Bench with a View
            Benches usually look as if they are inviting us to sit down. Once in a while though, I see an empty bench that reverberates with the sense that it is empty because someone who should be there is not. I contemplate the sense of that missing soul and walk on.
            There are practical benches, such as those at bus stops and museums, not needing to offer anything but the comfort of a seat, but outdoor benches are typically arranged to serve up a view of something worthy to look at.
            In the very old, atmospheric cemetery at the outskirts of the tiny Upstate New York village where I grew up, walking through the rows of worn and sometimes toppled gravestones, I only remember seeing one bench. It was slightly uphill under some trees, and offered a short distance view, obstructed by tree branches. It still invited visitors to sit and ponder, despite the limited view.
            Now living on the coast of California, I take for granted the countless benches placed facing the ocean or a bay. We are spoiled by the ease of finding a place to sit and take in a grand view.
            When we need a dose of nature but are not up for the exertion of a long hike, finding a bench with a scenic view is a great option.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Battery Rathbone-McIndoe-Marin Headlands, introduces a stop on scenic one-way Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands that offers glorious views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the sculptural coastline, and the Pacific.
            Find a bench and sit for a spell. Empty your mind from busy thoughts by soaking up the scenery, and keep putting one foot forward!
            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, Twitter at @HikingAutism, Instagram at lisalouis777, and Bluesky @hikingautism.bsky.social
 
New this week:
Hike Notes 223: Battery Rathbone-McIndoe-Marin Headlands
 

Walk On the Wild Side
            Being alone on a trail high above the hills and trees, feeling the breeze as I turn to see a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains is exhilarating.
            For me, “exhilarating” means “exciting” mostly in a good way, but also maybe a hint of danger.
            I have posted about feeling spooked on a hiking trail a few times. Once was when my autistic son, husband, and hiking partner kept falling behind as we were trying to get from our cabin at Samuel P. Taylor State Park to the top of Barnabe Peak.
            The structure marking the summit looked pretty close each time I looked up, just one or two more turns of the trail, perhaps. Then we’d hike another ten minutes and see that there were more twists and turns to the trail than expected.
            After one too many turns showing an endless path ahead, my hiking companions, already far behind, chose to hang out and rest while I pressed on to the top. I couldn’t quit when I was this close.
            I hiked alone along many more curves of the trail. With the summit structure not far ahead, I had to pass through a very dense tree tunnel. The back of my neck prickled. I took a long pause before plunging into this place so dark in contrast to the open space around it.
            There was carnivore scat featuring fur and bones scattered on the path. 
            I’ve observed lazy coyotes on hiking trails, not to mention the streets of San Francisco, and walked casually behind a bobcat in Marin that didn’t flinch at having hikers nearby. 
            I have never seen a mountain lion, but they are around. That is as it should be. They have enough space, at least in Marin County, that we shouldn’t see them.
            Happy to be on the bright side of the tunnel, I charged up faster and breathed in the joy of getting to the top. As I soaked up the view, the late afternoon shadows kept lengthening. I squared my shoulders and started back down the trail. I used up more time than I’d expected ascending, and now I had to retrace the whole thing to get back down before sunset. 
            Spotty cell service had allowed me to tell the guys I was going to the top, which they expected from me. I also caught a message saying they were slowly heading back to the cabin ahead of me.
            There were a couple of trail turns to the cabin that might be hard to see with the sun down, so I picked up the pace. I recognized specific markers and trees from earlier. I spotted the copse of trees that the guys had stopped at for a shady rest while I climbed on.
            Reaching the peak was great but now I wanted to rejoin to my crew. A straight stretch ahead meant I was close to the final turn of the trail back to the cabin. Trees and bushes were scattered along the mostly open path, and the sound of dirt under my hiking boots bounced back to my ears as I tromped more quickly.
            As I approached one of the few bushes along the trail, I heard the cry of a big cat, and saw a dark shadow move out onto the trail.
            I screamed.
            Then I laughed.
            Our hiking partner, a frequent companion to me and my son on the far trails of Mt. Tam, had been hiding in silence behind the bushes to do his mountain lion scare.
            We laughed and laughed. That was years ago, and though I have been spooked on the trail a number of other times, and wondered if I should be more careful on remoter trails, I have yet to see a mountain lion.
            This was just a hike, on a known trail in a known state park area, but I was alone in an empty stretch out of cell contact or yelling distance, and it felt like an adventure to me. No harm done other than a stomach that hurt from laughing so hard by the prankster on the trail home.
            This past week I had the opportunity to share the tale of a walk on the wild side when I was a twenty-something living in Japan and traveling in Asia. Thanks to the Renaissance Garden Guy for featuring my guest pieces, the latest being an adventure along the remote roads and hills of Thailand in “A Book by Its Cover.” Let me know what you think of the ending!
            Take a little walk on the wild side, even if it’s just pushing the envelope slightly beyond your everyday life to feel a sense of adventure. Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Barnabe Peak from Madrone Camp, takes readers on a climb in Samuel P. Taylor State Park that offers stunning views.
            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, Twitter at @HikingAutism, Instagram at lisalouis777, and Bluesky @hikingautism.bsky.social
 
