“Look, a blaze!” my daughter yelled as she passed a tree with the red mark on its thick trunk. This was not one of the metal disks with a figure of a hiker on it that we’d been following. I stopped and looked closer at it. Yes, this was a blaze…an old blaze. I looked up the trail, then back the trail we’d traveled. And I remembered. How could I forget? It was our first.

Get ready for breathtaking seaside cliffs, towering coastal Redwoods, and challenging terrain. You can be hiking on the coast in the morning

"What do you mean I can't have my mess kit hanging off my backpack? That's how Sam did it in the Lord of the Rings. .. " It was my first...