Soon the forests will be covered in a blanket of reds, oranges and yellows with a dash of chill in the air. We can’t think of a better way for you to celebrate fall than to pack up your gear and hike on some California trails — or all of them, if you wanted to.
Jason Mandly, a hiking and meteorology enthusiast, has created the first ever statewide hiking map for California. Mandly frequently hikes with his wife, Alison, (and in fact had their first kiss on San Jacinto Peak), but have never found a comprehensive map for all the trails. They wanted a map they could hang on their wall so they could mark and pin where they had hiked and where they wanted to go next.
“There are already great local maps and trail guides for the majority of trails in California,” Mandly stated in a press release. “This map tries something different. It gives you the big picture from a unique perspective.”
In order to make it on the map, Mandly had some requirements for the trails, including being open to the public, non-motorized routes and a distance covering at least three miles.
After two years of researching and creating the map, Mandly launched a Kickstarter campaign in January of this year to help turn the map into a physical tool for hikers. The original goal was to raise $3,250, but surpassed in raising more than $11,000.
Mandly wanted a way for people to display hiking goals and memories on their wall within a 40 × 60 frame — and he did just that.
McGee Nall is a travel intern with Paste and a freelance writer based out of Athens, Georgia.