years ago.
            My older son was about to move to London for his job, and our autistic younger son wanted to hold his brother’s hand.
            Several times during that walk, our younger son gestured like he was going to bite his brother’s arm. Our sense was that he understood that his big brother was leaving, and he was confused and upset.
            Siblings of special needs family members lead especially challenges lives themselves. They navigate childhood with parents spending a large percentage of time helping the child with more immediate and acute needs.
            Leaving one parent home to care for a family member who needs 24/7 supervision is difficult. But our non-special needs kids deserve time and attention, too. I’m taking a short break from the HikingAutism desk to visit our older son, so am posting early this week.
            Caregivers, remember that you deserve and need breaks. You will be able to take care of others better when you have recharged your batteries. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes, Stinson Beach, takes readers to an iconic California beach, as welcome to beach walkers as it is to surfers and boogie boarders.
            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 147: Stinson Beach