Whither the Weather
            In my mind, a day off for a holiday means the opportunity to try a new trail somewhere.
            I decided to put off cooking a huge holiday meal until Christmas when our whole family will be together. That freed up Thanksgiving Day for a longer hike.
            Hopes for a hike and photo shoot across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin faded as Thanksgiving morning became quite chilly and windy, not ideal for exploring a new trail on Mt. Tam.
            I remembered one our older son’s favorite old hikes in San Francisco that I hadn’t done a web post for. We put on warm jackets and enjoyed walking and taking photos there despite the biting wind.
            The image of hiking in Marin was still stuck in my head. The chilly weather also made me think of warmer days, and favorite walks along the coastline. 
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Owl Trail, leads readers along a stunning stretch of the Marin coast from the Muir Beach Overlook that offers gorgeous views, whether on a warm summer day or on a chilly winter afternoon.
            Do you have a favorite place to think about when the weather doesn’t match your plans? 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
 
This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 89: Owl Trail

Our Guardian Angels
            I have written over the years about a gifted young special education teacher who appeared in our family’s lives during our greatest struggle to help our profoundly autistic son Sean. The time our “autism whisperer” spent with us felt like a gift from beyond. Sean made miraculous progress with his help.
            As our despair for Sean’s future was turning to hope, our young teacher friend died suddenly from an undetected heart condition. We were devastated.
            Yet we still feel the positive presence of our helper every day.
            He repeated a simple yet powerful message each outing with Sean.
            “You can do it, try again,” he would say, calmly but firmly. His tone imparted a sense of confidence. Sean, who until then was overwhelmed by everything imaginable, started opening his heart to the world.
            I took his message to heart as well, hearing his voice in my head when I hit bumps in life. This week I’m celebrating finally (after hitting many brick walls) sealing a deal for a book about autism and nature by sharing a larger photo gallery than usual. If you have a heartfelt goal, keep trying, as our helper always said.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Pedro Point Bluff Trail, introduces hikers to a stunning bluff with unique geological formations off the coast in Pacifica, California.
            Before our helper passed away, he, Sean and I had a mysterious interaction with ravens at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. We laughed about it every time we saw a raven after that. Now whenever I see a raven, I feel our helper’s essence watching over us. On a recent hike to Pedro Point, I was reminded of his good spirit again by a large raven who was undaunted by our presence.
            Is there something in nature or your surroundings that makes you feel like a lost loved one is watching over you? Treasure those guardian angel moments. 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 226: Pedro Point Bluff Trail

Blooming In Eternity
            Fear of my severely disabled younger son being left without at least one parent alive to care for him is so powerful that for most of his 28 years, my husband and I rarely drive in the same car together without him. The sudden loss of both parents would be the end of his world.
            If we want to share a meal for a special occasion, we might walk to a neighborhood café for lunch when he’s attending his day program, but even that is rare.
            Our special exception over the years was to visit my husband’s graduate school mentor and his wife. A generation older than us, they became beloved lifelong friends.
            Our older son and our old babysitter tag-teamed to keep a close eye on our younger son so we could cross the Bay Bridge and spend time with our friends in Orinda.
            Each summer we would dine outdoors in their garden, often visited by deer sauntering down the steep hill by their house. At the holidays, we sat after dinner exchanging small gifts, a special jar of jam, a tin of fancy tea, handy gardening gloves. One of our gifts to them each winter was to plant fresh daffodil bulbs in the pots on their patio, one of the few flowers that the deer would not eat.
            On each summer visit they would point to a section of the hill where they planted the previous year’s bulbs, so the hill would bloom with an ever-larger number of daffodils each year.
            A few years ago, the husband passed away, and we were devastated. It felt even more important to continue our visits to see the wife. Our older son moved away and our old babysitter had to care for her aging mother, so our care team that allowed us to visit our friend together was no longer there. We took turns.
            This week, we received a call that the wife had passed away. The visceral meaning of the word “bereft” reverberated in my heart.
            I remembered a book she gave me years ago, one that I was still waiting to read one day as a special treat. It was about an adventurous woman raised in a wild rural part of Australia who grew up to be a world traveler. Our friend said it reminded her of me. 
            My autistic son loves to move books to completely different bookshelves, rooms, and floors of the house. He moved that and countless other books to multiple locations among the hundreds of books in our house, and I no longer knew where it was.
            The night I heard of our friend’s passing I laid in bed thinking of our years of treasured visits together, an image of that book flashing through my mind. The next day, I was sorting through the cluttered maze that is our attic. I bent down to move some fallen items, and that lost book stared up at me from the floor. It was as if someone had placed it there for me to find among all of the scattered items I might have stumbled onto.
            Now I will finally read that book. Though I will miss seeing our friend to plant the fresh daffodil bulbs I had ready for her, I will imagine the hill above their garden in spring, ornamented by the daffodils whose number increased as our friendship grew deeper.
            May we all find comfort in cherished memories when we suffer great losses. Keep putting one foot forward.
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Inspiration Point-Nimitz Way Hike, brings readers to an easy in-and-out hike along the paved Nimitz Trail with scenic reservoir and bay views from the hills of Orinda.
            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 157: Inspiration Point-Nimitz Way Hike
 

