Before going hiking, we must find a trail. I recommend you visit two places, your friendly local outdoor store, and www.alltrails.com. The local outdoor store will have some good local knowledge about the best trails and current conditions of the trails. They will have a selection of trail guides and can tell you what parks are in the area. (Other places worth checking are government web sites like the US Park Service, US Forest Service, and don’t forget your state parks and wildlife agencies often have good maps) Don’t under estimate this resource.
Alltrails is a good site to get started with. Log in and find the link that says “Explore”. This will show you the closest trails in a map mode. From here you pick on that looks interesting. When you pick one, you want to look at three primary things, Distance, Difficulty, and route type.
For distance, you want to start slow. I would recommend for the new hikers, you stick to a trail from one to three miles. A flat trail of one mile should take 20 to 30 minutes to complete. If you have been exercising, you can increase this if you fill it is necessary, but remember, if you bite off more than you were expecting, you have to get back. So start small and work your way up to higher distances. Your typical half day hike will cover 6 to 10 miles. A full day hike can go up to 20. But don’t try this for your first hike unless you are in good shape to start with.
Difficulty takes into account several factors. The elevation gain and change is a big factor, as this increases, the difficulty also increases. The condition of the trail will also affect this. A paved trail would be much easier than a foot path with a rope bridge. How well the trail is marked is another factor. Start off with easy trails and proceed from there. Two thing to consider, the trails change over time, so read the reviews and sometimes the difficult trails are more fun and make memories.
Finally, we have the route type. Generally, we are looking at loops, point to point, and out and back. This is exactly what they sound like. Loops your trail makes a rough circle. Most people really like these trails because you end up back where you parked your vehicle and there is little to no back tracking. Point to Point, you walk along the trail to a different finish point. These trails have a major drawback of having to get back to your starting point. However, if you are hiking a long distance, this is typically the only type of trail you will get. Out and back is simply a trail that does not have exit on one end and walk back on the same trail you came in on. This trails are often to a scenic spot. Any point to point trail can be turned into an out and back. Some people do not like out and back because half the trip you are seeing the same thing again, but really, you get to enjoy it again.
Across top of the map in AllTrails, you will also see a verity of drop down menus that will let you search for several other criterial like “What To Do” or “What To See”. This just gives you more options on selecting a trail you will enjoy. One of the other major benefits of all trails is the review and comments that other users post about the trails. The reviews simply let you know if the trail was enjoyed by others, but take some time to read the comments, they can let you know some important information about the current condition of the trails.
These tools will help you get started down an enjoyable trail. They are worth checking when you travel and can keep you informed in areas that you do not know much about. So, pick a trail, your excuses for not hiking are dwindling.