I could have sworn I blogged about this before, but I can’t find the post. I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t, because it was one of my favorite gifts in all of 2015.

My friend Karli – you may also know her as The Beatkeeper – got me a bagful of hiking things last year for my birthday. Among them was a book called “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles.” I have the Cincinnati version (because that’s where I live), but there are others for a myriad of of other cities in the country. I highly recommend picking one up.

I’m a serious list person. I love to make them and check things off. So getting a book with a list of hikes in my area was like the coolest gift ever. (Spoiler: She got me another book for Christmas, this one “Travel Listography,” a book in which I can list different traveling bucket list items. It’s basically the best thing ever.)

The book includes hikes in the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana area (Ohkiana?) and are divided out by state. There’s a map of the tri-state in the beginning with the numbers of each hike in its geographical area.

I don’t want to share too much information from the book (go buy the book!) but I wanted to give you an idea of how they were set up. Every hike starts with a plethora of basic, necessary information. 

Each hike has directions, an elevation chart, maps of the trails and descriptions of the hike, often including a little history about the park. Even reading about hikes I’ve done a hundred times showed me something new about the trails. I got this before I was aware of the 52 Hike Challenge, and decided I was going to hike my way through this book. Now that I’ve started the challenge, this book will be a fantastic resource.

I wanted to hike every trail in the book, but I probably won’t.  Cincinnati is full of wonderful nature preserves – that do not allow dogs. I tend to boycott parks that do not allow pets. I mean, what’s the point if you can’t bring your best friend? Still, you can see in the picture I have several parks marked out that I plan to visit.