As I sit down to write this, it’s the Friday before the 3-day Memorial Day Weekend holiday. It’s also the 65th day of California’s Stay-at-Home order, so the days of the week and holidays don’t seem to carry the same weight. Trails are reopening all over the country, and people are itching to get on […]
How to answer the question “Is the [fill-in-the-blank] trail open?”
As hiking trails and parks begin to reopen, often with restrictions and new rules for social distancing and face coverings, the question on everyone’s mind is “which hiking trails are open?” If you visit any of the Facebook groups devoted to hiking, you’ll see plenty of people asking the question in various forms. “Are all […]
Trails are Re-Opening in Los Angeles (but not all)
Good news, confusing news. The good news? Many hiking trails are re-opening in Los Angeles. The confusing news? There are still many trails in Los Angeles County that are not reopening. To begin with, Los Angeles County initially announced that hiking trails would reopen on May 8th. Many hikers heard this news and immediately assumed that it […]
12 Outdoorsy Podcasts to Keep You Stoked While You’re Stuck at Home
Podcasts can be entertaining, informative, and educational. They are free to listen to, and portable. I like to listen to them on the drive to the trailhead. And they can provide a great mental escape when you’re stuck inside. We asked members of the SoCal Hikers group on Facebook to share their favorite outdoorsy podcasts, […]
COVID-19 Park and Trail Closures
A few weeks ago I was planning my training hikes for my Mount Rainier climb. Now I’m hunkered down and my “hikes” are limited to walking the dogs in the neighborhood streets. We don’t live near any trails, so that will have to suffice for now. The spread of COVID-19 have resulted in restriction of […]
Social Distancing on Public Trails
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Sarah Guillermo, a cardiac registered nurse and avid hiker. Nurse here: Can we please collectively check our vibe for a second? The collective panic is just as contagious as COVID-19. But you can choose reason over panic. We’re on the eve where we can still turn a […]
Hiking During the COVID-19 Pandemic
UPDATE: This past weekend everyone who hasn’t hiked decided it would be a good time to start, and many parks and trails were overrun with people. Some parks reported the highest volume of hikers they had ever encountered, making safe social distancing impossible. As a result, more and more agencies, parks, cities and counties are closing […]