This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 57: Barnabe Peak from Madrone Camp

Back to the Fuchsia
            I knew when I was getting married that I was marrying into a family of bad punsters. My Japanese husband and his brother’s interactions almost always included at least one chuckle over a bad play on words.
            The word for “pun” in Japanese is share (pronounced “sha-ray”), but bad puns have their own word, dajare(pronounced “dah-ja-ray”). My husband and brother-in-law specialize in the latter.
            I was reminded of this on a recent outing to the Fuchsia Dell in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park when I said I was going to write an Insights post using the Fuchsia Dell for an archive post.
            A minute or two went by.
            “You could title the Insights post ‘Back to the Fuchsia,’” he said with a smile knowing I would give him the disapproving side eye at the very thought.
            The problem with puns is that they become like earworms, those songs that get stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of. Once he said that, for the life of me, I could not think of another title for this week’s Insights post.
            As you roll your eyes at the silly pun, remember that: 1) It’s not my fault, and 2) Favorite flowers come into bloom again every year.
            Take a little time to enjoy your favorite flowers, and keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Fuchsia Dell-Golden Gate Park, takes readers to a quiet, shady part of Golden Gate Park, where fuchsias bloom from May to late fall.
            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, Twitter at @HikingAutism, Instagram at lisalouis777, and Bluesky @hikingautism.bsky.social

This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 134: Fuchsia Dell-Golden Gate Park

Dazzling Dahlias
            On the weeks when I don’t introduce a new set of Hike Notes, I feature a hike from the archives. I often select a hike that reflects my thoughts of the moment in some way.
            My other go-to choice for archive hikes is posts featuring flowers of the season. I try to give previous Hike Notes at least one chance to be back in the limelight, but I can’t resist repeating annual updates on special garden sites.
            This past week we remembered that it was time for dahlias to be in bloom. We made a visit to the hidden treasure that is the Dahlia Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
            Standing close to the blossoms and letting sky and trees fade from view, looking at the dahlias feels like being in an undersea garden of psychedelic sea anemones and starfish. Dahlias come in such a wide array of colors and shapes that it seems impossible for them to be part of the same family of flowers.
            I appreciate readers reading my often heart-tugging Insights posts. Sometimes, though, it’s just about beautiful blossoms.
            Do you have a favorite flower or plant that you look forward to seeing each year? Enjoy them when they’re in bloom! Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Dahlia Garden-Golden Gate Park, takes readers to the Dahlia Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, featuring over 700 varieties of stunning dahlias.
            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, Twitter at @HikingAutism, Instagram at lisalouis777, and Bluesky @hikingautism.bsky.social
 
This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 208: Dahlia Garden-Golden Gate Park

Treasure On the Bay
            Floating in the middle of a sparkling blue bay is an island made of rock, institutional buildings and a tower rising up from the rock. It looks both beautiful and forbidding.
            Striking views of Alcatraz Island can be seen from countless vantage points around San Francisco Bay. The building complex on Alcatraz once functioned as the notorious high security prison nicknamed “The Rock.” The unsustainable expense of housing prisoners and prison staff on an island, requiring all supplies and personnel to be transferred back and forth by boat, led the prison to be shut down in 1963.
            Since that time, Alcatraz has become a hugely popular National Park visitor site. The short ferry ride to get there is exhilarating. Once there, visitors can walk through history through various options, including through an audio tour featuring comments by former guards and prisoners.
            Alcatraz is also host to a variety of wildlife, including various birds ranging from gulls, cormorants and herons to peregrine falcons.
            Alcatraz is a favorite tourist spot that surprises even locals with the depth of information and the feeling one senses when visiting the island in person.
            The expense of running the prison is what shut it down, and its transformation into a National Park site has made it a treasure.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Tunnel Tops Outpost Meadow Expansion, introduces an expanded section of San Francisco’s Presidio, a place with grand views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz rising across the shimmering water of the bay.
            Visit and protect your treasured places, and keep putting one foot forward!
            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, Twitter at @HikingAutism, Instagram at lisalouis777, and Bluesky @hikingautism.bsky.social
 
New this week:
Hike Notes 222: Tunnel Tops Outpost Meadow Expansion