The first step to getting outside is figuring out where you want to go! This can be the hardest part – it certainly overwhelmed me enough to prevent me from getting outside for YEARS. There is a surprising amount to consider when deciding on a hike: from figuring out how you’re going to get to the trail and parsing through online reviews from everyone from ultra runners to octogenarians, it’s difficult to figure out which trail is right for you. Thankfully, there are some great tools out there now that can help us figure out which trail is right for us. 

First things first – its important to figure out what kind of hike YOU want to do. A quick “best hikes in ______” google is likely to return you a list of hikes that range from a paved walk around a park to a 20 mile trek to a remote alpine lake. So it’s important to start with at least a loose vision of what kind of hike you want to do in terms of location, distance, and difficulty. 

Where do you want to hike?

When deciding on where you want to hike there are a couple of things to consider. I always start with a city or neighborhood that I want to focus on. Then I think about how far I am willing to travel to get there. I usually try to start with a radius of no more than 30 minutes of driving time and expand out from there depending on the results. Now that I live in the pacific northwest and have a car, the options look MUCH different than they did when I was living in Boston and didn’t own a car. 

How long do you want your hike to be?

This one is critical to your planning. If your hike is too short, you’ll be disappointed. If your hike is longer than you were prepared for, you could run out of food/water/sunlight. All of which could put you and your group in danger. When thinking about how far you want to hike, it’s useful to remember that we often hike much slower (with many more snack breaks!) than we might walk the same distance on a sidewalk. My rule of thumb is to budget 30-45 minutes per mile. This might seem like a lot, but I have found that between summit sits to take in the views and snack stops my hikes generally follow this rule

How difficult do you want your hike to be?

One thing I learned the hard way is that length is NOT the only metric for understanding how difficult a hike will be or how long it will take you. When we first moved to Vancouver, Will and I had to bail on a couple of hikes that we didn’t plan appropriately for. We made the mistake of glancing at the distance WITHOUT looking at the elevation gain. We’ve also had to bail a couple of times when the trail has been more exposed than we were expecting and the dogs started struggling with the heat. When you are thinking about how difficult a hike is going to be here are a couple of things that I consider:

Elevation gain: Adding elevation makes a distance that you might walk or run every day substantially more challenging. The challenge is always fun, but make sure you are prepared!

Exposure: A trail in the shade will be able to protect you from the elements as trees provide shade from the sun and a barrier from the wind and rain. If a trail is exposed you are exposed to the elements which can make a hike much more challenging than initially expected

So now you have a good idea of what kind of hike you want to do – lets find it!

Finding a hike can be a daunting challenge. For more than a year after I started hiking, I always requested someone else suggest the trail because it felt like too much pressure. But it turns out that with the right tools, clear expectations of what I am looking for, and a little bit of focused searching I am able to find and suggest hikes without feeling the overwhelming anxiety of outside girl imposter syndrome. Note: nobody should feel imposter syndrome outside – don’t be like me!

My favorite tool for finding my next hike is AllTrails. I am able to take all of the parameters that I walked through above to Alltrails and filter across multiple activities, locations, distances, and difficulties.You can even filter for dog-friendly trails. It makes finding a short list of hikes so easy. You can also store lists of hikes that you want to try. Will and I have 10+ lists on Alltrails that we are constantly adding to from easy local day hikes, dog friendly local summits, bucket list hikes, 10+ day backpacking list and more.