Hiking Resources, or how to find gentle walking trails.

Humboldt is one of the best places in the world to go hiking. Late this spring I had the great joy of exploring some of the easier trails with my hiking buddy Kay.

This post is about some of the resources I found helpful in finding some of these trails. I promise more trails as I get going. I hope that some of these resources help you to find great walks in your area, and that you send me some of the trails that you have found.

Note: Please support independant book sellers. I know I could make money by linking these to that place that will remain unnamed, but it is so important to support these small businesses. If you are in Eureka I can highly reccomend the local new and used book store Booklegger.

The Creaky Knees Guides. I found this series in a used bookstore in Arizona. Well actually, I found their Oregon book in Arizona, and have since bought the rest of them. Many of their hikes are more ambitious than I am, but the easier hikes are perfect for me.

Each hike has a brief and concise list of the Rating, Distance, Maps, and such followed by a lovely description. All were invaluable in deciding how to plan my walks.

Hiking Humboldt, volume 2. This book focuses on shorter hikes. I think that in Volume 1 they left out many of us that cannot do the longer walks. Two things that I really liked in this book are the insets about history, and their urban walks. We were having so much fun exploring the bay walks that I didn’t get to do the Urban ones. All the more for us to do later.

A Birding Guide to Humboldt County. This book is written for the folks that lug binoculars and huge cameras on tripods. So it is not so much on the walks as the areas they are in. It was great to look at his recommendations on what to look for and compare to the walks that I was planning.

Random pamphlets. The National and State parks and the BLM have spent a fortune on these color fold out pamphlets. You will find them in the tourist info racks, park offices, the zoo, and many other places. Grab them. Suck all of the info out. Some are packed with information. And even if they make a great souvenir. And they are good to make origami.

People. Park Rangers, waitresses, locals buying GORP at the local health food store. They can be a font of information. Don’t be afraid to talk to people on the trail. I mean, don’t be annoying or intrusive. But talking with folk can lead you to some lovely adventures. Kay and I talked to a person that seemed similar to us as we did one of our first walks on this trip. She ended up meeting up with us to take further adventures. I hope to introduce you to her in a future post as she has lots of information on walking with poles.

Comments

's-Hertogenbosch June 2024

I came to Den Bosch for the Bosch Parade. I don't think one can understand the parade without understanding the town, and vice versa. The experience deserves a post all of its own, so I will do this in two linked posts. This is not some of my best photography, but the experience was one that I wanted to share. As usual, I fight to make Blogger behave. Perhaps in the next few years we might make a meet up trip for Den Bosch and the parade. Contact me if you might be interested. First off, the name. 's-Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch. Just accept that how ever you say it you are gonna be wrong. The Dutch language, along with the Dutch mind set, is totally inexplicable and unexplainable, and totally charming. Like wise "Holland" or "Netherlands" is going to trip you up. Both words describe the same place, but have subtle differences that really don't matter much, except to those people that it does but don't worry yourself about it The town goes by ...

A Day in Stockholm

I spent a marvelous day in Stockholm in June 2024. I stayed two nights while on my way to Finland to go on the epic Svalbard expedition, but more on that in a future post. To me, getting there is half the fun, and these side trips are a major part of the fun. I have been taking a brief respite from posting. Illness and overwhelm, you know the story. But with a new summer of travel ahead, I must get back on the horse. This post is mostly a photo dump of my brief stay in Stockholm. I rate my visits in relation of would I go back or not. I do hope to go back and experience more of what this city has to offer. As usual, the computer has interesting ideas on how to change up my layout. Click any photo to see a larger version and have a slide show and skip what little verbiage I have added. I stayed in a Scandia Hotel. Think Marriott's or the Hilton in Swedish. A pretty standard high rise commercial hotel. And some times that is just what one needs. The breakfast...

Aberdyfi, Aberdovey, UK

So much is written about all of the big stuff around the UK, and yeah it is grand. But I think the one of the finest things one can do is to spend a couple of quiet days at a seaside town. This is a short piece about a day I spent at Aberdyfi. Aberdyfi is a very Welsh town tucked in at the mouth of the River Dyfi. There is not a lot of flash and fancy there, but everything there is such a perfect example of a great traditional village. One gets there by train on one of the loveliest route. Catch the train in Shrewsbury. Make sure to ask a conductor if you are in the right car as the train splits one part going north, the other south to Aberystwyth. (Note: you risk permanent damage to your tongue if you try to pronounce some of the towns on the way.) Or if you insist, drive in thru Machynlleth or down the coast. The main draw is the beach. The estuary is huge, and full of the estuary kind of the stuff one would hope to find. Boats, osprey, fish, water, mud. ...

Bad Knees Travel

Search This Blog