"It was while feeling sad to think that I was only walking on the edge of the vast wood, that I caught sight of the first palmetto in a grassy place, standing almost alone.  A few magnolias were near it, and bald cypresses, but it was not shaded by them.  they tell us that plants are perishable, soulless creatures, that only man is immortal, etc.; but this, I think is something that we know very nearly nothing about.  Anyhow, this palm was indescribably impressive and told me grander things than I ever got from human priest."...

The same great, mile-high glacier that parked ten to twenty miles off of southern New England and heaped up Nantucket and the Vineyard for Massachusetts, and the Forks of Long Island for New York, also left behind an appropriately diminutive summer playground for little Rhode Island. Verranzano, when he passed by in 1524, thought the place looked like Rhodes, in Greece, hence the state’s eventual name, but the island itself ended up with the name of another explorer, Adraian Block, who personally thought Adraian’s Island sounded more mellifluous.  But Block Island it became, and it was a famous resort for pirates in their day, as well as fishermen and farmers, who piled up the glacier’s rocks a little further into deceptively delicate looking stone walls that lace the island’s ten square miles.  The Victorians arrived at the end of the 19th century and built a string of grand wooden hotels, with gloriously long porches overlooking the sea, and grassy lawns where multi-spired wedding tents now bloom virtually every weekend of the summer.  Away from the hotels, Block Island has a little of the flavor of the eastern reaches of Nantucket or the western end of the Vineyard, and nowhere I know of on Long Island, except maybe Shelter Island.  But while persons at the bigger, tonier ends of the summer archipelago will sniff their usual sniffs about how you can’t get good cheese on the next rock pile over, bass fishermen and others who know the place are secure in their...

This email was sent to you by a user on Google Maps: Been here? Tell us about it. Got a suggestion? Let us know. Garden Street Inn 1212 Garden Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (805) 545-9802 Show on Google Maps ...

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The Boston Post Road.   During 2010 and 2011 Gary Denton walked the old Post Road from Boston to New York City.  He did the trip in stages rather than as a single epic journey, which gave him time to research the history and savor the details.  By the time we caught up with him, he was already in Providence, and we are thrilled to be able to republish his postings from  Click on the map below to find different segments or here for a full report from his trips. If you want to see the report in it's full glory, however you should visit his personal blog.  We are working with Gary to bring the wealth of images and maps over to Weekendwalk, but it's s slow process due to different platforms.   Eventually, Gary will be repackaging the best sections of the trip into itineraries for the trip library, so be sure to post any suggestions about where to stay, what to eat, what to see along the way. --weekendwalk {WISroGIS map_id='26' ~}...

We are now in Santa Cruz waiting to check into the hostel. We will visit the mission tomorrow, and then head towards Mission Santa Clara. Peregrino RonSent from my iPhone...

Of course we had to eat lunch at this place in Pajaro. Peregrino RonSent from my iPhone...

Yesterday, we got about 1/2 way to Santa Cruz from San Juan Bautista. This stretch of the road reminded all three of us of Galicia, Spain on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Peregrino RonSent from my iPhone...

Last night was at Prunedale, today we made it to Mission San Juan Bautista, and tonight we are about 3 miles from the mission. > Sent from my iPhone<  ...

> My wife, Sandy, rejoined the hike today. She hiked the first 200 miles from San Diego to Mission San Fernando, but went home to be with grandkids over spring break. Now, she is back for the final 200. > Today (4/11/11) we went from the Vets Park campground to Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel Mission) and back. We had an enthusiastic and much appreciated reception from the staff. > Tomorrow, we start the 3 day leg to San Juan Bautista. Peregrino Ron  ...

A Tale of Two Cousins

Location: Southern California

Type: Inn to Inn along the Beach.

Distance: Walked 65; biked 30.

Duration: 3-5 days depending on route and rigor.

Difficulty: Strenuous, 18 miles a day, but could be broken in to smaller segments.