Into the Aether
            This morning I opened the front door to a vibrant blue sky with the autumn sun shining, but there was something stirring in the air.
            A couple of hours later, I stepped onto the porch to a face full of heavy San Francisco fog. It was a joy.
            As a kid growing up in one of the snowiest parts of Upstate New York, I took pride in our extreme snowy winters. Years without a record-breaking blizzard were disappointing. I feel homesick when looking at images of deep snow.
            Having raised my two sons in San Francisco near Ocean Beach, we take pride in the thick dense fog that brings visibility down to a few yards. My older son waxes nostalgic at times saying, “San Francisco doesn’t seem as foggy as it was when I was little.”
            He may be right. There have been more years featuring numerous clear days, as opposed to years when he was little when it felt like we only saw the sun in our neighborhood three days out of 365.
            Fog gives San Francisco a moody ambiance and mystique. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County can be a daredevil adventure. We strain to see the car bumper ahead in the thick fog that makes the dark orange towers of the bridge invisible, and Alcatraz a phantom across the water, not even registering a silhouette.
            Hikes on foggy days can be as enjoyable as on clear ones. The fog can be so thick ahead it feels like we’re about to step off the edge of the world. (We’re careful about actual cliff edges!) 
            Thanks to nature for keeping our surroundings ever-changing and fascinating. Do you have a favorite weather phenomenon? Keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Hill 88 from Rodeo Beach, introduces readers to a head-clearing hike whether in a mist that limits visibility to ten feet or clear skies that open the view to landmarks fifty miles away.
            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 55: Hill 88 from Rodeo Beach
​

Because It’s There
            Why do we do the things we do? Some actions are the result of focused intentions, and others pop up more randomly. 
            Occasionally an offhand word or image gets stuck in my head as something I want to do something with.
            I love hiking. I love looking at maps. I love reading trail names.
            Some trails are simply connectors between more significant pathways, not of major note by themselves, but they have intriguing names. Back when my son and our trail buddy and I were spending a lot of hiking time in the Blithedale Ridge area of Mt. Tam, the name Huckleberry Trail kept catching my attention on the map.
            One day we were heading up a fire road and we stumbled onto the trailhead sign for Huckleberry Trail. We made a spontaneous decision to hike that to connect to another fire trail.
            Turns out that despite being short, the Huckleberry Trail is quite steep and was not very well maintained when we hiked it. We huffed and puffed our way up the rough path. The challenge made it all the more satisfying to climb it and check it off my curiosity list. Why? Because it was there.
            Some of life’s most satisfying moments come from trying things “just because.”
            Have you had any great life adventures stemming from a “just because it’s there” moment? Keep that random, spontaneous light burning!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Huckleberry Trail, leads readers on a short but steep connector trail between fire roads in the Blithedale Summit Preserve in Marin County. 
            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 34: Huckleberry Trail