About Hiking with Dean
Since 2007
Our hikes are based upon a simple philosophy: You should be able to go out your front door and within a few minutes be on trails winding your way through the local wilderness, and return without retracing your steps.
All of our hikes are at a beginner technical level and no special or technical equipment is ever needed. While the occasional use of hands are necessary, I do not lead any hikes that requires scrambling above long drop-offs, or with ropes or chains.
The HWD Hike Rating Guide
These ratings are to be used as a general guideline to determine the difficulty of my hike. They are based on the regular hiker that is reasonably fit and my 18 years of leading hikes. I hope you find my rating system more meaningful and relevant to your hiking level than the usual 1-10 numerical rating, or ambiguous terms like “beginner,” “advanced,” etc..
Easy
Day hikes covering mostly level terrain and mild inclines. No difficult trail. Generally less than five miles total.
Medium
Day hikes covering a variety of terrain, with a few steep or difficult areas, but no prolonged steep grades or difficult terrain between 5 and 10 miles in length
Difficult
Longer day hikes up to 10 miles and more total length, and/or covering terrain that contains prolonged steep or difficult stretches or a bushwhack hike of any mileage covering difficult terrain.