Hike through Black Friday

If you’re shopping, here’s a plea to keep local money within local businesses. Start by skipping the madness, be it virtual or not, of Black Friday. Instead, channel the calories you would spend running around Best Buy or Target into a hike with the family or just by yourself. Jacks Peak County Park offers a variety of easy to moderate trails and big, rewarding views of Monterey Bay. Garland Ranch Regional Park allows doggies (on leash) and has a myriad of flat trails, big ambitious loops and barely trodden offshoot trails for a choose-your-own adventure type of outing. Fort Ord National Monument has nice wide trails and challenging rolling hills for both doggies (again, on leash) and humans, with many paved roads (sans traffic) for those who aren’t looking to rough it. Or enjoy the off-season in Big Sur and hike through the trails of Andrew Molera State Park at a time of year it is relatively free of tourists. (Note that Los Padres National Forest, including the Ventana Wilderness, remains closed due to the Dolan Fire.) Feel good knowing you skipped the consumer allure of Black Friday, and wake up on Small Business Saturday ready to shop in your neighborhood after a refreshing day outdoors, working off the calories from Thanksgiving Day.