You may not realize it, but there are lots of hiking trails near you.

The first place to look for them are in your state’s parks. I live in Massachusetts, and when I google Massachusetts State Parks I’ll be directed to the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Here I can explore all parks by name, study trail maps, order guides, contact the DCR, etc. Campers can even make reservations. What’s in your state?

Hiking bloggers “coach”Rick and Tom Mangan suggest another way to find local hikes. They use the site  http://www.localhikes.com as seen in their article. When I click on this “local hikes” site, I discover 42 hikes in the greater Boston area. I can drill down to an individual hike of my choice. What’s in your area?

Several years ago, I thru-hiked the North-South Trail in Rhode Island. I went to the above site and found 14 hikes listed in the greater Providence area and, sure enough, the North-South Trail was among them. The site gave a complete summary of the trail to include comments and ratings from hikers.

I checked out the Mid-State Trail in Massachusetts, another local trail that I’d thru-hiked some years back. As I read through the summary, I had fond memories. I browsed other listed trails and had no idea there were so many trail-hikes this close to me. This is an excellent site for hikers and families.

Appalachian Waterfall