Highlights: Sun, Sand, Spa, Food, Drink, Life.

After reading an article in Westways magazine about two women who had walked from Hermosa Beach to Topanga Canyon, my cousin & I decided WE could do this.  Each year we try and do a trip together and for some reason we seem to make them a challenge. Could it be because we are both competitive? So we started to plan our trip and thought why not start in Laguna where I live and go to Santa Monica where we could enjoy a spa day at the end of our trip.

Looking Around the Big Bend

Walking Inn: The Chisos Mountain Lodge: Big Bend National Park

Type: Desert

Distance: As many as any mortal might endeavor.

Highlights: Hikes, Fossils, Petroglyphs, Sun

Duration: NA

Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous, depending on trail  and heat.

What Ever Happened to the Morning Walk?

And what does it mean?

Many more people are on the road: driving more, taking more trips, and covering more miles. Workers travel farther to get to their jobs than they used to, and in all different directions, but still, it seems like the average twelve-mile trip to work can’t be causing all that much additional traffic. And, in fact, commuting isn’t the main culprit. Surprisingly, it accounts for only a small part of the country’s traffic problem—just 16 percent of all car trips. Other types have exploded. Most individuals take more than four trips per day to get to work, to shop, to run other personal and business errands, to socialize and for recreation, and increasingly, to get to school.

Adirondack Idyll

Location: Saranac Lake, New York

Type: Lake, Mountain, River,

Distance: 30 miles, give or take, depending on your propensity to zizag.

Highlights: Mid-summer in the Adirondacks.

Duration: 3-5 days

Difficulty: easy, with the exception of the rapids at the end, which can be skipped or portaged.

 

 

We paddled out onto Middle Saranac Lake on a breezy summer afternoon with no other plan than to revisit the scene of some happy voyages I had undertaken during the writing of my first book, The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness, and to fill in a few blanks in our personal map of the park.  The route we had in mind was part of the magnificent Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which officially opened in 2005. It’s kind of like an Appalachian Trail for paddlers, linking rivers and lakes from the middle of New York State to the top of Maine, but we had no intention of going even a tenth that far.  We were just out for a leisurely paddle, mixing a night or two of camping with a couple of days in town.

YES YOU CAN...As long as you can read metric distances...Start on East Spain Street and Follow the road for 40 m.

1. Turn left into 1st Street West. Follow the road for 1.2 km.
2. Turn left into Malet Street. Follow the road for 100 m.
3. Turn right into Broadway. Follow the road for 2.0 km.
4. Turn right into West Watmaugh Road. Follow the road for 3.5 km.
5. Turn right into Stage Gulch Road. Follow the road for 4.2 km.
6. Continue on Old Adobe Road. Follow the road for 5.2 km.
7. Continue on Frates Road. Follow the road for 2.3 km.
8. Keep slightly right on Lakeville Highway. Follow the road for 2.4 km.
9. Continue on Lakeville Street. Follow the road for 1.2 km.
10. Turn left into East D Street. Follow the road for 250 m.
11. Continue on D Street. Follow the road for 7.2 km.
12. Continue on Red Hill Road. Follow the road for 12.7 km.
13. Keep going, only 627 more directions and you're there

{cptags}People have been walking in one another’s footsteps in California for at least 12,000 years, so there’s not much sense in talking about firsts or seconds. Suffice it to say that with more than 250 years of history, el Camino Real, or the California Mission Trail, is old school.

Feet Needed: The Butterfield Stage Route.

Remember the movie Stagecoach? This is that route.  As it was originally conceived by Congress in 1857 to take mail in four-horse stagecoaches from St. Louis to San Francisco this may, in fact be a better route for cyclers than for walkers.  But feel free to tell us that we’re mistaken about this.  Also, remember that we’re not all purists, so if there’s a better route off the actual Butterfield Stage Route that heads a person in the same general direction we’d love to know about it.

 To view the map and add your local knowledge click "read on."