"Urban Hiking..." What?
I began my fascination with urban hiking in the mid '80s after moving in with a room mate whose middle-class neighborhood home was located near a recreation, wilderness greenbelt in Roseville, CA. I was starting an overall health improvement kick, which then included a few miles of alternate running and power walking. Looking for a route to execute my every other day session of the "then" unnamed exercise I found a trail leading into the adjacent greenbelt that meandered for a mile and a half through an isolated wooded area and along shallow Linda Creek. The RPW exercise, soon to be coined "urban hiking," was transformed from a grueling routine into a looking forward to, peaceful and mind-expanding activity over the next few weeks. I was steadily increasing my physical endurance, lowering my heart rate and finding the quiet solitude a positive break from my hectic, inner city business day. Wild life and interesting insects flitted in and out from between the Val