One by one, the trails you love to hike are being closed by overcrowding. And as more of those trails close, people flock to the other trails high on your list — and those become closed as well.
You need a new strategy, to start looking at new places to explore. Places like your own neighborhood.
The weekend is almost upon us. Not something that normally needs pointing out on a Friday, but then these aren’t normal times. But one thing does remain oddly normal: the natural world. And this weekend’s forecast lives up to the adage for the just-ended month of March: In like a lion, out like a lamb. On the weekend horizon, sunny skies, temperatures around 70, and spring thrumming along as usual.
Every Thursday until the world reopens, we’re going to share with YouTube videos of the outdoor world. Each week will have a different focus. This week’s: The places our GetBackpacking! program hopes to visit this year.
OK, so maybe we can’t hike some of the places we want. But somebody has, and odds are they’ve posted a video about it on YouTube. They may not be the real thing, but they do provide voyeuristic escape, a bit of humor (both intentional and otherwise), and they can inspire your planning for trips in the hopefully not-too-distant future. And the videos cover just about every trail you can imagine.
A quick recap today of where you can’t hike, where you can hike but maybe shouldn’t, and where you should hike.
Initially, visitor centers, restrooms, camping and cabins were closed. Now, many trails are being closed as well.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The entire park, with two small exceptions, closed March 24, and will remain closed at least through April 6.
Sunday, we expanded our horizons for safe-distance recreation: we took a paddle trip.
We’ve been walking, walking, walking our neighborhood for the past little bit (check out our Morning Walk with Joe on Facebook Live every morning at 7:30). But Sunday, the weather was grand — sunny, with temperatures in the mid-80s — and it seemed that time on the water would be restorative. And a safe and responsible way to get out.
