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Showing posts from July, 2014

So what exactly is urban hiking?

At the start of each Urban Hiker SF tour, we ask our guests if they have ever been on an urban hike before. Most people either shake their head 'no' or give us a slightly confused look. After posing this question to countless hikers, I realized that most people don't have their own definition of urban hiking. For San Francisco, I normally define urban hiking as "exploring the stairways, hills, and hiking trails" of the city. But there aren't stairways, hills, and hiking trails in every city, so how else can we define urban hiking? I started thinking about this, and wanted to answer the questions of "What exactly is urban hiking, and how does it differ from other hiking and walking?" Here are a few characteristics that, when put together, create an urban hike: Bench in Walter Haas Park 1. Urban environment   This may be stating the obvious, but an urban hike has to be in an urban setting. This is the main characteristic that sets urban hik